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My webcomic (Worthless-Online) is back and better than ever

BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
edited October 2009 in Artist's Corner
Hey there,

I've recently re-launched the greatest webcomic you've probably never heard of, otherwise known as Worthless-Online. Worthless was a straaange fucking webcomic I made for two years (from July 2002 to August 2004) and two-hundred-thirty-plus strips. It had sci-fi, horror, "romance," action, adventure, and various other genre elements that I can't think of at the moment. Unfortunately, it was taken down late in 2006, for a variety of reasons, and I've been trying to bring it back ever since.
There was the time Spencer and co. traveled through time:

Click for Tales Through Time!
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There was the time George Bush reinstated the draft:

Click for the Return of the Draft
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There was the time Spencer got jealous of his own brother having a girlfriend, so he tried to sabotage their relationship:

Click for Jealousy Has a Name, and It Is Spencer!
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There was the time Ben and Hass got stuck in Japan, so they decided for no discernible reason to become Private Detectives:

Click for Ben and Hass: Japanese Detectives
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There was the time Ben and Spencer tried to kill Roger Ebert because of his terrible movie reviews:


Click for The Great Worthless Adventure.

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There was the time I parodied CTRL+ALT+DEL, not once, but twice:

Click for link. Click for other parody.
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Other fantastic comics: Here, here, here, here, here, and here.

For anybody even remotely interested in reading Worthless, the Story Guide is probably the best place to start. To coincide with the Worthless Re-Launch, I've also started a new webcomic called Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood that'll update three times a week.

Any feedback, even outright hatred of me and my comics, would be massively appreciated.

Thanks!

Benjamin Moore

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Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
BenjaminAndrewMoore on

Posts

  • BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    By the way, the line (in the CTRL+ALT+DEL parody comic) "I'm not some Mike Krahulik-looking gimp!" was something Absath actually said a long time ago at the old Buzzcomix forums, followed by, "I would knock the fuck out of you, kid." So, yeah. I was definitely not making fun of Gabe by writing that.

    BenjaminAndrewMoore on
    102109192704.png
    Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
    Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
  • iglidanteiglidante Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    The font on some of these is almost illegible - the wall of text dialog boxes, combined with the boxy font, really made it hard for me to actually read these. But your font skips all over the place, so I'm not sure what you've settled on now.

    iglidante on
  • 2 Marcus 2 Ravens2 Marcus 2 Ravens CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited October 2009
    You'd think with all those words, you could manage to make a good joke somewhere in there.

    (There are too many words, and the punchlines are weak, is what I'm sayin')

    Also,

    "I've recently re-launched the greatest webcomic you've probably never heard of"

    That's sarcasm right? Like, some kind of joke or something? Because you don't come into an art forum looking for crits, and start off by saying how great it is. That's just bad form, dude.

    2 Marcus 2 Ravens on
  • BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    You'd think with all those words, you could manage to make a good joke somewhere in there.

    (There are too many words, and the punchlines are weak, is what I'm sayin')

    Also,

    "I've recently re-launched the greatest webcomic you've probably never heard of"

    That's sarcasm right? Like, some kind of joke or something? Because you don't come into an art forum looking for crits, and start off by saying how great it is. That's just bad form, dude.

    No offense, big guy, but "I've relaunched the greatest webcomic you've probably never heard of" kind of, "like," broadcasts the irony with a bull-horn. Jesus.

    That said, I appreciated your critique up until that last statement.

    BenjaminAndrewMoore on
    102109192704.png
    Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
    Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
  • BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    iglidante wrote: »
    The font on some of these is almost illegible - the wall of text dialog boxes, combined with the boxy font, really made it hard for me to actually read these. But your font skips all over the place, so I'm not sure what you've settled on now.

    Hey, iglidante--thanks for the critique. I'm curious, which ones were almost illegible?

    BenjaminAndrewMoore on
    102109192704.png
    Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
    Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
  • iglidanteiglidante Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    This font (and its use in this strip) give me the willies - it's mind-bending:

    draft8awesome.gif

    EDIT: in small doses, I can deal with it. But when it's more than two lines, it begins to assemble itself into a brick wall. It's just a dense (and condensed) font.

    iglidante on
  • KendeathwalkerKendeathwalker Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    you did 200+ comics and no one told you that your jokes are too long winded and the text choice gives people headaches?

    oh and look

    an un-funny race joke.

    adventures3b.gif

    It might have been funny if the guy in the middle was looking at the black guy asking him why he shot him and it was the spikey haird guy blowing smoke off the tip of a gun barrell .. Are you going to do one with a jewish guy counting pennies?

    Kendeathwalker on
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Wow, your comics are long and a chore to read. Please make them shorter.

    MagicToaster on
  • BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    you did 200+ comics and no one told you that your jokes are too long winded and the text choice gives people headaches?

    oh and look

    an un-funny race joke.

    It might have been funny if the guy in the middle was looking at the black guy asking him why he shot him and it was the spikey haird guy blowing smoke off the tip of a gun barrell .. Are you going to do one with a jewish guy counting pennies?

    I respect your opinion on that, but FYI, the premise of the storyline was "What if Hollywood did a modern retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." And, I mean...obviously they would make Jim a ridiculous, over-the-top gang-banger. I think that just goes without saying.

    BenjaminAndrewMoore on
    102109192704.png
    Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
    Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
  • KendeathwalkerKendeathwalker Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I read .. well attempted to discern the story in the comics preceding that one and didnt get that from them.

