A special message from Jay Piscopo among the comments.
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Page 33 (it’s below page 32) of this.
Hey, remember when I used to post a comic here? Well I don’t. Could you remind me what that was like?
The moral of this story: believe in yourself and you too might one day cause someone else a spinal injury
The page size limit affects me yet again. I do not think it is as obvious today as the previous time, though. The size was FINE when I was PLANNING the thing. It was only when I drew it and started thinking “maybe THIS should happen instead…” that problems arose. Problems often arouse themselves in this way.
Once this “story” is finished, I intend to use a different content-delivery method if I think of one that seems like I would be capable of working with it. I imagine the shift would be considered abrupt if I did it mid-action. Even though I apparently have no problem with taking month-long breaks mid action, ideally at the conclusion, when the next images are posted, the gap isn’t visually apparent. Surely it’s fun enough to track the color depth changes between pages.
I wanted to be like Hergé. As far as cramming lots of stuff into little spaces and having it not seem like I crammed it beyond reasonable protocols of crammage goes. I still do. I cannot. Look at this page. Or don’t, but I’m going to continue talking as if you’ve looked at it regardless of whether you have. FIVE rows of panels. I never even realized the pictures were smaller than usual here until a few years prior to now because the author was a master at what he did. Every little box gets my full attention, as if it’s all I see (ehhh, in the actual book, off the internet, at least). Not only are there lots of boxes, a lot happens into. Herge gets China invaded and occupied, and then the invasion gloated about in ONE PAGE. Maybe it’s a little bit racist, maybe Tintin’s survival throughout his numerous captivities is incredibly improbable, that these guys who start wars just because they feel like it will point guns at but not kill the one meddler who threatens them the most, but that’s beside the point that my drawings are incomprehensible. It’s beside the point of itself because the improbability doesn’t affect my desire to finish viewing the story nor my ability to enjoy it. That improbability is all around us and people are used to it. I need to realize that I can get away with some blatant improbabilities. I do, but most of the ones I set up are, at their roots, attempts to avoid other improbabilities that are easier for people to ignore. Or something like that. I feel asleep back when I used a form of “improbable” in the fourth consecutive sentence.
RSS feed for comments, for they hunger.
Sorry, the comment form is apologizing at this time.
A gay paramecium sez:
Someone should probably inform Lope that that is almost certainly NOT a muffin.
That said, this page provides a bit of much-welcome freakiness of the sort we haven’t really seen for a while in this comic. Can we look forward to further freakings in the following folio? I must admit I’m a bit confused as to precisely why Neckeater begins foaming at the mouth and biting people toward the end, but I assume this will be clarified in the next page. It should further be noted that “P’zooone!” is certainly one of the more interesting reactions one might have to such a chomp.
Regarding the layout, what works for Tintin works for Tintin, but this story is of course drastically different from Tintin in terms of content, pacing, dialogue, artistic style, etc., so it should come as little surprise that the same sort of structure is unlikely to work well with it. It’s fine to have inspirations, but they should scarcely serve to shackle one–quite the opposite, in fact. ‘Tis best to simply let the comic be what it wants to be. I agree that waiting on the change until the end of the chapter may indeed be the most elegant solution, however.
Finally:
You aspire to be like Hergé.
Jay Piscopo fancies himself the spiritual successor of Hergé.
Thus, you aspire to be like Jay Piscopo.
Pigbuster sez:
It is odd when someone makes a comment on something that says contains what I was going to say within it. I mention this because Paramecium over there has done just that. I suppose it would be rather odd if I brought it up if it hadn’t happened, wouldn’t it?
I took Muffineater’s reaction to be a combination of aural stress and the much more potent ingredient of finally being fed up with Inchwelm’s abuse and doing something about it, even without the aid of heroics-inducing haberdashery. I must admit I had been waiting for this for a while now, meaning that I am invested in this comic enough to actually be excited by how things were building up and how they are blowing up now. In not stupid words, I like this; the expressions, especially.
