Author Archives: The Geek

Digital Strips Podcast 286 – Review – Plume

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Let’s be mature here, no Brokeback Mountain jokes, OK?

I love cowboy. I love them like I love chocolate. Meaning while I love them a lot on their own, I love them more when they are in things.

For example, Cowboy Bebop and Firefly are awesome because they put cowboys in space. Blazing Saddles and City Slickers are great because the take comedy and add cowboy.

Today’s comic, Plume, does just that. Take something good – supernatural adventure – and pour in the cowboy. It can’t lose.

Just how much it doesn’t lose by, however, is up to debate and therefore the topic of today’s show. We talk about what we like, what we didn’t and all those other things that you expect from an episode of Digital Strips. In addition, Jason has a special lead on a place where – according to his sources – naked ladies dance (spoiler warning: it’s in France).

Show Notes
Chainsawsuit
VG Cats
LAWLS
Alt Comic
Lackadaisy
Bundlr
Adam Warrock
MC Frontalot
Scenes from a Multiverse
The Meek
Deliah Dirk
The Rack

Music by Level 99

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Digital Strips Podcast 285 – Book Club – The Rack, First Edition

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So despite my moniker of “The Geek”, I’m actually super cool. Well, I mean, I’m not cool now, I do a webcomics podcast and occasionally wear black socks with shorts, however I was super cool growing up. Well, actually not so much super cool, but I was cool enough to not have any friends. A fact that prevented me from getting into Dungeons & Dragons, comics, and Magic the Gathering until much later in life.

As such, my experience with the nerd-mini-Mecca that is the comic book shop is one completely untainted by nostalgia and it’s cousin, whimsy. This makes me probably the worst person ever to review a comic like The Rack, which takes place almost exclusively in a comic shop and with comic shop people (on the other hand, I still totally love Our Valued Customers, so go figure).

Jason, on the other hand, is a jerk and a bully and was never cool so he knows comic shops like the back of his hand so he was all for this little foray down memory lane. We talk about where the comic works and about the dangers of such a niche comic. We speak of the importance of character development and how it related to comics and sitcoms. We yammer on about states and pricesses and parenting and race relations (trust me it makes sense in the moment).

Join us, please.

Show Notes:

Joe Love Crappy Movies
Another Video Game Web comic
Mercworks (the decison)
SnowFlame
The Loneliest Astronauts

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Digital Strips Podcast 283 – Review – Rock Manlyfist

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I start this episode out with a bit of a content warning, because the comic is about as safe for work as a honey badger covered in porn and racial epithets, however I probably should have also sounded the douche alert as I said some things that sounded way better in my head during the recording than they did in my ears during the editing phase.

We start this week’s show with a discussion on artists ask for donations, the various senses of entitlement people on the Internet have, and the whole Web economy as a whole.

Then we jump right in to the biggest pool of testosterone and chest hair this side of my bathroom. Rock Manlyfist by Johan Wanloo is a big topless love letter to the action heroes of yesteryear; the men who save our world countless times and all they asked for was a steady stream of burgers, women and strange real estate. If you think you’re man enough to fight back the viking resurgence and ninja infestations, saddle up and join us, for this week’s episode of Digital Strips.

Hijinks Ensue 3:15
Optipess 4:15
Loading Artist 4:30
Cowbirds in Love 5:00
Order of the Stick 6:45

Ad by King Tractor press (not the creepy thing I mentioned, that was the comic)

Battlepug Ratfist Bearmageaddon Axecop
Skadi 21:00
Lackadaisy 23:00

I also want to make it clear, I have no problem with a simple donation button by the side of your side. I have a problem with drawing attention to it and insinuating that people owe you.

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Digital Strips Podcast 282 – Review – Little Guardians

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Hot cheese on the biscuit! The show is up already! And since it’s already past midnight for the so called “important” part of the world, many of you will not see this until you normally would any so it’s no big deal. But if there was an episode that deserved such treatment, this is it.

