When I should have been working, or perhaps after I work just enough, I saw a link for this book called The Rack, which turns out to be a collection of webcomics of the same name by Kevin Church and Benjamin Birdie. The introduction to said book was written by James Sime, proprietor of Isotope The Comic Book Lounge in San Francisco. That was enough to get me to take a look-see, and wouldn’t you know it, I started with the first comic, and started working my way forward. Even the most recent strip made me chuckle. You know, because gamers scare me.
The premise is pretty straight forward. There’s a comic shop called Yavin IV (I would totally shop at a place with that name. But, if you have to ask…) and of course, running the place are all the different archetypes you’ll find within fandom. They make all sorts of jokes about stuff going on in comics right now, and draw on their experiences in retail and fandom. I know, nothing terribly groundbreaking.
However, the key difference here is that I thought it was actually pretty funny. The thing is, in a post-Kevin Smith world, all those jokes needed somewhere to go. Most of the time when I hear Star Wars jokes, or people humor comics about comics, they kind of suck, or you’ve heard them a million times before. I was actually pleasantly surprised reading The Rack. I even bookmarked it. And I’ve only got Penny Arcade and Dilbert on that list.
If you haven’t, and you’re desperately trying to stave off the advance of real things to do, say at work, give it a shot.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
You win again, Flanagan. I now have another web comic to follow.
Those real things can wait.
Enjoyable
You "literally stumbled across this webcomic"? Had someone printed out several hundred pages of it and left them stacked outside your doorway?
Stumbleupon.com.
I admit it. I misused the word. The intention was similar, but I was using the figurative meaning of stumble as a given, and highlighting the fact that I really happened on it with "literally"
And now I had to fix it, because I couldn’t live with the grammatical error just hanging there.
Whew! Now the Grammar Gestapo will never find you. I think people should begin using "figuratively" for emphasis–e.g. "I figuratively had a heart attack when I saw that word misused." Shouldn’t we live in a world where the default assumption is that the speaker meant what they said unless otherwise stated? That’s what I believe. Literally.
Can someone explain the problem with Left 4 Dead 2?
I’m not sure, but people are mad about it. And that’s funny.
I suppose I can research myself, looks like people are bitching about it coming out too soon cutting off the DLC for the first one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_4_Dead_2#Announcement_and_boycott
This just backs up my claim that comic fans are nowhere near the only fanatical group who pull stupid shit like this.
Thanks for the link, Josh. I think "only" is the key word, Gobo. The first thing I thought of when I reached the end of this article was The Sentry.
People are mad about L4D 2 because the first game just came out last year. Some people thing it’s too soon to warrant another $60 game that looks to be more of the same. I am not one of them, mind you. I liked Left 4 Dead and this looks like more zombie killing fun to be had all around, so I don’t really think Valve’s crazy scheme to make more money should be all that shocking or appalling. But that’s just me.
About the webcomic: I have so few that I follow religiously (I always start reading one, then completely forget to keep checking it and never go back). This one looks like a keeper though. Very funny from what I’ve read (also going through from the beginning). I really hope I don’t forget to check this one 😛
Good find, Josh.
Update: Added the bookmark to my bookmark toolbar so that should do it.
Hahaha, this is great! I’d also suggest Penny Arcade, Questionable Content, and xkcd as far as webcomics go.
Great article.
@brian
Its only $50. The real version came out on the PC.
the outrage is their because fans never expected a cash grab like this from Valve.
eh i’ll buy it when it’s on sale.BFD
Thanks for the kind words, Josh and everybody else! For those who liked the strip and are worried about keeping up, Birdie and myself recommend using Google Reader and clicking on the "Subscribe" link at the top of the page. We actually publish the strip in our RSS feed, which means that you get it four times a week (when we are on schedule, anyway!)
Because of the MoCCA Art Fest and a dying hard drive on my main machine, we’re a bit off right now but we should be back to full steam by Monday. Keep checking out the site and read the archives! (You can also order the book. That would make me very, very happy.)
Nice!
@Josh this is the best comic book related web comic i’ve found: http://www.letsbefriendsagain.com/2009/01/27/it-gets-white-out-later/
ill check this out. and dilbert. i love sinfest, personally.
loving this!!
burning through their archive. great reccomendation.