Why I Love Saturn

January 22, 2013 5:21 PM

Comics visionary Kyle Baker has just put all his creator-owned properties online, to be read for free.
posted by Shepherd (42 comments total)

Love Kyle Baker! And what a generous gesture for him to make.
posted by Sidhedevil at 5:23 PM on January 22

More poeple need to read I DIE AT MIDNIGHT, so this is a good thing.
posted by The Whelk at 5:30 PM on January 22 [2 favorites]

Beats working.
posted by kimota at 5:30 PM on January 22

... and for just a moment, I was on Saturn.
posted by newdaddy at 5:34 PM on January 22

I haven't read the others, but Why I Hate Saturn is one of my all time favorite comics.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:38 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Is the skimpy clothing in Special Forces supposed to be a commentary on women's clothing in comics overall, or are we meant to take the neverending fan service and bondage babe poses alongside the somewhat serious commentary on The War On Terror?
posted by pmv at 5:39 PM on January 22

Damnit, I have work to do, people.
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 5:45 PM on January 22

There is nothing finer in this universe than The Cowboy Wally Show.

Nothing.
posted by lekvar at 5:47 PM on January 22 [5 favorites]

I loves me some Kyle Baker. The Cowboy Wally Show is basically the most greatest thing in the history of ever.

"Sometimes I'm so dumb I could puke. This is a fort! Lock the door."
posted by Aznable at 5:51 PM on January 22 [3 favorites]

Nice. Thanks for posting the link!
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 5:53 PM on January 22

There is nothing finer in this universe than The Cowboy Wally Show.

"It was a mutual parting of the ways. We gave him the freedom to do what he wanted to do."
"Which was what?"
"Drink himself to death."
posted by mightygodking at 5:58 PM on January 22 [5 favorites]

Just as a note - Kyle's front page has embedded video.
posted by newdaddy at 6:10 PM on January 22

There is no history of ever.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:16 PM on January 22

There is nothing finer in this universe than The Cowboy Wally Show.

See that's what I thought, but now we have The Cowboy Wally Show, for free.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 6:23 PM on January 22 [2 favorites]

Damn. I paid $20 for a used copy of the first edition of Cowboy Wally. If'n I'da known I could've waited twenty years and read it for free, I still would've bought it.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 6:25 PM on January 22 [4 favorites]

Kyle was a year ahead of me at Hunter College High School. He was always awesome.
posted by ltracey at 6:29 PM on January 22 [2 favorites]

The title on this post is the only thing, so far, that has tempted me to raise the title font size to greater than zero.
posted by benito.strauss at 6:45 PM on January 22

Yow! This is fantastic.

I love and adore "Why I Hate Saturn." And not just because I survived a wedding with a bunch of NYC art folks I didn't know by shamelessly stealing dialogue and jokes from it.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:52 PM on January 22 [3 favorites]

OMG KYLE BAKER OMG

best link of the day, thank you
posted by edheil at 7:07 PM on January 22

"Why I Hate Saturn" is by far one of my favorite pieces of matter I have ever exchanged currency for.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:18 PM on January 22

It seems to be missing his masterpiece: The Tom Hanks Experience*.

*Flash animation link. Useful for both meditation and partying.
posted by Lazlo Nibble at 7:21 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Awesome. I haven't really kept up with him in recent years, but adding to the chorus of complete lifetime adoration of Why I hate Saturn and The Cowboy Wally Show.
posted by billyfleetwood at 7:39 PM on January 22

so down at the bottom there's 'Download App' (.ZIP) and a .EXE link. What's they?
posted by hank at 7:40 PM on January 22

I hadn't heard of this guy, and now I'm cackling my way through Why I Hate Saturn. Thanks for the link, Shepherd.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 7:43 PM on January 22

Holy crap!!!
posted by Tesseractive at 7:48 PM on January 22

I remember Baker's work from The Shadow and Justice, Inc. He's one of the great comic book artists.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:54 PM on January 22 [2 favorites]

Why I hate Saturn is great!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:13 PM on January 22

"Now, like thousands of other women with low self-image, I find my confidence in a bottle."

"You mean - ?"

"Mousse. And plenty of it."
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:17 PM on January 22 [2 favorites]

Kyle was a year ahead of me at Hunter College High School.

Then so was I! HCHS represent. Kyle used to give away one-page comics he'd drawn during class, I wish I'd kept any...
posted by nicwolff at 8:24 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Oh my god, I was JUST re-reading Why I Hate Saturn for the first time since the early '90s.
posted by mykescipark at 9:38 PM on January 22

This may sound churlish, but if you're going to give things away then why not just let people download them? The comic is unreadably small on my screen; I can't run the program or the "app"; surely there's no reason not to post a PDF or even just a set of images?
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:22 PM on January 22

"But don't you see? Don't you understand what you're doing?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm destroying Shakespeare's snob appeal."

"You *fiend*."
posted by MartinWisse at 11:36 PM on January 22

So, what's Kyle up to these days, anyway?
posted by newdaddy at 3:43 AM on January 23

Huzzah for this! Why I Hate Saturn was the first graphic novel I ever purchased.
posted by magstheaxe at 4:35 AM on January 23

I've loved Why I Hate Saturn for years (I bought it years ago, and then bought a replacement copy a few years back). This is wonderful - thanks.
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 8:24 AM on January 23

I have an (apparently rare) copy of The Cowboy Wally Show, but was never as impressed with it as I was with Why I Hate Saturn, because that's pretty much my Go To as an example of Really Good Dialogue. Why has nobody made it into a movie yet? (I hear the rights are now all Mr Baker's).
posted by Sparx at 12:19 PM on January 23

Note that Why I Hate Saturn cuts out at 125 pages.
posted by zamboni at 3:39 PM on January 23

Yeah. I was wondering why it ended so abruptly. Glad that it doesn't.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:46 PM on January 23

King David is complete, although it might seem otherwise.
posted by zamboni at 4:12 PM on January 23

I had the same problem with "Why I Hate Saturn," zamboni, but on reloading it, they seem to have fixed it.
posted by Pronoiac at 5:04 PM on January 23

Nicwolff: I always wondered whether that was you. Now I know, and am glad.
posted by ltracey at 6:32 PM on January 23

"Download .exe for PC?!?" Wha tha wha tha? Is this 1995? Where's my CBR?
posted by pashdown at 6:21 AM on January 24 [2 favorites]