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	pooka 2004-01-25 08:11 pm UTC (link)
	...I don't get it either, and usually I love Sexy Losers. Perhaps hardartist and sysreq are creating wank for the sake of wank? If not, they need to chill the fuck out. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	feenix 2004-01-25 08:49 pm UTC (link)
	Oh believe me, Hard's gotten a lot better than he was. Back when he had his own blog (about a year ago), wank used to emerge from EVERY DAMNED POST. It got so bad, I almost stopped reading the comic because I thought he was that much of a bastard. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	rann 2004-01-26 12:32 am UTC (link)
	Actually, the comments he put on some of the older strips made me quit reading for exactly that reason. One of them was a long anecdote of him trying to do something nice and it not working out, and thus deciding for all time that no woman, not even one you cared for, was worth risking the enmity of a male acquaintence, even a casual one. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	delfeus 2004-01-26 03:18 pm UTC (link)
	I just don't see the point in bitching at people who read his comics... shouldn't he be happy that someone takes the time to read them? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sagralisse 2004-01-26 05:01 pm UTC (link)
	Does bitching ever really need a point? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	delfeus 2004-01-26 09:37 pm UTC (link)
	I guess not. I think it should be made a law that it needs one. :) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ktnb 2004-01-25 08:20 pm UTC (link)
	I think the "joke" is that the guy is saying that if he doesn't have sex with his sister, he'll explode, and in the last panel, he's getting ready to kill her because he's gone so crazy from the no sex. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	musicdiamond 2004-01-26 12:19 am UTC (link)
	Well. Gosh. If that isn't funny, I just don't know what is. (Reply to this)(Parent)

eiviiaru
2004-01-25 08:25 pm UTC (link)

My first hypothesis was that the male caller was actually supposed to be Dr. Lovetalk's brother, but then I realized that this was only because Hard fundamentally did not see a need to make his female figures look at all different.

Current hypothesis is that the guy knocked out his sister (I think knocked out, anyway, although first I assumed he killed her) because he couldn't think of any other way to get with her and he's angry at Dr. Lovetalk about that.

Honestly, though? I am tempted to side with

mirae and believe that the real explanation here is "SL fans will laugh at anything which involves a suitable quantity of 'deviant' sex and misogyny, and Hard is using that fact to make strips which no longer actually contain jokes." Talk about wanky from the start.

Full points for linking to the Gary Larson "Cow Tools"strips, which made my day.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	allen 2004-01-25 10:57 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, it's a guest artist (Space Coyote?). But either way, principle's the same, the girls look different because the artist didn't take enough time to differentiate them. Also, now I want to see the original Cow Tools strip because I don't remember that one. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	pooka 2004-01-25 08:27 pm UTC (link)
	I just had another thought--what if the guy's sister wanted to have sex with him, and he had to beat her away because Dr. Lovetalk told him it was wrong? Eh...I still think they're just being wanky. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	bunny 2004-01-25 08:58 pm UTC (link)
	Nah, he asked how he could convince his sister to have sex with her not if it was right or wrong. I am with mirae, because I am not getting it either. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	shoiryu 2004-01-25 09:02 pm UTC (link)
	I just /love/ that icon. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	musicdiamond 2004-01-26 12:22 am UTC (link)
	I love your icon as well. It makes me chuckle (unlike the comic, unfortunately). (Reply to this)(Parent)

	resmiranda 2004-01-25 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	Well, at least the wank is funny. (Reply to this)

	soy_latte 2004-01-25 09:55 pm UTC (link)
	I like how the guest artist keeps insisting that the people who don't get it are BITTER BITTER BITTER!!!11 (Reply to this)

	teratologist 2004-01-25 09:58 pm UTC (link)
	If we introduce this guy to Johnny Hart, will they cancel each other out of existence, releasing a huge amount of energy (and leaving the world a better place)? (Reply to this)

