362 - Latest News

Famous Last Words

Joe

A few nights ago I called Lizzy up at about eleven o'clock at night with worries and concerns about what the future had in store. School, life, just about anything. We've known each other for a good eight years or more now and I'm proud to say we have a good thing going when it comes to talking to one another. Now, it wasn't necessarily about the grand scheme of things that I called her -- I called her to ask what I should do with the comic. We came to one conclusion -- end it.

One of my favorite comics back in the day was a little strip called Counter Culture, by Omi and JawaBoy. It was hilarious, had great art, and I could really dig the characters, everything from their appearances to their own personal little quirks. After some long distances between updates and some random fillers, they announced they were going to stop drawing Counter Culture. They were kind and said that maybe that'd pick it up again if things in their lives evened out, and sure enough they did for a couple of months. The art was better than ever, the jokes were still shit-your-pants funny, but once again, things became few and far between. One day, a black image came up where the new strip would've been, and drawn in a white outline were both of the characters waving good-bye. In the middle, between them, were two simple words: Thank you.

As silly as it sounds, I'll never forget that. Unlike most projects on the internet, rather than just up and quit and go about their business, leaving the few readers and fans it has to wonder what happened, they took the time to write out big long newsposts telling their reasons for quitting and they were kind enough to draw something, one final something, saying they were done. They gave it their best shot -- twice, for Chrissakes -- and they had the courage to know when they were beat.

When I started 362's internet incarnation, it was the summer of my sophomore year in college. I recall it often as probably the last real "summer vacation" I've had, where the days stretched on forever and the nights were warm with sweet-smelling breezes. Even though there wasn't really any extra time, it felt like there was more time. It was a more forgiving time for such a crazy idea as an online comic strip. I leapt into the idea with reckless abandon, dreaming that soon I'd be among the ranks of Greg Dean, Tycho and Gabe, and Hawk, with a cavalcade of readers. I got Chance on board and Bobby and Lizzy soon followed. 362 was born.

Somewhere down the line though, I think I tried too hard. I put too much into it, too many hair-brained ideas, like trying to fit an elephant into a thimble, and expected it to work out. It didn't. I got discouraged, put down my pen, and called it a day. Chance and I, in his basement back at his parents' house, decided that we should give it one more go. I called it a reboot, I claimed it would be different, but I realized it wasn't. I'm not the type to easily let go of something. Even though I said that all the crazy storyline stuff we did would be considered non-canon, I couldn't make myself believe that. I threw the characters into a new apartment, tried to make new stuff happened, and I had to ask myself how they got there, what happened in the meantime, and wanted to try and explain it all. Maybe I should have, but I didn't. To me, the later comics feel stale as a result. To me, they just don't have the magic of the earlier strips. Somewhere, the magic stopped.

I realized not too long ago that when I sat down to draw the comics, I started to get a headache. I got sick to my stomach. I felt like when I drew, I was drinking sour milk. When this happened, I was terrified. I had to ask myself, "What happened? This used to give me so much joy, why do I hate it so much?" I discovered it's hard to draw when you feel like everything you draw is shit. I realized that a lot of the drawings, some of them really complicated, that I wanted to do, I made them simple, made them easier, and by that point it just wasn't as cool as it was in my head. I still have this problem. When I make something with the intent to put it on display, I catch myself not taking risks, not wanting to fuck it up like I'm certain I would. I did a lot of things with a lot of different ideas, and I had a lot of people say they blew and some people say they really enjoyed it. Especially the backgrounds. Personally? I loved them. I loved the idea of having the characters running around in the real world with the rest of us. Some people said it was shit. I came up with some half-ass excuse that maybe I was trying to cut corners -- and to a degree I was -- but even though it originally started as me trying to save time, it was one of those accidental great ideas in my opinion. Justin and I would run around taking pictures of campus and everything else and then run a couple Photoshop filters and bam! We had something magical in a comic strip. Something uncanny. I could dig it.

