Where's The Joke?, Did MT just stop being a comic?

I've been reading MT for years now, and for the most part all of the comics have been... comics. The last two I have to say hardly qualify. That's not to say that i dont like them, or that the aren't important to the story. But doesn't this make it hard to call it an online comic? Should MT be classified as manga? If so can we make fred hire a team of starving artists to plow this little online 'manga' into something that can pump out monthly publications instead of yearly books? I know fred has limited time and resources but if MT is to remain a comic i think fred needs to get warmth going and to pump his manga impluses into that, leaving MT as something humourous to read every couple days.

--matt

I really don't believe that you've been reading MT for years.

[Edit: He registered at Megatokyo Forums in 2003, so he has been reading Megatokyo for years. Two, to be precise.]

Comics don't have to be comedic to be comics, although there's an obvious etymological connection. Superman is a comic, so is Garfield, so is Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, so is Maus, so is Love Hina.

A manga is just a Japanese comic, although of course the Japanese comic book industry is very different from the American industry. Megatokyo's text publisher (Dark Horse) publishes both, so who cares?

This post has been edited by UserGoogol on Feb 25 2005, 06:45 PM

It's a comic.

It's online.

Anything else?

Well OK, it's not a comic in the "every-strip-has-a-punchline" sense, but it's still a comic. A lot of strips do have the punchline element, and a lot of strips are plot development. A lot of strips are both.

::hits Lafy with a cluebat::
B4k4 n00b, Fred won't sink to that level noooo...
besides he said that he was in no way a "manga-ka"
and besides he said that warmth is on his new year's resolution to-do list.

I direct you at the graphic at the top of every page: "online comic/manga" Truly, MT serves the purpose of both at different times, thoug the emphasis has gradually shifted closer to manga style writing than a traditional joke-a-day comic.

As if the one we have isn't bad enough?

Really, a month worth of story covers at best 12 strips. It's a pace that has worked reasonably well for years. The best part about it is that there is a lot of time to think pretty deeply about what's going on, rather than getting swept up in the overall story and not paying attention to the small details that make MT what it is.

Yes. Very much lots of yes.

[edit]

Postcount++; eh?

This post has been edited by CountAlpicola on Feb 25 2005, 06:47 PM

I didn't register in the forums the day i started reading... when did MT come out? there were probably 10 or so comics done when i started reading them...

You tell me. He always give the reason he's still an amateur.

I understand what Lafy's trying to say, but Megatokyo pulled away from being a gag-a-day online comic a long time ago. Yes, it's still funny lots of the time, but it's also dramatic a lot of the time as well. It's a mix that works best when read in succession, but the Count made a good point about being able to think about the strips, thus seeing every little detail before moving on. It works well with scoping out the important things you may miss if you read each strip quickly as opposed to really looking at it.

Yes MT has been drifting away from real punch lines every comic, but i've found that for the most part every comic has something somewhere that's somewhat funny. I'm a big fan of fred's ability to mix the serious story line with humourous tid-bits. I just found that the last two really had nothing but piro being depressed. I would hate to see MT lose the jokes.

I'm not really sure how fred could have worked humour into those comics without destroying the mood.

To be honest I think I'll be reading MT for a long time to come regardless of the presence of humour. I just like to see the humour.

Why don't you understand your own words: "for the most part"? Not all the strips in MegaTokyo are funny. Do you remember Piro getting blood on Kimiko? How about Piro with a bloody nose? Or Erika in emotional pain? Those weren't funny. I could list strips from farther back, if you wish.

Yes, it's manga, and that's how it presents itself. What is wrong with it? You can get teh funay at dozens of other sites. What's wrong with getting a story here?

LittleThunder

absolutely littlethunder. And another thing, if you have been reading for years, surely you already appreciate that, once in a while, a comic is not funny, so why complain now when there are two not funny ones?

Seems a little suspicious to me...

(I'm not paranoid, there really ARE people out to get me

Spanners

...under a cardboard box...

Sir, if you thought all comics were supposed to be funny 100% of the time, then you haven't read enough. Ever read Marvel? DC? Those comic's AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY, even if they do throw in the occasional humorous scene. NOT ALL COMICS ARE MEANT TO BE FUNNY, AND THOSE THAT ARE DON'T ALWAYS HAVE TO BE FUNNY 100% OF THE TIME.

If you want total laughs, Monty Python may be more your speed (I enjoyed those guys immensely).

Right now, it's time to get serious. You do know how to do that, right?

EDIT: While you're at it, go have a couple of drinks and lighten up, will ya?

This post has been edited by Rapierman on Feb 25 2005, 07:30 PM

Is that what all this is about? Good lord, it's two strips!

"Oh no! The past 677 have been great, but THESE TWO haven't had humor! I hope Fred hasn't lost it!!"

You said it yourself, situational humor requires situations conducive to humor, and you can't really get that in every strip. Maybe if this was a long term pattern you'd have something, but two strips? No. Just no.

On that note, I leave this thread for good. The rest of you guys may wanna do that as well. Or post pad. meh.

The difference between "manga" and "comic" is a pure otaku manufacturism. No such thing really exists.

you oblviously never bought the book, he clearly explains on page 69 during the mega-science thearter comic "a lot of people e-mailed me wondering what the joke was in the previous comic. it was very frusterating. i was trying to break the mold that web comics had to be like newspaper comics - something funny everyday."

tsk tsk. I haven't heard THIS complaint in years.

Think of it this way... i'm sure that you've all seen movies that are considered 'comedies' right? Correct me if i'm wrong, but aren't some of the best comedies out there, or movies that have a lot of t3h funny, often, at times, deadly serious?

Life is about contrast. You can usualy find humor in almost everything you do. Sometimes, things just aren't funny.

Besides, the PA guys are a hella lot funnier than i could ever be, so i focus on the touchy feely weepy stuff because that's what i'm good at Well... not good, really, but better than t3h funny.

fredrin

nonsence, you are plenty good at it. if you werent then this many people wouldnt read your comic. and there wouldnt be stupid noobs to complain about stuff like this

Hrmmm.

As both a Megatokyo reader of...now...4 years, as well as a retired comics section editor, I can say without a doubt that not all comics are meant to be funny all the time, if at all (Maus) and Megatokyo certainly ranks as one of these types of comics.

A manga is a comic produced in Japan, often as a monthly or weekly periodical - pretty much a comic book.

Megatokyo is an online comic/manga, meaning that it has both American and Japanese slants, while being published online - or now archivally in book form.


So, you have been edified and now can start your new life as a less clueless Megatokyo fan.

For this, I direct you to Megatokyo Vol. 1, Page 65:
"I was trying to break out of the mold thatwebcomics had to be like newspaper comics - something funny, every day" wrote Piro.

So.... what, this is the usual "MT isn't funny anymore" complaint just without the "and therefore I don't like it now" part? Or maybe he is saying he doesn't like it, I'm not quite sure. Fred is hardly the only artist on the web doing a continuous story with humor only thrown in here and there, He's just the most well known.

Hell, daily serial comics that are not humor-based have been runnning in newspapers for decades and decades. Don't tell me what Fred does isn't a viable model for producing a story.

>penwhale

wow, i just said the same thing, no really scroll up. and it was page 69 not 65 geez you should know that

This post has been edited by heeroyuy965 on Feb 25 2005, 09:06 PM

Comic is about format, not content. Garfield, Spawn, comics both.

>heeroyuy965

No. I'm positive. 65. not 69. Did you buy the new version or the old version?

oh i never thought of that, i have the first version