	(Anonymous) 2004-01-25 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	I think the joke is that she says "only a sick, twisted degenerate would want to have sex with his sister" and then he is one. But it's stil not funny. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	skarrow 2004-01-25 10:44 pm UTC (link)
	I thought that the joke was that he was a sick fuck anyway, had knocked her out, and didn't kwow what to do with her. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	belafarinrod 2004-01-26 12:07 am UTC (link)
	lightbulb goes on You know, that might just be it... But still, a joke most people don't get or even see isn't the best kind of joke. And is it that hard to just explain what they meant? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

iczer6
2004-01-26 12:22 am UTC (link)

But still, a joke most people don't get or even see isn't the best kind of joke. And is it that hard to just explain what they meant?

Good point. I mean if folks aren't laughing at your joke then you really didn't do a good job of telling it.

And I'm a little surprised at the attitude coming from a strip that has a running gag about a boy and his dead girlfriend.

Really when you use 'necrophilia' as a basis for your jokes you forfeit any right to the 'high ground'.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	wolfsamurai 2004-01-25 11:01 pm UTC (link)
	Ah, yet another reminder why I don't read the LJ/blog/rant from any webcomic except for Real Life and Penny Arcade. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	darthtall 2004-01-25 11:07 pm UTC (link)
	fangirls your icon (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hobbitsexual 2004-01-26 02:19 am UTC (link)
	fangirls YOUR icon :D (Reply to this)(Parent)

	pipssister 2004-01-25 11:14 pm UTC (link)
	I have a question. Why is it misogynistic when the men come off looking like bastards? But yeah, I don't get the strip either and the artists are just being dicks about it. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	sagralisse 2004-01-26 05:08 pm UTC (link)
	Probably because it encourages other men to embrace their inner bastard... or something. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	pipssister 2004-01-26 05:59 pm UTC (link)
	Weird how the mindset of people works. [shrugs] Oh well. (Reply to this)(Parent)

eiviiaru
2004-01-26 09:13 pm UTC (link)

I would argue that this strip is misogynist and misandrist* in about equal proportion -- on one hand, we have the violence against women (and something of the implication that Dr. Lovetalk caused the violence via not being 'tolerant' enough to talk the guy through seducing his sister), but on the other, we have the male figure being crude, abusive, and entirely unpleasant. Just a nasty piece of work here.

* I don't get to use this word enough.

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	jumble 2004-01-25 11:25 pm UTC (link)
	It is my favourite thing ever when artists and authors mock and deride their own audience; ostensibly the people they are fucking creating this stuff for. Either mirae is right, in which case "ha, ha", or hard and sys are seriously over the edge. (Reply to this)(Thread)

rann
2004-01-26 12:36 am UTC (link)

Hard's always been like that. In his newsposts and such, there's always been a tone of "I can't believe you losers actually like this shit I draw. You pathetic nobodies are probably wanking to my strips, aren't you? Get a fucking job. Oh, and don't you dare try using any other method of viewing my strips than actually coming to the page and seeing all the sex-based ad banners I have up, fuckers."

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iczer6
2004-01-26 04:54 am UTC (link)

Sadly this seems typical of a LOT of comic artists. The basic 'you like comics so you suck' rants.

I find it a little baffling to these folks seem to have such venom for people who's only crime was *liking* what they created.

[Poe had similar attitude thou he did manage to be a somewhat amusing about it. His 'I drew boobies, I hate myself' routines did get old though]

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	Re: rann 2004-01-26 05:03 am UTC (link)
	Well, Poe's got real old real fast, but at least you could tell he was just sort of joking around and being silly with it. Hard's always seemed to bear his readers genuine animosity. (Reply to this)(Parent)

virago
2004-01-26 05:15 pm UTC (link)

Well, people can make things for themselves and share with others as an afterthought - but I still really, really hate it when people bitch at their audiences like that. They like your work, OMG what morons, how dare they. And this entitles you to treat them like peons? Have a little fucking courtesy.