At this point though, even though he was one of the people who disagreed with the photograph backgrounds, Carwin suggested that maybe I was caring too much about what all the people I'd thrown into the project thought. Too many cooks and whatnot. I didn't want to think that. I'd chosen, asked these people to help me with it and they had! I didn't want to think that somehow the comic was made worse as a result. In my mind, I couldn't cut them out anyway. After all, they were characters in the strip! Why shouldn't they have a say as to what their dudes were doing? Hell, it's not like they were bossing me around any. Finally though, I came to realize what he was trying to tell me. I was losing the amount of freedom I had with the characters by making them caricatures of real people. Real people, with real quirks, real opinions, and real goals. I couldn't handle them all. There was a lot of tension there. The comic Joe and comic Lizzy probably could've been in a relationship, but that would've made things awkward with the real us. If I got upset at the real Chance or Bobby or vice versa, should I draw it in the strip? What would that do to our real relationship with each other?

It got strange. It got clunky. It got absurd, and not in the way I wanted it to be. 362 was in its death throes and I was beating it WITH a dead horse. Finally, I just stopped drawing it. I stopped drawing it, but I haven't been able to get it off my mind.

We had a good run. I have no qualms about that. At this point though, I feel that I've done all I can with these four characters in this particular iteration. I really don't know. Is this the last time you'll ever see Joe, Chance, Bobby, or Lizzy? Probably not. Will the website vanish? As it is now, perhaps. I've been playing around with the idea of making it into a blog, or some sort of gaming news site for us to work on. Justin likes to use it to experiment with his coding and he's the one who pays for it after all, so I can't really just say "Oy, shut it down." I don't want to. We have this little corner of the internet, we've staked it out as our own, and goddammit we're gonna keep it. It just won't have a comic here, maybe not for a long time.

Do I still make comics? Hell yes. Carwin and I are making some surprising headway into a new webcomic/comic book called Electri City, and I'll be sure to let you guys know when that comes to fruition. I'm writing it, he's drawing it, and let me tell you -- I personally think the stories are phenomenal and his art style is amazing. You won't be disappointed if you want to follow us onto that project.

As for the actual fearsome foursome? Chance, Bobby, Lizzy and I are, have been, and always will be 362. If you see that logo on it, unless someone was really hard-up on some people to masquerade as, chances are it'll be one of us.

See you space cowboy.

Joe out.

Computer Troubles

Bobby

So since this acts as a blog of sorts, I figured I'd do my ranting here.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas (I limit it to Christmas because that's all I celebrate. If you celebrate something different, I hope it was enjoyable.) and enjoyed their time with family/friends. I also hope Santa treated you well. I got the external hard drive I asked for and the other stuff that didn't work out came with lovely things called gift receipts. However, some gifts require assembly, especially computer parts.

Along with my external, I recieved an extra internal notebook hard drive, as my laptop has an extra bay to install such a device. It arrived in the mail today and after a night out with friends, I returned home, ripped open the packaging, and proceeded to open up my laptop and install the hard drive. It fit comfortably and securely in the slot, but right away I noticed something was off. to avoid damage and remove the risk of the hard drive coming dislodged, the hard drive must be mounted. There are four screw holes in the laptop and the hard drive for a bracket, which I don't have. "No big deal," I thought. "It's snug enough, and I don't use my computer as a frisbee." I threw caution to the wind and proceeded to replace the cover... only for it to not fit on anymore. I turned the cover over and found two nasty prongs, designed to prevent cover from cracking to due precision force or impact. I thouht about breaking these off and using a dremel tool to sand the broken bit down to the base, until I decided to check online for solution. What I discovered was disheartening.

Apparently even if you do that, the cover still won't fit, and you need to buy a different cover. I checked the box the computer came in for extra parts, but to no avail. I click link after link and search ebay and newegg up and down for said parts, but that too was a failure. Every site I visited sold the two parts I need for about $15 each. The worst part is that every one of those sites only ship in Europe. Acer even has a spare parts website, but the Acer America spare parts site doesn't have the parts in their inventory. I don't even think any variation of Geek Squad (which is crap, never go there) can help me out without charging me more than the HD cost.

