Interview: Ask Nitrozac

So there is this fine, 100% geeky online comic called After Y2K! that features such characters as the Techno-Talking Babes(tm), Lord Martha Stewart, "Jeff and Rob, those Slashdot Guys," Mel Gibson, Linus Torvalds, Bill Gates, and the ghost of Ada Byron. But creator/cartoonist Nitrozac remains a shrouded mystery. This is your chance to find out more about this mysterious woman and get a quick peek into the workings of her (obviously) deranged mind. Please post your questions below. The 10 - 15 questions deemed most interesting by Slashdot moderators, editors, and hangers-on will be forwarded to Nitrozac Tuesday. Her answers will appear Friday.

Comments

Techno-babes

[Toast]

Nitrozac, I love AY2K.. I think it's probably the funniest web-comic I've seen to date (up there w/ Pokey the Penguin). Clearly you have quite a sense of humor. You also appear to be quite a geek (in the most positive sense of the word of course). And you have really bitchin' boots.

My question is this: Where are all the other women out there like you? I have yet to meet a woman who could write "hello world", let alone a web-comic of such quality. If this were a hypothetical friday-night, and I wanted to meet someone w/ your qualities, where would I go, what would I do, and what in god's name would I say when I met you?

How do you draw the 'guest actors' (Rotoscoping?)

[HyPeR_aCtIvE]

Just as the question asks ... it appears as if lots of your 'guest actors', meaning the famous people, Like Hemos and CmdrTaco, are taken directly from well known pictures of them, then drawn over to create a cartoon effect.

Known as rotoscoping in the cartoon business, it is how the infamous Lord of the Rings movie was made.

So I am curious if in fact this IS what you do, or if you are cleverly disguising your original drawings to LOOK like well known pictures ... (Ah hah!)

The auxillary question if this is true, is what characters ARN'T ... there are a few obvious ones, such as Relic and the main guy ... but for example, what about the Techno-talking babes?

Martha Stewart - Geek!

[trichard]

Nitrozac:

First let me say that I'm a big fan of AY2K.

I have it on good authority that while Martha Stewart may be a long way from a geek, she does own a very high-end IBM RS6000 SP cluster running IBM's AIX flavor of UNIX. I believe that it's for data warehousing/mining but it COULD be developing strategies (a la IBM's Deep Blue) for domination of the geek world.

Of all the celebrities that you send up in AY2K, (Are Rob and Jeff celebrities yet?) have any responded in a negative way? Conversely, have any responded in a fashion more positive that what you would've expected?

Also,like many others I'm sure, I'd love to see the face above the boots. Or will "comic strip realities collapse" if your face goes on-line? The Mac SE/Kid-Pix self portrat just didn't cut it.

Thanks for all of the great work. Keep it up!

What tools do you use?

[Valdrax]

I'm curious what software, hardware, drawing tools, etc. you use to make the series -- especially the episodes with animated effects.

Some questions

[anticypher]

Hi Nitrozac,

Which of the current geek-cult heroes that you draw into your strip have you met in person? Did they know at the time you were Nitrozac? Did you take their picture or just find the photos on the web?

Is Relic or Dude based on anyone you know?

Will the aliens ever reveal themselves to you, and will you press charges or just giggle?

How long in advance do you draw your strip, and how long does it take to complete each one?

What is your day job like?

There, one of those should make it.
the AC

Suggestions for the rest of us?

[Wohali]

Hey there Nitrozac,

After completing umpteen years of higher education and receiving a couple of degrees, I've found myself sorely wanting more out of life than spending 18 hours writing Java or C code each day. It's already been bad enough struggling to prove that a woman can code circles around her male counterparts ... and now it's just becoming tiresome. You, on the other hand, have obviously broken out of the mold and found a place for yourself with your strip.

People always ask that stupid question, "What advice do you have for people starting in field x, y, or z?" Rather than bore you with that, I want to know: What can I do to build my self-confidence enough to try and strike out on my own? What helped you get through the nervousness that you'd be perenially broke, sitting day after day, waiting for that "big break?" I find that's the biggest block to me leaving my current job (which pays very well, thank you very much) and trying to do something that I'll truly enjoy.

I know that, one day, I won't be coding this shit anymore, and that I'll move on to something more meaningful. Help me understand what I can do to quell my logical side for just those few nanoseconds so that I can break free of the corporate culture.

Wohali

A question of preferences

[Tau Zero]

Which would you like to be:

1. One of the techno-talking babes (which one?), or:
2. Someone with her boot on the real Bill Gates?

Agent of Alien invasion ?

[Thomas Miconi]

My question comes in three parts :

1) Are you an Alien agent sent to earth in preparation of a global invasion of planet Earth ?


2) In case you are, what are the steps to follow if I want to apply for special (ie favour) treatment when the invasion actually happens ?


3) If the answer to the last question involves boots or leather shoes, are Berlutti's OK ?



Thomas Miconi
karma Police - enforcing peace of mind by all possible means.

After January 1st?

[Ed Avis]

What will you do when Y2k happens in 'real life'? Will the comic continue 'as if nothing had happened'? Or maybe After Y2K is an accurate prediction of the future 8-)

It has always been a problem with sci-fi that the dates chosen tend to be far too close, so we 'overrun' them quickly. But less than 4 months away is ridiculous!

BTW, today, 1999 September 13th, is the day when the Moon was knocked out of Earth's orbit in Space: 1999. There are still a few hours left for it to happen...

Creativity and Self-Referential Comics

[chromatic]

Two questions:

1. You're one of the few comic artists I've seen taking advantage of some of the peculiarities of the Web (animation, polls, integrating various quasi-real life happenings into your storyline on occasion -- see last week's Archives for details). Do you think others will follow suit?

2. Along the same lines, do you think the self-referentialism in After Y2K has been a difficult line to walk, creatively? Is there a balance you've reached between telling a good and funny story and what some may consider a bit of self-indulgence?

Thanks for the laughs!

--
QDMerge 0.21!

Question

[Lord Kano]

Nitrozak, you being a woman and of the 90's and a geek we know that we can trust you to answer truthfully.

So please tell us, once and for all, does size matter?

LK