Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with comic

You can't just throw a Google search together!

barnacles — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:40:09 -0800

Does anyone know the Far Side volume that includes the "posse organization" one? I'm looking for a particular Far Side comic. This is as best I remember it:

There is a big ball of horses and cowboys, arms and heads and legs sticking out at weird angles, and there are two cowboys standing next to it, one of whom says (something like) "Dangit, Clem, you can't just throw a posse together. You've gotta organize it!"

For the life of my, my Google searches have resulted in pretty much nothing. I would love to know which Far Side book contains it, but getting ahold of a high-res electronic version would be even better.

Help!

What's the book?

mippy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:16:36 -0800

I saw a graphic novel in a store today - the sequel to an earlier work, about a female high school student's adolescence, and written by a woman. Any ideas on what it could have been? The book had been published recently. The artwork had a red-haired girl in a hoody on the front, and the back cover referred to the heroine getting into drugs and (possibly) dropping out of high school. Oh, and it was American/Canadian, not Japanese. Because I'm an idiot, I didn't write down what it was, and I didn't have the £9 necessary to take it home from the second-hand bookstore.

Who was that noir/gothic/steampunk dude?

washburn — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:58:40 -0800

Super vague and obscure comicy question: Help me remember this steampunk/gothic/noir graphic-novel type story from the 1980's. So, I'm struggling to remember a comic, which would have appeared either once or perhaps a few times, probably on the pages of Heavy Metal or Epic Magazine (or someplace similar), and which I suppose was printed sometime in the 1980's. According to my very hazy memory, this comic is set in a large city with a sort of Byzantine steampunk vibe (with a gothic/noir feeling too, perhaps, with lots of black, red, and brown in the drawings), and it follows a central character who is a tall, sort of gastly looking person who is some sort of constable, detective, or agent of the law, who sets out to solve a mystery or accomplish a goal of some sort.

Any guesses?

Give me your comic book tips, tricks, and resources

joshrholloway — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:39:05 -0800

Please help me fuel my new-found obsession with comic books! What are some of your favorite recommended reads, as well as comic book resources, tips, and tricks? In the past few weeks I've become very interested in comic books. Not just the stories themselves, but the whole culture, history, and industry. This is my first real exposure to the world of comic books besides reading Watchmen and a few other graphic novels a couple years back. (For reference, I find that I'm more drawn to the DC Universe, and Batman specifically.) Given this new obsession, how can I use all the resources available to me to best enjoy the comic reading experience?

I'm open to all your tips and tricks of the comics world (or reading recommendations), but I do have one thing I'd specifically like to find: an RSS feed, or more ideally, an email newsletter that would keep me updated on all the new stuff that's coming out in each week or even further out.

Also, are there any good comic-related apps for the iPhone? I'm really loving ComicBookDB for its comprehensive information, but it would be great if there was something like this that was specifically made for the iPhone.

All tied up with art

sandra_s — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:00:11 -0800

Can anyone tell who the artist/writer of the 1950s or 1960s adult comic strip in the photos inside. Links might me NSFW. I was sent these 3 images, which appear to be scans from a book. here, here and here. Unfortunately, the sender wasn't the scanner and they dont know where the images are from.

There is a recurring "male chauvinist" theme to them and appear to be from the 1950s/early 1960s. What caught my eye was the heaping helpings of non-sexual female bondage.

There is some type of signature on each that might read "Ibigo", but googling that doesn't revel anything.

Can anyone shed some light on the artist or the book these are from?

Thanks in advance

Help me find a magazine

djstig — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:23:14 -0800

Help me find a specific magazine. I saw a childrens art magazine a few months ago somewhere, possible on Mefi, and I can't remember what it was called.

It was based in London and had a screenprinted (or screenprint-like) colourful cover. I think it had a one word title as its name, but I may be wrong. There where a number of back issues that could be ordered, about 8 or 9 (again I think)as well as being able to get a subscription. On the website for the magazine I think there where links to a hard backed issue, or other books that the same artists had made.

Just having a quick google now and found Anorak - The Happy Mag For Kids, it isn't that one!