I often worry that if I just come out and say I like something that I will seem insipid or shallow or something, which is a rather silly thing to worry about here, so whatever. I think that I’ve written this exact concern out on this site before, but I can’t remember if I posted it or if it was a case of “type something out, then decide to delete all of it because you don’t want to look foolish”. Or something.
Mxy sez:
I was going to remark on your Piscopo aspirations too, but now I won’t.
Umpulurgit sez:
protozexual:
Stop hogging all the comment ideas!
If I had taken more frames to set that up, it would be clear, I hope, that the lizard has merely once more temporarily lost its mind in a stressful situation.
What I assume you are referring to with “freakiness” here was irrelevant enough that it could be inserted without affecting what I was planning to do anyhow. I will have to be more vigilant for similar opportunities, if indeed that is a thing that doesn’t bother people.
I am aware that I merely aspire, and only in some ways, to be Herge-like. Jay Piscopo is a raging egomaniac who thinks he’s already surpassed his supposed inspiration with copy-pasted characters speaking dialog large enough to fill a telephone directory for old people. In fact, he never gave any indication that he knew who Herge actually was. Mr. Piscopo’s publicist/lawyer/sponge bath giver probably just told him to ask the Shipyard Brewing Company if he could tell his webmaster to type that on a page. I also like Franquin, but I’m still a tad ashamed of the video game pages I wrote as excuses to bring that up.
Though I may have wanted to be like them, I also acknowledge that I can’t be like them, and I hope to convince myself to stop trying soon. I wish to never feel it necessary introduce myself by invoking a name; my specific frame-arrangement inadequacy merely occurred to me at this time. Although this point only regards Herge, as Franquin was less fussy where his white-edged picture box-count was concerned.
PB Max:
It appears that I cannot stop Pigbuster with paramecium alone.
I’m glad you found it a poignant moment, or at least claimeth to in an effort to make me feel better. Unfortunately, I doubt that it functions as well when taken in at a proper pace, without a month’s pause between pages. It takes me so long that I forget simple things like whether nemitz is SUPPOSED to be that dark and saturated or if that was just meant to be for the frames behind the curtains, and that the lizard is in a hospital bed rather than a normal bed. I also made the cigarette’s colored end on the wrong side, but that’s due to me knowing beans about cigarettes rather than forgetting anything.
BW Mx:
I don’t believe you! Prove it!
"Ray" Jay Piscopo sez:
You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me Ray J., or you can call me R.J., or you can call me R.P., or you can call me Carpy, or you can call me Jay-Po, or you can call me Scipo, or can call me Ray-co, or you can call me Treco…but ya don’t has ta call me Piscopo!
America's Newest Funnyman sez:
Call me whatever you want, just don’t call me late for dinner!
Jay Piscopo sez:
It must be really fun to slam someone you don’t know. You seem to do it enough.
Maybe if you concentrated on improving your own work you might get somewhere.
I don’t see myself as the “spiritual successor to Herge” or anyone else-
My friend Roy Thomas compared the book to Tintin, not me. If you have a problem with that talk to Roy.
I hope you publish your work someday- then you might have to deal with hurtful people just like you.
Jay Piscopo sez:
btw- ill just take this time to respond to something that should be understood-
Using my work without permission is not your right. I don’t care about your opinions about my personal character or my work. But you are not entitled to chop it up and put images of Hitler in it.
Half my family is of Jewish heritage, so not only the work being stolen and mutilated was hurtful , but associating it with Hitler was beyond any bounds.
You guys dont like me or my work– good for you
You protest a little too much–
try doing something
Dimitri Trevelyan sez:
Esteemed Mr. Piscopo,
Though it is understandable that you do not wish to see your work mutilated, an appropriate response would have been to email our gracious host expressing your concern, rather than threatening a law suit. The internet is, admittedly, something of an anarchistic place, where copyright is played with fastly and loosely, with works frequently being edited and parodied without their original creators’ consent. And it is not unreasonable to suggest that this can cause some degree of annoyance. However, even on the internet, most people are, on some level or other, reasonable sorts (even if this is not always immediately obvious!), and will usually be willing to remove the offending documents should you approach them in a similarly reasonable manner.
