The Ivy's semesterly comics extravaganza!

The Ivy · Thu 30/11/2006 02:45:37

For those who don't know, I'm a staff writer/cartoonist for a comedy paper. I've been pretty busy since the last time I posted my comics (here are 14 I've done since September). Believe it or not, I've actually implemented a lot of the suggestions I got from these forums. For example, the characters now have body language! Yes!

Note: some of these have grown-up language, a lighthearted take on religion, or bad things happening to googly-eyed people. Read at your own risk; I make no apologies.

Here we go!

The first of what would be several bad-things-happening-to-cute-children comics.

I had to learn how to draw a real bear for this comic. I'll let you decide if I came close to succeeding.

Aw, and the guy on the left just wanted to read his book.

See, the clapping adds a whole 'nother layer of awful.

Sorry about the crap quality of this one, not sure what happened to the file. It was inspired by reading too many Perry Bible Fellowhip comics.

Lots of accurate tidbits for you Egypt freaks out there, right down to the missing eyebrows on the guy in the last panel. I'm serious, their gods frowned upon eyebrows.

Not quite outside the realm of possibility. Dilbert thrives on this principle.

Some people didn't get this one. Hint: David Blaine is there to get his picture taken.

A new take on an old joke, plus profanity.

This one's a little weak, but I had been reading a lot of Dilbert and it leaked through into the comic.

Stupid space filler thing we cartoonists are famous for. Gaping holes in the layout beware.

I think this is my favourite of the batch. Once again, the "it could happen" principle.

This made a lot of people want to buy a Gizmo Bot. Careful, you can't turn off its love!

Popular with the jaded college student crowd, i.e. our readers. :-,

sergiocornaga · Thu 30/11/2006 04:13:34

Whee, that was entertaining! Thanks for showing the world.

evenwolf · Thu 30/11/2006 04:48:11

You said it was weak but I actually enjoyed the demented nature guide the most.Ã,Â That first reaction shot of the group is classic. OK, the waterfall death could maybe have benefitted from one extra panel but the point gets across.Ã,Â Yep, I think this one's my fave.

Oh and the atheist description. That's some good satire right there.Ã,Â Reminds me of the diagrams in "School Is Hell" etc.

Boney · Thu 30/11/2006 07:30:58

I like 'em!

Nine Toes · Thu 30/11/2006 08:09:14

Ha ha! Cute.

Mikko · Thu 30/11/2006 09:22:38

They are all very enjoyable, but the one that hit me most was the one with childs in the theatre.

Hope to read more of these in future.

ManicMatt · Thu 30/11/2006 10:49:23

I liked the first one! I also liked the David Blane one except I too didn't really get the punchline for exactly what you said. I don't get the pirate one, explain please?

I liked the expressions on these people's faces, and you have so many different ideas!

Your drawings have improved since the last strips you showed us!

The Scorposer · Thu 30/11/2006 10:55:04

They're great!

Especially love the one about the school play.

The first one actually happened to me once... Come to think of it; they all did! $:-\$

m0ds · Thu 30/11/2006 12:28:41

Very cool! All very cute, and I love the gizmobot one, now I want one too!! :p

Meowster · Thu 30/11/2006 12:53:28

Hahahaha I love the christian symbol but with "legs"... hahahaha... nice touch

evenwolf · Thu 30/11/2006 13:07:55

That's actually a common reference to Darwin, yuf!

Radiant · Thu 30/11/2006 13:55:19

Very cool, Ivy!

Oh yes, and regarding little fishes, this is funny.

The Ivy · Thu 30/11/2006 20:28:14

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

It's really nice to hear.

@Sergio, Boney, and Mr. Hyde: Merci.

@evenwolf: Wow, I almost didn't post the one with the tour guide. Thanks for the kind words. Haha, I've read "Life is Hell." Matt Groening's early stuff is so cynical, I love it. That's a real compliment. :-,

@Mikko: I had the idea for the theatre thing for months before I found a way to put it all together. I liked the idea of little kids putting on a play about stuff they didn't understand and screwing it up horribly.

