Digital Strip Podcast 265 – Horizons Watch – Lady Sabre and the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether

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Did you know that turtles can’t breathe underwater? You learn something every day I guess, and now you can say the same with the news we’re bringing to you this week. Among other topics, we talk about comics that are calling it quits, genres Steve didn’t know existed, new projects, webcomics in print, and a new way to discover your next favorite piece of work.

After mentioning Battletoads in the open, I had to find a remix for this week’s music break based on that harder-than-nails franchise. And so, we have “BirdGuyJam” by Kumeelyun (13:24), for the Game Boy version of the series. After finding this gem, I realized I have no idea what the music from that game sounds like.

There are lots of creators working on comic books who are finding the web to be the perfect outlet for the creative imaginings that won’t fit into their current works. Joining these ranks with this week’s not-a-review, not-yet-a-Horizons-Watch is a steampunk western from Greg Rucka and Rick Burchett:

Given the pedigree of the creators involved, it’s no surprise that this story shows tremendous promise, and we mention some other comics residing on the web from other prolific creators, as well as some other examples in our discussion:

Finally, for Whatcha Been Readin’, we run down what plussed (or minused, as the case may very well be) us in the past week:

The Rambletron rolls on after the show proper, featuring NPR voices, new character Dr. Earl Poopenheimer, questions about accepted action movie conventions, and return of an old friend!

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Digital Strips Podcast 264 – Book Club – Order of the Stick – 5th Edition

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Jason here, back in the editor’s seat. Sure, I sit in on all of Steve’s posts to make sure they’re Internet-approved (and not regular Internet, but intelligent Internet), but now I’m here to make sure you get nothing but high-quality podcasting delivered directly to your earholes. And outside of the audio quality issues on Steve’s side towards the end of this episode (again I stress, on Steve’s side), I think this one fits the bill.

We kick things off by hearing about how awesome Steve’s life has been in his return to bachelorhood since his wife and kid went on vacation without him (listen in for a few minutes and trust me, you’ll need the same for yourself). D0 you like hearing about Motown on your webcomics podcasts? Hope so, ’cause we’ve got that, too! From there, it’s a hop, skip, and jump away from discussions about Trunk or Treat and an actual webcomic…

I love PvP, and I love Penny Arcade (I believe I’ve mentioned before that these two comics formed the tag-team tandem of my introduction to webcomics) but the team-up on the century just isn’t doing anything to blow up my skirt. It’s still really early in the life of this pre-destined-to-be-amazing comic, but I have yet to be impressed. The stories that accompany each update, however, serve as a great (and hopefully truthful) window into the truly horrific life of a game tester. Remember when you were young and you couldn’t imagine any job cooler than that? Read a few of these and you’ll quickly smarten up.

Rolling us into the main discussion, I hope you like Super Mario RPG and dubstep, because… well, that’s what I’ve got for you.

Rerecorded for your amusement (and because the first version sucked), this Book Club installment represents our deepest inspection upon any given section of Order of the Stick yet. Blame this on the fact that we decided to double the amount of comics included in each section from here to the end of the comic, but we encourage you to listen in so you can offer your own opinions based on this, what I consider to be the best storyline of the comic thus far. Of course, my final position as to the comicky comicness of this story might drive some to chime in as well. The more the merrier!

Some parting thoughts: the status of Steve’s bachelor pad, McRib , the variety of douches in any given high school, the genius of Google + Circles, and remembering fondly MTV’s Daria.

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Digital Strips Podcast 263 – Review – Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman

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It’s times like this that I really wish I still had my old trench coat. It was the best coat ever. It kept me warm, it kept me dry. It would billow in the wind in just the right way. It had a slit in the pocket so I could scratch my junk without any one knowing. It was the perfect coat. The problem with a trench coat like that is the only people who can get away with wearing them are hard-drinking, chain-smoking private investigators and flasher perverts.

While not directly featuring any rockin’ trench coats, this week’s comic will have you wishing they were more fashionable, too. It’s Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard Boiled Shaman by Terry Leban. And it’s as noir as you can get without heavily featuring my current favorite article of clothing, and this is only because it takes place in primitive Siberia.

This blue and white-tinted tale gives us plenty to talk about, although as usual, our conversation revolves about how wrong the other person is about it. If you like the shows where both sides present their arguments without resulting to name calling, this isn’t the one for you although you probably already knew that by now.

We also talk about the following comics, but I forgot to mark the time we did so for some. I hope you can forgive me.

Chainsawsuit, Buttock Safety – 6:00
Red Light Properties (Act-I-Vate ) 7:00
Bug 9:00
Maliki 9:45
Dresden Codak 10:00
Cucuc, Dawn of Time, Charles Christopher

Our middle music was Go Balls Deep by Kazuo Sawa. How could I not use a song with that title?

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Digital Strips Podcast 262 – Review – Three Word Phrase (Sometimes You Must Sound Douchey)

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This show is going out to everyone who thought we were too gushy or well spoken in the last episode. This week we’re mean and can’t seem to make a sentence worth saying. It still makes for good listening though, just for different reasons.

