Smashing Magazine Comic Strip: Episode 1
A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Cartoons and Comic Strip Art and, to be honest, there was a good reason why we took some time to research on this topic. The truth is that we are pretty tired of the same kind of content appearing in the Web over and over and over again. During our winter break in December we came up with some new ideas, concepts, formats and projects that we will try to achieve with Smashing Magazine in 2009.
Discussing new formats for SM, we came up with the idea of creating a weekly cartoon that would cover recent developments in web design and in the Web in general. In December we stumbled across Paddy Donnelly‘s blog, the home of a talented web designer and illustrator in Belfast, Northern Ireland and we’ve seen that Paddy is actually creating a comic strip on his blog. After a couple of e-mails we were pretty sure: we are going to have a regular comic strip, exclusively on Smashing Magazine and exclusively for Smashing Magazine readers.
In this post we present the first episodes of the new Smashing Magazine cartoon / comic strip. We are very excited about this new section in our magazine and we would love to hear your opinion about it! Please feel free to post your ideas, suggestions, remarks and critique in the comments to this post. Please also suggest story lines – e.g. what are the things that frustrate you most about the Web or web design? And, most importantly, have fun!
earth2tony
January 17th, 2009 6:32 amNot!
roobob
January 17th, 2009 6:57 amtotally lame. no offence, but rather stick to what you guys know.
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz
January 17th, 2009 7:16 amThank you, we are paying attention.
joekc
January 17th, 2009 7:59 am“smashing man”??? really? I say start over, not very good at all. This seems aimed at 12 year olds.
ctf
January 17th, 2009 8:21 amman, i really expected better than this out of smashing magazine. i would have excused it if the artwork was passable.
Tephlon
January 17th, 2009 9:16 amWelcome to the internet. You’ve been courageous enough to put your work out for everyone to see. I for one have severe issues with putting my stuff online for the world to see. I applaud that courage.
Here’s my honest opinion.
1st strip: OK-ish, although the “origin” could be a bit more involved. Then again, I understand that you have limited space. There are some serious issues with the artist’s understanding of human anatomy. The pacing seems a bit off and the idea of another superman knockoff doesn’t really appeal.
2nd strip: No. The script is boring. The pacing doesn’t work. The art isn’t consistent. The action scene doesn’t work at all.
All in all there are, in my opinion, 2 main issues with having this comic on Smashing Magazine:
1) All in all i think that this comic’s artist and/or writer isn’t yet ready for a gig as big as this.
2) As said before in this thread by several of the commenters: The quality of either the writing or the art is not on par with what the audience expects of Smashing Magazine.
All in all, even though I appreciate the balls it takes to put this up, I feel it doesn’t live up to Smashing’s standards.
PS: If you really want to see what happens if you push a comic on an audience that doesn’t want or appreciates it, please look up what happened to “Mandatory Fun Day” (The “MFD” that Commenter #32. “Kristoffer” referred to) on “The Daily WTF“. The comment threads are hilarious.
justpictures.net.tc
January 17th, 2009 9:19 amBadly drawn, no story (which would be ok if it at least was funny, but it wasn’t), why bother? Smashing Magazine wants to get rid of all the bad design by releasing crappy comic strips? Come on
j
January 17th, 2009 9:22 amPoorly drawn and not very funny. HEY, you guys stole my idea!
Seriously though, i think my comics are worse:
kallero
January 17th, 2009 9:26 amTime for something original on the web? I know, a webcomic! Brilliant. Something so original, it already has a well established portmanteau that we’re apparently too out of touch to even know…
Harnish
January 17th, 2009 9:35 amIt could be a lot more funnier! Smashing hero can be more fun more Neo like ;-).
soul1383
January 17th, 2009 10:38 ami voted ‘it’s perfect!’ because of the art work first and storyline second.
Andrei Gonzales
January 17th, 2009 11:45 amROFL.
A lot of people here have their heads so far up their asses it’s hilarious.
This is smashing mag. They post stuff. Sometimes good and useful, sometimes crap and useless.
What did you people expect? The equivalent of a “The London Royal College of Art Weekly”?
naspinski
January 17th, 2009 11:49 amI was impressed with how completely pathetic it was… did you even try, or get a 8 year old from Digg to write the story for you? Here was the meeting:
“Hey, I got an idea, lets have a superhero… and phishing is bad right? We can have a guy who phishes, but looks like a fisherman… damn I am clever with the puns. Then throw a twitter bird in there because I use twitter. PERFECT!”
