Why, God, Whybcomics

Jack? I have dim, blocked out memories of some furry high school dude that started killing people. Then he was in hell, and this fetus and OH MY GOD IT'S ALL COMING BACK! I NEED HIGH-GRADE VODKA, STAT!

Grim Tales from Down Below is a shitty webcomic. It is the shittiest thing I have ever had the displeasure of reading, and I have read a lot of shitty web comics. The author (oh dear lord, the author) is one of the more tactless, scummiest, perverted "man" in the webcomic world. (I will get to him in a bit.) The story is basically Kingdom Hearts for mall goths who watch Tim Burton movies, anime, and children's cartoons. Instead of being wymsical and lighthearted, Grim Tales is so edgy you can shave your beard on it. The comic is based off a cartoon show known as the Grim Tales of Billy and Mandy which used to air on Cartoon Network about a little boy and girl who trick the grim reaper into be their best friend for enternity. Now GTFDB is about the Grim Reaper and Mandy's children (yes, you read that right), Grim Jr. and Mini Mandy (yes, you did read that right). Grim Jr. is an annoying little snot and his sister is a loli wank bait that Bleedman (the author) added in so that he could drew up skirt shots of in every panel. The unending string of pedo bait is the least of it's problems. Oh no, Bleedman had to go far beyond this. Mandy was behind 911. Mandy was behind 911. I shit you not, Bleedman (being the insensitive little asspie that he is) had the audacity to trivalize one of the most horrific terrorist attacks on the US. 911 is nothing to joke about ever, it's right up there with doing Holocaust jokes. I do not care what country you come from, tact is a universual concept. Not many things offend me, and I have offended people myself in the past, but 911 is never something I would joke about. Jesus chirst. 

Quadratus wrote:

Oh no, Bleedman had to go far beyond this. Mandy was behind 911. Mandy was behind 911. I shit you not, Bleedman (being the insensitive little asspie that he is) had the audacity to trivalize one of the most horrific terrorist attacks on the US. 911 is nothing to joke about ever, it's right up there with doing Holocaust jokes. I do not care what country you come from, tact is a universual concept. Not many things offend me, and I have offended people myself in the past, but 911 is never something I would joke about. Jesus chirst. 

I'm Jewish, my grandparents survived the Holocaust, and guess what? I make Holocaust jokes. No one thinks I'm an insensitive jerk for it, they just think my sense of humor is incredibly dark and morbid.

Give it 40 years. Even the grandchildren of 9/11 victims will be making 9/11 jokes then.

Oh, though I agree, Bleedman's webcomics are shit.

Snake Bandage wrote:

Give it 40 years. Even the grandchildren of 9/11 victims will be making 9/11 jokes then.

I'm a terrible person who already laughs at some 9/11 jokes, but I think the whole Too Soon thing helped Bleedman's 9/11 plot twist fall flat. Worse still was that it was played totally straight, and it was just randomly thrown into some Cartoon Network/Nickelodeon crossover fanfic because it apparently needed to be 3DGY. There's something unbelievably pathetic about feeling the need to justify a fanfic for a kid's show by making it grimdark and edgy.

Quadratus wrote:

911 is nothing to joke about ever, it's right up there with doing Holocaust jokes. I do not care what country you come from, tact is a universual concept. Not many things offend me, and I have offended people myself in the past, but 911 is never something I would joke about. Jesus chirst.

What's so bad about making jokes about the police/fire department/etc. phone number?

Snake Bandage wrote:

I'm Jewish, my grandparents survived the Holocaust, and guess what? I make Holocaust jokes. No one thinks I'm an insensitive jerk for it, they just think my sense of humor is incredibly dark and morbid.

Do you're grandparents think those Holocuast jokes are oh-so funny? 

Speaking of Jack, have a couple of delightful rewrites. This one is direct parody and absolutely hilarious, with added hilarity in the comments as a creepy commenter is outed and wank ensues, while this one...well, Miss Zarla puts it best:

Quote :

This one is particularly mysterious as it doesn't seem to be the same
editor as the first parody... for one thing, they actually signed their
work this time. :O That and it doesn't seem quite as mean-spirited or
vicious as the previous one... it seems more like they saw a story at all since hopkins is a hack different
story in this arc about a gay eunuch pedophile serial killer brutalizing a woman for no reason.
But it seems like they decided to have some fun with it and deliver an
important message at the same time. But it does make one wonder. Did
the first editor just get tired of ragging on the art this time? Did
they get out all their aggression in the first edit?
Or are there multiple people out there editing Jack arcs? :O

...which begs the question of why we haven't taken a shot at it yet.

