Metapost: Monthly midmonth introduction to the Comics Curmudgeon, July edition
Hi everybody! This is my monthly post introducing new readers with all the stuff that this site has to offer. If you’re totally familiar with all the doodads and hoohahs along the left side of your screen, you can just skip all this; but if you’re not, you might want to read on. Even if you’re a regular, some of this stuff may surprise you! This month, there’s some updates to information about merchandise and advertising, and a special surprise photo.
Here’s some of the features of this site that go beyond the front page!
Archives. This site has been publishing for more than two years now, and every single post is still available for your amusement. Check out the archives menu just below all the advertising (or click here to jump there). You can see all the posts that deal with a particular comic; see all the posts from a particular month; or search on a keyword or phrase. If you’re feeling reckless, you can also click on the Randomly Selected Post O’ Mystery and enjoy an arbitrary entry from the past; this post will change every time you reload the page.
Discussion. Everybody knows that you can put witty comments on each post. But did you know that there’s a full-fledged Comics Curmudgeon discussion board where you can chat with your fellow comics fans? It’s true! You can read the forums without registering, but to participate, you need to sign up for a forums account. Before you sign up to participate there, though, you should read the posting and discussion policies (which apply to comments on the main blog too, for that matter).
Subscribing. Tired of hitting “Refresh” on your browser over and over? Would you like to be alerted every time this blog is updated? You can, thanks to the magic of RSS Webfeeds. Check out the “Subscribe” heading in the left-hand navigational column. Click the “RSS” icon to get the URL to my feed for the newsreader of your choice. Alternately, you can click on any on any of the icons below it to add my site to a variety of popular feed-reading services. You can get updates on your My Yahoo!, My MSN, or Google homepage; add me to your Bloglines or Newsgator page; or even to your Livejournal friends list or your del.icio.us page, with just one click!
If the idea of getting Comics Curmudgeon updates automatically appeals to you but you have no idea what the hell anything in that last paragraph means, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll try to help you out.
Josh’s other comics projects. I do a bit of Comics Curmudgeoning on other sites as well. I write a weekly column called Cartoon Violence on Wonkette, a snarky political blog; it’s pretty much the same schtick as I do here, only with political cartoons, and lots more swearing, and it’s updated every Friday. I also write a short blurb called the Geek Comic of the Week for ITworld.com, a site that focuses on computers and IT; it focuses on Web comics and other cartoons outside of your daily paper with a geeky twist to them, and it’s updated every Sunday night.
Merchandising. Those smiling faces at the bottom of the ad bar aren’t just for show. They’re modeling delightful Comics Curmudgeon gear, which is available for purchase on CafePress! Yes, you can wear and/or drink out of merchandise reminding you of classic Comics Curmudgeon moments, such as “More zippers, mule!”, “In the absence of weights, I am employing isometrics”, Mark Trail’s licorice advice, “Roadside”, Fence Post Frank, inappropriate Chinese food eating banter, and Finger Quotin’ Margo madness. And if you’ve bought some merch and you’d like to join those smiling faces, just take a pic of yourself and send it to me like Naladahc here did:
Advertising. Comics Curmudgeon readers are collectively the best people in the entire world, it goes without saying. Therefore, you’d be wise to market your product or service to them. And you can, by advertising on this site. Thanks to BlogAds, you can do so pretty easily. Just click here to get started. I think you’ll find the rates quite reasonable!
Tipping. “Gosh,” you may very well be saying, “Josh does all this for me; what I can do to make his life a little easier?” Well, you can always put a bit of scratch in my virtual tip jar through the magic of PayPal. Rest assured that every dollar I get allows me to spend less time on my boring real job and more time putting hilarious stuff on my site. Click here to start!
Anyway, thanks to all of you for your support, readership, and hilarious commentary. I’m way too narcissistic to keep doing this without knowing that you’re all out there reading this, so keep it up!
Mibbitmaker
July 20th, 2006 at 1:29 am
With all due good-natured respect to Mr. Naladahc here, I’d love to see someone who can do Photoshop or something put a Richard Nixon head on his body in the picture above; the finger quotes look like Tricky Dick’s famous signature pose, and somehow I think Margo would be Nixon’s kinda person.
Oh, and… first!
My first “first”! Even though I’m keeping within the rules, I…. I’m so ashamed! ;o)
Malnurtured Snay
July 20th, 2006 at 2:01 am
Oooh. Shirts!
Sorry. Just bought a Thundercat-tee. Maybe next month?
Naladahc
July 20th, 2006 at 6:13 am
I wasn’t exactly putting a lot of effort into that.
But I still love my shirt.
Austin
July 20th, 2006 at 7:27 am
Thanks, yuriy, keep us updated.
PS – Way to stay on topic!