I hope these clues are specific enough as I would like to be able to buy a subscription for my sister and my nephew. Thanks.

cartoon hero names A-Z suitable for monkeys

miagaille — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:24:25 -0800

I work in a lab with rhesus monkeys. They need names. For reasons of historical precedent and notational convenience, lab animals are usually named alphabetically, from A ("Abe") until you run out of monkeys. For reasons of awesomeness, we're naming our monkeys after spunky cartoon characters. So, please help me come up with the best comic/cartoon/superhero names for each letter of the alphabet. We currently have two monkeys: Zim and Yogi (we started from the end of the alphabet). Eight new monkeys are arriving next week, and probably more in the months and years to come. The names should be short (no more than two syllables) or have shortened forms. Both male and female names would be great. We're especially in need of the rare letters (X?); we could skip them, but that would be less awesome.

Note: no monkeys were harmed in the preparation of this AskMe, and no monkeys are maimed/killed/dissected in our lab, either. They live long, healthy lives, which is why we need good names from the start. Thanks!

They killed my ... car

jdfan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:13:00 -0800

My GoogleFu is failing me... please help me find the comic illustration I saw a few days ago mashing up Tron and The Big Lebowski. Jeff Bridges is drawn as Lebowski and his light cycle is on fire. Thanks!

Lost in Weblation

Post-it Goat — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:33:34 -0800

Can anyone identify this webcomic? I remember reading it maybe 6-7 years ago. I think it was a single-panel black and white strip with sort of blocky art. Mostly it was about a guy (I think based on the author) who lived in some big city or other, and it had sort of a melancholy feel with a lot of the strips just being romantic statements about city life, and others were probably about an unrequited crush or something. I remember it having a sort of "Lost in Translation" feel. The guy who did it was speaking English as a second language and what I liked about it was how strange the dialog was because of that...I want to say he spoke Spanish, Portuguese or Italian. I'm not sure if it was popular or how I ran across it. Vague, I know. Any guesses?

comics for snobs

sponge — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:20:07 -0800

Can you recommend any graphic novel / comic forums or groups that focus on more obscure, non Barnes and Noble titles? Or that are more focused on the art, illustration qualities.

Related: 1, 2.

Thanks!

I wistfully remember how we used to reminisce...

Mountain Goatse — Fri, 29 May 2009 19:27:30 -0800

Trying to find a comic strip about wistfulness... This was a comic strip printed in the newspaper maybe several months ago (SF Chronicle, though I'm sure the strip is syndicated). Single panel, 2 characters, a couple. One comments on remembering how they used to reminisce, and the other says longingly, "We were so wistful then."

Anyone know what strip this was, and where I can find it?

Help me find a robot sex comic

Dr. Send — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:09:14 -0800

I read a robot sex comic a couple months ago and now I can't find it. It was the story of a young married woman who had an affair with the robot butler. The butler had a crazy telescoping penis and the sex scenes were very explicit. If I remember correctly the husband ended up dismantling the robot, and I can't remember what happened after that.

It was beautifully drawn and all online; I'm guessing I got to it by following a link on Livejournal (Kate Beaton's?) or Drawn maybe? Any clues would be appreciated.

Comic Book Question

mikedelic — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:20:09 -0800

Comic Book Filter. Help, my wife has 2000+ comic books from the 80's & 90's...all your favorites - Superman, Batman, Green Lantern. How do we get them appraised or sell them? She has boxes and boxes of comic books in sleeves, but in no order or organization. She would like to sell them, but find the whole process of sorting, etc very daunting. How should we go about this and who should we call? Are there comic book appraisers/Services?

Any help would be appreciated

I'm going to throw you right into the sun.

Cool Papa Bell — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:26:34 -0800

Fictional gravity: Let's say I was the complete master of all things gravity and I wanted to hurl a person into the sun. Stipulations: I am in complete, omnipotent, magical control of gravity. I can increase and decrease gravity at will, relative to all objects, across all distances.

