webcomics

"The horror of socialized healthcare is that people have to wait in line to get surgery. The horror of free market healthcare is that the poor don't get surgery at all, and they die. Which of these two things you find more horrifying says a lot about you."

"The funniest thing about Elon Musk in the last few years is finding out that he's just a stupid person. Like he's just dumb. He isn't even smart at one thing and dumb at others, he's just pure dumb. Nerds all thought he was some kind of genius just because he was into nerd shit."

"[Referencing COVID-19 pandemic] If the economy is crashing because people can't work, i don't understand why the entrepreneurs don't just create more wealth. i've been told for years that they are the wealth creators. What is the matter? Do they need the workers or something?"

"If every billionaire on earth stopped working, nobody would even notice. If every billionaire's workers stopped working, society would collapse. We don't need them. They need us."

"Capitalists during the good times: "we took all the risk, so we deserve all the profit!" Capitalists during the bad times: "uh yeah, our risk didn't pay off, we need a bailout.""

"The conflation of democracy with capitalism is the greatest achievement in the history of propaganda. Not only are capitalist firms run like dictatorships, but they demand elected representatives not interfere in their autocratic rule. There cannot be democracy and capitalism."

"Environmentalists: "global warming will cause a catastrophe in 50 years unless we do something drastic." Capitalists: "eh, we'd rather not, that sounds expensive." Enlightened centrist: "let's tax the rich 3% more and have the planet die in 55 years.""

"The thing that people don't get about bees is that they are not monarchists. using language like "queen bee" is nothing but revisionism. bees are marxist-leninist-maoists and they do not have a queen they have a chairman."

"If I woke up tomorrow and my boss told me that today at my job I had to shoot rubber bullets and throw tear gas at people protesting racism because one of my coworkers killed someone in cold blood, I would simply quit that job and do something useful like stock grocery shelves."

"Every single large corporation is 100% on the side of the police. Don't let their fake solidarity tweets fool you for a second. They don't care how many black people get killed, they know the police exist to protect their hoarded wealth."

"The funny thing about "colleges are brainwashing students into communism" conspiracy theories is that they take as a premise that if you so much as read and understand Marx you'll become a communist. In other words, that Marx is irrefutably correct. Which is, of course, true."

"So it turns out that all billionaires hate communism. Weird coincidence, I wonder why? Probably because billionaires are all super smart and they figured out how communism is bad."

"Creating it was a lot like being the Dungeon Master of an RPG involving thousands of people, dealing with a similar balance of planning and improvisation. Readers have had a lot of influence on the way the story unfolded, in more ways than just submitting commands. The story is really a kind of dialogue between the readers and author. There is always a sense that the story is aware of the individual reader, and the readership overall. Much the way an adventure game tends to be cognizant of the player."

"Homestuck was just: Problem Sleuth plus a little more of a story, try adding a dialog system, try adding Flash animation, see what happens. There was also the different premise; where Problem Sleuth was "detectives in offices," Homestuck was "kids in houses." When people asked me what I was doing next, that's how I would put it: "Something with kids in houses.""

"The four main characters in Homestuck have the most relatable internet friendships I've ever seen in fiction. It's a new kind of relationship that you capture really accurately. The characters are best friends, but they haven't technically met, and they only ever interact through this chat medium. And this is all presented via communication interfaces that feel much more 1999 than 2009."

"Homestuck ended this April as one of the most wildly successful and passionately loved comics online."

"Homestuck starts with a kid stuck in his house. And for the first couple hundred pages that's all it seems to be -- but then it grows and grows. There's a whole world in there. It gets big and weird and intense. Reading it a second time, I start to see the seams of where stuff was probably made up as you were going along, but on a first read through, the big reveals not only blew me away but seemed to have been in place from the first page. I think this mostly means you're a great writer of serial fiction and you think well on your feet."

"Today marks exactly seven years from the day Homestuck began. And Act 7’s single-page installment marks the end of the story. Seven acts in seven years, to finish a sprawling “creation myth about kids in houses,” as I would describe it for those who asked what my next project was about before I started it. What is there to say about this ending? The short and funny answer is, Homestuck has finally completed its long journey over the rainbow, and become the anime it was always meant to be. The longer and less funny answer will need some reflection. Maybe some day I will say some things about it. For now, I will leave you to draw your own conclusions."

"A webcomic is less about a comic and more about an entertainment website philosophy."

"Internet can rejuvinate the image story, but in order to do so, creators will also have to dare to step off the beaten path. Too many online strips are no more than strips lost on a screen."

"While the story includes hours of animation, and thousands of relatively static panels, the overarching experience is actually more similar to reading a book. There's a good deal of dialogue between characters, as they chat to each other over the internet during their adventure. The result is an unusual media hybrid. Something that reads like a heavily illustrated novel, frequently interrupted by cinematic Flash sequences, and sometimes even interactive games. It's a story I've tried to make as much a pure expression of its medium as possible."

