Chainsaw Suit - A Webcomic

November 11, 2009 4:37 PM

Chainsaw Suit - A Webcomic
posted by sciurus (32 comments total)

*Hiccough*
posted by clvrmnky at 4:40 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I dunno. I just leafed back and read maybe a dozen of them, and none of them made me even smile, let alone laugh.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 4:46 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I used to read this comic when it first came out but now it just drives me nuts. The Huntyr Chase 'plotline' made me drop it right away. Same with "Boner College", which was exactly the opposite of humor.

Using the same "lol frat boys are dumb and we hate them lolol bromance!" joke isn't funny.
posted by Askiba at 4:48 PM on November 11, 2009

The best part of Chainsaw Suit is that it started off as a thing on the cartoonist's blog (the posts aren't around anymore) meant to be terrible in order to make fun of comics like Cyanide and Happiness and xkcd that the author doesn't like, and it now it's become actually quite successful.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 4:52 PM on November 11, 2009

> A Webcomic

Whoa. Let's not make any snap judgements here.
posted by ardgedee at 4:54 PM on November 11, 2009

I have found the key to understanding this comic.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 5:02 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

meant to be terrible in order to make fun of comics like Cyanide and Happiness and xkcd that the author doesn't like

after reading 5 strips that was my guess as to why he did this given all his otehr work which is usually pretty baroque.
posted by GuyZero at 5:06 PM on November 11, 2009

Been reading this for a while, I love it. His other comics are bullshit though. (F yourself "F Chords")
posted by d1rge at 5:18 PM on November 11, 2009

Kris Straub's more 'serious' webcomic is the satirical sci-fi Starslip, which holds up well in the competitive satirical sci-fi webcomic category. He previously did the 'metacomic' Checkerboard Nightmare as well as other online experiments, including, currently, an absurdist 'webblast' talkshow with Wondermark's David Malki! topically titled Tweet Me Harder. He has expressed some frustration at the success of Chainsaw Suit, compared to his other work, so this MeFi post may not be good for his mental health (which, ironically, may make the random humor of CS better).
posted by oneswellfoop at 5:19 PM on November 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

I find this hilarious because it reminds me of comics I drew when I was about 12.

I have to agree that, with a few golden exceptions, xkcd is a pretty shitty strip. The punchlines to the math and programming jokes are always something along the lines of "Math, am I right? Huh? Huh?" And the "serious" strips are always an exercise in schmaltz.
posted by hifiparasol at 5:25 PM on November 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

This one is kind of funny

it started off as a thing on the cartoonist's blog (the posts aren't around anymore) meant to be terrible in order to make fun of comics like Cyanide and Happiness and xkcd that the author doesn't like

Hmm... Knowing it's not supposed to be funny kind of makes it funny. At least looking at the really old ones around The Devil Tesla's link. The new ones aren't funny in any way.

I guess the author is only capable of failing.
posted by delmoi at 5:27 PM on November 11, 2009

Well, I found this new one kind of funny, but that was the only new one I thought was even remotely funny.
posted by delmoi at 5:30 PM on November 11, 2009

Thanks for the extra links, oneswellfoop. The art on Starslip is great!
posted by sciurus at 5:35 PM on November 11, 2009

OK, I'm not a fan of the rape jokes. But everything else is cool.
posted by hifiparasol at 5:43 PM on November 11, 2009

Does this mean my one attempt to start Webcomic Wednesdays has been successful?!
posted by spiderskull at 5:55 PM on November 11, 2009

I love a good webcomic. After reading through about a dozen or so, I'm not sure this is one of them. And mocking your betters does not make you funny.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:43 PM on November 11, 2009

It took me a while to fine one, but I love this.
posted by Liver at 8:02 PM on November 11, 2009

Please pardon the self referential link, but I think it's appropriate:

It's alright to laugh at these.
posted by crataegus at 8:39 PM on November 11, 2009

The best part of xkcd is not the comic but watching less successful cartoonists have aneurysms and jealously snipe at it. "How can he be so successful when I am such an amazing and wonderful cartoonist!? The masses are stupid pigs who don't understand my vision!" and so on.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:55 PM on November 11, 2009

I like chainsawsuit. I think it used to be called "indie comic," and yeah, it was intentionally terrible. Somehow it changed, and I still like it.
posted by zsazsa at 9:24 PM on November 11, 2009

The main reason xkcd is as successful as it is, is because it's on the Internet, where its core audience (socially-challenged programmers and tech nerds) represents a disproportionate number of overall comix readers. The main reason most webcomics aren't terribly successful is because they never came up with the ridiculously simple notion of making linux jokes to the neckbeard set. "Sudo make me a sandwich" or whatever. That shit absolutely slays 'em.

Not to say it isn't successful, or that success among geeks is somehow less impressive.
posted by hifiparasol at 10:40 PM on November 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Tweet Me Harder is pretty good, but sometimes Straub and Malki get on a riff that is totally hilarous, like from two shows back when they start theorising how when you ask a genie for a million dollars he has to go out and earn that million by getting a job.
posted by PenDevil at 11:43 PM on November 11, 2009

XKCD reaches people who are not admirers of comics, in the strict sense, and its pantheon of Chris Ware or Krazy Kat or Spiegelman or whatever; like Wale or 50 Cent, which reach those who don't admire rap and its history, or Family Guy, which reaches those who don't admire comedy beyond juggling memes. Which is not to say that people with taste necessarily dislike these things, but rather that people who are presumed to be without it can and do like them. This is why they flip a switch behind the eyes of every strict admirer of art and medium and make them into such defensive, angry drones. Because these things are prophets of mediocrity and the market's voice calls out for them their heads to be put on silver plates. Wait, that's not so bad.
posted by kid ichorous at 1:38 AM on November 12, 2009 [3 favorites]

Oh, and the thing I find funniest about XKCD is how much inexplicable shit the guy gets every time he transgresses an invisible boundary of politics or taste that his previous comics fell on either side of. Stay conspicuously free of gender stereotyping for 30 or 300 issues or what have you, it will only make them all angrier when you give that stickgirl nipples in issue 301.
posted by kid ichorous at 1:45 AM on November 12, 2009

It's intentionally bad? Wonder if that would work for me...?

"Dear boss. Here's my latest code. It's intentionally buggy and crap as an ironic mirror held up against Microsoft who are inexplicably popular despite only coding in stick men."

Yeah... I think my boss would have the same opinion of me as I have of this webcomic...
posted by twine42 at 5:08 AM on November 12, 2009

Damn you kid ichorous... no nipples
posted by twine42 at 5:10 AM on November 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Tweet Me Harder is pretty good, but sometimes Straub and Malki get on a riff that is totally hilarous, like from two shows back when they start theorising how when you ask a genie for a million dollars he has to go out and earn that million by getting a job.

How far back was that? Because that's essentially the plot of a Whitest Kids U Know sketch.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:18 AM on November 12, 2009

Straub tweets:

oh joy! i get to watch a bunch of talentless effetes grouse about how much time they wasted trying to be entertained by me

I'm guessing he won't be joining to comment in the thread. Though he has summed up the internet pretty well.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 7:45 AM on November 12, 2009

Heh. Well, my girlfriend and I had a blast reading them last night.
posted by sciurus at 8:05 AM on November 12, 2009

Yeah, despite my vague snark above I worked my way through the archive and enjoyed it.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:44 AM on November 12, 2009

Metafilter hates everything I like
posted by Scoo at 9:30 AM on November 12, 2009

Yep, Straub's the same douche a lot of webcomic creators are. Hell, a lot of creative people are. He's no Marissa Marchant though.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:21 AM on November 12, 2009