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Interviews: Ask SMBC's Creator Zach Weiner a Question

Posted by samzenpus on from the go-ahead-and-ask dept.

Zach Weiner is the author and illustrator of a number of webcomics, most notably Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC). He's been a guest contributor to xkcd and founded the sketch comedy group SMBC Theater. His project Augie and the Green Knight, was the most funded children's book on Kickstarter, and his newest project The Gentleman's Single-Use Monocle offers readers emergency reading protection with a bit of class. Zach has agreed to step away from the comics for a bit and answer any questions you might have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post.

19 of 90 comments (clear)

  1. Sacred cows? by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Have there been any times you feared you went too far with your humor? If not, when have you received the most mail asserting that you did?

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Sacred cows? by quantaman · · Score: 2

      As you pointed out the "disempowered" covers Muslims in the US. And my evidence for them being disempowered (marginalized would be a better term) is the ease with which people will hear Muslim and translate it to Islamist, and then they'll start sprouting off half a dozen negative stereotypes that would be verboten if applied to most other groups.

      You're really going off on a tangent here. Getting back on subject, perhaps we can agree that the most likely reason for SMBC's curious silence toward Islam is not because Zach can't find anything silly in their beliefs, but rather because conservative Muslims around the world, aka Islamists of different degrees, are likely to commit acts of violence in response to their religion being made fun of.

      Possibly, but I don't recall him making fun of Hindu's, African Tribal religions, or Chinese culture either. He might be silent out of caution, or he might be ignoring them for the same reasons he ignores those other groups.

      Also, just for the record, equating "Muslim" and "Islamist" is often a reasonably accurate approximation, particularly outside the USA but frequently here as well. There are useful litmus tests to identify an Islamist, such as: "Should it be illegal to burn a Koran?" "Should people be allowed to apostatize from Islam?" and so forth. If you only ask about affinity for Osama bin Laden you will definitely miss a lot of the scary religious nuts. Their ultimate goal is not peaceful coexistence in a pluralistic society, but rather enforcement of norms of sharia law and subjugation of non-Islamic people. Whether they are likely to be successful in their goal is irrelevant as to their classification as Islamists in that respect.

      Since around 50% of Americans support a flag burning amendment does that make them all scary nationalist nuts? There's not even a god who's supposed to care about that one. As for Muslims some of what you're picking up on is just cultural differences, a Christian who talks about killing apostles is a pretty legitimate risk to go out and hurt someone because that kind of talk isn't part of modern Christianity. A Muslim who does so is mostly just aping cultural expectations, they're very unlikely to do anything about it, particularly in the west (though there are enough extremists that apostles still have legitimate cause for concern).

      --
      I stole this Sig
    2. Re:Sacred cows? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      I think there are also other explanations.

      I grew up in a vaguely Christian society, or at least one with a rich Christian history. I went to a church school up until secondary school because it was close. It's England, and C of E schools are quite common and, frankly, not nearly what you'd expect religious schools to be like. This is all an artefact of history which is why there's this mild pervasiveness of the C of E even if society as a whole is not religious. Anyway, needless to say, Christianity and various reasonings associated with it are not foreign to me.

      I also have a bunch of Jewish family, so (including of course the shared religious texts) things from that culture are familiar to me.

      As a result, I get jokes poking fun at Jewish and Christian sacred cows (only to be eaten *after* dairy in the former case) because the background, history, reasoning and culture is familiar to me.

      I doubt I'd find jokes about Islam, Hinduism, and a whole bunch others funny simply because I don't have the context which makes it funny.

      By way of example: I've sat through interminable pasach dinners with all the funny little rituals associated with them and the inevitable family interactions that go on as a result. Easy to poke fun at. I expect Ramadan is similar, but I wouldn't get the jokes because I have never experienced one.

      In the same way, I can laugh at jokes poking fun at British and American cultures because I understand them well enough. If you made a similar joke about Japanese culture it would fall flat, because I just don't have the context which makes it funny.

      IOW, I think people are seeing conspiracies where none exist.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  2. Any Public Response to the Common Criticism? by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Funny

    How do you respond to the criticism that by widely distributing your single use monocles to teenagers and adults, you'll be making highbrow socializing safer and therefore increase it to immoral levels?