Essentially, it's similar to that feeling you get when someone gets you a gift they think you'll love, but you want nothing to do with it. You're torn up because not only will you run the risk of hurting them by expressing your distaste, but you really don't want pretend to like it, either. This goes double for me because the external I got was a gift from my mom, even though my dad had already purchased a [smaller] hard drive when she bought it. Now he's gotten me something I told only him that I want and I can't use it. I basically feel like I'm saying "You're gifts aren't good enough for me." And it sucks.

We might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain

Nightmare Before Christmas

Joe

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update. Such things as holidays and holiday festivities prevented me from putting this up on time, but I'm sure the long-awaited appearance of Dad makes up for the lateness. :)

Hope your holidays have been/are good.

Joe

scatman, fat man, black and white and brown man

Cantelope!

Bobby

Atittude!

They rhyme. Sesame Street says so.

Anyway! I must admit it's nice to be posting here again with a bit of a purpose. The comic kinda died when Joe was busy writing his novel and unforutnately became bored with it again. As the rational and to-the-point guy I am, it's safe to say that I am the comic's harshest critic. I want this to work out, but in order for that to happen, changes had to be made. No one is motivated to do something they don't enjoy doing nor have to do, and no one laughs if they don't get the joke. That's what we're aiming for with 362 3.0; Joe has changed the art style to be more fun for him to draw, and Chance and I are doing our part to make sure each strip has individual humor while still remaining within the 362 realm. Before it was just stuff we found funny. Now we're extending the humor to what is both funny to us and something the reader can relate to or visualize. We're trimming the fat.

That being said, I'll be doing some script work of my own to keep the mental taxation off Joe's brain and to add a little flavor to the strip. Before that happens, though, most of what you see now is from Joe's noodle while he's still feeling refreshed and eager to draw. I also have a lot of shit on my plate keeping me sidetracked, and it's not going so well. Essentially, I'm getting sucked back into WoW because of my piece of shit xbox, I'm getting less sleep than I would like to be getting, it's cold outside, and even though I've been done with exams for a week now, the stress level is rising due to external factors too gruesome and personal to mention here. Mash that all together and you get a rather unpleasant-to-be-around Bobby. I may quite possibly have Seasonal Affective Disorder. Google it.

And on a closing note, it's quite liberating to be ourselves on the website after lifting the "family friendly" policy. It's not how we are at all and prevented the characters (and us) from fully expressing ourselves. As a firm believer of Net Neutrality and freedom of speech, it feels good to be able to show you what we're really like.

It's late. I'm tired. Oh yea, I still smoke. Despite the cold. I fucking hate the cold...

-Bobby

You deserve a happiness that sees no end.

Birds of a Feather

Joe

In instances where your belongings begin speaking to you, it's best to consult with one experienced in these matters.

So Carwin and I have been experimenting with the much-hyped Google Wave and I must say, it's a swanky little piece of software. We were using it today to toss around my deeply flawed CSS code, which I have been having to learn for work, and it is so maddeningly intriguing. I find myself poring over every little thing like some ancient sorcerer and his arcane text, trying desperately with brow furrowed to make sense of its eldritch ciphers. Hopefully Carwin, a more experienced spell-slinger than I, can take me on as his apprentice.

As far as gaming goes, we haven't had a whole lot of luck at HQ lately. Bobby's XBox seems to have contracted some sort of affliction reminiscent of what Chance has been stricken with, except instead of flesh tearing away from bone, the console seems to believe it's overheating. Since Dr. House only takes human patients, we've had to turn to Superjew for help. In the meantime though, Chance has been bringing his over for us to enjoy the occasional video game repartée, which usually ends up as Bobby and I watching him play through Mass Effect again.