Enjoy, with thanks to Miss Zarla and Funkmeister for saving and showcasing the images.

Quadratus wrote:

Snake Bandage wrote:

I'm Jewish, my grandparents survived the Holocaust, and guess what? I make Holocaust jokes. No one thinks I'm an insensitive jerk for it, they just think my sense of humor is incredibly dark and morbid.

Do you're grandparents think those Holocuast jokes are oh-so funny?

Of course they don't because I don't tell them Holocaust jokes. I mean, come on, I have basic tact. You don't joke about the Holocaust with people who've been through it. But they are aware that my sister, cousins and I may joke about it in our circles of friends occasionally and accept it. My maternal grandma actually thinks handling what we've learned about through humor will make for a healthier generation of Jewish folks. I think grandpa feels the same way, but he's the kind of guy who would rather seize the day and not discuss the past.

Quadratus wrote:

Snake Bandage wrote:

I'm Jewish, my grandparents survived the Holocaust, and guess what? I make Holocaust jokes. No one thinks I'm an insensitive jerk for it, they just think my sense of humor is incredibly dark and morbid.

Do you're grandparents think those Holocuast jokes are oh-so funny?

It's your.

Manny wrote:

I used to read Ctrl-Alt-Del religiously, but one fine day the author expressed his opinion on miscarrying, causing me to go and delete the link.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

Aggie wrote:

Manny wrote:

I used to read Ctrl-Alt-Del religiously, but one fine day the author expressed his opinion on miscarrying, causing me to go and delete the link.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

I got disenchanted pretty early, my friend read it (still does) religiously, as you say, and wanted me to. So I dutifully started at the very first comic and by the time I got to Chef Brian was thinking 'Yeah, none of this shit is funny, and being random because you lack creativity gets you no bonus points.'

I used to like Grim Tales from Down Below until I found the guy was a perv. It's like, once I started to notice the panty shots, I can't unsee them.

I didn't mind the 'edgy' stuff, mostly because I'd never seen the original cartoon. But I understand why a fan of the original might be pissed. Until I saw the cartoon myself, I thought the original cartoon was really that morbid.

Ctrl-Alt-Del: so what is the dude's opinion on miscarriage? Never really liked that comic; I thought the art was ugly.

Fitchsticks wrote:

Aggie wrote:

Manny wrote:

I used to read Ctrl-Alt-Del religiously, but one fine day the author expressed his opinion on miscarrying, causing me to go and delete the link.

Glad to know I'm not the only one.

I got disenchanted pretty early, my friend read it (still does) religiously, as you say, and wanted me to. So I dutifully started at the very first comic and by the time I got to Chef Brian was thinking 'Yeah, none of this shit is funny, and being random because you lack creativity gets you no bonus points.'

Ugh, Chef Brian. Even before I realized that all of Ctrl-Alt-Del was crap, I'd always skip the Chef Brian comics.

Also, the person drawing Jack draws his characters so ugly on purpose, right?

Just out of interest, what was the opinion of the Ctrl-Alt-Del creator on miscarriage?

Keith Fraser wrote:

Just out of interest, what was the opinion of the Ctrl-Alt-Del creator on miscarriage?

Fuckley wrote:

Here's one I think I heard mentioned a while back, and that I
anticipate being mentioned: "Tim will never do a miscarriage because
then the comic strip will become all sad and depressing".

Again,
I disagree. A miscarriage is definitely not a joke, and I have no
intention of making light of it. And it can be a tough and emotional
thing for couples to go through, speaking from personal experience. And
I know that it's often much harder on the woman than on the man.
However, I also know that it doesn't necessarily turn you into a sad,
depressed sack of tears for the rest of your life. People can move past
it, and heal.

This falls in with what I was just saying above.
Yes, a miscarriage is a very sad occurance. But nothing dictates that I
now need to follow Ethan and Lilah through every second of their sad
emotions, putting us right in the middle of it where, yes, it would be
a bit depressing. There are a number of supporting characters in the
strip through which I can tell the story, or I could break away
completely with some one-shots and come back to join the characters
post-ground-zero, when the pain isn't so fresh, to show how they handle
it.

Now I'm sure some of you are wondering what my motivations were for this particular story path.

As
I've said in the past, the grand plan for the comic and its characters
has been written for years. I knew that (and how) Ethan was going to
propose to Lilah when I introduced her into the comic. I knew when he
proposed that shortly before the wedding Lilah was going to get
pregnant and then miscarry, and I had to wait two years to write it. I
know what happens next, and I know how they handle it. I know what
happens even further down the line. I know what Scott is doing in his
room. I know who moves out and when. I know who dies and who doesn't
die. And I know that, through all of it, Ethan is still Ethan, Lilah is
still Lilah, and Lucas is still Lucas, and they are all still gamers.

