Astronomical Webcomic

We’re taking a departure from our star-bound adventure with The Loneliest Astronauts to take a peek into the world of Homestuck by Andrew Hussie. It’s finally my time to catch up with the tumblr culture of 2013! My eyes are pretty seared from looking at the screen for so long.

I wanted to jump into the online version first because it felt like the canonically correct thing to do. Fun fact! The start screen changes. Sometimes it’s John and sometimes it’s the other characters, who are probably Rose, Dave, and Jade.

The way it was set up had me thinking it was a “choose your own adventure”-type story, and I probably suspected this because the webcomic is set up like a video game (you can even save your progress!) and I associate the concepts. However, it turns out that the story follows a (mostly) linear path.

I looked around for alt-text and hidden comic panels, but couldn’t seem to find any. Despite this, Homestuck does make use of some unique affordances that the digital medium offers and that includes moving parts in the image. For example, Pesterchat notifications pop up from your computer when you have incoming messages. And John blinks. A lot.

Another fun thing about this digital format is that it has the ability to take you to a new tab whenever there’s associated links on the page. At one point, you can click on certain games from John’s wall of game CDs, and it’s like a bonus content feature (who else spent way too much time on these side quests? I don’t think I’m even halfway through Problem Sleuth). This would be more tedious to accomplish in the physical book.

When I referenced the physical book, I was greeted by the introduction. The book really provides some insight to Homestuck that I never would have known just looking at the website. Updates were submitted by fans, and Hussie would draw the next page based on what fans wanted. It was a mutualistic relationship. Also, Hussie gives insight to the creative process through annotations like how he chose names for his characters. The online page layout is very simple in comparison.

Despite the extra details in the book, perusing it feels a bit lackluster compared to looking through the webcomic; there’s less uncertainty on what happens next, especially because panels are laid out on a two page spread whereas online you’re forced to go one panel at a time. Also, these animations are hilarious. Why does my pipe-smoking, harlequin-loving, no-faced father insist on giving me artifacts of confection??

Stay tuned for next time!

In the nitty gritty bits of Bramlett’s “Linguistic Discourse in Web Comics,” Bramlett primarily focuses on webcomics that are constructed in what he calls the “comic construction unit,” or CCU, and this sets them apart from print comics that can’t have these features.

The CCU is made up of the posted main comic, the alt-text, and the “hidden comic.” Alt-text originally was used to summarize an image in case it wouldn’t load properly, but nowadays, creators use it to add cheesy commentary to their posts through the point-of-view of themselves or an omnipotent narrator. As for the hidden comic, it’s a bonus panel the creator sneaks onto the page that you can accidentally activate, but this feature isn’t as common.

Alt text is occasionally used in The Loneliest Astronauts, and according to Bramlett, it would be from the perspective of a narrator. In most instances for this webcomic, it’s used to make references to contemporary culture that tie in with the topic of the day’s update.

Alt-text: “University Of Phoenix also offers an associates in Suckin’ It, but nobody pays attention to them, really.”

Another:

Alt-text: “You just know that Dan’s been working on that line for weeks.” It’s simple, but it sure says a lot about Dan.

The narrator’s words add a snicker to the already smile-worthy webcomic.

Much of Bramlett’s research pointed towards hidden comics and how a creator can completely change the meaning of a comic by adding an extra secret panel. Although the main comic stands alone well enough, the bonus panel adds another step of humor or commentary to the story.

I was pretty excited to read this, so I immediately went to The Loneliest Astronauts and started clicking around like crazy to see if I could get any bonus panels (and even maybe an “Achievement Unlocked” notification for my hard efforts).

I did notice that sometimes there were words highlighted in gray that clearly didn’t belong in their sentence, such as “buy viagra,” “pills,” and “patients.” Obviously I clicked on them. I’m not sure what I was expecting. Here are two examples of pages I got redirected to. Take note of the URL addresses.

• 

• 

I just wanted to find those darn hidden comics. Please don’t give me viruses, jank websites.