Jbcarey
January 17th, 2009 12:06 pmI’m hoping whoever did this wasn’t an intern cause his ars3 will be gone next week…. or actually, I am hoping he is gone next week…
I could do better and I couldn’t draw a peanut!
gaSón
January 17th, 2009 12:49 pmIt´s a good idea to explore the comic strip format… but this is WRONG
I don´t like the script, the drawings, the style.. but still a good idea
Maybe you can try many possibilities and let us vote the best… ¿Some contest to find a good artist maybe?
PD: 1st episode reminds me of Freakazoid… What a great caroon!
Brendan
January 17th, 2009 1:20 pmStick to your day job, SM. :/
Gearbox
January 17th, 2009 1:59 pmEhm…I kinda hate it.
Difegio
January 17th, 2009 3:46 pmHonestly, I would have definetly expected something better than this from SM, about style and contents. It looks poor and kidd-ish.
Anyway, I still in love you guys :)
johnny
January 17th, 2009 3:53 pmseriously?? one of the worst webcomic’s ive read… looks like its drawn and written by a 12 year-old with no humor… way below your standards!
andrescortes
January 17th, 2009 5:06 pmWhy did you put everything that is need it here on the options? you realized what it needs after you made it?
andrescortes
January 17th, 2009 5:15 pmThis is exactly what you need… some inspiration.
Brad Colbow
January 17th, 2009 6:58 pmWow, you people are cruel. It’s one thing not to enjoy the comic and express your opinion, but that’s no reason to be outright abusive. Since this is Smashing Magazine I’m assuming that many of you are creative individuals and sometime creativity works and sometimes it doesn’t. Show a little respect.
GMax
January 17th, 2009 7:08 pmFAIL!
What a waste of bandwidth! :P
Elliot
January 17th, 2009 8:43 pmI really love SM. However, the comic strip is not funny, and the drawings are not well executed. I can draw better than that. The comic strip idea is good, and I know you can do it better, so I’ll be waiting.
Maybe what dislikes us all is the superhero character with its fancy outfit. It’s simply something we can’t relate to, and because of this lack of connection with the character, we dislike it.
The idea of a superhero with an S in its chest is not so appropriate nowadays. Keep in mind that Superman quickly lose its fans due to its “boy-scout” feeling, due to its “i’m only good”, while the Marvel characters, with a complex inner psychology, were much more appreciated. In fact, maybe I’m wrong, but I think that the only superheros from DC that are widely accepted are Batman, due to its dual personality, Green Lantern Hal Jordan and Green Lantern Kyle Rainer, due to the human nature of them, feeling greed, selfish love (Jordan, that’s for you), anguish and dispair (Kyle, u there?). Superman was more like a parent, a father, “do this, do that, be good, don’t be evil”. Marvel guys were more like a friend (Spidey, Wolverine). Let alone the success of The Darkness and its franchise.
All that was only to said that I can’t relate to a superhero that decides by himself that everything is a mess and he’s the one that will save the internet. We are not like that, we can be generous, gentle, but we (freelancers, studio employed, graphic design students) need also to look after our work. Our work that sometimes overwhelms us. Our work that is our passion. Our families depend on that work. Our customers trusts our work. What SM does better is providing tools/inspiration for our work. Don’t know, maybe you could start there. How do you think smashingmagazine people work? what issues they have to overcome each day? accounts, breakfast, supplies, “oh, I’m late for that meeting!!”, “dude, I can’t go out for a beer, gotta finish this brief”, “- honey, dinner’s ready! turn off the computer! – just one second, I’m right there!”. I think that kind of things would connect a bit more the readers with the comic strip.
I will be waiting for the comic strip, bring it on!
Dr. Girlfriend
January 17th, 2009 11:37 pmI don’t know what’s worse: the sycophantic ass-kissing or the mean-spirited, snarky pile-on in these comments. Thank you to the few sensible people who actually offered insightful critiques so it wasn’t a total waste of time reading this post.
My (bank bailout adjusted) 2 cents: I don’t come to Smashing Magazine to read comics, but if you feel the need to put them here, please make the “humor” appropriate to your audience. Mark (comment 65) rightly pointed out that internet security issues, hackers, and phishers aren’t very humorous or relate-able subjects to this blog’s audience of creatives. Instead, perhaps you can draw your subject matter from the real-life issues that plague us like cheap clients who want us to work on spec, clueless bosses, pain-in-the-ass co-workers, etc.
