Oxford Clay
April 5, 2010 2:43 AM Subscribe
Oxford Clay: a webcomic about dinosaurs "coming to terms with their impending mortality" by Dan Berry. Its visual style borrows heavily from George Herriman's Krazy Kat.
It does feel like it's missing several somethings, including flying bricks (rocks in this case?). I will be checking it again in several months to see where did it go, the potential for both zany whimsy and pretentions slog are both there, I feel.
posted by Iosephus at 3:58 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by Iosephus at 3:58 AM on April 5, 2010
I hope that guy that reviewed the Star Wars movies does a review of this comic and points out how dinosaurs couldn't possibly speak english before men evolved.
posted by digsrus at 4:48 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by digsrus at 4:48 AM on April 5, 2010
"Amazing" that sixty-five million "years" of natural selection haven't "weeded out" the unnecessary quotation mark. Must be "hard-wired" into our reptilian "brains".
I enjoyed imagining that when the dinosaurs have their hands extended palms-up, they're flipping each other off. (episode 001, panels 8-9: SHUT UP JAMES! UGGGGH!)
posted by unregistered_animagus at 7:25 AM on April 5, 2010
I enjoyed imagining that when the dinosaurs have their hands extended palms-up, they're flipping each other off. (episode 001, panels 8-9: SHUT UP JAMES! UGGGGH!)
posted by unregistered_animagus at 7:25 AM on April 5, 2010
"borrows heavily" = highway robbery
Oxford Clay = Krazy Kat without any of the humor or pathos
posted by blucevalo at 7:26 AM on April 5, 2010
Oxford Clay = Krazy Kat without any of the humor or pathos
posted by blucevalo at 7:26 AM on April 5, 2010
I like webcomics that try interesting things, but I'm not digging this so far.
To write a comic you need lots of skills. You need a unique flair for visuals, you need a keen ear for dialogue, and, if you're trying to be funny, you need a real appreciation for how humor works. If you lose any one of those things, your comic fails. Most people have none of the three.
What makes Krazy Kat so incredible is that Herriman had all three, and what's more each of his three was bizarre and strange and off in its own little world. So when you pick up Krazy Kat you're getting something that's hard to find anywhere else, in its visuals and characters and jokes.
I was always thankful that Bill Watterson, who loved Krazy Kat, never stole the style for Calvin + Hobbes. He couldn't have made it work. Instead he developed his own thing. I feel like this webcomic's trying too hard to be something it's not.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:44 AM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
To write a comic you need lots of skills. You need a unique flair for visuals, you need a keen ear for dialogue, and, if you're trying to be funny, you need a real appreciation for how humor works. If you lose any one of those things, your comic fails. Most people have none of the three.
What makes Krazy Kat so incredible is that Herriman had all three, and what's more each of his three was bizarre and strange and off in its own little world. So when you pick up Krazy Kat you're getting something that's hard to find anywhere else, in its visuals and characters and jokes.
I was always thankful that Bill Watterson, who loved Krazy Kat, never stole the style for Calvin + Hobbes. He couldn't have made it work. Instead he developed his own thing. I feel like this webcomic's trying too hard to be something it's not.
posted by Rory Marinich at 7:44 AM on April 5, 2010 [2 favorites]
Animagus, the "quotation marks" are part of the homage to Krazy Kat.
And wow, seeing someone so whole-heartedly swipe Herriman's visual style, right down to his dubious typographical choices, then use it to illustrate characters verbally abusing each other ("Why would a fortune teller talk about you?" "Dunno." "Well SHUT UP THEN James! Ugghhh.") is really discomfiting - Herriman's work is certainly full of physical abuse, and it has its share of verbal sparring, but to see it so directly and nakedly jars me. Most people who swipe Herriman's style of drawing also borrow his tendency to circuitous, oblique speech.
posted by egypturnash at 7:58 AM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
And wow, seeing someone so whole-heartedly swipe Herriman's visual style, right down to his dubious typographical choices, then use it to illustrate characters verbally abusing each other ("Why would a fortune teller talk about you?" "Dunno." "Well SHUT UP THEN James! Ugghhh.") is really discomfiting - Herriman's work is certainly full of physical abuse, and it has its share of verbal sparring, but to see it so directly and nakedly jars me. Most people who swipe Herriman's style of drawing also borrow his tendency to circuitous, oblique speech.
posted by egypturnash at 7:58 AM on April 5, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that's some balls inviting comparison to Herriman. You can't possibly live up to that. It's like using the style of Maus for Penny Arcade.
posted by cmoj at 8:13 AM on April 5, 2010
posted by cmoj at 8:13 AM on April 5, 2010
I knew that, no matter what my feelings about this comic may be, I could come here to see it torn to shreds. Thanks for never lettin me down, MeFi.
posted by crataegus at 12:47 PM on April 5, 2010
posted by crataegus at 12:47 PM on April 5, 2010
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posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 3:33 AM on April 5, 2010