Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I've seen this somewhere before . . .

Way of the Bike

Art - Nice to see the background is grey at it takes away the starkness of the characters that was seen against white at least. I also liked the characters again and the face of the cop in the last panel sells the joke very well.

I didn't like Brent's hands in the last two panels. First we had mitten hands in the last panel and Brent's 2nd and 3rd fingers* are weirdly long and slender especially compared to the rest of his hand.

Oh and the officer's radio goes from black to white in the first and final panels, respectively.

* To avoid complaints: anatomically the thumb is the first finger, I'm a physical therapist after all

Story - This is a story of two punchlines. The line said by the officer was great and went well with the art and was a good result of the set-up of the comic. The line said by Brent is a pop culture reference that no one under the age of 35 will likely get. I understand who Magnum is but the show went off the air in 1988 and I'm 26, so being 6 at the time of the show's cancellation I cant understand why Tom Selleck trumps all because I (and likely many others) had no real chance to see it.

Also, I chuckled at Brent's comparison's in panel 4 just because in the Feb 2nd post I made a similar comparison. First off, Segway cop is less then bike cop in my opinion, I don't care what you say. Secondly, I AM IN NO WAY SAYING THAT I INSPIRED THE JOKE; it was either an obvious joke to make or it's a coincidence. Lastly, we both made lame jokes at the end of our comparison's, it's just that mine was seen by dozens and PVP is seen by thousands.

27 comments:

Orchid64 said...

This same joke was played out almost exactly in an episode of Weeds. I'm not saying it was copied as I doubt Scott watches that show. However, I think it's not exactly an original thought.

Sko said...

Regarding the art - the cop also loses an eyebrow in the second frame.

It's funny to see the radio not coloured in the last frame. I guess SK copy/pasted the line art for the body first before colouring (rather than colouring what he would later copy/paste).

I wasn't too enthralled with the original 'cops on bicycles are funny' concept so all in all, having it stretched out to fill a week doesn't really have me looking forward for Thu/Fri's strips.

Anonymous said...

Oh man, this blog has devolved into the very definition of mediocrity. You know why FSM got under Kurtz's skin? Because he had legitimate biting commentary. You, on the other hand, are pretty terrible at this.

Bookmark removed. For serious.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Octa,
Bye

Yeah I am bad at this.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

Oh and I'm not looking to get under his skin. I have never have nor will I never say anything on here solely to get a reaction from someone.

Paul Southworth sucks

I mean that is just shameful that you think that is what this blog is about

Paul Southworth likes to wear women's clothing and do jumping jacks.

I don't think that is what FSM intended and I don't want to take it that way

Paul Southworth likes to taste my smoked meat log.

So Octa goodbye, I'll keep doing this site up until my fiancee and I are on a plane to St. Lucia for a honeymoon so good luck, best wishes, and fuck off.

Rent Boy said...

I think the Segway vs Bike Cop would really depend on the cop. I mean as I understand, Segways have a limited top speed, while a bike is limited only by the abilities of the rider.

A Nonny Mouse said...

So companies in your country pay to have real police officers on their premises? Your law is upheld by mercenaries?

Jai said...

Hahaha, SK thinks that police officers are available for hire to property owners. I wish, man. You should see this street. And I have a two cops in my family, but noooo, I offer them money to stick around and they only tell me they're not coming over anymore and why can't I just drive to their houses next time.

Jai said...

"I have a two cops", shit, I wasn't trying to make a chainsawsuit joke. I just have two cops. Not A two cops.

Sko said...

That line did make me wonder if SK was retconning him to be a rent-a-cop/mall-cop now. Especially since the cop's helmet is today missing the 'POLICE' label it'd had.

With this and the segway line, it has me thinking that Kevin James movie might have been inspiration for some of this.

Anonymous said...

Around here, off duty cops are often paid to "hang around" businesses to "encourage" the obeying of laws (such as parking lot speed limits).

I suppose this type of thing varies by area.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@ caesar
Yeah off-duty cops typically get side security jobs, but they wouldn't be wearing police gear like this guy had in the strips from Mon-Wed.

The Trouble said...