This week we completely avoid Avengers spoilers by talking about Little Guardians, a fantasy comic that I quite liked, despite most of the things I said about it, both in the show and in the locker room after the football game. It’s the story of a two crazy kids, just trying to make it in this crazy world (actually not this world at all, one with demon bugs) despite being switched a birth.

We also talk about what we’ve been reading, what we think makes a cute comic, do some bad accents and all in all have a great time. Join us, please.

Show Notes
Chuck and Beans 5:00
Roy’s Boy 6:00
Superfogeys 11:30
Evan Dahm 22:30

Music can be found here.

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Digital Strips Podcast 281 – Review – Anyone For Rhubarb?

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Just to rub my superiority in the faces of any kids out there, ‘Haha, I’m an adult, which means I make my own decisions in life which mean I just had chocolate cake for breakfast and there’s no one to stop me. Well, no one but my wife. And my doctor I guess. And my grandma who gave me a biological chance to develop diabetes later in life…’ You know what, being an adult isn’t as much fun as I was hoping.

Speaking of things that I hope are fun, this week’s comic, the gag-a-day weirdness that is Anyone for Rhubarb? is not quite what I thought it would be, but is still more fun that it has any right to be. We take on it’s major, recent improvements and bizarre art style. This leads up into a small discussion on humor, and how best to develop it and why most single panel comics fail.

We also talk about 80s movies that I haven’t seen, nursery rhymes, Randy Johnson and curse words. All this an more on episode 281… of Digital Strips.

Show Notes:
Perfect Strangers Game 5:00
PVP 7:45
Amazing Super Powers 9:00
Optipess 9:30
HateFarm 9:30
Girls With Slingshots 12:00
DiceBox 12:45
Deliah Dirk 14:00

The song in the middle was ‘PsychoUnderpants‘ by djpreztel

Faraday the Blob 19:30
Minimumble 22:00
Bug 26:00

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Digital Strips Podcast 280 – Horizons Watch – Runewriters and Unicorn Soup

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They say that good things come in threes. Well, I say, then how do you explain Twix bars, huh? Those are good things and they only come in twos (and the super legendary fours). Continuing this tradition of things that are awesome coming in pairs, this week’s show takes a look at two new comics and lets you know which horse to back early so that you can look cool in front of your friends.

First up we had Runewriters, and yes, there’s more to this strip than that theme song I wrote for it a few shows back. It’s a fantasy tale full of magic, wonder and people overcoming their disabilities, whether they be deaf, or slowly turning into a tentacle monster and getting chased by a glowing talking wolf.

Continuing with our theme of two words per name, we move on to Unicorn Soup, a gaming comic for the over-30 crowd. I know they keep releasing reports that most gamers fall into this category but it sure doesn’t seem that way on Xbox Live or when I skim through any number of gaming comics. Unicorn Soup sets the record straight and does it in comic form, which is the only way I’ll read record straightening.

All this as well as chatting about the chance of a web comic making it in the non-web world and Jason makes the wrong kinds of friends.

As always, we deeply desire your feedback. Please leave a comment below.

Show Notes:

Toothpaste for dinner 4:00
@drewtoothpaste 5:00
Adulting 6:45
Dinosaur Comic 6:45
Buttersafe 7:30
Axe Cop 9:00
Ratfist 9:15
Battle Pug 9:15
The Abominable Charles Christopher 12:30
The Meek 17:00
XKCD 22:00

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Digital Strips Podcast 279 – Review – Lake Nowhere

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I grew up in a small town where the coolest thing we had to do was breathe really fast to make ourselves hyperventilate. Dangerous? Yes. Stupid? Very. Better than anything else going on at the time? Unfortunately.

Besides that and fighting behind the boxcars, there wasn’t much going on in my childhood. If only I lived in a happening place like Lake Nowhere where I could sit on a dock and write in my notebook. Beside the lack of docks, I totally relate to this week’s comic by Stephen Ramsey. A gag-a-day look at the hard realities of growing up where the sun don’t shine.

