Everything is for crazy people. And with that sentiment ends the Vacation, and the new comic is posted, and the hideously ugly vacation graphic is removed from the Subnormality site, never to be seen again. The Viruscomix home page is given a new coat of paint, the Links 2 section is updated to reflect the march of time and events, and I myself creepily sidle up out of the darkness to say “top ‘o the morning to ye, nice to be back and all and some other stuff too.” My condolences to those returning to School in the near future, and my condolences also to those such as myself who are long finished school and who thus worked all summer (and every summer). Condolences to All. Life is just one big condoloncerama. Did I watch the Olympics? Hell no. Not enough surfing on stilts. Petition the IOC for the inclusion of this event in the next Games. Okay, whatever, I’m gonna go ahead and stop typing now.
–Rowntree
August 24, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Attention to details: second to none. I especially appreciated “Tuesdays with Moron”, the sherry shakes and Chicken Soup for the Failure. I’m looking forward to reading that one actually…if it exists it should be a collection of Solzhenitsyn, Kafka and Faulkner in an attempt to convince people that no matter how fucked up they are, there’s always someone fictional in worse shape.
I was going to end with Good to have you back, but that doesn’t make sense. Something more along the lines of Thanks for coming back from being back? I don’t know.
August 24, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Awesomeness!!! Have you ever considered writing for Mad Magazine? Oh wait, they suck now, never mind.
August 25, 2008 at 1:28 am
I love the Я to show a Russian accent. BRILLIANT!
August 25, 2008 at 5:04 am
The comic seems to be digg-proof, since the only way to link to it is by using the home page URL or the direct image URL. Might be a good idea to add the archive page for each new comic as it goes up?
August 25, 2008 at 6:59 am
she should read some classic books. those are fucked up, too, but in a good, old fashioned way.
August 25, 2008 at 10:16 am
One of the best – well worth the vacation wait.
You probably needed a “Wikipedia” monthly too, with the front page declaring that Kurt Cobain was America’s first president (with picture of Cobain in wig, holding left-handed spanish guitar and signing constitution)
August 25, 2008 at 10:25 am
Great to see you back
Loving the Stereotypical American Father.
August 25, 2008 at 10:29 am
The pavarotti-themed news made my day.
‘is already dead’ is priceless.
glad to have you back.
August 25, 2008 at 11:23 am
great to have you back rowntree
5 stars out of 5
i loved the internet magazine
August 25, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Yay to the Provider of Internet Comix Unsurpassed by any other. Hope you enjoyed your hols. Question – did you ever go to Leeds University in Yorkshire, UK? Just curious . . .
August 25, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Oh, that Mr. Harper – and here I was thinking he was such a douche bag because of his more then passing resembalance to an emoitionless Ken doll.
It would seem he has genitals after all 8 (
…glad to have you back Rowntree.
August 25, 2008 at 4:24 pm
I loved “The Daily Tunic”. I hope to see her gold medal the next time she appears.
August 25, 2008 at 6:43 pm
So the Sphinx won the shot put, eh?
np: Borko – Dingdong Kingdom (Celebrating Life)
August 25, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Kurt: Yeah, they do suck now, which is too bad. Once, long ago, it was a great publication… If I ever travel back in time, I will quickly approach them for employment.
ajrw: So noted. What you suggest shall be enacted!
fudspong: No, never been to Leeds University. My dad visited there a couple years ago, though. He said it was the Ugliest University Ever, which intrigued me because I secretly like ugly buildings. I further contend that Carleton University in Ottawa is in fact the World’s Ugliest. It’s like they built a school in the Maginot Line or something.
August 26, 2008 at 7:11 pm
My favorite is a toss-up between “D” and “Pavorotti-themed News”. Maybe I just like making fun of large Italian performers…
I must make a comment about the bookstore. Our local independent has a lower percentage of that crap than, say, Borders. When your budget’s small, you tend to go for quality over quantity.
August 27, 2008 at 3:11 am
Oh god, we in Quebec are so ashamed to have Stephen Harper as Prime Minister. And you just litterally illustrated why.
I’m glad you’re back!
August 27, 2008 at 2:13 pm
haha thats the real rolling stone cover for July too
August 27, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Back on form — well done. Hope you had a good holiday. We can all thank god that Pavarotti wasn’t injured by any natural disasters this week.
August 28, 2008 at 6:23 am
It’s fun to see Canada-related webcomics. Reminds me not everything is about the US…
August 29, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Alexis: What do you mean that everything’s not about the US?
Them’s fightin’ wurds!
August 31, 2008 at 11:02 am
Wow, you really invested a ton of time on this one, didn’t ya. It’s awesome man.
August 31, 2008 at 11:09 pm
oh my god, i laughed for fifteen minutes straight.
letters column: pg. 15-107. bwaa hahaha haha aha hahahah ah.
September 2, 2008 at 10:41 am
I laughed with my tearssss, although my English is not perfect. But I still laughhhhhhh 100% So funny. I love you!
September 2, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Love your art style.
October 3, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I want to read Internet the Book. Sounds like an interesting dive into modern sociology.
