A Modest Destiny?

[Waf]

Saying, "A flame war too terrible to mention ended a webcomic and tensions are still so high that three years later people still should not discuss it" tends to pique people's curiosity.

Heh, the problem is that isn't true. The flame war didn't end his comic. It lived on over a year after the flame war ended. That's pretty much my entire complaint. The people who want to talk about it, make the story into something it completely wasn't. Had it been that interesting, I'd still be interested in discussing 3 years after the fact.

[Koji]

Man, that was exactly the sort of post that starts flame wars.
It just takes an other guy to come and, feeling encouraged by what you wrote, to post something even more provoking. Then a Squidi fan reads it and yells at you, you yell back at him and other people join in throwing buckets of gasoline on the fire.
Better kill it before it even start!

Why would I yell at someone on the internet?

gatitcz hit it on the head. You can't tell that a glorious internet struggle happened, and then refuse to talk about it--or even LET anyone talk about it. I'm curious now.

[Broadus]

I never found Penny Arcade to be funny, and I found their blog entries to be ridiculous in their fullness with words taken from a thesaurus because nobody in the world would know the meaning of most of the words they use and they're just trying to make themselves sound smarter than they are.
Squidi's comics were full of angst and angsty cliffhangers because they weren't all that terribly funny and generally a webcomic author turns to angst and blood and death whenever they realize that they can't be funny, and the only thing Squidi ever made that really got me laughing was "The Atheist, The Agnostic and the Assh***".

*stands back from the heat of the flames*

[boxerdemon]

Went through yet another registration process on yet another webcomic forum to make only one post then never read the forum again...

AMD > PA

The reason for this? Escape dummy. I've gotten more enjoyment from the first episode of AMD than the entire run of PA, BnG, and even with what 8-Bit Theatre has become nowadays.

I bumped a two week old post so that everyone can know the genius of the escape dummy. You're welcome.

[Thexare Blademoon]

I never found Penny Arcade to be funny, and I found their blog entries to be ridiculous in their fullness with words taken from a thesaurus because nobody in the world would know the meaning of most of the words they use and they're just trying to make themselves sound smarter than they are.

I suppose you're unfamiliar with the fact that some of us use lengthy words even in casual conversation, simply because we do know what they mean. And then people like you insult us for what you perceive as arrogance, which we then perceive as ignorance, and the whole thing becomes a big unpleasant mess.

It's another sort of post that triggers flames, and you acknowledged that at the end. If you knew that it could anger people, why post it at all?

[squidi]

Why would you want to keep the issue dead for any reason other than kowtowing to a man who isn't even reading this?

I've got my eye on you.

[ufo]

I suppose you're unfamiliar with the fact that some of us use lengthy words even in casual conversation, simply because we do know what they mean. And then people like you insult us for what you perceive as arrogance, which we then perceive as ignorance, and the whole thing becomes a big unpleasant mess.

It's another sort of post that triggers flames, and you acknowledged that at the end. If you knew that it could anger people, why post it at all?

QFT.

While I've always been interested in the mess, I've tried not digging it to the light, to prevent provocation of someone, and I wouldn't be suprised if Squidi and the other involved would be unhappy to discuss it, but Squidi himself would be able to correct me if I'm wrong, it seems . But I have read the whole archive (geeze!) and I am, too, unhappy that all the good stories never ended.

[comicshorse]

Me too, I'd love to know how the whole undead war turned out and see teh escape dummy in action one last time.

[squidi]

Finishing AMD is not a priority. There are several factors, both technical and social, that keep me from committing to that project at the moment. That's not to say that it isn't something I want to do. I'm just currently unable. But if it comes down to it, I will write the damn thing as a novel and post it that way. I'd rather finish AMD like I started, so that's a last chance thing.

However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of pixel-only short stories (like more AMD Chronicles or Zombies of the Living Dead) from appearing someday soon.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Holy crap, I didn't think we could actually summon Sean Howard like that. Welcome! I used to love your comics, though I was turned off by the more dramatic angles in the later AMD. The Chronicles and Zombie stuff interests me. Could you post around here if/when you do that?

