Yeah, so this just fully didn’t turn out the way i wanted it to, but i like the drawings at least and i need to get it the hell out of here and work on something else now. Been taking things too seriously again i reckon. Easy to do sometimes. I guess i can accept the occasional Noble Failure. And yeah, i know, the Sphynx isn’t in this one either. She’ll be back, i swear!!
-Wr
OH SHUCKS
While i’m here, just a reminder that many new prints are now available in the shop! Thanks x150 to everyone who’s bought one, i can’t tell you how much i appreciate the support, as well as the idea that anyone would want one of my walls of text in their house to gaze upon more than once. Honored! So cheers.
July 25, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Hey, I like the drawings AND laughed out loud when reading it – don’t beat yourself up over it…
np: Alva Noto & Blixa Bargeld – Fall (Mimikry)
July 26, 2011 at 2:16 am
I laughed out loud as well. It’s a good concept and I think you executed it very well.
July 25, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Saddest image filename ever
July 26, 2011 at 6:48 am
agreed
July 25, 2011 at 5:19 pm
I’m from the Bureau of Responsibility and I say Mark Chapman is the one who should change his life.
Well, this gives us the opportunity to discuss the shitload of new prints, which was overshadowed by the comic last time. I’m seriously considering revising my bare-walls policy and ordering the Calendar of Life. If I pay extra, can I buy a version with the years up to 42 crossed out?
One print I’m missing is Princess Washburn. It must be a difficult format, but it’s a wonderful drawing and an example of creativity in fiction that should be displayed in all Humanities departments. I’m a non-fiction writer and I feed Princess Washburn every day with my awkward conversations.
And do you plan to make prints from Captain Estar? Maybe draw a new portrait of her? I love that self-destructive murderous bitch more than any of your characters. She’s so fucking vulnerable beneath her armor. I’m beginning to understand the ending, I think, after reading it three or four times, and it’s changing my outlook on life. Ironically, some of my major regrets were avoiding the military draft and staying in college for too long. Now I’m trying to tell myself it’s useless to regret decisions that made me who I am, and were made because of who I was.
July 26, 2011 at 1:15 pm
A Captain Estar thing would be SO awesome
July 26, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Can you provide a link to the Princess Washburn comic in question? Curious to see what you’re referencing.
July 26, 2011 at 6:56 pm
Sure. This is Princess Washburn, stranger than truth:
http://www.viruscomix.com/page440.html
July 29, 2011 at 1:01 am
I actually took a look at captain estar again last week for the first time in a long while, and i’m still pretty happy with that comic i have to say (and honored that anyone has read it once, let alone three or four times). It kind of occupied a few years of my life, and there’s a lot of Me in it, so i’ll always have an affinity for it for sure (plus i’m proud that it has Villains That You Hate, as opposed to Villains That You Cheer For Because They’re Cooler Than the Main Character. Totally made a point of doing that).
As for estar-related prints, i don’t see it happening right now unfortunately (not that i wouldn’t love to draw something like that, because i surely would. I mean i shirley would). You’ll see Ms. Estar again though in some capacity, that much i can guarantee…
[princess washburn request noted, by the way!]
July 25, 2011 at 7:47 pm
Don’t be so hard on yourself! I loved this strip.
July 29, 2011 at 1:03 am
being hard on yourself = good comics (ideally)
not being hard on yourself = The Family Circus
July 25, 2011 at 8:04 pm
Awesome work. Time travel comics are the best.
And I agree you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.
Then again, i suppose that could be how you motivate yourself?
July 25, 2011 at 8:32 pm
You are just brilliant.
July 25, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Wonderful!
July 26, 2011 at 12:14 am
Had to agree. Not your best work, but the overall theme works fine. I like the choice of making the background static.
July 26, 2011 at 6:01 am
Great comic, gotta love that last line
Also:
When you said “possible future salvage, were you talking about the uniforms?. If that’s where they end up after ending their current career, good change!
July 26, 2011 at 8:44 am
Any day with a new comic is a great day.