I like the way Paddy drew un-Smashing Man in the first two frames; he looks like the perfect sad sack kind of guy who’s honest and hard-working, but something bad always happens to him, i.e. his slimy associate steals his best ideas or he works through his vacation to please an important client who changes her mind and wants to start from scratch right after he finishes the project… you get the idea. Go with Clark Kent rather than Superman and you might have something.
Toan
January 18th, 2009 3:02 amC’mon SM. Who needs this?
p3@rl
January 18th, 2009 6:19 amI agree with Jason. The background should fit the design and color of the characters. The background doesn’t seem to fit. But I like the idea of creating a comic strip for SM. Way to go for all these great concepts you guys are coming up with to make this blog even more exciting and fun to read! :D
minanube
January 18th, 2009 6:41 amthe idea should about recent issue of the internet, maybe a community and web issue will be funny :D
Jan Diaz
January 18th, 2009 8:24 amI do agree that it’s not that good, although im a big fan of smashing magazine,
But i really don’t think that phishing can affect the design industry.. totally uncool.
Koesper
January 18th, 2009 9:40 amIt’s better than Mandatory Fun Day, but it aint great…
phpbussi
January 18th, 2009 10:08 amI like it – what blog has it’s own comic strip? ;)
Kayzah
January 18th, 2009 10:33 amIt isn’t funny, it isn’t drawn good.
Sorry, but I don’t like it
Jonathan
January 18th, 2009 11:47 amDiscontinue, please. As many people have already said, stick with what you’re good at.
tweak
January 18th, 2009 11:58 amOutline thickness should not vary. I get you’re trying to save yourself some work by throwing this together in Illustrator or something, but cutting corners does not win you friends.
The whole thing smacks of being quite juvenile – the wit is camp, the drawings are the bare minimum of detail, and the layout is poorly thought out.
Like someone else said, good idea, poorly executed.
Valisk
January 18th, 2009 1:44 pmIt ain’t no XKCD. Please drop the feature, never to be seen again.
I love Smashing Magazine, please don’t dilute it with this mediocre comic.
robin
January 18th, 2009 3:59 pmHi SM,
This is a design magazine and because of that designers expect a lot more from you. This comic strip is not very convincing in the design and content factors. Consider this a constructive criticism- I do hope you can improve these since almost all of the posts here were very helpful to us designers.
Not a Niche
January 18th, 2009 5:23 pmI just put a comic on my website, it is pretty evil and sarcastic but it makes a joke about Microsoft and Vista. If you have black humor, you will love it! http://notaniche.com/evil-joke-windows-7-vista/1116/
enjoy
hu11bot
January 18th, 2009 5:34 pmthis really sucks.. i can’t believe how lame it is.
nice concept, but it’s just not funny. I usually come to this site to get info and inspiration, not to kill time!
and the fact you are asking us readers what we want to happen in the series, is so whorish. If you don’t have any ideas for a fictional comic why make one?
Graphic Design Blog
January 18th, 2009 9:46 pmNice work and really enjoyable but I think if it could have been a little more funny, it must have been a blast :)
mikesh
January 18th, 2009 11:42 pmhilerious!!!
Mike
January 19th, 2009 12:15 amHELP!!! HELP!!!
Please Smashing Man safe us from IE 6!!!
Jonny Haynes
January 19th, 2009 12:27 am@Mike #140
Ditto, save us from IE6 Smashing Man!
Edwin
January 19th, 2009 12:33 amNice :) Looking forward to the next episode!
Dietmar
January 19th, 2009 12:57 amSM comics sounds a little strange to me :)
Pete Morley
January 19th, 2009 1:49 amDear Comments Section
If you don’t like a post, don’t read it. Design is a broad church; not everything is aimed squarely at you.
—
Not bad for a first attempt SM, check out the Monday comic strips over on Freelance Switch, they tend to get my week off to a good start. http://freelanceswitch.com/
Frunch
January 19th, 2009 2:40 amI think the idea of having a comic is good…
I also think those that really like it are either die-hard SM fans and are clouded by loyalty or they’re just lame-o. Someone had the idea of including the community. There could be a running story where a general storyline is outlined, we submit, you filter and maybe let us choose or you just choose the best one then from there the next part of the story is added… and together we can make an awesome comic with a different style every week.