I want to hurl a person into the sun. Specifically, I want to increase the gravitational attraction between the sun and a specific person, such that the person is lifted off the ground, achieves escape velocity and eventually is pulled right into the sun.

When I do this, it will not have an effect on anything besides the targeted person and the sun. No other objects will have their gravity tweaked with.

Time is a factor, inasmuch as I'd like this person to be leaving the breathable atmosphere within ... oh, let's say 10 minutes after I flip the switch. Think of it like a survivable rocket launch (until he runs out of oxygen, that is). Beyond that, it could take forever for him to actually reach the sun. But he's out of eyeball range pretty damn quickly.

This will happen at noon for the targeted person, outside, so there's a straight line from him to the sun. He just goes straight up into the air and doesn't need to be pulled through walls, ceilings or the planet itself.

What is the minimum amount of gravitational increase, in percentage, to do this?

Linus Van Pelt and the answer to life

bondcliff — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:02:03 -0800

Help me find the Peanuts cartoon in which Linus says "The way I see it, as soon as a baby is born he should be issued a banjo!" I've actually found it here (the post from JohnGP on 10/29/2008) but it's very poor quality.

There's another strip posted in that thread, with Charlie Brown saying a similar line. That's not the one I'm looking for, but I'll take that if you can find it.

I have all the books, from 1950 up until the currently released one (1971), but for some reason it's eluded me so far.

All the strips are on-line here but a search of "banjo" turns up nothing.

A google book search of "issued a banjo linus" turns up some references to it, but not the strip itself.

According to the thread I linked to, the strip was reprinted in a Pete Seeger book from 1962, so I can only assume it appeared in newspapers before that date. If you can find me the date the strip was published I can then go back to my Peanuts books to dig it up.

I've been learning the banjo recently and when people ask me why I wanted to learn the banjo, that Peanuts strip I read as a kid is the reason. Ever since reading it I've seen the banjo as an instrument that promotes happiness. I'd love to find a copy.

Given AskMe's history of "Help me find..." threads I expect there will be an answer in about six seconds. So thanks in advance, hive mind.

How often should I post to maintain an audience?

gusandrews — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:13:08 -0800

I produce a YouTube show about media literacy/criticism. Right now we post weekly, on a schedule which is driving me insane. Does frequency of publishing new content matter (whether it's for a blog, a podcast, a comic, etc) so long as you publish regularly? Could I do it every other week or monthly without losing people's attention? And what do you suggest doing to help make up for less-frequent publishing? I produce a YouTube show about media literacy/criticism which is aimed roughly at high-school- and college-aged students. Right now we post weekly. I've been sticking to this schedule because I've always felt that blogs/webcomics/other online serials which post regularly tend to have a more devoted audience. (This also echoes advice I got when working for an organization which supported small-circulation magazines.)

However, posting weekly is kind of driving me crazy. Editing and shooting video is a hell of a lot more time-consuming than writing a blog post. I'd like to post less frequently, but I'm worried I'd lose audience. A lot of the people I speak to about the show don't seem to have a YouTube account, so using the "subscribe" button is out.

So I'm hoping to gather up the expertise of people who have been doing this for longer than I have. Does frequency of publishing new content matter (whether it's for a blog, a podcast, a comic, etc) so long as you publish regularly? Could I do it every other week or monthly without losing people's attention? And what do you suggest doing to help make up for less-frequent publishing?

How much Dutch do I need to learn?

joewandy — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:14:18 -0800

How much Dutch do I need to learn if my goal is to be able to read Donald Duck comic scans online ? More details and sample pages inside. Assume that I have a good mastery of the English language. How long would it take for me to learn enough Dutch in order to be able to read the following sample Donald Duck scans ?

Sample 1

Sample 2

Basically, how much effort do I have to invest into this endeavour, and what's the proficiency level equivalent to Dutch schooling that I need to achieve (e.g. elementary school, high school, etc.) ?

Note that I only want to learn enough to be able to read the comics, not speak the language.

