2. american rationale -- finally up as well!

My webcomic.

http://americanrationale.com
(not for easily offended i guess, hey it's only 1 comic so far anyway)

Please leave comments about the site design and everything


Thanks a lot guys :D

I have no faith at all, but I think it might border on the offensive rather than the funny. There was no real comic sting or punchline which never helps, it turned out to be a manifestation of your politics rather than a genuine gag.

The content didn't offend me though, but it might for those with stronger views, but I'll let them fight their own corner ;)

well...I like the site - the header and logo and stuff... isn't there supposed to be a link to come back to the weekly(?) cartoon? Some people will never figure out the click on the logo thing and navigation is important..I mean the cartoon is the whole reason for the site right?

as for the cartoon itself... I honestly don't like it. Tell you why:

1. God is black thing - is a clichee...you only needed to make him a black woman to please all the clichees
2. He doesn't speak like a black guy. If you went with a clichee..you should have stayed with it and at least use some slang or stuff
3. Gothic is a terrible font for cartoons....if you want to underline the importance of a character's speach use larger and bold(er) comic fonts.
4. The "rationale" of your comic is ...well - making fun of everything. - Don't try and make fun of everything at once. I mean...in this episode you are making fun of? Let's see - black people, god, the bible, jews and communists, Mary Shelley and you're calling the human race f--ked up. I'm not commenting wether it's wise to make fun of such things or not... but I do believe they are all important subjects which deserve to be made fun of separately...and at some length.
5. As a comic..it lacks an intro. Even a minimal one...why is your character speaking to god? Is he tripping? Is he dead? Is he a teleevangelist wannabe?

That being said ....
I like the site and the characters and with a little improvement - it might pass as a comic. You do seriously lack a viable subject though.

I think Mihai wrapped it up pretty well. I think the site's layout suits its purpose, and the comic is well drawn, but as for the content of the comic - huh?
[list=1]

If this isn't the Christian/Jewish God, then why is he saying the Bible is fiction? Heck, if this guy is just a greater being, not associated with the Bible at all, why is he even talking about the Bible? It's an out-of-the-blue comment.

If this IS the Christian/Jewish God, then how can he say the Bible is false? He IS the God that the Bible is referring to.[/list]

Perhaps i'm analyzing this a bit too much, but it seems as though this is meant to be one of those "serious" comic, much like SOMETHING POSITIVE. If you are going to make serious social commentary under the guise of punchlines and humor, it has to be logical. And..at least in this first comic - it certainly isn't there. It also has to HAVE punchlines and humor.

Again, i like the drawings, just work on the screenplay a bit

Nos.

I won't comment on the comic, but if you have a site these days that is regularly updated at all, you gotta have an RSS feed. I typically won't return to a site if it doesn't have an RSS feed. I can't be bothered to return to 200 sites every week to see what's new. Make an RSS feed so I can see when you add something, without having to come back to the site all the time. You may think that will reduce your hits because I wouldn't be actively returning to the site, but it will actually increase them a lot because I and others don't have to remember to return.

it appears my comic wasn't too popular.

First on the comment on RSS Feed: what is it? I tried doing some searching on google but i must be missing the major idea behind it. If it helps, the site was coded in such a way that the very first page (the index page) is the latest comic, regardless of how many comics are up. You can browse from there.

And about clicking the logo to get back to the index - isn't this a widely done practice? I see it on a lot of sites, that's why I did the same.


*deep breath* here I go.

1. God is black thing - is a clichee...you only needed to make him a black woman to please all the clichees
2. He doesn't speak like a black guy. If you went with a clichee..you should have stayed with it and at least use some slang or stuff
3. Gothic is a terrible font for cartoons....if you want to underline the importance of a character's speach use larger and bold(er) comic fonts.
4. The "rationale" of your comic is ...well - making fun of everything. - Don't try and make fun of everything at once. I mean...in this episode you are making fun of? Let's see - black people, god, the bible, jews and communists, Mary Shelley and you're calling the human race f--ked up. I'm not commenting wether it's wise to make fun of such things or not... but I do believe they are all important subjects which deserve to be made fun of separately...and at some length.
5. As a comic..it lacks an intro. Even a minimal one...why is your character speaking to god? Is he tripping? Is he dead? Is he a teleevangelist wannabe?

1. Do I have to satisfy clichees?
2. Is it necessary to stereotype black people as illiterate? If God was black, he'd definitely be pimping, but I don't think he'd be an idiot.
3. I used Gothic to underline that he's supposed to be a holy figure. Should i change it to something like arial black or something?
4. This is the one I wanted to dig into. You have no idea how many different comics I've gone through - each having a different topic, each satirizing a different thing. I've done general comics, gaming comics (a cliche by now), religious comics... i've been through the mill with it. I'm tired of liking an idea until i develop the comic, and then disliking it. Therefore, I decided to run a comic where I'm just free to do whatever I want. As for all the different topics you named, I hadn't even thought of a majority of them myself. I just was commenting on how Christianity is bull****, even though I believe in God. God being black was just a side joke. I don't see how this comic attacks jews. I think you're digging a little deep to find Mary Shelley in it. Franksnstein was hardly being attacked in that comic. Communists, I don't even know where you got that. And calling the human race f--ked up - let's be honest. I think this is an accepted fact by now.

