Q: When did you start doing these?
A: I did the first comic doodles around early March, 2001. They made me and my friends have a good laugh, so I decided to upload it to my website, giving them their own section. They were the first 3 comics on the site.
I had actually doodled 4-5, but the last 2 just didn't cut the proverbial mustard. By late march, Goonigoogoo comics was up and running. I think I changed the name to "Bigger Than Cheeses" a month or two later.
Q: Why "Bigger Than Cheeses", anyway?
A: If you say it aloud (or with a British accent), it sounds like "Bigger Than Jesus", which allows me to make both a Beatles quote and a blasphemous statement in one easy stroke. It also helps to distract the dumber fundamentalists who'd no doubt be angry if I DID use "Bigger Than Jesus"
Q: What's the deal with Thanatos? It sounds familiar
A: Just like Santa Claus is also known as Saint Nick, the Antichrist or dozens of other aliases, Death also comes in many forms. When I say 'Death', I'm talking about black hooded, scythe carrying death. The embodiment of it. The name 'Thanatos' simply means 'Death'. Thanatos got the name by the simple fact that wherever he goes, death follows. Or to put it another way; He IS death.
Q: How come Duke never takes off his sunglasses?
A: Probably because of the subconscious mental connection when I first drew him connecting him to Dilbert and Riff, from Sluggy Freelance. But the OFFICIAL reason is that he has very light sensitive eyes.
Q: And why doesn't he have a mouth?
A: Again, the Dilbert connection, as I had been reading Scott Addams' work a lot before started cartooning, and that art style was first and foremost in my brain. The OFFICIAL reason......err....maybe it symbolises his powerlessness over Thanatos's wild and crazy antics. Any better ideas?
Q: Wang. What's up with that?
A: First of all; yes, Wang IS male. Now that THAT's out of the way....Frankly, I have no good explanation for him picking up things, moving, walking, talking or drinking. He's just a rock. Just put it to 'magic' or something.
Q: [Character name] looks familiar. Did you steal him/her/it?
A: Well, on a conscious level, I don't steal people's work. It's just stupid. But on an unconscious level, I may have drawn them a certain way that looks "right" to me. I taught myself to draw the characters by looking at other webcomics around the place (ie: Sluggy Freelance, 3 finger salute, Polymer City, and a number of others) and learning how things were drawn (hands, heads, torsos, etc). By doing this however, a few things rubbed off, and some
similarities appeared. This was however completely unintentional, and just a byproduct of experimenting with art styles.
Q: This comic doesn't make sense!
A: A few of the comics have certain pop culture references, that won't make sense in a few years time. Read the newspost for each strip to see if there's an
explanation. However, I only started logging the newsposts on TO THE JESUSMOBILE!!!, so for anything before that, or if you're still confused, leave a message in the forum with what comic you don't understand, and I'll give you a brief
explanation.
Q: Some of these are pretty good! How can I link to this page?
A: Go over to the Downloads page, and check out the various linking images available. HTML is also supplied for your convenience. Thanks for linking!
Drop me a line in the
Forum
so I can link you back.
Q: These look like you did them in MS Paint! What's the process for making all these?
A (new): The strips before this one were jaggy as
hell, which is what prompted me to make the move from paint to Macromedia
Flash. The automatic antialiasing and vectory goodness made comic making
much easier and let me work on the art in levels I hadn't been able to before.
Hopefully the art will continue to progress, and maybe someday I'll make the
move to photoshop.
A (old): Okay, you caught me. I've been using MS Paint to draw the comics lately, which fixes the unevenness of the lines but only marginally reduces the jaggedness. Then I send it to Photoshop for any crazy effects then finally I convert if to gif and HTML it up.
A (oldest): Well, you're partially right. After I've come up with an idea, I'll do each comic up in pencil first, just the characters and props. Then, I go over the sketch in black pen, and scan it into the computer using the 5 year old Agfa scanner. After it's been scanned into the computer, I pop open MS Paint, and fix up any errors (broken lines, etc). This usually takes the longest, besides drawing, as I have to make sure all the characters are drawn right, and are the right sizes to each other. After setting them out in the right layout for the strip, I'll colourise them using the fill effect, and finally text. Then, it's just a case of converting the bmp file into a gif, and fiddling with the HTML. Voila! Fresh comic.
Q: Hey! I saw that punchline in [Insert comic name here]! Did you steal it?
