 (Source)What. What! What? What?! I am doing what I can to keep my knee from jerking, but I don't know how long that can possibly last. So. One question: What IS this strip about and why is SHECKY -- no, wait, that would be two questions. Oh, to hell with it! More questions: Is this strip supposed to seem antagonistic towards Berkeley Breathed? What's the joke? What percentage of SK's readership is supposed to understand ANY of this strip? Why is there no editorial comment for this strip? Isn't this the kind of strip that needs an attached news post the MOST? Is there going to be an Opus movie? Is this supposed to be about Breathed's "Mars Needs Moms!" picture book that's being filmed as a movie? Is this just... I don't know, a "Poor Berkeley Breathed, I feel bad for him these days" strip? Why Shecky -- oh God, why? Is it irony? Is this strip funny (Or does it provide some kind of meaningful commentary) to anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Is Berkeley Breathed "on the rocks"? What comparison are we to assume SK is making by pairing Shecky with Opus? That was not my knee jerking, that was me trying to keep it from doing so. Because I clearly have no idea what this strip is on about. |
Thursday, September 24
No, Seriously, I Don't Get It
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Its a reference to a recent Berkeley Breathed gave to icv2.com where in response to a question about whether he would do online comics said this:
ReplyDelete"..No, after having 70 million daily readers in 1985, getting 3000 a day online isn’t terribly energizing at this stage. I’m happy to go to the storytelling potential of film and books now. My heart was always there anyway, to be honest..."
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/15842.html
Thank you, that's helpful.
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand SK's motivation behind (Nor his point to) this strip.
My feelings toward CS(pi) are pretty much exactly like Jai's to On The Rocks.
ReplyDeleteThe dramatic gesture of Brent removing his shades to put them back on is so much the antithesis of how meaningful it was during his wedding, when we see his eyes for the first time. Although, I do understand the attempt at correlating that to Sherlock Holmes' taking his pipe out of his mouth.
And, the exclamatic "YEEAAAAAH!"...
This is what really kills it for me.
Could anyone find that punchline ("...has been calculating pie.") so exciting?
Today's strip is on par with The Lockhorns at best.
I've seen pithier jokes in the "Jumble".
Jes: He was doing the David Caruso parody meme that was going around the internet a few weeks back. Not sure where it started. I heard it on the Joystiq Podcast, and the Joystiq guys were running around PAX getting people to do it.
ReplyDeleteThe YEEEEAAHHHH is supposed to be Roger Daltrey from Won't Get Fooled Again.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=8702785815&topic=12227
There's some videos collected of some people doing this at PAX. It's actually effective and funny in video form.
Yeah...I haven't really 'gotten' either of his last two strips. He's making it really tough to write something up =P
ReplyDeleteThe David Caruso parody is an idea that is much, much more than just a few weeks old. Let's try... three years old. "Calculating pie" still doesn't make sense (Unless he means Cole, then it mostly works. But THAT wouldn't make sense), 25% of the pie is missing (And Cole's middle speech bubble in the first panel? Rubbish; that pie has not been "spread out"), the bridge to Brent's sunglasses is invisible (In the first two panels. But the first panel either has the bridge bending and extending over his nose, in case that ISN'T a nostril. Which it might not be -- nostrils would kind of be a new thing for Brent. It's a problem either way, because as a nostril it looks pretty good, and now Brent should always get some sweet nostrils to flesh his face out. As the bridge to his sunglasses, it makes no sense at all because it isn't shaped that way when he wears them), but the angle of the first panel's perspective is VERY nice, and I see that SK is taking lessons from Ramon Perez in how to draw really bitchin' hands. I mean, I would almost swear that Ramon drew the ones in the first panel (Just Brent's, of course).
ReplyDeleteI feel like PVP's actually used this as a joke already -- back when it was almost a new idea -- but I can't think of anything more specific. Or else I'd go looking a couple of years back in the archive for it.
I agree that this joke, uh... is actually effective and funny in video form. In fact, I would agree that the whole thing is on par with The Lockhorns if it weren't for the inherent humor (Of Cole determining the percentage of loss from a physical pie chart graph) in the first panel.
I, for one, was just excited to see Opus portrayed at all in today's comics.
ReplyDeleteThat is more a function of how much I miss Bloom County than anything else.
I think the comic was a bit of a swipe at Breathed and his reticence these days, however I didn't see it as a slam at all. I took it as Scott taking an opportunity to indulge in a bit of nostalgia for the good ole days.
Sure, he took a swipe, but taking a swipe at something THAT iconic can be nothing but ironic. He saw what Berke wrote, and he responded.
I read nothing but respect there. Scott is a cartoonist. I suspect He read Berke's comments and felt the need to react in some way.
That is fine by me.
Bloom County used to have a lot of strips like this, based on characters sitting somewhere like the local bar, talking about some personal or political issue, often to someone unseen -- until an ironic reveal in the last panel.
ReplyDeleteSo, 'On The Rocks' was a very deliberate and specific stylistic homage to that sort of Bloom County strip.
Why Shecky? Well, who else in the PvP cast would be likely to be sitting in a bar talking to a stranger? Shecky's the logical go-to for a "sitting in the bar" joke.
I think putting Breathed's words in Opus's mouth -- in, and this is the unwritten but important part, a webcomic that gets considerably more than 3,000 hits a day -- was probably intended to be a touch pointed.
But that was balanced well by the affectionate parody, which clearly came from an extensive knowledge of Bloom County. It was, therefore, right up my alley -- I laughed out loud at this one.
I suppose strips based around references are only entertaining if you get the reference... I found the CSI Miami meme one fun (the puns are _supposed_ to be bad...) but I didn't get the Bloom County one at all really - I've only ever heard of Breathed/Bloom County from Scott's previous references... According to wikipedia it finished in 1989? And it looks like it didn't have much (if any) syndication outside North America so that's not really surprising that I hadn't heard of it...
ReplyDeleteStephen, I'm morally obligated to whine "Why Shecky" whenever he pops up -- no matter how reasonable the choice was for intent and setting.
ReplyDeleteThe similarities you mentioned that make this strip a bit of an homage went unrealized by me at first, and now I feel silly for not having made that connection. Unfortunately, if this is parody, I still don't see any irony, humor, or other point in it. I see why SK could take what Breathed said the wrong way (Which would be the only reason to make a pointed-looking strip about it), but there is still neither an evident point nor an evident joke in the whole thing. So it confuses me, even though I realize that the situation was a bit daffy and seeing Opus was unexpected, as well as that humor can often be derived from humorless situations. That all seems like an unreliable way to make people laugh -- especially when accompanied by a serious quote-turned-monologue which is being mated very ambiguously to the comic's author's point of view.
The more I learned, the less I got it. Well... so it goes, I guess. There's always next week!
Now that it's been explained to me, the David Caruso makes sense. However, (for me) it just doesn't work without the soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteAnd, just how would you spread a fruit pie to make it look un-disturbed? That's physically impossible. It isn't mashed potatoes and lima beans. The whole strip was just weak.
As for the number of PVP website hits, most of those are from me. I check in quite often during my work day, hoping to find that day's post. But, I don't think 2,500 attempts in an 8 hour day is too obsessive. Do you?
It honestly depends on how boring your day at work is!
ReplyDeleteIt's like voting on American Idol, without the suspense...or the gratification...or the results.
ReplyDelete