The Garbage Dump: 100+ pages of well-aged compost

[Angel Beat]

Everyone just says L3 anyway.

BUt yes, I really enjoyed Solo.

[West Filly]

I enjoyed Solo:

The Good - It felt like an adventure. It had lots of action. It handled the characters and relationships well. I enjoyed the border gate scene for how it characterized the empire. As fast paced as this story was, keeping the story almost entirely on Han meant it didn't feel as choppy and rushed as some of the other Disney Star Wars releases.

The nitpicks - The camerawork in one particular scene was very disorientating. In said scene they also "told" (and didn't show) one of the enemies they were confronted with. I'm not a particular fan of the whole I AM NO MAN reveal trope, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt on this one. One nitpick from the opening: HYPERFUEL in allcaps.

HYPERFUEL

Comments - I think the producers are learning to have a little down time in their movies. They're learning to have moments they can rest on or that have mood, rather than a constant bombardment of action like in TFA. With TFA I felt like I didn't have any time to breathe between the constant rushing about, fighting and interrogation. Here there's a few friendly conversations, a few establishing shots, moments where they're just looking, planning, chatting, drinking or relaxing. These might not be interesting or memorable scenes, but I feel it's important to slow down before the next turn in any film.

[PhoolCat]

Wait wait wait. You're telling me there's a droid in this movie named L3-37?

...

Sign of the times, I suppose.

and she's a sassy fembot with whacky female ideas about equality and social justice! [laugh track]

[Aramek]

If she is funny and hot that's what really counts.

[Mechanical Ape]

I attended a cookout with some friends and played Nerf shootout with four small children. The one time in my life I was first pick for teams.

But I didn't dominate the war, I hung back and gave support (six-year-olds make excellent low cover) and provided color, like yelling "FIRE IN THE HOLE" when someone threw a tennis ball.

Eventually it was time to go home.

The kids had just one request:

Uncle Ape, talk like an army man again!

The war was ending, and soon we'd be rotating back to the states. But even for those of us who survived, a piece of us would never really come home. Some part of me is still there, in the upstairs hall, with foam whizzing past my head and children screaming. The war had branded itself on our souls. And no matter which side we fought on, in the end we were all brothers ... brothers in nerf.

YAAAAAAAYYYY

[Madeline]

Childish Landino is also the biggest reason why I want to see it.

I attended a cookout with some friends and played Nerf shootout with four small children. The one time in my life I was first pick for teams.

But I didn't dominate the war, I hung back and gave support (six-year-olds make excellent low cover) and provided color, like yelling "FIRE IN THE HOLE" when someone threw a tennis ball.

Eventually it was time to go home.

The kids had just one request:

Uncle Ape, talk like an army man again!

The war was ending, and soon we'd be rotating back to the states. But even for those of us who survived, a piece of us would never really come home. Some part of me is still there, in the upstairs hall, with foam whizzing past my head and children screaming. The war had branded itself on our souls. And no matter which side we fought on, in the end we were all brothers ... brothers in nerf.

YAAAAAAAYYYY

Yes

[Pocket]

"React culture" has peaked. The newest trailer for that stupid movie Upgrade is just the first trailer with people's facecam reactions overlaid on top of it.

I suspect the reasoning is similar to laugh tracks: People are more likely to have a favorable reaction to something if people around them are doing the same, and in lieu of being in an actual social setting, a fake audience will suffice.

[Mr. Big]

I saw "Pogo" trending on Twitter. I was wondering if it related to the old comic strip

...turns out there's a musician on YouTube who really hates gay people. Ugh

[Fizzbuzz]

"React culture" has peaked. The newest trailer for that stupid movie Upgrade is just the first trailer with people's facecam reactions overlaid on top of it.

I suspect the reasoning is similar to laugh tracks: People are more likely to have a favorable reaction to something if people around them are doing the same, and in lieu of being in an actual social setting, a fake audience will suffice.

Facecam? More like "fakecam"!!!!