    Even still fufilling the expectations of a sterotype so obviously isnt funny and its just lazy because its propably the first joke that came into your head. people can see the punchline coming from a mile away or they are just going to be offended by it. at least attempt to switch things up. You could have had him take the gun from him and the last panel be the black guy demanding his gun back and spouting off about how you never touch another mans gun ( good place to throw in a dick joke, if thats your thing)

    Kendeathwalker on
  • BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Even still fufilling the expectations of a sterotype so obviously isnt funny. people can see the punchline coming from a mile away or they are just going to be offended by it at least attempt to switch things up. You could have had him take the gun from him and the last panel be the black guy demanding his gun back and spouting off about how you never touch another mans gun ( good place to throw in a dick joke, if thats your thing)

    I absolutely agree with the part of the quote I underlined. Unfortunately, the story was never finished, as I've no doubt you discerned if you continued to read, so I never got a chance to "switch things up." If/when I do finish it, take solace in the fact that switching things up will be high on my list of priorities.

    Anyway. Thanks for your feedback.

    BenjaminAndrewMoore on
    102109192704.png
    Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
    Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
  • FletcherFletcher Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    just so you know, the link in your sig is spelt wrong! (also your sig is a little too big for this forum)

    i do kind of like your art style, but i think you're limiting the visual appeal by doing the "copy, paste, change facial expression" thing that is so common in comics

    nobody is really going to care if you do it every now and then, but reusing the same body in the same position several times (in one comic) can be a little dull; people emote with more than their faces!

    the fonts are sometimes okay, sometimes horrendous

    for example in the comic ken posted, you have red-on-black, black-on-purple and black-on-white text, all in one panel, and all in different fonts! this is very visually confusing (plus the red on black is very "the internet in the mid nineties" stylistically)

    you definitely have a some good jokes in there though! some of them were a little mysogynistic for my taste, but there were plenty of other punchlines that i found funny. i think you mainly need to work on making your writing/fonts a little more concise and readable, as you seem to be fairly comfortable with your drawing style.

    and maybe try mixing up poses a little more if you can afford the time while making them

    Fletcher on
  • BenjaminAndrewMooreBenjaminAndrewMoore Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Fletcher wrote: »
    just so you know, the link in your sig is spelt wrong! (also your sig is a little too big for this forum)

    i do kind of like your art style, but i think you're limiting the visual appeal by doing the "copy, paste, change facial expression" thing that is so common in comics

    nobody is really going to care if you do it every now and then, but reusing the same body in the same position several times (in one comic) can be a little dull; people emote with more than their faces!

    the fonts are sometimes okay, sometimes horrendous

    for example in the comic ken posted, you have red-on-black, black-on-purple and black-on-white text, all in one panel, and all in different fonts! this is very visually confusing (plus the red on black is very "the internet in the mid nineties" stylistically)

    you definitely have a some good jokes in there though! some of them were a little mysogynistic for my taste, but there were plenty of other punchlines that i found funny. i think you mainly need to work on making your writing/fonts a little more concise and readable, as you seem to be fairly comfortable with your drawing style.

    and maybe try mixing up poses a little more if you can afford the time while making them

    Hey Fletcher, massive thanks for the constructive feedback! (Also, thanks for the tip on the sig--I trust it's size-appropriate now?)

    There was a kid in my high school named Fletcher. Couldn't stand him. Biggest asshole who ever lived. As such, I've always been averse to the name Fletcher, but I'll be honest...you've gone a long way toward correcting that.

    BenjaminAndrewMoore on
    102109192704.png
    Check out the Classic Worthless archive and Story Guide
    Check out the all-new comic, Jorge Jackson Goes to Hollywood
  • worstcaseworstcase Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    WORDS WORDS WORDS WORDS

    Oh my gosh, all the text is a MAJOR turn-off.

    And i mean major. Try making it more legible and easier on the eyes. Im sure there were some good jokes in there but honestly too much text really does not inspire me to read them all the way through.

    worstcase on
  • iglidanteiglidante Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I want to address the Tim Buckley comic for a second, because I think it really says a lot about your approach to humor (and comics) in general. Some good, some bad.
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    Okay, so you picked an easy target. Pretty much everyone who doesn't kiss Buckley's ass hates everything he stands for, so he's at least good for a laugh or two. Let's see what you've got:

    - He's a thief
    - He's a liar
    - He has a small dick (and is proud about it, apparently)
    - He's pale and scrawny, and deluded about it.
    - He's a misogynistic asshole.
    - He likes rim jobs.
    - He's a narcissist.
    - He's a racist idiot.
    - And then, for good measure, someone breaks all his bones and has sex with his mom, who is fat.

    Now, I like a good insult as much as the next guy, but holy shit - you threw in every single negative thing you could think of, and then made his mom have sex with the black guy he insulted, who also kicked his ass. This is the equivalent of writing "Tim Buckley is a fag" in a bathroom stall, only you devote 8 panels and 300 words to it.

    Short answer: Distill, my friend.

    iglidante on
  • AnalrapistAnalrapist Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    I'm not going to crit. However i am going to give a opinion which I'll probably get told to go fuck my self with (just assuming from most of the replies given to his crits)

    1: Font too hard to read. And there's too much to read. And everything I read was not funny, nor did it instill any sort of thoughts for discussion on any topic. Basically I read them and went "Let's move on. I'm hungry, I need to pee." It was like reading a full page editorial cartoon in the Sunday times.

    2: The art style is fairly assaulting on the eyes. Bright colors, sharp angles. Too much going on in each panel. Stuff crammed into the space due to the lengthy speach bubbles.

    I'm thinking you're a closet 'zine writer.
    That's just how a lot of this stuff comes off to me.

    Analrapist on
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  • CheerfulBearCheerfulBear Registered User regular
    edited October 2009
    Overwhelming lack of subtlety.

    CheerfulBear on
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