We're all very excited for Mass Effect 2, but I seem rather alone in my lust for the sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. I for one was very impressed with Arkham Asylum and would've stayed glued to The Couch if it weren't for the help of my digestive system deciding that if I wouldn't consume food, it would consume my spine. Already people are talking about if Two-Face will be the main villain, if the Riddler will make a return...the very thought of it all makes my venom sacs swell with excitement.

That being said, I'm still pressing on in my search for a 360 of my own (a 360 Arcade is what I'm looking at, but I have yet to compare the prices of one plus its starter package with a full-blown Elite), so that the 362 triad shall be complete. I must warn you, however -- once it is complete and our new tri-headed form comes through that fragile membrane that separates our world from that of XBox Live, you may have only moments to glimpse its radiance before you are obliterated. So I urge you, inscribe this warning into your grimoires of black prophecies so that you may yet survive the encounter. To those foolish enough to do otherwise, you've been warned.

Joe out.

your lifestyle to me seems so tragic

Flying Lemurs

Chance

Life is good, yeah?

I for one, have a lot to be glad about. First of all, it's nearly Christmas break. Add to that I finally finished a massive project for one of my Lit. classes (which clocked in at 35 pages; ridiculous), and I found out why I've been ill and its getting better and I'm in a great mood. But wait, there's more. I finally managed to get Runic Games' tasty new adventure, Torchlight, working on my computer (my full thoughts on the game will come later). Screw you, Dell and ATI. And last but not least, 362 is returning from hiatus. Hiyaaah!

Enough good news, y'all need to hear about the sickness in me. About a month ago, give or take, I came down with some sort of respiratory bug that had me coughing my head off. Got some antibiotics for it, but it didn't go away. Fast forward to a week ago. I was coughing so hard that I thought I might actually die soon. Then I developed an unbelievable pain in my side, which felt a lot like the time Joe accidently stabbed me in the lung with a bowie knife. So I go back to the doctor and find out that its not pnemonia, like I was worried about. Instead, I seem to have coughed so hard that I tore muscle away from my rib cage. OUCH OUCH OUCH. But its getting fixed now.

Enough story time, I just made cookies and they want me to eat them.

Griff out.

Remember These Whackos?

Joe

There's been a lot of turmoil regarding this comic strip in the past, but, like the noble cockroach, our stupid antics never seem to die.

We're gonna have to try some new things here at 362 HQ, but the important thing is that I'm having fun drawing the characters again. When drawing your cartoon persona is as much fun as being fucked in the ear by an elephant penis, it gets hard to stay motivated to update a regularly scheduled webcomic.

We're taking it slow, being gentle with it as though holding an ice cream cone and bringing its sweetness ever so gingerly to our waiting mouths before truly finding ourselves in the bliss we once knew. I would love, l-o-v-e love from the depths of my black heart to get to where we're cranking out a new script for you every day like we did when we first started the strip. I personally admire strips that can do dailies, like Least I Could Do or Sinfest, which undoubtedly inhabit an alternate plane where such superhuman feats are common place, and would love to topple the master of that dark place and take my seat upon his throne where I can begin my dark work.

Anyway, we'll keep you guys updated on how things go and when until we settle into a good schedule. Also, expect a lot more activity from Bobby and maybe even Chance as things progress, because if we can make this site something that all three of us benefit from in our creative endeavors. (The dearly diminutive Lizzy has her own corner of the internet for such matters.)

So 'till then, Hang Loose! Face Front! Keep the Faith! Nuff Said! Excelsior!

Joe out.

i will not be told where to stand

I'm Very Secure

Bobby

I'm really mad right now because I had an entire news post written up, then while closing unused tabs I accidentally closed the "Add news item" tab...