[SlateSlabrock]

I saw "Pogo" trending on Twitter. I was wondering if it related to the old comic strip

...turns out there's a musician on YouTube who really hates gay people. Ugh

This is very disappointing.

[Madeline]

His YouTube channel name is a slur.

I don’t think Walt or Carolyn Kelly would have approved.

[Mr. Big]

His YouTube channel name is a slur.

I don’t think Walt or Carolyn Kelly would have approved.

For realzies, this is something they would have ridiculed in their strip if they were still alive to see this.

[Logicgate]

The honest-to-goodness KKK dropped recruitment pamphlets in my neighborhood in everyone's driveways, in little plastic bags weighted down with bird seed.

I keep going between frightened and furious. There's a terrible poem that concludes "God Give Us Men" and my household is 5 queer non-men and 1 Jewish man, so I think they might be barking up the wrong tree. I'm furious that they think I might be interested. And frightened 'cause I am kind of on their list of targets, even if not the top priority.

[Vivianinatoga]

...I don't even

[Pocket]

My stance on the KKK is the same as it's ever been: The only correct response to them is to find out when and where they congregate, wait until their meeting has started, then bar the doors and burn it to the ground with everyone inside.

[PhoolCat]

Yeah, but that would be treason.

[Madeline]

The honest-to-goodness KKK dropped recruitment pamphlets in my neighborhood in everyone's driveways, in little plastic bags weighted down with bird seed.

I keep going between frightened and furious. There's a terrible poem that concludes "God Give Us Men" and my household is 5 queer non-men and 1 Jewish man, so I think they might be barking up the wrong tree. I'm furious that they think I might be interested. And frightened 'cause I am kind of on their list of targets, even if not the top priority.

Would it be feasible to maybe stock up on mace and buy a really big dog, to at least try to intimidate these people?

[Fizzbuzz]

Or stock up on maces and bust the skull of the next person who tries to leave this crap at your house?

[Mr. Big]

It's the 10th anniversary of the original Loss strip, and Tim Buckley decided to update it.



(yes, this is real)

[Cthulhu Inc]

Would it be feasible to maybe stock up on mace and buy a really big dog, to at least try to intimidate these people?

Get like 6 samoyeds

[Mr. Big]

Shit, just found out that long-time MAD Magazine editor Nick Meglin died today. I literally met him last weekend in Philadelphia. He was frail but still witty, sharing banter with other cartoonists.

He did a drawing of Alfred E. Neuman for me in my sketchbook.

[Auxiliatrix]

It's the 10th anniversary of the original Loss strip, and Tim Buckley decided to update it.



(yes, this is real)

People who make meme edits are going to have a field day with this...

[Adiwan]

You know... It'd have been great if it was the other way around that the woman were looking for the man.

Also what always bugs me is the text on the door in the first panel. I know that it's part of "EMERGENCY" but the way it's cut off it looks like "GENO", like in "GENOCIDE".

[Madeline]

Shit, just found out that long-time MAD Magazine editor Nick Meglin died today. I literally met him last weekend in Philadelphia. He was frail but still witty, sharing banter with other cartoonists.

He did a drawing of Alfred E. Neuman for me in my sketchbook.

Oh man, that’s sad.

[Mr. Big]

Yeah, that was a shock for me. He died from a heart attack, too.

[SlateSlabrock]

Say what you'll pay, and when. Restaurants will bid for you!

Restaurants can't afford to advertise... so why not turn their problem on its head and let customers 'advertise' to restaurants?

||||||||||| U.S. PATENT PENDING ||||||||||

THE PROBLEM
The eternal and only fight in the restaurant industry is over market share — but restaurants can't afford to advertise their deals.

THE SOLUTION
Let customers 'advertise' their deal to restaurants — that is, how much they guarantee to spend and what time they guarantee to walk in some restaurant's door.

For consumers, it works like this:
I promise to arrive one hour from now and spend at least $20.00. How much MORE THAN $20 will your restaurant give me of your menu - if I accept your offer?

