Shinpad RIP
A while ago, I was thinking about doing a post about one of my favorite webcomics, Shinpad, but then I saw that it was gearing up to end, and I figured I'd hold off until it ended. And, well, now it has. So, I figure I might as well.
Anyway -- it's several types of strip in one; there's the story strips, short gag strips, the occasional one-panel strip, character-based humor, surreal gags, one-offs, etc. And I really dig the artwork, mostly done in MS Paint (though there are a few that were drawn traditionally and then scanned in), and are pixelly. The writing also basically seems to be more-or-less exactly my sense of humor. (For example, this one, which is made by the letters at the bottom...)
One of my favorite things about the strip, at least from a political-philosophical-type-standpoint, is that one of the characters, Katrina, is a heavier woman who's both sexual but not a punchline. I'm pretty drawn to Size Issues and whatnot, having been fat for almost my whole life, and, well, I've always hated it when "Ha ha! The fat person thinks they're attractive!" is a punchline; in Shinpad, she actually is attractive, and no one thinks anything OF it. Which is really, really cool and needs to happen way more often, if you ask me.
Anyway, though, there aren't a whole lot of strips, unfortunately (only 136 proper strips, plus a bunch of bonus type ones, over 4 years), but start at the beginning and page through; it's a pretty quick read, and it's really funny.
(And if you get hooked like me, a while ago, Alex Camelio mentioned that he might be moving into print comics, although I don't know if that's still the plan; with any luck, though, he'll keep doing comics, because I really dig his stuff.)
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me @ Wednesday, June 15, 2005
2 Comments:
Dang, there are so many good webcomics out there, it's impossible to find them all. (Esp. since you have to dig through so much CRAP to find 'em!)
I'd never heard of Shinpad, but I love these... the "movie marquee" strip had me rolling. :D
And that's very cool about the plus-size character... stereotypes make me tired, too. I automatically tune out any movie, TV show or whatever that gives a character a southern accent as shorthand for "ignorant" or "racist." I'm just freakin' over it.
Yeah, I know -- sometimes I'll go on phases where I'll just start exploring webcomics, and there _are_ a lot of crap ones, but there's some Diamonds in the Rough. Maybe at some point, I'll actually go through a writeup and list most/all of the comics that I keep up with on a daily/weekly basis. There's a lot of bigger ones (like Wigu or Achewood, but a few of the smaller/obscure ones like Shinpad.
And yeah -- I've always been a little uptight w/r/t plus-size stereotypes and whatnot. I've known a lot of really, really attractive people who were convinced they were ugly because they had extra weight. It's sort of one of my hobby-horses, actually. I just like it when people are comfortable with themselves and how they look; as Zappa said, there will even come a time when no one will be ashamed if they are fat. (Not, of course, that that's anything to be ashamed over anyway -- I just wanted to quote Zappa.)
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