A: In all probability, most likely yes. But it would usually be a subconscious thing, as I never try and consciously copy someone else's work. Maybe [comic name author] took it off another comic themselves.
Q: Why are Nat's breasts so big?
A: The reason why her breasts are so disproportionately large is because I taught myself to draw women using old Wonder Woman comics, Anime, and some of the ladies from Polymer City. It comes down to just trying to find what "looked right", essentially, and due to the source material, bigger boobs just seemed more natural at the time. Of course looking through the archives, they all look very odd to me.
Q: Hey! He/she can't twist his/her limb in that way! How is that humanly possible?
A: Since I'm drawing, I can't really tell how far the human body would fit in certain poses. I tend to try the pose myself, and if I can do it, I'll draw it. But bizarre things (hands twisted wrong way, etc), simply fall under lack of artistic skill. Just tell me what's wrong in which comic, and I'll fix it up quickly.
Q: I don't get this joke. Who are some of these people you've named?
A: As I live in Australia, I put in Australian people. John Howard is/was the Prime Minister, Pauline Hanson is a wannabe politician but is VERY racist, and I forget if I've put anyone else in. Leave something in
the
Forum if you want me to get back to you
Q: This comic sucks. I hate you. You're gay or something, aren't you?
A: Up yours. If you don't like it, **** off
A: I've been asked this a lot, and I'd like to set the record straight once and for all: YES
Q: How often are the comics updated?
A (new): Since the readership has increased, I've tried to stick to a vaguely
Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, since non updating isn't a good way to keep
new readers. But I'm not promising anything. When exams swing round twice a
year, things will get very neglected.
A (old): As of the writing of this FAQ, every 1-2 weeks. No specific deadlines, just expect one every week or so. I do them as ideas come into my head, and don't try and force out C-grade material (B-grade material, on the other hand, I will do). Maybe once I've gotten the hang of this, I'll update on a more specific schedule but it just depends on how many people are reading it, really.
Q: H3y 114m4! Us3 m0r3 133t-sp33ch! I 4m a 133t h4x0r
(Hey Lamer! Use more 'leet-speech! I am a 'leet hacker)
A: Unlike some other places, I try not to use 133t-sp33ch, as it's just plain irritating at times. Sorry about that.
But there's a 133t storyline if you're desperate.
Q: What's up with these comics? They make me angry/I am a religious person/they suck.
A: I can't help you there. You need to take yourself less seriously if these comics make you angry. I've toned them down a LOT from what they were in my mind, because of posting restrictions, and the fact I can't draw. You should count yourselves lucky I can't fully illustrate the various wraths that people are undergoing at the hands of the gang.
Q: Why are there two distinctly different styles of art? Did someone die and take over?
A (new): In addition to the old answer, I'm also gradually learning the 'tools
of the trade' more. I've moved on from hand drawn to ms paint and now to Flash.
Maybe I'll make the jump to Photoshop drawing soon. Actually, with flash taking
over, I'd say there's three kinds of art now, but what the hey.
A (old): The reason why there are two styles of art, is because at first I wasn't really TRYING when I was drawing, just getting a punchline across. The comics you saw were pretty much the ones I had doodled down in my notebook. After a while this flat, crappy art began to make me almost physically ill, and I decided to draw the characters more like real people. Hopefully my skill will improve over time, which will allow me to broaden the comics a bit more. You'll notice the new art style beginning from 1: Assassinate terrorist, 2: Buy milk.
Q: The Comic won't load!
A: I most likely haven't
uploaded the files properly. Leave a message in
the Forum.
Q: You Suck
A: That's not a question
Q: Why do you suck so much?
A: Listen, I've had enough of you. Unconstructive
criticism is pointless. If you have a gripe, try to give some backup to your argument. And if you use the bible as backup for your argument, I will have you beaten with large iron rods.
From Beerman
Q: Where's the cheese?
A: Right here. And here!
Q: Do you love me?
A: Shut up, Beer
Q: How come we've never seen Violent Bob and Wang in the same place?
A: I put wang in this comic just to spite you, Beer.
From MaxMango
Q: Will you have topless female characters in your comic anytime soon?
A: Again, here
From tate
Q: What's a FAQ?
A: It's a list of Frequently Asked Questions
From Keir
Q: Where do berries come from?
A: Trees and bushes my friend, Trees and bushes. The red ones are the tastiest