July 26, 2011 at 9:15 am
nice chron-o-johns
July 26, 2011 at 9:26 am
I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello.
July 26, 2011 at 9:37 am
But when you talk about destruction… Don’t you know that you can count me out.
July 26, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Oh I love this one.
Thanks again for a great strip, WR
July 26, 2011 at 3:38 pm
I like the subtle touches.
The adverts in the newsagents
The phrase “free as a bird” being there to spark a few creative thoughts.
The fact that there is a barber in Penny Lane
And he has photographs in the window.
July 26, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Also there is a “News of the world on sale here” sign in the shop.
Well that’s not around anymore
July 26, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Oh My!
Walls of…walls, today.
That’s quite okay with me, but, please don’t tamper with my sgt. Pepper’s-album! A rumour today said that SUSY -she in the sky with diamonds, you know- has already been Czeckmated. Aand furthermore, there are still some hot dog-days* ahead. CAUTIOUSNESS! NO PILLS!
* the extra heat is supposed to radiate from Sirius – the dog star.
Almost forgot:
gotta getta hair cut.
ben
July 26, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Glad to see it come together, and glad this comic is in my life. I can’t explain how much it resonates with me. Keep it up.
July 26, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Does this mean that alt texts are being replaced with filename jokes?
July 29, 2011 at 1:04 am
Sometimes one, sometimes the other, sometimes both, sometimes neither.
July 26, 2011 at 8:56 pm
I saw this post and, realizing that I now have a job, reread all of Subnormality to figure out which prints I was going to buy. I was surprised at how big my list ended up being, and even more surprised when half of them weren’t available as prints :-\
I eventually settled on pages 433, 523, 525, and 532.
July 29, 2011 at 1:07 am
Heck, thanks for buying some prints! Hugely appreciated indeed.
And to Anyone: Please do let me know if there’re any prints you’d like that aren’t available! The intention is to add more to the shop eventually, so i’m quite happy to make a note of any requests. Preparing the files etc. is just a surprising amount of work, so we’ve kicked things off with 60 of the better comix.
July 26, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Yes the narrative isn’t prefect, But the punchline is always just right. Just because your moral of the strip isn’t going to the core of human existence doesn’t mean it’s bad.
And why do people from the future always wear one colored jumpsuits? you do eclectic styles well, why not on future folk?
July 27, 2011 at 1:08 pm
The jumpsuits are a uniform. Those were future officers, not future civilians. They don’t let just anybody into a time machine…
July 29, 2011 at 1:10 am
Honestly, when it comes to dressing people from the future i automatically default to that one jerry seinfeld routine:
“Anytime you see a movie or a TV show where there’s people from the future or another planet, they’re all wearing the same outfit. I think the decision just gets made. ‘All right everyone, from now on it’s just going to be the one piece silver suit with the v-stripe and the boots. That’s the outfit. We’re going to be visiting other planets, we want to look like a team here. The individuality thing is over.’”
That always just stuck in my mind for whatever reason. Your point about eclectic styles is a good one though, and may send me in a different direction next time…
July 26, 2011 at 9:08 pm
I read Johns lines in the appropriate accent without even thinking about it.
July 26, 2011 at 11:01 pm
I, for once, was thinking of Paul Rudd in the movie “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”. Epic.
Loved the comic! WR, even when you think it sucks, it is still waaaay better and more honest than most of the junk all around the interweb.
Cheers, keep it up!
July 27, 2011 at 12:40 am
Thank you very much for spelling it ” fuckin’ ” and not ” fucken “. I appreciate it.
I didn’t even like it when Joe Haldeman did it.
July 29, 2011 at 1:11 am
Fuckin’ A.
July 27, 2011 at 1:04 am
great strip, totally didn’t see the punch line coming. Loved it.
- bob
July 27, 2011 at 1:30 am
Santayana said, “He who cannot remember the past is condemned to repeat it,” or something to that effect. It would appear that’s true even if you have a Tardis.
Awesome work.
July 27, 2011 at 7:46 am
Do more beatles-related comics. NOW!