So you're getting an abridged version of what I had written. Joe's doing Humans vs. Zombies. I have no artistic talent. Thus, no comic as of late. I've been watching Romance Comedy animes for the past two weeks and not afraid to admit it. I was inspired to write this post and mention that in it because of this: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1441

Now for the part I'm willing to rewrite. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comes out in one week. I will be extremely tempted to wear my night vision goggles during my drive home from Saint Louis at 1am. Left 4 Dead 2 comes out in two weeks. Since I had it preordered I got early access to the demo and it's very promising. The only complaint I have (and it's a significant one at that) is that they haven't removed a rather annoying feature. During any mission, if a player gives you pain pills your character automatically equips them. This is extremely frustration when I'm either dumping my clip into a horde or approaching tank. I pray to the Zombie Apocalypse gods that Valve removes this before the game hits shelves, because I'm not the only one troubled by it. And if you had any questions about how melee weapons work: They don't degrade as you use them and they replace your pistol. You're basically trading a reliable ranged weapon with unlimited ammo for an indestructible melee weapon. Makes sense.

In closing, I hope everyone had a enjoyable Halloween. Remember that Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and soon after is Christmas. If you want to follow my hypocritical advice, do your shopping now and save yourself the stress of last minute shopping in stores exceding their maximum occupancy.

Also, I'm playing WoW again... >_> I'm leveling a horde character, stop judging me!

-Bobby

And if you look at your reflection, is it all you want it to be?

Love is Brütal

Joe

«I'll get the shaded version up as soon as possible. xo. j» Ugh, tired Joe is tired. Work on a short story has practically devoured my time this weekend, but that hasn't prevented me from getting a little gaming in with the amazing new Double Fine game Brütal Legend. Dudes and dudettes, when people ask me what type of game it is, there's only one word – Metal. Now, we here at 362 like to think of ourselves as metal heads, and even we were blown away by the sheer incredibleness of this game. Several different famous metal musicians lent their voices and talents to the game (including Ozzy, who does a fantastic job as the Guardian of Metal) and there are seriously so many tracks on the soundtrack that my head spun. Seriously guys, check it out. As Jack Black says at the beginning of the game, "it's not only gonna blow your mind –– it'll blow your soul." Joe out. you can't kill the metal

Brütal Legend Review

Bobby

By the Titans! What an amazing game! I wish I had more time to write more stuff about it, but it's already past my bed time, so I'll keep it brief for now.

Honestly, my favorite part about the whole game, along with the humor, is the ONE HUNDRED AND SIX* metal songs that make up the game's soundtrack. Honestly, It's so well done, I really never get bored of it (frustrated at times, but not bored). Most games that allow you to free roam get dull after a while, but with Brütal Legend, I can cruise throughout the entire world and really never get bored, because every time a new song comes on Eddie's radio, I get pumped.

For those of you who aren't Chance, Joe, or me, here's how it went down. I traded in my 2 most favorite games (Modern Warfare and L4D) to get Brütal Legend on the cheap. My reasoning for this was that both those games have better sequels coming out in one month, so I can survive the wait. I bought this at midnight, Rocktober 13th. I stopped playing at 4:30am, did home, went to class at 9, took a test, went home and slept. Then I went to my night class, came home way early (easy ass midterm I didn't know about) and beat it. I spent all of today after work collecting Statues, Viewpoints, Buried Metal, Jump Plugs, Legends, and trading achievements with Chance. All that's left to do is beat the AI on Brütal difficulty in a stage battle, spend 250,000 fans (I'm about halfway there), beat the game on Brütal difficulty, and win 50 matchmaking stage battles (there's another achievement for 10 wins as well. This will probably be the first game I get every achievement in.

I cannot wait for DLC. Seriously, this game is amazing. If you have any doubts about it, throw caution to the wind and just go for it. Especially if you love metal.

That was longer than I anticipated... I hate when I do that.

*I say 106 because there is one song on the track list called "Girlfriend" by Kabbage Boy, the band Eddie Riggs works for as a roadie and the song they play during the opening cinematic. It is not metal, except for the brief intro. Rather, it is a cross of metal, pop, hip hop, and rap directed at the "tween demographic."