This week we’re taking a look a Three Word Phrase by Ryan Pequin. Specifically, but more in general, we’re digging into the very nature of humor and what makes us laugh. Jason and I go deep into what makes this sub-genre of comics, those based solely on non-sequiturs work and why it works so much more for some people than it does for us.

We talk about how humor is different for different people, and how that affects things. We talk about the quickfire nature of today’s society and the effect that it has on jokes. We talk about poop jokes.

It’s a very special episode, that’s for sure, but it’s got plenty of our usual commentary of the world of webcomics in general and on each other’s hygiene habits.

We also mention the following:

Hijinks Ensure – 5:15
XKCD - 6:15
PVP - 7:00
Edmund Finney – 8:15
League of Super Redundant Heroes – 8:30
Happle Tea (I should have said Two Guys and Guy though, I was confused, sorry) – 8:45
SMBC, KC Green, Medium Large, Kate Beaton – 15:45
Achewood 19:30
Pictures for Sad Children – 25:45

Our middle music was Digital Memories by LukHash.

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Digital Strips Podcast 261 – Review – Ellie on Planet X (Jason Sure Thinks He Can Dance)

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Well the snow has already come and gone to the Rocky Mountains, giving us either our shortest winter ever, or a totally normal October, we’ll have to wait and see. But in any case I’ve decided to celebrate by posting another fun-filled episode of Digital Strips, this week reviewing the very cute Ellie on Planet X by James Anderson.

We don’t just review comics round these parts, nah, that’s too easy. Those who know us know we feel the need to ramble first and ramble we do. This week we talk about dancing. We learn that Jason is way too proud of his dance skills for a guy who just jumps and sticks his butt in the air. Keeping in the theme, Steve tells a story that proves he really is a horrible person, then he doubles on the proof by demonstrating what he will do to you if you happen to have the same name as him.

We then get into a recent post full of Web comics advice from Dresden Codak creator, Aaron Diaz, and Steve and Jason weigh in on his advice. During which Steve teaches us all how to speak Chinglish and look stupid at the same time. We get into some harsh talk about people’s motives when getting into Web comics and what they should be.

Over Clocked Remix dot com is the source of our middle music again this time with Origami Robots by k-wix. I drizzled in a sort of NSFW story from Jason to the mix, jump ahead about 90 seconds if you don’t want to explain to anyone listening with you what genitals are.

We then get into the comic, talking about how much whimsy you can cram into a comic, how a comic can be the nice guy in your class and how sometimes orange and blue do go together outside of a grade school context.

And just when you think we’re done with you, we tangent off into the realms of Pan’s Labyrinth, old school fairy tales and how kids today can’t handle a good dismemberment.

This weeks rambletron topic, what do you do when the Hulk shows up to your barbeque.

Show notes

Indistinguishable from Magic – 7:00
Modest Medusa – 9:00
Rice Boy, Order of Tales, Vaatu- 9:15
Copper - 13:00
Cucumber Quest – 21:30
Tiny Kitten Teeth – 25:00
Dawn of Time, Laugh Out load Cats, Silent Kimbly- 25:45

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Digital Strips Podcast 260 – Review – Fortune’s Fools

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I’ll be the first to admit that this show is an odd one. Not only is it the second of a two show recording session but it’s also a review of a comic that has long since stopped updating. The former means our A material is all used up, but fortunately our B material is also a bunch of wiener/boob jokes and ad hominum attacks. The latter makes this an interesting look back through time at what could have been, rather than what is. Which is a little trippy and a lot of fun.

We start by pinning for the the new Muppets Movie which is still over a month away. We then discuss why Jason has gone through his beloved RSS feed witha scythe and cut almost all of the story-based strips found within. It turns out, stories are hard for Jason.

The middle music is American Dream Man by Leslie Hunt.

We then get into Fortune’s Fools by Mel Olm and MJ ALmon. Like I mentioned this black and white comic set in medieval France has long since given up the ghost leaving us to only wonder what might have been. I don’t know about you guys but finding fun comics that gave up a long time ago is always bitter sweet for me. On the one hand, I get to see what could have been and imagine my own ending, one the other hand, there’s a strange sense of loss over something I never knew there was. I’m probably over thinking this.

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Digital Strips Podcast 259 – Horizons Watch Derelict and The Man of Many Shades

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Ok, I’m super sorry about the lateness of this update. I do think that this particular episode was totally worth the wait, not only do we deliver two comics that are just begging for your attention but we get to hear Jason’s impression of a guy from Idaho, being given a book. You cannot buy quality audio programming like this.

This week we turn again to the horizons taking a look at Derelict and The Man of Many Shade, a name that becomes surprisingly hard to type after the 10th time.