[boxerdemon]

Behold the power of the escape dummy. You're all lucky I didn't invoke the power of the Gnarled Staff of Ass Whoop or the forum would've 'sploded from sheer awesome.

[Koji]

I've got my eye on you.

Well I certainly didn't expect that.

[postulio]

i miss AMD so much.. *sniff*

i was around back when it was up to only about episode 100-something. i was there for the fight, ill hold my opinions and memories of the matter to myself, but i just wish the whole thing wouldnt have crippled (at the time) one of the best webcomics on the net.

as for today, well squidi is still around if you know where to look *grin*

but i hope, as many (few?) of you do as well that he makes his triumphant return into webcomic-ism!

all hail squidi

*insert escape dummy*

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

I still wear my Fluffy "Evil Demands Chocolate Chips" shirt to this day. I have gotten several comments about how awesome AMD was and how much it is missed.

[Santino18]

My friend and I still hold entire conversations comprised of AMD quotes.

I know Squidi has trouble with fans and fame, but truely, so many people love him, it's crazy for him to step back like this.

COME BACK SEAN! WE MISS YOU!

[Jerthanis]

I have to say, I still liked a lot of the drama of later chapters, and didn't even mind the child rape (partially because Jenny's character evaded the rape, and that reminded me of Mitsuko Souma of Battle Royale fame) If we never allow a character to experience things which make us queasy, then we limit ourselves arbitrarily. Squidi handled the event with dignity and maturity, so I really don't see the problem. (Except maybe that it's too much of a convenient excuse for a character to behave the way she does. Yorick in Y: The last man was raped by another adolescent as an adolescent, but it's one of the more minor influences on his character, as it gave him a few issues, but doesn't 'explain' him; which could also be said of Jenny I suppose.)

What I felt the flaw was that lowered my enjoyment overall from previous installments of AMD was that we were told at every moment that every moment something bad could happen, and the tension was thick... yet the drama was interspersed with jokes inappropriate to the drama level, and in my estimation, lower brow than some of the earlier strips. (with exceptions of course... Moop?) Jokes about weaponized morning sickness, jokes about pooping on people, jokes about finding the tiny object in a closet for like 5 strips... and then it not being there? It wasn't necessarily less good than previous installments, just less solid in what it seemed to be going for. AMD1 was laugh-a-day that surprised us with a plot a little more than halfway through. AMD2 was hugely character centric, and plot based, but it was still entirely humor until the last run of strips. AMD3 tried to be laugh-a-day, hugely plot oriented, dramatically character driven, tense, and largely humorous... and eventually something gave for me.

I do really want to see the end of the story eventually, because it's really a story worth telling.

[High-Chancellor]

Eh... I read what he'd been planning on doing with it, that he posted when he decided to put off AMD. I didn't particularly care for it, I'll just stick with AMD classic before it got all drama and angsty.

[Twisted Otaku]

As for not talking about it much, it's because the issue has sprouted multiple flame wars all over the place, most major webcomic authors were picking sides and there was general nastiness all around. Thus, nobody really likes to talk about it and most people try to forget it happened.

Wow... sounds like WWII

[Kurald Galain]

However, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of pixel-only short stories (like more AMD Chronicles or Zombies of the Living Dead) from appearing someday soon.

Hi Squidi! I was surprised to see your post here, so I just wanted to say that I was very impressed by your various comics, as well as by the whole "300 game mechanics" page. It'd be cool if it were to continue.

[Drumbum42]

I enjoyed squidi too, and would like to see the comics come back some day. I also enjoyed most of the mimi-comics, (except The Atheist, The Agnostic and the -thingy-. It just wasn't funny)

[postulio]

squidi come back!

[Hell Puppi]

*rodger, we lost him*

~end transmission~


..sorry been watching too much battlestar galactica