July 29, 2011 at 1:12 am
No! Paul’s too hard to draw! I had to draw all four of them recently for a commission, and it ain’t easy.
July 27, 2011 at 10:04 am
I can’t concentrate on the comic because Cadbury’s don’t make ice-cream
July 27, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Oh really?
http://www.cadbury.com.au/Products/Other/Ice-Cream.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cadbury_products
http://www.google.com/search?q=cadbury's+icecream
July 27, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Brilliant! Thank you.
July 28, 2011 at 10:01 am
It’s really sad that the thing I liked the most about this was how accurate you got them terraced houses.
July 29, 2011 at 1:13 am
Well i definitely tried to get them accurate, so i’m glad you figure i pulled it off!
July 28, 2011 at 1:01 pm
The old debate: should the government provide safety (including safety from disease, homelessness or ignorance) to the expense of our freedom; or should it just make sure we are free? As a libertarian with a lowercase L, I lean decidedly towards the latter.
Greetings from your only libertarian fan (I just assume it, I’m used to be the only lib everywhere I go).
July 29, 2011 at 1:16 am
Oh, i’ve heard from many a libertarian reader before, and i welcome you as i’d welcome anyone else.
July 29, 2011 at 6:52 am
I watched a comedian recently who pointed out that there’s both far right libertarian’s and far left libertarians. Right wing libertarians love guns, left wing libertarians love pot. Of course, I happen to like both guns and pot myself, so I don’t know where that puts me.
July 28, 2011 at 1:32 pm
love the story and the logic behind it. but the ART! Holy shit, totally awesome.
July 28, 2011 at 3:43 pm
SOLID! Excellent. So many lovely details and a great last panel
July 28, 2011 at 10:07 pm
One of the bests that i read here.
Keep going with you great work!
July 29, 2011 at 5:12 am
Lovely.
I’m in the UK, can I have prints too?
July 30, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Not a failure.
July 31, 2011 at 12:31 am
Of course the argument is familiar, but the last panel made me grin: third time TODAY, so clearly he’s been dealing with it for quite a while. Does he keep getting harassed right until 12/8/1980?
For a different take:
http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2009/11/10/scenes-from-an-alternate-universe-where-the-beatles-accepted-lorne-michaels-generous-offer/
July 31, 2011 at 1:39 pm
It would be cool if Lennon said, “You know what? I really do want to live a long time. But if what you say is true, that I’d go on to do so many great things, I don’t mind dying young either.”
July 31, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Should have warned him about being used as a marketing tool by Macintosh.
August 1, 2011 at 4:26 am
Been a fan for a very long time, good as usual sir. Keep up your most excellent social commentary.
Regards,
Some Canadian
August 1, 2011 at 5:31 am
This comic reminds me of a quote I read recently.
“Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards”-Soren Kierkegaard- Quoted in the Montreal Gazette. It might apply in this comic. Don’t you think?
Nice choice in picking Lennon for a thought about time travel.
August 2, 2011 at 6:17 am
Well done for a very accurate drawing of terraced Victorian houses. The one on the far left looks almost exactly like the house I live in (except that mine’s semi-detached). Must have taken you ages to get all that detail correct.
August 2, 2011 at 8:00 pm
I love how it’s from a distance. It’s less “intimate” that way, so you don’t identify too much to John since he’s after all a secondary character in this one. It isn’t about him so it’s nice to see the whole thing framed with a big pull-back.
August 2, 2011 at 11:36 pm
I say a nice little compromise would have been warning him to stay home that day.
Nah, I know the point is bigger than that. Just wanted to be a pissant.
August 3, 2011 at 6:09 am
Ugh Wall of images again!!!
Hee hee.
Still lovin the comic, hope yer not tired of hearing that.
August 11, 2011 at 7:26 am
Oooh A great treat after such a long time!
August 11, 2011 at 2:17 pm
I think I read somewhere once that he said he’d always had a sense that he wasn’t going to ever grow old. That makes this all the more funny to me, it would be hilarious if that sense came from an incident like this.