    --
    My work here is dung.
  3. How do you come up with so many ideas DAILY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Huge fan of SMBC. I don't know how you come up with so many unique, thought-provoking ideas. Most comics that do that are on a 2-3 per week schedule.

    I backed your monocle; while I do love the hilarity of a monocle in a condom-wrapper, I just want to help you prove your wife wrong.

    1. Re: How do you come up with so many ideas DAILY? by jorgevillalobos · · Score: 2

      It's a reference to this old comic of his. Hint: click on the red button.

  4. Ren & Stimpy by SupahVee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I see a fair bit of other influences in your comics, with Ren & Stimpy references seeming to show up here and there. What other comic have played a role in your work, and is there some bad experience in early childhood that clearly left you so scarred from Ren & Stimpy?

    --
    "See, we plan ahead! That way, we never have to do anything now."
  5. Intellectual Sources by Gestahl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With respect to your "philosophical thought experiment" comics, how many of your comics are based in topics/ideas you learned before the end of your formal education, how many are based on things you have encountered in your "continuing education" (whether based on life experience, or just what you are currently reading about), and how many are "novel" intuition pumps?

  6. The Rise of Joke Theft on the Internet by eldavojohn · · Score: 2

    I'm not talking about your humorous Sarah Silverman satire video but the actual people who misappropriate a joke for their own. I've seen it on Facebook where someone reads a joke on Reddit or XKCD or SMBC and just rehashes it as their own idea in a post knowing that no one else out there could possibly be wasting their time on something like SMBC. Do you see this as frequently as I do? In all honesty does this bother you or merely flatter you? Is it just a natural unavoidable quality of memes or do you think it's more sinister?

    --
    My work here is dung.
  7. The Mrs. and the extended comic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How does your wife feel being portrayed in the comic?

  8. Zach Weiner is awesome by Jax+Omen · · Score: 2

    I love Zach, met him at a comic-con in Seattle a couple years ago, he signed his SMBC-Theater DVD for us and posed for "photo bomb" pictures. Awesome dude. My question for Zach is, have you ever considered/pondered/done any longer-form comics, with a cohesive narrative? You have tons of goofy ideas, some quite entertaining, I'd love to see what you could do with a story-driven comic powered by your goofy ideas. Also: your wife is wrong, single-use monocles are an awesome idea, even if just for gag-gift purposes :P

  9. How did it start? by Flavianoep · · Score: 2

    Expanding my question, what did inspired you to write your webcomic?

    --
    Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
  10. Do you have... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

    Do you have any extra wisdom to share with us that's you know, like... woah?

    (For those less familiar with SMBC, this is one of my all time favourites http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id...)

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  11. My questions: by soccerisgod · · Score: 2

    Are you completely nuts? How and why did it happen? Also, do you like squirrels?

    --
    If a train station is a place where a train stops, what's a workstation?
  12. Has An Interview Ever Gotten Your Name Wrong? by Sir+Realist · · Score: 2

    Boy, that'd be embarassing...

  13. Re:lol Weinersmith by Garridan · · Score: 2

    Seriously, though. Weinersmith! How did it come to pass that yourwife opt to took this incredibly amazing name, mid-academic-career, and you didn't with your awesome career that could only benefit from having the name Weinersmith?

  14. Transporter Machine by siphonophore · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Would you use a transporter machine as is currently understood to be possible, i.e. destructive scanning of source and remote reconstitution from local matter?

    --
    Dance like you're hurt, Love like you need money, and work when somebody's watching.
    -Scott Adams
  15. Gender and skin color by gsliepen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dear Zach,

    I noticed that your comics feature a remarkable balance in gender and skin color of the people you draw. There are also many same-gender couples. How do you do this? Do you decide yourself for each comic, or do you roll some dice? Do you randomize other things this way as well, like glasses and clothes?

    By the way, I noticed that you maintain a list of things you cannot draw. But don't worry, you're way better than that Randall guy who can only draw black&white stick figures.

  16. Jokes you didn't tell by gman003 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You often tell jokes that rely on fairly advanced math, science or economics. Have there been any jokes you scrapped because you thought they were *too* advanced for your audience?