Derelict is a dirty, grungy, post-apocalyptic tale that is different from all those other dirty, grungy post-apocalyptic tales, largely because it has a boat in it. But boats changes stories, they make them about the sea, and the sea has been changing our literature since we crawled out of it. Boats add romance, grandeur and an infinite setting that calls to all of us. Also a seagull dies in this, and everyone hates those dirty rat-birds.

The Man of Many Shades is all about juxtaposition. Like a good sweet and sour dish, it takes things that probably shouldn’t go together, and makes them not only go together, but be better for it. Here, instead of the sweetness of honey and the twang of lemon juice, it’s a dark and grity noir protagonist, and a poorly drawn unicorn. Trust me, it works.

We also talk about the following comics and the following times:

Imagine This – 5:15
Bug 6:15
Gronk 6:30
Bear and Tiger – 4:45

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Digital Strips Podcast 258 – Review – Optipess

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Hey what do mass murderers, butt sex and suicide have in common? There’s all topics even I won’t make a joke about. But fortunately I am not the the guy behind Optipess, this week’s comic.

Before we get into the matters at hand, we ramble, as we are want to do. We admit to each other, and vicariously all of you guys, that we were total weenies once and have not matured as much as we would have liked. I’m slightly braver than I once was, but it took a band of different colored ninjas to get me that way.

We then talk about what we’re reading, Shortpacked for Jason and Two Guys and Guy for me.

We then finally get into the show part of the show where we talk about Optipess, a comic I can’t think of a better word for than “dark” and if you would give me two words, I’d add “European.” Its a twisted little gag-a-day that I’m glad Jason brought to my attention, if only to counterbalance Modest Medusa in my RSS feed.

Let us know what you think of the show. We love us some feedback.

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Digital Strips Podcast 257 – Book Club – Order of the Stick – 4th Edition

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The Disney Princesses, not excepting Mulan, of courseDo you, our valued listeners, believe it is ok for Steve to have a strong interest in the goings-on of the world of Disney princesses? Neither do I, and that argument is the crux of our first segment. Oh, and Steve is nice enough to keep us relatively on track with a comic recommendation as well:

We also squeak in a few news items before lacing up for the Book Club brawl:

Alright, it’s time for the fight. What better fight anthem to roll us into the fracas than the theme to Mortal Kombat 3, remixed by The Dual Dragon (Mortal Konfrontation, 11:15). Of course, if you want to just get back to the action, the second segment starts at 12:52.

If you’ve been checking out this Book Club, you know that Steve is the veteran with Order of the Stick and also the bigger fan of the two of us. I am excited to finally be reading this long-running, very popular webcomic for myself, if only to form my opinion about it based on actually experiencing the story. That said, Steve and I rarely agree on anything this comic does, which makes for an interesting conversation. Listen in, won’t you?

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Digital Strips Podcast 256 – Review – Max Overacts (DO NOT PANIC)

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08/23/2011: Never ForgetEarthquakes! Hurricanes! These are the natural disasters that I, your intrepid East Coast webcomics correspondent, endured this week to bring you this, our finest episode ever! Yep, that is a bit of hyperbole I’m throwing your way, but it was fun nonetheless.

We’ve got Legend of Zelda naughty bits euphemisms, why it’s no longer funny to say use Google in a sexual context, and Who You Diggin’, a sub-segment where we try to save the first segment from ridiculousness and insanity by actually talking about what webcomics we’re enjoying for the week. These comics are:

And what better game remix and help redeem the podcast that one of the best video games of the last decade, possibly century, Super Mario Galaxy. This mix, titled, “Fill Me Up With Snacky Happiness” (9:34), is much, much less dirty than it sounds. This first sound break ends at (11:59), for those that care to skip right to the talking.

News Minute! Not a terrible amount of stuff to talk about, much two comics are coming back after hiatus/season finale (your definition of these breaks will depend on whether or not you agree comics can run in a seasonal update pattern) and Kate Beaton picked up her first Harvey Award.

Our music break comes to us courtesy of Memotone’s “Fractal” (16:48). Given all the natural occurrences surrounding me lately and this artist’s propensity for using nature to create beautiful music, it seemed apt. Again, (18:48) is the target if you’re looking to get right back to the action.

Back during the Eisners Award season, we took a quick look at Canaan Grall’s Max Overacts as one of five nominees (ok, to be fair, I took a quick look at it, Steve apparently read the entire archives then and there). We’re now taking on the entire series, both of us, together, and it’s a good thing too because it turns out this is quite the amazing comic. I just hope that, after listening to our review, people stop comparing it to Calvin and Hobbes as the only thing the two works have in common is the high quality exhibited therein.

Finally, after the show proper, we have another chatty segment, which Steve is thus far titling, “Rambletron” (35:08). If you like more quality Arnold Schwarzanegger impersonations, information about Steve’s friend’s poo that you probably didn’t need, and the idea that Virginian’s could save the planet after a 5.8 earthquake by jumping on a big pile of humpin’, that you’ve come to the right place. If not, I’ve provided you with the time stamp so you know what to avoid. We did, however, manage to work in a couple of webcomics amongst the rambling.

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