Im sure you guys are having alot of fun with this and shouldn’t stop. Why not make the char a designer who has to deal with extreme clients all day? Or there is no main char! One recurring char is designer who looses his mind, and becomes a failing villain? How to spot a noob? good idea, bad idea…? ok second thought you cant use any of those…
I think this comic was made after the idea of making a comic and not after a good idea for a comic. Try again, you show us SM.
Chris
January 19th, 2009 2:49 amNice idea. I’m looking forward to coming strips.
passang
January 19th, 2009 3:15 amI love what you guys are doing. Can’t wait for the next episode. Keep rolling SM!!!
korey
January 19th, 2009 4:39 amlame. get some independent cartoonists to do this for you.
BitTorment
January 19th, 2009 5:05 amThis is pretty poor for all the reasons in the previous critques.
The storyline smacks of being written by committee.
This could work if you found a witty, talented individual.
rob
January 19th, 2009 5:52 amokay here goes….
the idea is great.
the design is subjective, some people will like it, some will not. That’s just the guys style. leave it alone.
The script sucks though. Surely smashing man should be in peril first?
creativeblob
Khürt
January 19th, 2009 7:08 amClever.
bloom
January 19th, 2009 7:48 amhm, I love smashing mag, but I really don’t need this …
jacksonhyde
January 19th, 2009 8:24 amGood idea. Bad execution.
I don’t like posting critiscm without elaborating, so here goes:
Script: A bit too one-dimensional in it’s execution for my liking, the funniest cartoons make you think. This is a good concept but holding the readers hand like this is just patronizing and kills the joke.
Art: Again a bit too simplistic, like many people said the backgrounds don’t fit and add to the amateurish feel. A complete lack of perspective (see frame 3) doesn’t help either.
Layout: I think this is probably the strongest element here. Although I do prefer horizontal sequential art (!), there are some interesting ideas and the close ups would work if the art/backgrounds were better.
However, posting comments is one thing, writing and drawing your own comic another. So kudos for that.
Diego
January 19th, 2009 10:11 am“Help me” I plea, “I don’t understand your ways and your means, you smashing young man…”
Collective Soul’s Smashing Young Man.
(which is btw something that should be added to Rockband)
Shitman2.0
January 19th, 2009 10:42 amThis is surprisingly bad given the quality of a lot of the sites on display here on a regular basis. The artwork is crude and childish, the background Photoshop effects are tacky and the humour is non-existent.
Keep the web comic idea, but get someone who can appeal to the adults that read your site with sharp jokes highlighting the countless bizarre anomalies of web development. Easier said than done.
Dad
January 19th, 2009 1:13 pmWhat, no Mixx?
Mark Bowen
January 19th, 2009 1:56 pmWell forgetting everything everyone else has said above it would have been nice to at least get a thanks for pointing out the typo ;-)
Julez
January 19th, 2009 7:45 pmI like it, the phisherman part made me chuckle
hey
January 20th, 2009 1:11 amTake a look at the awesome FreelanceSwitch comics series, they really hit the spot !
Seun Omoniyi
January 20th, 2009 2:53 amFunny..
Dan
January 20th, 2009 12:19 pmHoly gawd, that’s horrible! Not funny. Not well-drawn. Abysmal. There’s nothing that could save it.
Stop. Now. Please.
levhita
January 20th, 2009 1:33 pmOk this is the thing, it’s not funny or interesing.
If you continue with the superhero idea, think a little bit, does villains run into batman arms? i don’t think so… SM should have made some detective work before finding phishing guy. plus where did he find it in the first place? the comic started in someone’s room, then magically jumps to the park where they causally meet?.
Read a little bit “the order of the stick” to see what it means to do an action comic(and in their case actually funny).
Christopher Murphy
January 20th, 2009 5:11 pmIt depresses me to read the all too easy groundswell of negativity in the frequent and (largely) anonymous comments to this post.
I’m all for a little healthy criticism, but I do feel that those who are all too eager to throw in their opinion might want to flag up their own work for criticism. As you read the comments I’d suggest you follow some of the links to those that are posting them (that is where they’ve had the courage to leave the links). There seems to be a high correlation between those who are quick to criticize and those who are themselves posting some pretty sub-par work themselves.
I know the designer in question, he is one of my soon-to-be-former students. His heart is 110% in the right place and I’ve seen a great deal of his past (and current) work which is well executed and knocks the socks off this. Give it a little time and I’ve no doubt Paddy will deliver the goods.
