User Friendly 1.0

Craig Maloney writes with the review below of the latest release from User Friendly, laughware which finally hit 1.0 earlier this year. Read on for Craig's impressions of the book, which is loaded with more than just reprints of the UF comics you've seen on the web. User Friendly 1.0 author J.D. "Illiad" frazer pages 112 publisher Plan Nine Publishing rating 9/10 reviewer Craig Maloney ISBN 1929462395 summary An �autobiographical� look at the thoughts and ideas that make up the User Friendly comic strip and community.

Greetings Cave Dwellers

Arguably one of the most successful and popular online comics is User Friendly. With three full-length books in print, a community of dedicated readers, and merchandise that has been featured on major computer celebrities globally, one would have a hard time disputing the popularity and the success of User Friendly. Over the past four years, User Friendly has grown from a small inter-office comic into an internet destination and a community of loyal readers. User Friendly 1.0 collects not only the comics that have not been published before (O'Reilly didn't include them in the previous books because of layout and other considerations), but also various essays, thoughts, illustrations, and other comics not necessarily related to User Friendly.

It All Began Here

The first section of the book contains the comics that didn't make it in the first User Friendly book (User Friendly, published by O'Reilly and Associates). These are the comics that introduce the crew of Columbia Internet (the friendliest, hardest-working and most neurotic little internet service provider), and births Dust Puppy (from a server that hasn't been upgraded in a year). The drawings are more primitive, with four frames of story rather than the three we enjoy today, but don't let that detract you from the humor and the sheer fun of the comics. Sure, they're not the same as what you're expecting from the current dailies, but they have a certain charm all their own.

Introduce Yourself / Essay Contest

The latter half of the book introduces the characters of User Friendly and their real-world analogues. Yes folks, the secret is out and revealed for the first time; User Friendly is based on real-people, although Illiad is quick to point out the people the characters are based on aren't QUITE as neurotic as their cartoon counterparts. Illiad also takes the latter part of the book to talk about his views on art, drawing women, community schisms, and the practical joke of 1999 and its aftermath. These essays show Illiad as a cartoonist who is not only humbled and flattered by the acceptance of his work, but also an artist who appreciates the community that has evolved from that work. Illiad appreciates his fans, and it's that appreciation of the fans that makes a book like User Friendly 1.0 not only possible, but also readable.

Bonus

As an added bonus, User Friendly 1.0 also features several SuSE Friendly comics (strips done for SuSE) and the crossover between User Friendly and Sluggy Freelance (in case you missed it). The strips are a nice treat for the fans and I have User Friendly to thank for my Sluggy Freelance addiction. :)

For the fans

If you don't like User Friendly, you've already skipped this review, and won't buy this book. That's quite all right, as this book isn't meant for you anyway. For the people who are fans of the comic, or who have a passing interest in the behind the scenes thoughts and ideas of User Friendly (or who want to see the early comics and the crossover appearances), this book is a no-brainer purchase. The writing is genuine, and having the rest of the comics in print is a bonus. User Friendly 1.0 is a labor of love for the community, and the community won't be disappointed.

You can purchase User Friendly 1.0 from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Am I the only one?

[decipher_saint]

Who dislikes User Friendly? I love web-comics like Penny-Arcade, Megatokyo, PvP, Diesel Sweeties, etc. I just don't find UF funny OR interesting in any way. Some of the early stuff was pretty good, but there are a lot of better comics to read online or otherwise.

Remember this is just my opinion, I'm not trolling you if you happen to like UF.

The Archive

[tomknight]

I recently re-read the series, from the beginning (up to May this year, when it all started to get too close to today). Here's the link to the archive - but beware - this can really screw up your productivity!

UF is not as amusing as it has been, but it's generally nice, intelligent and witty. What more do you need?

One of the best strips was from September last year

Tom.

On drawing women...

[Rahga]

I'd love to know what illiad and other "known" artist/toonists/etc. think about drawing women... in specific, how to deal with the women around them who feel the need to comment and critique they way you draw the female figure (in all it's forms, of course... this was added to destroy the inevitable "female figure? there's not just one!" replies).

Heck, maybe it's just bad memories of 6th grad art class when you are forced to draw sketches of your classmates, and you felt obligated to draw in a turtleneck sweater and jacket just so you could avoid the topic of their breasts altogether. However, I imagine that most comic artists and 3d-modelers for modern video games have to put up with a fair ammount of ribbing about how large or small they create figures for their characters.

Superfluous recommendation of other comic strip

[gowen]

And its not sluggy-bastard-freelance, either. Try PhD, although I'd imagine the recognition factor of the comedy requires you to have done at least a few months in graduate school.