One restaurant operator might bid $30.

Why? Because today is Tuesday and the current time is 4:15 PM. This customer guarantees to arrive here, sometime between 5:15-5:45 PM and spend $20.00. It's always slow here on Tuesday's at that time. Therefore, we offer another 50%, in this case, another $10.00 of our menu, for a total deal of $30.00 — IF that customer arrives on time and spends the $20 he promises to spend.

Restaurants input their bids as "bonus" percentages: 10%, 25%, 50%, 100%. No restaurants are actually bidding 'live'. All of the bids are database-driven. They happen in a split second, literally at the speed of light.

[Mr. Big]

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate coloring comics? It's such a dull chore

Right now I'm trying new things with colors for no reason other than to do less work as possible (ie, keep backgrounds white, lots of solid colors for characters in certain panels, etc.). I got some ideas from other cartoonists that might help with this; one suggested I use watercolors just to make it enjoyable, which I haven't ruled out yet.

I'm also considering outsourcing coloring to someone else, but that would require me spend money

[Adiwan]

Don't color the comics and sell them as "coloring books", make the price $1 higher, and mark them as "Special Edition" (although only edition).
Problem solved.

[Mr. Big]

Hmmm, tempting.

I decided to go with keeping most backgrounds solid white, and it's doing wonders on getting the colors done faster. Since I don't have to worry about characters and props clashing with the bg color, I don't have to worry about adjusting elements all the time now.

Plus, it makes the characters stand out more.

[Perrydotto]

I personally don't care much for it if it looks like the characters are just walking through a white void but it might work for you? Really depends

my personal feeling is if you simply dislike doing it maybe try finding a more fun way to do it first before getting rid of it, especially since you started out doing colored backgrounds and going away from them might look like a downgrade, but that's just my 2 cents

[Madeline]

Going grayscale or black & white would be better than characters walking through panels devoid of detail, IMO, but I’m also not an artist.

[Mr. Big]

One idea I have for a compromise is this (dialogues removed for spoiler reasons):



Basically, there's something indicating background, while at the same time I don't have to fret over whether the contrast fits with the characters, since it never touches them.

my personal feeling is if you simply dislike doing it maybe try finding a more fun way to do it first before getting rid of it, especially since you started out doing colored backgrounds and going away from them might look like a downgrade, but that's just my 2 cents

Yeah, another thing I considered, like one creator suggesting I try watercolors and other traditional coloring medium to liven it up. I've never had much experience with watercolors, but I figure it can't hurt.

[Mr. Big]

Another example with new coloring technique:

[Perrydotto]

See, that already looks like it has some variety, and the solid color background panel combined with the simplified colors gives it a bit more dramatic vibe which might fit the story in question

Colors shouldn't be seen as a chore, they can be another tool for you to tell your story, don't discount them!

[Mr. Big]

Glad you like it!

The panels with characters being solid colors is, admittingly, a time-saving choice, since it gives me one less panel to color properly

[Mr. Big]

In a related news, I bought Clip Studio Paint because it's 50% off now. Let's see how the baby runs!

[Aramek]

One idea I have for a compromise is this (dialogues removed for spoiler reasons):



Basically, there's something indicating background, while at the same time I don't have to fret over whether the contrast fits with the characters, since it never touches them.



Yeah, another thing I considered, like one creator suggesting I try watercolors and other traditional coloring medium to liven it up. I've never had much experience with watercolors, but I figure it can't hurt.

I absolutely love this, especially the red/white triangle in panels 2, 3, and 5.

Now, PLEASE keep doing this, but I should warn you it reminds me of something.

[Quanta]

Thought I'd post this here:


In case one of your artsy folks was interested in getting CSP at a discount.

[Octavia]

Then you too can learn to draw skeletal-skinny anime girls with giant hats

[Mr. Big]

I absolutely love this, especially the red/white triangle in panels 2, 3, and 5.

Now, PLEASE keep doing this, but I should warn you it reminds me of something.