A disproportionately forceful initial response–threatening legal action against the owner of a small, private site (regularly viewed by perhaps fifteen people) for making fun of your work–can seem, from the recipient’s perspective, to suggest a similarly disproportionately high view of one’s own work, which was the basis of the above article, fair or not. It should be further noted that this article was published nearly a year ago, and you and your work have not been mentioned since. Dragging this topic back up again after such a period of time and attempting to frame such as an obsession on the part of our host may, I suspect, not have quite the effect you intend.
Again, while I can sympathize with your objection in this matter, I must say, from the perspective of a third party, your responses in this matter are far more likely to have a negative effect on your public image than some fellow on the internet replacing the background of one of your covers with a wall of Hitlers. Had you expressed your concern more calmly, I believe a good deal of insults could have been spared on both sides. In the future, I should ask you to consider your responses to such matters more carefully, and to act in a corresponding manner. A bit of politeness–even in the face of a somewhat crude joke at your expense–can go quite a long way.
Jay Piscopo sez:
Politeness? Why would one assume that a polite request to remove an image using an artist’s work with Hitler pasted in would be taken seriously by the person who did it?
The post is full of hate and vitriol. The response was a cease and desist- within Shipyard’s rights and any corporation would and has done the same- regardless of the number of people that view the post— the post is on the web after all
and it is copyright infringement
equating Shipyards and my responses with cutting and pasting Hitler into my work is reaching-
I don’t know who you are- all ive seen is a lot of hate on this blog
I dont use aliases on the net- so in terms of “public image” i don’t hide and im not responsible for what others think.
my only reason for posting here , is that i do take the net and publishing and creators efforts and rights very seriously.
I take responsibility for all that i may write say and publish-
I would like others to do the same– Is it so much to ask that if you are going to trash a persons work AND paste in Hitler AND criticize them personally-( having never met them) to take it down? Why would we assume they were reasonable?
Thanks for the understanding about my heritage-
What if some took the most hateful thing you can think of and pasted images of you and your work with it? If it is within your rights to have them stop- wouldn’t you those rights? Would you assume that such hateful behavior would respond to politeness? A cease and desist is not a personal insult by the way.
So if I look bad– I look bad standing up to hecklers.
And thats another reason im posting this-
I saw an interesting movie called Heckler- by Jamie Kennedy
its about the abuse of the internet and the over criticism in our society by bloggers that just love to hate.
Brendan Cunningham sez:
Sir Jay: This is my website. Dimitri is merely a person who comments on it and is very supportive of me regardless of whether I deserve it. I am visiting with my family at the moment. I am glad that family is important to you. I will address your concerns when I have an opportunity to consider them thoroughly. I hope you will calm down.
Sir Dimitri: thank you for standing up for me. Everybody should have somebody who will. I think I ought to handle this fellow, though.
Jay Piscopo sez:
I’m calm – and I’m done here- I think it’s important for creators to uphold their rights and Ive done that.
Let’s just part ways- There is nothing I say or do that will meet with approval here.
I’m sorry you don’t like my work, myself or the way I do business-
I get the message-
Nobody is forcing any of it on you.
This is an old post- I understand that- i thought while its out in the public- i should defend myself-
No threats have ever been intended toward you or anyone on my behalf only the upholding of personal creator rights. If you regard a cease and desist as an unfair threat you are well within your rights to fight it- and if unfair- I for one would support you- and if your work was abused or construed in a hateful way I’d be supportive of your rights as a creator to have it stopped.
Really nothing more to say
So good luck to you and your work.
Brendan Cunningham sez:
Skippy, my man! I don’t reckon stating your points and declaring the issue closed is any way to sort out an issue, but I understand the desire to and regardless never gave much of an impression that I was the sorting out sort. Not in here, anyhow. Comment forms are for commenting, not negotiating, after all. There is yet explaining for me to do, regardless of who sees it. Maybe I’ll make a new post of it. I don’t personally believe it’s fair or logical to make an appeal to my guilt drive after issuing legal nonsense, but I reserve the right to feel bad anyway. I won’t let this keep me from enjoying my vacation, though; I do that on my own.