I actually got a good deal of positive feedback on this one. Mostly words of thanks from people with kids. There’s one of those comments on the site itself, but I’ve also gotten verbal feedback from people. The way out of Opposite Day is so simple I wonder how I never thought of it before. I won’t say I was the first to arrive there, surely, but I’m still proud of myself for getting there at all. [May 12, 2011]
Did you notice? All of my review scores are arbitrary and nonsensical. Just like the real world! [June 2, 2011]
I marked this comic as a “personal favorite” because I like the monster, and I love the idea (Matt’s idea, so credit where credit’s due). Though I will say that it does make me seem like I have a much more cynical and fatalistic outlook on life than I actually do. [August 17, 2007]
This is a story that is one hundred percent true. I was an usher that night at the movie theatre, and these dudes showed up tipsy. I don’t remember the exact circumstances but in any case we had to eject them. Usually we got tipped off by people being too noisy in the theatre — patrons in Winkler are typically pretty reserved while watching, so drunken idiots braying at the screen stand out quickly.
One of the two guys was at least trying to get the other one to leave quietly once they’d been ejected, but that guy was having none of it and decided to get up in my face. (At least he wasn’t physical about it. I’m really not a fighter.) Over and over, he asked: “Don’t you know who I am?!” to which I would honestly reply “no”. But that threat really only works if you back it up, and he never did. Then they left. [May 22, 2011]
Well it’s 2011 as I write this and my flag isn’t flying above the parliament buildings just yet. I also haven’t managed to make merchandise out of it in any way, although I do still like the design very much and have always wanted to update it a little.
Oh, and this comic marks the first time that I employed alt-tags to sneak extra jokes and commentary into each comic. (Those are the bits of text that appear when you hover your mouse over the image.) I stole the idea from Dinosaur Comics, basically, although I’ve also noticed a lot of other comics do it too. [May 10, 2011]
So, my brother came and reclaimed his tablet PC. Well that was fine, I guess, as it was a finicky piece of hardware and generally falling apart. Also it was his and I suppose I didn’t have much say in the matter. However it left me in an awkward spot with respect to my comic — what was I supposed to draw on now?
I knew I didn’t want to quit, so I selected a USB drawing tablet and elected to carry on. I have no idea what kind of research I did. Probably very little. I’m sure I’d heard Wacom was a good brand. Anyway, what’s a little funny is that I seem to be under the impression that nothing would really change in terms of the artwork, but in hindsight switching to the tablet is what really began the evolutionary shift to the way my drawings look today.
I don’t think I could have moved forward on that tablet PC. It’s anyone’s guess if I would even be doing the comic today if I’d have had to keep dealing with that thing. [May 4, 2011]
I felt as though the “Monsanto” thing in this comic required some explanation, so I wrote a comment on my own site which I shall display for you thus:
“In the fall of September 2001 I worked at a small Monsanto production plant that made the herbicide known as Roundup Dry. This product was largely for export to other countries. On good days we would simply bag the stuff as it came out of the production system into these gigantic shipping bags, and on bad days we’d have to bag it in these much smaller, bathroom-garbage-can-sized bags/boxes.
The smaller bags required a twist tie to be closed and this twist tie had to be twisted exactly four times, no more or less. Now. Four twists, times hundreds of bags across many nights of work = a pretty ingrained habit, by the end. THUS; bread bags, twist-ties around cables behind my TV, whatever – they get four twists.” [May 3, 2011]
As I write this on May the 3rd 2011, I am the fourth listing on google.ca for “dance puns”. With an achievement like that I have no idea how fame & fortune continue to elude me. [May 3, 2011]
I often say that I do these comics for my own amusement but most of the time I am not actually outwardly amused. Okay, that didn’t come out right. What I mean is that it isn’t as though I sit there and draw a thing and then laugh uproariously every time. Sometimes I don’t even crack a smile. It’s the way you watch a comedy show on your own but don’t always laugh, even though you know what you’re watching is funny — you just sort of inwardly acknowledge the joke.
Why did I start talking about this? Is it bad that I’ve lost my own train of thought in less than a paragraph? Oh yes, I remember now. I love the middle panel of this comic every time I see it. I’m proud of both the writing and artwork. Even though I don’t usually laugh out loud at my own work, this one often prompts a chuckle, and that’s saying something about how much I like it. [May 3, 2011]
Even though this is the hundred and eigth comic I feel like I hadn’t really settled into a ‘serious’ mindset. I have said elsewhere that the belief that nobody is reading your comic is a stress-reliever — the other side of that is that it’s much more On You to maintain a schedule and things like that. As such I have had quite a few update gaps and rushed comics simply because I wasn’t committed enough.
Here in particular we’ve got two comics in a relatively short period of time (this and #103) are kinda phoned-in and are about how I’d rather be playing video games. That’s some great work there, huh! Mind you, my lackadaisical attitude was not the ONLY reason I’d miss comics or phone them in, so…there. [April 28, 2011]