Although my webcomic doesn’t completely follow Bramlett’s CCU model, it still adheres to his observations about the alt-text.

Stay tuned for next time!

Misemer’s article “Webcomics” discusses in broad the field of research that surrounds the webcomics sphere. Today’s development and consumption of webcomics is fueled by the dynamic landscape known as the Internet.
When comparing Misemer’s findings to The Loneliest Astronauts by Kevin Church and Ming Doyle, some points in particular stood out. The first I’d like to address is the rapid consumption of webcomics that Misemer references in her writing. Webcomics can be shared quickly through the usage of social media where people can broadcast to large audiences (or in my case, my friend blasts my Instagram chat) and those questionable algorithms can plop comics onto someone’s explore page.

I did some digging to see how The Loneliest Astronauts kept up on the social media aspect. Google search, Facebook search… no results. Huh, that’s odd.

Then I did some more poking around and found out more about the creators. It turns out that Kevin Church is the main force behind Agreeable Comics, which is the group that The Loneliest Astronauts is marketed under. A trip to their main page shows you a collection of works that Church directs, and each one is brought to life through the talents of a different artist. They have a link to a Facebook page… but the page supposedly doesn’t exist anymore.

While I can’t say anything about Agreeable Comics’ inactivity, I suppose it does it make sense that they don’t showcase themselves through Instagram and Twitter because these platforms weren’t as popular at the time. “The Loneliest Astronauts” debuted in September 2009 and worked until 2012, and I vaguely remember Instagram becoming a big thing in late middle school, which was around 2014 for me.

The point of this is that in less than a decade, accessibility to webcomics has grown tremendously! From what I can tell right now, The Loneliest Astronauts had their claim to fame by marketing themselves at public events such as Boston Comic Con.

Another tiny thing I wanted to mention was Misemer’s point about how comment sections are spaces for support. Well, the comments section of The Loneliest Astronauts features friendly banter between cocreators for some of their updates.

This screenshot is in reference to one of the very early updates where it was nine panels but they were all black and only the speech bubbles varied:

Support comes in the best ways.

As always, images come from the lovely work of Agreeable Comics, Kevin Church and Ming Doyle.

Stay tuned for next time!

Welcome space cadets for joining in on this adventure!

After perusing through both archives, I decided to adventure with “The Loneliest Astronauts” by Kevin Church and Ming Doyle. There are some trivial reasons for as to why I chose this one. I’ve always been a sucker for space. The aesthetic, the science, and don’t forget all the puns makes it an interesting setting to have a story. I also appreciate the story for its run-time. While it’s complete now, it appears to have gone on for about two years and it updated twice a week. I’m fairly used to binging on comics, so I’m glad there’s a lot of content to browse through especially since I’ll be viewing throughout the duration of the semester.

Of course, any reader would also need to enjoy the content in the webcomic. The situation is interesting. Two astronauts are stranded on a planet in a distant alien solar system. The rest of their crew died. The two men are surviving off of strictly portioned rations. They’ve been on the planet for a year already. On top of that, they hate each other’s guts. What can happen in the lifespan of a story such as this? Will their relationship improve? Does the hatred come from sexual tension (this is a personal theory and my friend agrees with me)? And the big question: do they get rescued in the end?

I like that there’s going to be an overarching story with a resolution in the end, so I’m looking forward to seeing the big end result.

Here’s the very first update is this comic strip:

I really think the relationship can only improve from here. Poor Dan. He’s just trying to make light of the situation. Steve, the huge pessimist, finds the ditzy Dan insufferable. Here’s another look at Steve.

Nice.

Both of these astronauts are fairly obnoxious, but that somehow makes them charming.

I think “The Loneliest Astronauts” is going to be a funny read. Steve and Dan don’t even need facial expressions to show the audience what they’re feeling. Even though the art style is a little terrifying, I’m already in too deep. The comments from the creators just gush with how much this creation is a labor of love, and I’m gladly going to become an expert on this webcomic.