I can see where Paddy’s coming from. He’s passionate and he’s working hard to build a network of connections around the web. He’s interviewed a host of internet stars and, along the way, had some heads up from a host of people you’d envy: Tim O’Reilly, Guy Kawasaki, Paul Boag…
As someone who’s taught Paddy I can safely say the following: He’s passionate about web design, he’s passionate about standards and he’s actually out there doing something (which is more than can be said of most whining on the sidelines).
Yes, Paddy’s young. Yes, Paddy’s headstrong. Yes, Paddy’s prepared to throw himself at a challenge. Yes – and this is the important part – Paddy’s prepared to take all of this on board and get cracking on improving the Smashing Magazine Comic Strip. But, and I know it’s awful to start a sentence with the word ‘but’, Paddy is actually doing something.
As someone who is knee deep in student assessments I know all too well that everyone is entitled to their opinion. One thing I have learned, however, from years of practice (and teaching) is the following: It’s fine to be critical, but be prepared to back it up with a little show and tell.
I’m only too happy to put my own work on the line should you wish to see it. Drop me a line at chris [at] mcmxc [dot] org and I’ll happily give you some URLs, exchange some thoughts and pick up the conversation. Robust criticism is extremely important (did I say I’m assessing our students?), but you have to be prepared to stand over your criticism and – here’s the important part – be prepared to put your own work up for criticism.
Chris
January 20th, 2009 7:48 pmStupid and freaky (person) style…
DESPERADO
January 21st, 2009 5:22 amsorry, but respectfully… this thing really sucks.. awfull design and drawing
Leftsider
January 21st, 2009 5:46 amMost of the trash talkers can’t design a blank box.
Adam Alyan
January 21st, 2009 6:18 amLove it! but not the blurry background.
BOA
January 21st, 2009 6:37 pmcool comic…
go on please….
i want more… ;)
Laxman
January 23rd, 2009 3:41 am(Y)
Ronan
January 24th, 2009 4:25 amI love the fact that Smashing Magazine is some what of a free service, and provide quality articles, although when they decide to go out and do something difference for a laugh, we give out! The internet is over run with too many critics and not enough creators. Smashing Magazine decided to do something, the lengthy comments are somewhat worth reading. You want DC (or whatever floats your boat) comics go read DC comics, you want some light hearted fun then stick around.
Shame on those who just give a few short words.
Pedro Alberto
January 24th, 2009 6:03 amFun and with a nice concept. Awesome!
Ray
January 26th, 2009 7:35 pmIt’s almost as if the people who were involved in this Comic Strip project haven’t actually ever been involved in any design project. Graphics are totally underpar, and the story is just lame. There are so many jokes and stories waiting to happen in the graphic design world that it is just a shame to see you waste the opportunity in something like this. Everything is all wrong. Smashing man? Really?
If you forget everything else just remember this. Show your next comic to a 12 year old before posting it online and I assure you, you will get all the feedback you need before you get bashed online. How did you dare publish this to a specialized audience when it is awful even for the most regular internet user?
Everybody makes mistakes. Let’s just click on “select all”+”delete” and go back to the sketchboard. And next time, be sure to run your work through a few people before exposing it to the experts.
Josh
January 27th, 2009 7:50 amHaha, this reminded me of http://www.xhtmlizers.com
Mixel Adm
January 27th, 2009 11:40 amcool, please clean up the internet….
Vinayak Joshi
January 28th, 2009 5:15 amLike the illustrations … but could’ve been funnier….i found this comic blog which is kinda cool…link to the blog
Shinan
January 31st, 2009 6:12 pmNot bad, not bad at all. Awaiting further episodes of this as well, The first two aren’t bad for first timers. Keep rocking! :D
Temporary Plans
February 25th, 2009 4:01 pmdidn’t find it very entertaining :\
Radeksonic
July 26th, 2009 2:45 amCorrection… ‘Not to be continued’
DataMouse
November 1st, 2009 3:28 amEvery person here is dumber for having read this.
Disappointed :/
Expected sooooooo much more from SM
Spongbob Squarepants
January 13th, 2010 4:15 amI really think its not that funny. But i think Squidward will love that comic strip. I love Sandy don’t tell anyone and i think Patrick (my bestfriend) is gay no offense
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Love, Spongebob Squarepants
gotoAndPlay (ed)
January 25th, 2010 10:41 amwow…that was bad. It’s just too literial…
onyx
July 7th, 2010 5:27 amWOW! this is bad…
can see why it was the “Biggest failure for 2009″ – http://www.smashingmagazine.com/about
Joe Makala
September 9th, 2010 8:09 amI’m glad this went away. So stupid.