Thanks for replying :)

Help me find this webcomic!

eralclare — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:09:42 -0800

You'd think a viral meme that successful would be easier to find...where is the link to it? I'm looking for an old webcomic--a one-off (as I remember it) story about a viral meme named Rei-Rei (or maybe Rae-Rae or Mei-Mei?) that takes over the world. She starts off completely virtual, a female construct designed as a blending of all races, the "best" features of each. She sang and dressed vaguely like Japanese pop stars (Sailor Moon-esque) and her message was some version of "one world, one people."

She goes from being a pop cultural phenomena to people (men and women) having cosmetic surgery to look like her.

Told from the viewpoint of an African-American male journalist who loses his girlfriend to the meme.

Where can I find this lovely, dystopian webcomic?

Comic with a white fox, smartass birds, & a dancing bear

notsnot — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 20:39:07 -0800

Trying to remember an online comic, with a spirit-of-the-woods bear that used to be in the circus. and a little white fox that would *not* shut up. And they went to the top of the mountain, and there was...? a lion?

Schizo comic

fiTs — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:20:04 -0800

During the late '80s or early '90s, Epic Comics, an imprint of the Marvel Comics company, printed a graphic novel about schizophrenia thinly veiled as a ghost story. Does anyone know the name of the graphic novel and the author?

Comic Books -- What New with Batman etc

snap_dragon — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:43:53 -0800

Is there any site that will give me updates in comic book storylines for a long stretch of time (last 6 months +) since I barely can afford to buy one nowadays?

Can X penetrate Y?

dbarefoot — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 19:05:06 -0800

DensityFilter: What happens when you throw a nickel really fast at the fuselage of an F-16? I remember an old issue of The Uncanny X-Men, in which the flight-enabled, super-strong Rogue is battling some fighter jets. If I recall correctly, she throws one or more coins at the jets. The coins penetrate the planes, and they explode, or are otherwise disabled.

In reality, would this work? Is it strictly a question of the relative density of the coin and the jet's fuselage? How much does the coin's inertia matter? I got a C+ in Physics 11, or I'd answer this myself.

Explain this cartoon?

Bruce H. — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:44:21 -0800

I don't understand this cartoon. Anybody offer a hint?

Portable Comic Readers

Ziggy Zaga — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:41:12 -0800

Portable comic readers. I'm looking for a USB-connectable device on which I can throw .cbr and .cbz (or .rar and .zip respectively) files onto it, and be able to view them on the device the same way CDisplay does on the PC. What affordable devices are capable of doing this? Think Kindle, but for comics. Google reveals that the iPhone will do it but I'm not going to buy one for this.

I know the Nintendo DS can do this with third-party chips and mods but the end result is pathetic and not worth the effort. The screen resolution is terrible.

I've got my eye on the PSP but lost all respect for Sony after all the firmware bricking debacles. I'll consider it as a last resort if there are absolutely no other low-cost options...I don't plan on doing much with it that might actually require firmware updates. It's more a matter of principle than anything.

Aside from that I've given up on techno-lust long ago and don't keep up with current trends in gadgetry. Is there anything else out there that might fit the bill? The cheaper, the better-- once we hit $300 I might as well get a cheap laptop.

Thanks

Looking for new comics to read

reenum — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:18:57 -0800

I need some recommendations for daily comic strips to read I've checked the old threads and found one thread that led me to some good stuff.

But, alas, that thread seemed to be filled with comics that were not to my taste. Plus, the thread is over 3 years old. Surely new stuff has come out since then.

My favorite comic strips in the past and present are as follows:
Calvin and Hobbes
Bloom County
Doonesbury (especially the Uncle Duke character)
Sinfest
My Filing Technique is Unstoppable (except for the excessive cursing)
Dilbert (Dogbert's my fav)

I'm looking for comics with a quirky point of view and an edgy sense of humor. I'm not big into sci-fi, gaming, or fantasy, so a lot of those might be out. I'm not closing myself off to such comics, but they would have to be really outstanding for me to get into them.

Also, I don't want to limit myself to webcomics. If there are nationally syndicated or paper-only strips out there that you think I might like, please recommend them too.

Thanks!