And
more importantly, I know that I have a storyline that can keep the
comic going for a long, long time, and most importantly, keep me
anxious to write the next part for you. Because for me, there needs to
be more there than just playing games. The characters and their lives
need to be interesting enough that I want to keep writing about them while they play the games.

So
in part, this just serves to set up the next part of the story. On a
base level, it's just a good twist. Conflict makes for interesting
story.

On a deeper level, I really have a desire to stress test
Ethan and Lilah's relationship, to see if there is really something
there that would keep them together despite Ethan's antics, and I
decided that this was the best way to go about it. I know from personal
experience what it can do to a relationship. Some many years ago, long
before I started the comic, I was in a relationship and we suffered a
miscarriage. Now, this relationship was toxic to begin with and doomed
to fail regardless, so that the miscarriage was the straw that broke
the camel's back came as no surprise. It was a pregnancy neither of us
wanted in the first place, so the event didn't effect me nearly as much
as it would, say, a couple who was trying for a child. Still, I saw the
emotions it can bring up first hand, and I saw how it could truly hurt
someone. It's a tough thing to handle because it's nobody's fault.
There's nobody you can blame.

It can cause a rift in a
relationship without someone having to be the "bad guy", as in
infidelity or lying. And I wanted to see if and how Ethan and Lilah's
relationship could weather it.

And also... I wanted to see if I could write it. If I could pull it off. Call it creative curiosity, I guess.

tl;dr:
1. Due to personal experience (i.e. Buckley knocked up a girl, baby died, Buckley didn't care because it gave him a way to weasel out of the relationship) Buckley thinks that people get over miscarriages over the course of what seems like, in the comic's time, a few weeks to a month.
2. Buckley wrote the miscarriage in because he thinks it's a substitute for characterization for his two-dimensional self-inserts. He also wanted to see if he could successfully write such a tragedy. He couldn't. Many parody comics were made.

Sorry, the creepiness of the kiddie panty shots and having Minimandy in love with her brother is much, much worse than having Mandy behind 9/11. Maybe it was too soon, but it wasn't supposed to be funny (IIRC) and therefore can only make me go "eh". I was supposed to find Minimandy wanting her brother to kiss her compelling characterization.

Bleedman's comics are a slight guilty pleasure when I'm bored out of my mind and I feel like looking at some interesting art, but I have to agree that the pervert-meter on it is astounding. Suddenly there were incestuous tones out of nowhere, and just as suddenly Bleedman laughed it off like "lol, I troll u guiz". Eh, anyway, I'm sure he's got an ED article somewhere that explains things better.

Also, I hated that "Sugar Bits" comic of his. Made no sense whatsoever, and appealed even less.

Man, Sugar Bits was nice to look at, but utterly useless and plotless. Underage girls sitting around looking pretty? Riiiiight...

I present to you RHJunior. He's a racist, misogynist, homophobic fundie-furry artist who makes really terrible webcomics featuring his Mary Sue fursonas being awesome and pwning those lame women/faggots/atheists/liberals. Here are a few samples:

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LOOK, EVERYBODY! THE A-RAB IS A CAMEL! HYUCK HYUCK HYUCK!


...so yeah, Cyberwulf, Harley, which one of you is gonna draw Nip and Tuck in a compromising position on our behalf? Webcomic artists looove fanart!

Ah. Cyberwulf it is.

Although I can't help but wonder if it's supposed to be a troll, considering that the main characters are, well, backwards hillfolk. Too much to hope for?

Why do people draw furry art? Furry art is uniformly terrible.

Lysander wrote:

Why do people draw furry art? Furry art is uniformly terrible.

:law:

There are are as many shitty "Hyoomans" artists as there are furry. And nearly as many excellent ones.

THe real question here is how someone responsible for the strawmanning glurge posed above is also responsible for teh fairly awesome Tales of the Questor?

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Wait... What's the punchline? Which character am I supposed to be empathizing with? I don't get it.

Freezer wrote:

Lysander wrote:

Why do people draw furry art? Furry art is uniformly terrible.

:law:

I do take it back. Maus was pretty good. That's an example of a work that used the style to actually say something.

Aside from "I can't draw/relate to anything with two feet and a language," that is.

Lysander wrote:

Why do people draw furry art? Furry art is uniformly terrible.

I... used to draw furry art. Extremely g-rated, but it's just that I found them a lot more interesting to draw and you can hide flaws a lot better than you can with human characters.

Ugh, still, I'm out of that stage now.