One that will drive you to the brink of madness and scorn, but its a dive none the less.
Also : How to lose those last few idiosyncracies = classic
November 30, 2008 at 12:56 am
This strip is just awesome. Being from the wrong continent I don’t get all the injokes but I do get several and there’s such an amazing amount of detail put into it too.
And from what I’ve seen it’s, unfortunately, a quite accurate description of magazines especially.
December 6, 2008 at 4:20 pm
I would read Pavorotti-themed News.
March 2, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Wow. That was hilarious and also slightly depressing. The title “Quickly Forgotten Life Lesson” did kind of reinforce what I’m starting to realize about books. I still love reading, though, even if it seems that the effects aren’t always long-lasting. As for the magazines, nobody does pop culture like you do. I must say I absolutely love your comics.
April 21, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Welp, better crazy than stupid.
[note: ingesting "the news" is just depressing, so it doesn't count as "reading" unless you like having your brain sucked out through a swizzle-stick.]
GO, READING!
June 24, 2009 at 4:05 pm
What`s the deal with Rolling Stones?
I guess they do suck, eh? Kind of out of touch these days…
June 30, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Only hipsters buy books at airports anyway.
August 5, 2009 at 1:55 am
“Chicken Soup for the Failure” is a book that desperately needs to be written. If you don’t have dibs on it, I just might.
April 20, 2010 at 4:37 am
Wow – just so much win. I’d get “The Daily Tunic”, though, just because they feature the Sphinx. Go Sphinxie!
April 30, 2010 at 11:15 am
Master! You are great. Wo Fat
July 23, 2010 at 9:44 pm
“Chicken Soup for the Failure” for the WIN!
September 26, 2010 at 1:13 am
“Large Monster Dominates Shot Put Final”
hahaha
September 26, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Just discovered your work and you’ve got another impressed reader from hereon in, one possibly as cracked as you, possibly not. Prove it! Too many words my moony white ass.
May 23, 2011 at 12:30 am
Excellent way of pointing out how stupid we are….caring about things outside of our everyday lives and chasing ideals that were decided for us by the advertising sectors of corporations.
July 13, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Where it says “Make your own BOTTLED WATER in 2 easy steps (and then go buy some anyway)” just floored me. But at the same time, I was giggle-laughing all the way through this one.
September 8, 2011 at 4:43 pm
So many wonderful details <3. Is the onion zine poking at The Onion, or just way-too-niche zines (or both)?
June 24, 2012 at 6:45 pm
So, what’s the point here? Fuck the media? Fuck reading? Fuck everything? You know, because there’s no worthwhile magazines, all books are dumb and vacuous, everythings owned by the media machine with no substance or intellect, everything is dumb and pointless and stop believing in anything in the world because derp a herp a derp yeaaaaah. Your comic derides literally everything, even the parts of life that are or can be worthwhile, genuine, and fulfilling…
Gods I can’t believe I read through 50+ of your comics when every single one has to scream about how idiotic this is or that is or everything else is. Is there seriously nothing you don’t look down on? Can I walk outside and enjoy the sun without seeing you post a comic about how people who enjoy the sun MUST be falling for the media induced belief that tanning makes you look good? Or some other bullshit you pull out of your ass?
I don’t even care if this is a troll comment, after trying to see if there was anything any good here and just seeing paragraph upon paragraph of stream of thought derision towards everything and “I AM MAKING SUPER IMPORTANT SOCIAL STATEMENTS PAY ATTENTION TO ME”, I just had to vent. I am just so pissed that I keep getting linked to this shit by people. There. Now I’m done and you’ll never hear from me again, aside from this footnote I will leave here:
PS. Books are awesome and I don’t give a flying rat’s ass if you think the top 10 books are dumb or that the media machine pushes dumb books (likely the basis of you portraying the entire bookstore as filled with mindless books), the fact that those are outweighed by literally hundreds of thousands of beautiful well-written books out there makes you and your argument look like a child taking a shit on the sistine chapel and thinking he’s so cutting edge. This extends to every other argument you make as well.
And guess what, I didn’t write all that while pretending it’s a comic by stuffing in 6 talking heads in the corner the way you do. Show, don’t tell.
June 26, 2012 at 9:31 am
Well i’ll just say that i’ve been around long enough to know that people are seldom angry about what they say they’re angry about, so i hope whatever’s pissing you off in your life gives you a break. Find a better outlet than comments sections, too. Get a webcomic, maybe– worked for me (seriously, i used to be very bitter indeed, but after five years of actually connecting with people via my work instead of screaming at the void i’m a whole lot less bitter indeed. Get out there. Hate is exhausting, you’ll have to give it up at some point.).
[Oh, and as for all the "show-don't-tell-brevity-too-many-words-conform-why-won't-you-conform" stuff, i'd just like to say as of this month (june 2012) i'm officially 100% paying the bills as a comix artist thanks to all that telling and not showing, so if that doesn't tell or show you naysayers out there that your passion for conformity is perhaps laughably, tiresomely misguided then i give up.]
March 28, 2013 at 6:26 pm
that’s the way of life now, the Internet is for both normal and crazy people…if there are any normals left that is