(Sorry, pet peeve. Have gone through this before. Latest one, person makes good work, gains fans, makes intentionally bad work, goads audience into rooting for it, then calls them idiots for liking it. Even if they do get the joke that it is intentionally bad work, creator ignores that and claims that liking it proves you're an idiot. Nobody sees how obnoxious this is. Am frustrated.)

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liarliar
2004-01-26 07:24 pm UTC (link)

Most webcomic artist create things for themselves. The ones who don't are either creating them for popularity (these largely suck and are abandoned quickly) or money (who are nice provided you're paying, but often put blocades to prevent you from following the strip if you're not.)

Once a comic becomes popular, an artist who was doing it for themselves can feel pressured, to the point where they tell everyone to fuck off and stop posting it. It's sort of like what happens with fanfiction. Despite the fact that the writer did all that work, they start shouting "It's just a goddamn fanfic, get a life! I'll update when I feel like it!"

Although I have yet to have the pleasure of being death-threated by people in love with my work. Why not me, dammit? *sobs and wanks*

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	elanor_durall 2004-01-25 11:47 pm UTC (link)
	The funniest part of that strip was the title. "How to Incest." Hahah. Now that's quality humor. ... Or not. (Reply to this)

rann
2004-01-26 12:30 am UTC (link)

hardartist, the creator of the comic, and sysreq, the guest artist for this strip, decide to get wanky instead of explaining the joke, because obviously anyone who doesn't get it is a total moron (for the record, I have no clue what's supposed to be funny about the strip, and I usually think SL is hilarious, so I'm not just being prudish).

That would be about typical for Hard. On his forums, I once saw him berate his readers as all being morons because they didn't understand something about a strip that you'd have to be a frequenter of a certain type of Japanese bars to get.

(Reply to this)

	hobbitsexual 2004-01-26 01:29 am UTC (link)
	erm... don't know about the "joke" but the point I believe is meant to be that because Dr Lovetalk didn't help him he had to do things the 'hard way' rather than actually seduce and 'score' with his sister. It's extremely distasteful and not at all funny. I'm with mirae. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	wolfsamurai 2004-01-26 01:36 am UTC (link)
	You know, I think that's the best explaination that I've seen for it so far. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	kannaophelia 2004-01-26 04:33 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I'm with you. I thought the "joke" was that by refusing to aid something she saw as immoral, she "caused" something more immoral - violent incestual rape. My real confusion is why anyone would find that amusing. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	arabel 2004-01-27 02:21 pm UTC (link)
	He tells this person who posts the same thing that they're right. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	oxydosic 2004-01-26 03:20 pm UTC (link)
	Yuck, i just read the strip. I usually enjoy Sexy Losers, but that one...ick. Don't ask me why the guy constantly trying to have sex with dead people doesn't squick me but this does...it just does. And WTF is it with artists outting down their audience? You wouldn't be so damn well known without them. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	rann 2004-01-27 02:43 am UTC (link)
	Don't ask me why the guy constantly trying to have sex with dead people doesn't squick me but this does...it just does. I guess the necrophiliac strips are at least usually trying to be funny, and this one just... was offensive, or something. It was relying on... almost vitriol as an attempt at humor. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	katsaris 2004-01-26 08:48 pm UTC (link)
	Hardartist has written some more comments about this here: http://www.livejournal.com/users/hardartist/37652.html where he seems to admit that the strip probably isn't as funny as it had seemed to him the first time he thought about it. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	eiviiaru 2004-01-26 09:10 pm UTC (link)
	I choked when I saw someone in the thread talking about "recurring themes." What next, a discussion of the symbolism? Of Sexy Losers?! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	byagghametta 2004-01-30 04:26 am UTC (link)
	ahem I'm a few days behind on this, but SQUEE NARBONIC! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	jfpbookworm 2004-01-27 03:32 am UTC (link)
	Well, sort of. He never actually says the strip isn't funny. Just that it's a more obscure sort of humor that went over a lot of people's heads. Oh, and he says he won't think less of us who didn't get it, as long as we don't "insult those who got it." How kind of him. (Reply to this)(Parent)