But I think you got way more from that comic than was intended.

5. Yes, he's talking to god - hence the character on one side, and God on the other, engaged in conversation. It doesn't have to make logical sense as to how the two ended up where they are. But I thought it was a good intro because it asks a universal question - why are we the way we are. I wasn't intending to do any more religious comics for a while.

Good luck in finding a viable subject, by the way. I don't want to tire out one topic as such.

1. If this isn't the Christian/Jewish God, then why is he saying the Bible is fiction? Heck, if this guy is just a greater being, not associated with the Bible at all, why is he even talking about the Bible? It's an out-of-the-blue comment.
2. If this IS the Christian/Jewish God, then how can he say the Bible is false? He IS the God that the Bible is referring to.

The Bible wasn't written by God, it was written by man. It's perfectly understandable for a person to believe in God but not believe in the bible.

All i'm saying is that God is a great thing, and I'd like to firmly believe in him, but unfortunately christianity screwed that up for me.



All in all, I think you guys are looking way too far into it. So far, the guys who replied are the only ones who dislike the comic, as far as lacking wit or intelligence goes. Personally, I thought it was a zinger.


If it helps, you can check out some other comics I've done so far for it:
http://americanrationale.com/junk/00002.jpg
http://americanrationale.com/junk/00004.jpg

Both political comics. See what you think of those.

(And I hope I don't turn this into a stupid political flamewar :( )

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (among other things, depending on who you talk to).

Just about every blog has one, and there is special software like NetNewsWire and Newsgator to be able to browse those feeds. Every time you make a post on a blog your RSS feed is updated. Then when my newsreader checks to see if your RSS feed has changed, it'll show up in the program like a new email. This way I can check hundreds of sites automatically without having to actually go to them all in a web browser all the time.

You can also display RSS feeds on other sites as a list of headlines, etc.

www.feedster.com searches RSS feeds, and on and on.

The Bible wasn't written by God, it was written by man. It's perfectly understandable for a person to believe in God but not believe in the bible.

All i'm saying is that God is a great thing, and I'd like to firmly believe in him, but unfortunately christianity screwed that up for me.

Yes, but that isn't FUNNY. I take the same stance - i believe in God, but i am still unsure on my stance on the Bible. It certainly is a great topic to discuss, but i don't think it makes for a good comic.

http://americanrationale.com/junk/00002.jpg
http://americanrationale.com/junk/00004.jpg

Ah, much better. I found the second one the funniest :D.

The first one was funny (i liked that last panel), but Republicans generally don't argue that we went into Iraq because OUR civil liberties were being violated, they argue that the Iraqi's civil liberties were being violated.

Nos.

That's a my bad. i'll correct that. Thanks a lot.

And thanks deker for the heads up about RSS, i'll try to look into it and see if i can put it into teh site :D

edit: it's fixed.

you don't need to defend yourself so much - I'm only saying what I think of it...

And about clicking the logo to get back to the index - isn't this a widely done practice? I see it on a lot of sites, that's why I did the same.

It is - and it's a very good thing. But shouldn't you also include a button for the comic page - a "return to comic" or "back" or "home"? That's what I was asking.

Do I have to satisfy clichees?

Of course not - why do you do it?

Is it necessary to stereotype black people as illiterate? If God was black, he'd definitely be pimping, but I don't think he'd be an idiot.

Well - you are making him an idiot - he doesn't know....and gods are supposed to know everything. Also I was speaking about slang. Does the use of slang make one illiterate? I thought it shows the fact you belong to a social class...not necessarily a bad one - technoblabber or lawyerese are slang too at least according to the dictionary.

I used Gothic to underline that he's supposed to be a holy figure. Should i change it to something like arial black or something?

Arial Black would make a funny statement....but only for a few I was speaking of the fact that comics don't use fancy fonts in bubbles. Almost all fancy fonts are used for titles...as far as I can see - I have a lot of comics hihi

I don't see how this comic attacks jews. I think you're digging a little deep to find Mary Shelley in it. Franksnstein was hardly being attacked in that comic. Communists, I don't even know where you got that.

The jews...it's too long to explain - it's not necessarily true either. Communists - I was looking at the red star the dude has on his Tshirt...communists deny God so...yeah - maybe I did read too much into it. As for the Frankenstein thing... another thing that makes God look stupid in your comic.... Frankenstein is not a monster that wants to smell flowers all day long - it's a beautiful alegory about humans...the f--ked up race And you were accusing me of trying to have you make God an illiterate?

And calling the human race f--ked up - let's be honest. I think this is an accepted fact by now.

that may be so - but do you go to a cripple and tell him "hey you have a leg chopped off" and expect him to find it funny?

Yes, he's talking to god - hence the character on one side, and God on the other, engaged in conversation. It doesn't have to make logical sense as to how the two ended up where they are. But I thought it was a good intro because it asks a universal question

well - I don't know that...he may be trippin on some bad acid or something..or be a DalaiLama incarnation and able to call the old guy anytime he wants... that's why I said it could benefit from an intro...who is the guy - why is he talking to god....2-3 words should have sufficed - something like "Jimmy is trippin ..." - if you read comics and I'm sure you have you couldn't have missed the famous "meanwhile on Earth..." in a little square black text bubble.

I didn't mean to offend you or anything - just saying what it makes me think of