There is a Denis Leary bit also about this same basic Bike-Cop premise. Off the Lock and Load album, I think.

But there's plenty of room on this idea for more people to explore and I think SK brought a few new and funny observations to the subject. Like the idea of vehicular-Worthington's Law.

Ding has been pretty bad since the switch. I can't quite put my finger on what it reminds me of... I think it's almost like Penthouse Letters without the sex.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@The Trouble
I think because the humor in Ding! went from generic video game/WOW experience humor to specific "you had to be there" or "you had to have a similar experience" humor.

Sko said...

Ding! as it stands is beginning to remind me a lot of the first strips for 'The Noob Comic' or 'GU Comics' when all the tired MMO clichés needed to be worked out their systems.

Except Ding! has all the pacing of those comics but as if being relayed to you by your Dad.

Unknown said...

Following up on Brent and Caesar: I don't know about other cities, but in Toronto, off-duty police officers can indeed be hired for security (sometimes, like to get a license for a street festival, it's actually mandatory to hire them).

When they do so, they do wear their uniforms, carry sidearms, and generally act as police officers.

Joe said...

Because in Toronto's case, they are on duty, it's just that some institution or organization is paying their wages for those few hours instead of the City.

Magnum P.I. had a Ferrari, hence he trumps regular police cruiser. But the Italian carabinieri's Lambourghini trumps all.

The Trouble said...

@Sage
I think it's more like he's checked out on Ding! altogether. That was very much a "you had to be there" kinda joke, but the thing is SK has all the tools to take us "there," he's just not.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@ The trouble

Good point :)

Rent Boy said...

If he is real cop, because this is private property, speed limits don't mean shit. If you go flying through a parking lot like a bat out of hell, he'd be able to pinch you with reckless driving, but not speeding.

Anonymous said...

I've really enjoyed the bike-cop strip. Brent's behaviour is right on par, and the art with the new shading is very nice. Well done Kurtz ;-)

Unknown said...

When I started writing Top Ten lists for my university's comedy paper, my editors told me two things:

1. Sola veritas est qui facit ut me in merda.

2. Write funny jokes, not funny ideas.

The first is Latin, so it never applied, but the second one stuck with me. Bike cops are a funny idea, but where's the joke?

R.W.McGee said...

2. Write funny jokes, not funny ideas.


I think you just put the hammer to the nail.

Unknown said...

ugh that Kevin James movie was filmed at the mall I worked at for a while, where real segway cops work. Honestly, stupidest idea ever. The segway cops, and well maybe that Kevin James movie too. When my town that I grew up in finally got a motorcycle cop, my sister turned to me and said "awesome, if I get pulled over for drunk driving, will he take me to the station on his handlebars?" it was a much funnier joke then Kurtz.

Also, I think he is suppose to be a mall cop, meaning this man has no real jurisdiction other then to threaten teenagers by being there and hating on his life because he can't be a real cop.

Sko said...

"When my town that I grew up in finally got a motorcycle cop, my sister turned to me and said "awesome, if I get pulled over for drunk driving, will he take me to the station on his handlebars?" it was a much funnier joke then Kurtz."That definitely would have been a huge improvement over this (like D said) 'concept'.

Even today's conclusion is damp squib that portends of future Panda-esque encounters for Brent (or worse still, the story being dragged out for a second week).

jsiebels said...

Orchid64, the joke was on weeds and house. Not the first time we've seen storylines pulled from other sources. After 10 years Scott's well may be running a little dry. Think about it. After this week he has to come up with another weeks worth of story lines. Then after that? Another week. And another and another. He has no plan b so he's got to keep this machine running for the next 25 years (that's assuming he's putting enough back in his IRA that he can retire comfortably). 25 more years with 52 weeks in a year that's 1300 more weeks of storylines he has to come up with. The pressure has to be incredible. So if he has to pull storylines from tv shows every few weeks to keep the machine known as PvP running then more power to him. He's not been able to convert PvP into a huge business like "Least I Could Do" or "Penny Arcade" both who employ a large staff and have a huge business. Scott just has his one man show so he's got to do it all himself. And he needs to thank the PA guys for the hits over the past couple of weeks which jump started his declining numbers.

Blog Archive