"It’s something I've never seen before. It’s like a book or a comic, only it's not a book or a comic... it’s something new. It's like an entirely new way of telling a story. I'm reading this story on the internet, learning what's going on through pictures of these characters and their "IM" conversations... There is no other time in history that a story like this could be told and in this way, except for now... That's kind of amazing."

"A major breakthrough for the Web: Doctor Fun, an online cartoon in the tradition of The Far Side."

"In in its own weird way, Homestuck is a lot like James Joyce's Ulysses, where only the strongest, most dedicated readers make it through to the end ... Most people don’t expect such expansive and daunting works to find a home on the internet, but Homestuck has done it, illustrating that its followers' time and effort may actually enhance rather than lessen their devotion."

"Internet kan het beeldverhaal vernieuwen, maar dan moeten de makers ook van de gebaande paden af durven stappen. Te veel online strips zijn niet meer dan strips verdwaald op een beeldscherm."

"As a grown up this is not something I ever got into or could understand, but its youthful fanbase was clearly enthralled with it, and it will definitely form a part of ‘Teens nostalgia in 20 years. And you know it’s better to burn than to rust."

"I feel like I'm forgetting something important. What could it be? What am I missing? What did I forget? Why can't I remember?—Episode 2; unable to remember Jung-kook's death from the time loop's past iteration"

"It doesn't matter. If I could turn back time, if I could straighten out the errors and mistakes and make us all happy again like we used to be, I would do anything.—Episode 1; in response to the Voice's invitation to the time loop"

"Who... Who are you?!—Episode 2; to the Voice"

"It's the 11th of April again. I've been given a chance. A chance to make everything right again.—Episode 3"

"There was a time when the seven of us were happy together, knowing we had each other. Where did it all go wrong? Everyone ended up miserable. Were any of us ever happy after we split up? Back then, just being with each other was enough to make us happy. But why... What happened to us?—Episode 1; mourning on the beach after knowing his friends' miseries"

"One day, we'll meet again. All of us. When that happens, let's go to the beach together.—Episode 3; to Nam-joon, before leaving to find and save Jung-kook"

"Can I really trust my memories?—Episode 3; upon going to the wrong location of Jung-kook's accident"

"Guys, the view at night is awesome out here!—Episode 4; to Seok-jin and Nam-joon, after being saved from falling from a building"

"What's up with dreams? They feel so vivid when you're dreaming, then they disappear into nothing when you wake up.—Episode 15; to Seok-jin, about his nightmares"

"YOON-GI!—Episode 5; witnessing the dying Yoon-gi"

"I just paint over it with different colors each time. There doesn't have to be a point. Maybe I'm just trying to make a point with my drawing.—Episode 7; to Nam-joon, on his acts of vandalism"

"Oh, I saw Yoon-gi. In my dreams.—Episode 5, to Nam-joon"

"Happy or sad, you don't get to choose anything inside here, and he didn't even choose to be here in the first place.—Episode 12; to Seok-jin, on Ji-min's confinement in the hospital"

"What? You mean you don't know either?—Episode 5; to Nam-joon, on him being dragged out by Seok-jin"

"My clock stopped ticking at some point, so I can't really say how long I've been here or how much longer I need to stay.—Episode 8; to Ho-seok, on being confined in the hospital"

"You gotta breathe before you can think about anything, you know. Right?—Episode 14; to Seok-jin"

"Locking me up here doesn't solve anything! You keep me locked up here because you're embarrassed of me, and everything's supposed to be okay?—Episode 12; to his mother"

"I'm not settling.—Episode 1; to the police officer, upon being arrested for assaulting a customer"

"I know how that feels. To feel like the only one who's frozen in time...—Episode 11; to Ji-min, referring to himself being an orphan"

"It's already been two years since we last saw each other. We were busy, sure, and whether we were happy or sad ... at least we weren't locked up.—Episode 12; on the group's separation and Ji-min's confinement"

"Seok-jin, get me out of here... I wanna get out...—Episode 13; to Seok-jin, his plea for escape from confinement"

"You're right. What good is all this music?—Episode 6; as if addressed to his father, while starting the fire in his motel room"

"Like my mom, he says... Like my mom, he says... LIKE MY MOM! —Episode 6; referring to his father's opposition on his pursuit for music"

"All around me, it was burning hot. I felt like I was suffocating. I thought it was what hell would feel like... I thought for sure I was going to die right there and find some peace at last. Finally I would get to escape this living hell and breathe easier. Yes, that's exactly what went through my mind. But then, someone just has to drag me right back to hell. It was you. Why? You should've just left me to die.—Episode 7; to Seok-jin, after being rescued from the fire"