We also discuss comixpress, and how people use it to enhance their comic and piss off Jason, a bit about the morality of RSS feeds, the various kinds of words we don’t know and a couple new comics that grabbed us in all the right places. All this and more on the latest episode of Digital Strips.

Show Notes
Deliah Dirk 6:45
The System 7:15
Shiver Bureau 9:45
After the Deluge 11:45
A Softer World 13:00
Buttersafe (the one he mention) 14:00
Legacy Control 14:30
Bug 19:15

Middle Music was Walk on the Water by Fluxcapacitor.

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Digital Strips Podcast 278 – Review – Dicebox (Good Ol’ Childhood Sphincter Problems)

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Science fiction tends to be a big pile of lies smothered in falsehood. If sci-fi were to be believed, in the future, everyone would be a starship captain, a roguish smuggler, a greenskinned slave girl or a robot. What I want to know is where are all the tales of normal people in sci-fi? The space-barbers, the migrate space-workers, or whatever the future equivalent of a janitor is. At least I used to wonder, until I found Dicebox.

This week we’re delving deep into Dicebox, a comic by Jenn Manley Lee. The story follows two space drifters/migrate workers as they try to make their way in the universe and slowly (very slowly) uncover each other’s past.

I make a couple mistakes in the show. One was making fun of the URL when there is a better one available (see our link above) the other was confusing the current chapter sections with total chapters. I’m sure I botched other things. This is why Jason and I can’t have nice things.

We also discuss scary childhood memories, the fact that my child is a wuss and how we both learn new words. Join us, won’t you?

Show Notes:
Runewriters – 5:00
The Meek – 6:30
The Bean – 6:45
False Positive – the link – 7:30
Mummy Comic – the link : 9:45
Bug – 10:00

Templar, Arizona – 14:15
Zombie Hunters – 19:30

Music by halc

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Digital Strips Podcast 277 – Review – Delilah Dirk

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April 2nd is always the saddest day of year for me because it’s the day that I have to face the fact that all the cool stuff I saw the day before isn’t real and will never happen (Google, if you’re reading that, that Mars thing still hurts). I hope we can make your April 2nd a little brighter with another episode and another great comic.

This week we’re taking a look a Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Luetenent by Tony Cliff. It’s a fun-fill, swash-buckling romp through the exotic lands of the Near East. Since the comic wrapped up in late Feburary this is a rare chance for us to talk about a full story arc as it was intended to be read by the creator. It’s a strange concept to us, but I think we handle it ok.

We also talk about the “proper” way to read a long form story based comic, the proper way to handle sexy characters and violence in comics and the proper way to searve burgers and tacos. It’s a good time. Please join us.

Show notes:
Space Trawler
Reptilius Rex
Not invented Here
Dawn of the Ninja
Diesel Sweeties
Boumeries
Gunnerkrigg Court
The Dreamer
Questionable Contact
Order of the stick
Realm of Atland
Schlock Mercenary
Shortpacked
Corporate Skull

Mmpph the way you mmpph

The Meek
Next Town Over
Rice Boy
PVP
Bug

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Digital Strips Podcast 276 – Review – Briar Hollow

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Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesAs the storm wails around me here in the Rocky Mountains, I like to picture you, some place, dry and warm, sitting by the fire in a cozy, red felt chair with your earbuds in, enjoying this latest episode of Digital Strips. This week we take a look at Briar Hollow, the least college-y college-based comic I think I’ve ever seen. The comic is created by Terry Blas with brilliant colors by Kimball Davis.

We also take several detours into other territories, talking about the X-Men and the Ninja Turtles and what makes them so different (and seriously people, comment on that topic, it’s for science and posterity).

Not too many comics mentioned this week, which makes for easy show notes:

Abaddon – 2:30
Questionable Content – 5:00
Next Town Over – 21:00
My Sister, The Freak – 22:30
Imagine This – 27:00

The music in the middle was L’espoir fait vivre by Bézèd’h

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