@ManicMatt: Although it's hard to see, the pirate is holding a paintbrush in the third panel. In the last panel you see someone's drawn a squid onto the lens of the telescope. I'll let you connect the dots. :-,

P.S. I liked your comic too, more for the crazy photoshopping than anything else.

@Scorposer: Thanks man! Aw, sorry to hear the same thing happened to you at a dance. I'd feel pretty bad if all of the terrible things in these comics had happened to you.

@m0ds: If you get a Gizmo Bot make sure you get a magnet-proof one, otherwise I imagine they're pretty much unstoppable. Also, as the oldest of four, I can safely say that children are the exact same way.

@Yutzster: Yeah, I'm not clever enough to invent something like the Darwin fish, but I'm glad you liked it. :-,

@Radiant: Ah, FSM. There was a big push to teach that in schools when there was talk of including "intelligent design" stuff in America. That's what happens when you don't listen to science...spaghetti monsters take over and before you know it they're letting dogs marry cats.

Meowster · Thu 30/11/2006 21:17:06

Oh... it was a nice touch anyway

But yeah the comics in general are really good. I'm always wary when people post comics up for critique or something because they're usually kinda lame. But these are really good... art and jokes too and all that jazz...!

Art kinda reminds me of Family Guy... any influence?

Sheepisher · Thu 30/11/2006 21:53:05

Hey the Ivy,

I mostly lurk nowadays, alas, due to busy-ness elsewhere, but I just had to comment on your wonderful cartoon strips! Several of them made me laugh out loud, which is rare enough. Personaly favourites include the sphinx psychiatrist, the back garden bear, the tall sandwich and the kids' religion play.

Also, it is mildly shameful how much the College Atheist resembles a 7-year-yonger me (except for the chain on the trousers, it's damningly accurate).

Hope all's going well with sequels and semesters!

MashPotato · Fri 01/12/2006 00:37:25

Nice job! I liked the children's play one the best

Quote from: Yutzster on Thu 30/11/2006 21:17:06
Art kinda reminds me of Family Guy... any influence?

The eyes remind me a bit of the cartoon Home Movies ^_^

The Ivy · Sun 03/12/2006 00:39:52

@Yutzster: Thanks, that's a real compliment.

I've been told my style is similar to Family Guy, the Simpsons, etc., but it's not really based on that. I think googly eyes are a fairly safe bet in creating cartoon characters.

@Sheepisher: Thank you! Heh, you always have such nice things to say, I wish you'd post more often.

Quite a few people at my school said the atheist dude either reminded them of themselves or someone they knew, it's kinda funny.

@MashPotato: Thank you muchly. I had fun exaggerating the poses of the little kids in the play comic. :-,

PsychicHeart · Sun 03/12/2006 02:15:10

Art reminds me of the Ctrl+Alt+Del stuff.
Pretty awesome, my fave would have to be the sandwich one.
Cheers,
Fluke.

SmootH · Wed 06/12/2006 19:36:25

I miss the old formula:

Panel - Panel - Joke - Death.

It was classic, timeless even. Lord knows I would never have gotten published if I had to write jokes as complex as these ones.

p.s. What happened to all the other cartoonists? Weren't there like 3 of them just lying about?

The Ivy · Thu 07/12/2006 01:15:50

Heh, I'm glad you like the sandwich one, Fluke. As we say at the paper, "There's a joke in there somewhere."

SmootH: most of the cartoonists don't actually generate content. They mostly sit around and radiate artistic ability that puts everyone else to shame. Occasionally we tell them to draw things like a giant hoagie crashing into the earth just so we can see what it would look like.

On a completely unrelated note, I keep hoping MrColossal will post in one of my comic threads, as I am an appreciator of his pixel comics. :-,