Holy Prepuce
July 20th, 2006 at 8:48 am
Of course, every purchaser of the Finger-Quotin’ Margo T-Shirt is hoping secretly to be recognized in public by a fellow Comics Curmudgeon reader, with whom they will fall deeply in love and bear four precious, chubby-calved children who will delight with their naive malapropisms and dotted-line meanderings.
Mr Froth
July 20th, 2006 at 9:45 am
I am both attracted and repulsed by the Sally and Ted Forth wet t-shirt contest going on in today’s strip…
Jason B
July 20th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Been reading this blog for just a few days… I linked back to the Finger Quotin’ Margo Madness post, and am still a bit confused. Digging back another post, I see the “”The Perfect Couple”" frame that spawned it all. Is the original strip posted round here anywhere?
Overall, great blog. I never really read the soap opera strips before; I thought they were boring. I just wasn’t approaching them the right way. Thanks Comics Curmudgeon, you’ve shown me the way!!
Jason
Sylko
July 20th, 2006 at 10:34 am
Curse you, Josh! I actually DREAMED about MARY WORTH last night. Okay, I dreamed I was reading the strip and Dr. Jeff came back from his trip early and I thought, in my dream, what happened with Aldo and the stalking storyline! That is just not right. . .
MossMoses
July 20th, 2006 at 11:21 am
8. Sylko – Was there a spirit name for Doc Jeff in your dream by any chance? Something like “Medicine Man With Blue Balls” maybe?
Bigfoot
July 20th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
Jason B, here’s a link to the original finger-quotin’ Margo in A3G
“Enjoy!”
Mark
July 20th, 2006 at 1:29 pm
Speaking of that Wonkette gig, the feed these days includes posts from Nick Gillespie. What’s up with that?
Josh
July 20th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
Hi Mark-
One half of their blogging team moved to a different gig last month, so they have been using guest bloggers till they get a new full-time person.
Josh, media insider
MossMoses
July 20th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Chatu is nailing his terr’ist goons from the chopper like ducks on a pond, yet every one of their shots from the ground at the same range is missing the Ghost Who Hangs on Landing Gear (in the Bandar tongue). Perhaps Chatu is a recent grad of the Erskine, FBI School of Marksmanship.
Mary Worth seems to have all the detective chops of Mark Trail. They both have blatant clues staring them right in the face yet are too dense to put to and too twogether. A Captain Kangaroo stalker creep who you never met before was hiding in the bushes watching you intently. He just asked you out twice, complimented your lovely hands, and told you that you remind him of his dead wife. That seems curious? Do ya think?
treedweller
July 20th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Meta-comment:
Ever since I realized Aldo Kelrast can be anagrammed into O Stalker Lad, I can’t help hearing the Canadian national anthem when I think of him. Which led me to the following:
O Stalker Lad!
You’re making a mistake!
That woman there will all your lifeforce take.
She’ll make you sad, She’ll drive you mad,
She’ll make you rue your birth.
She’ll take your nads
O Stalker Lad, don’t mess with Mary Worth.
No matter that you like her girth!
O Stalker Lad, don’t mess with Mary Worth.
O Stalker Lad, don’t mess with Mary Worth.
Bigfoot
July 20th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
As long as he doesn’t show us his maple leaf…
jake
July 20th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
hey CC-
you’re based near (in?) DC, right? if so, do you have any plans to see the studio theater production of the show Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead? it’s a grown up version of charlie brown, with sex, drugs, and..um…well, rock and roll, i suppose. just thought that would be of interest to you, considering your speciality. i haven’t seen it yet, but i’m hoping to go at some point.
Bigfoot
July 20th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
I saw Dog Sees God in NYC. It’s a must for Charlie Brown fans with a twisted sense of humor.
kostia
July 20th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
If you click on the wonkette RSS link and subscribe to the one next to the ‘cartoon violence’ keyword you’ll find it’s a new url, or at least different than the old feed. The old one stopped working for ages, and when it came back it had all kinds of non-Josh posts in it.
By the way, use the ‘cartoon violence’ keyword, because if you use the url for the ‘comics cumudgeon’ feed you’re likely to miss posts when/if they realize ‘curmudgeon’ has an R in it.
2fs
July 21st, 2006 at 1:30 pm
“I’m always sort of intrigued that you can’t say or print certain words in certain contexts, but you can make it very clear what the words are that you’re talking about. Thus, in some entirely theoretical way, you can claim to be protecting us, despite the fact that you’ve actually shielded us from nothing. Just like FEMA!”
Josh, that’s one of the most brilliant things you’ve written…
Deckard Canine
July 21st, 2006 at 4:25 pm
I just had a thought: FOOB/MW crossover. There are different ways this could go, but the way I imagine is that Aldo “goes after” Mary only to be stopped by a punch from Anthony, who then wins her heart. Either that or we could sic Aldo on Liz, but I like my first idea better.
Jason B
July 24th, 2006 at 10:26 am
Thanks bigfoot! I also spent some time digging thru the A3G archives and found the series of Margo quotin’ frames applied to various other comics… hilarious!