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Interview With A Half-Life Comic Creator 27

Posted by Zonk from the frohmaaaaannnn dept.
Bundini writes "Primotech has an interview with Chris Livingston, creator of the immensely popular Concerned Half-Life Comic. He talks about the impact of machinima, posing ragdolls with Garry's Mod, and what's next for Gordon Frohman. From the article: 'There's a sort of smug satisfaction one gets when tuning in to the Gordon Frohman show every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's like an inside joke only you (and the other however-many million players of Valve's epic first-person shooter) will get.'" I highly recommend this gent. Concerned is a great comic.
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Interview With A Half-Life Comic Creator More

Interview With A Half-Life Comic Creator

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  • What came first (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Eightyford ( 893696 ) on Friday March 03, 2006 @02:30PM (#14844055) Homepage
    Was 8-bit Theater the inspiration for these "machinima" comics? The only difference I see is a 3rd dimension.
    • The biggest difference is that 8-bit is funny. (or at least, used to be. previous few comics are kindof eh.. still better than this cack though)
      • Sorry you don't get the jokes or have a sense of humor about HL2. I just started reading them, and have been cackling ever since. Enjoy reading something else then eh?
        • If anything, this is actually one of my favorite comics. It has a storyline, it's well-executed, it's creator shows his audience how he does some of the trickier things, and some of the jokes don't even require playing the game to get. Most do, but why'd you read the comic if you never played?

          Hell, as much as I love Penny Arcade, I don't get half their jokes because they're either obscure references, or references to games in genres I don't play (Everquest, Prince of Persia, etc.).
        • I just started about an hour ago and am officially addicted. The Counterstrike strips [hlcomic.com] are golden.
    • I doubt so, though the idea is similar. Thing is 8-bit theater uses in-game sprites only for characters and little more - the backgrounds are mostly hand-drawn. The scenario idea - a parody of the original scenario - is about the same, but "machinima comics" use the game engine to create the scenes. 8bt just uses the sprites.

      Anyway, both comics are definitely worth reading (for the lazy: 8bt [nuklearpower.com] link) and contain the same kind of twisted humor. (Giant cannon = a cannon that shoots live giants at the enemy :) -

  • Seconded! (Score:4, Funny)

    by richie2000 ( 159732 ) <rickard.olsson@gmail.com> on Friday March 03, 2006 @02:35PM (#14844111) Homepage Journal
    I highly recommend this gent. Concerned is a great comic.

    FWIW, I read it religiously but it's waaay funnier than any organized religion has been for the last two thousand years. :-)

  • Frohman? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Aagfed ( 958473 ) on Friday March 03, 2006 @02:44PM (#14844225) Homepage
    Wait. Who is Gordon Frohman? Isn't he the Sausage King of Chicago?
  • Just discovered the comic this monday. And it's on slashdot on friday. I must be the centre of the universe.

    I strongly recommend anyone to go read it - it is indeed highly funny. I don't know if this qualifies as 'news for nerds', let alone 'stuff that matters', though. After all, this is really going to be interesting to a small subset of the webcomics audience, which is itself only a pretty small group.

  • Not My Desk! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Gulthek ( 12570 ) on Friday March 03, 2006 @03:39PM (#14844886) Homepage Journal
    If any of you fans of this comic are unfamilar with Chris' earlier work. You *must* read Not My Desk [notmydesk.com]. I've been a notmydesk fan since 2001 and it is funnier (and truer) office humor than "Office Space", "The Office", "Dilbert", and anything else I've found.

    Two of my favorite essays: Fired [notmydesk.com] and See Spot; Run [notmydesk.com].
  • This comic is pretty hilarious, and really does a great job of highlighting the abilities of Garry's Mod, which has had more impact on the gaming/tech community than HL2 has. /.ers need to take note: G-mod is revolutionary.
  • Teh Hammre [valvesoftware.com] is classic.
  • I've never played HL2 (I have played/beaten HL1, however). I generally despite sprite comics, too.

    But there's something about Concerned that I can't get enough of. Maybe it's the relative stability of the fourth wall and lack of a l33t author character. Maybe it's because it's actually following the plot of the game and not meandering around with whatever the author decides is "funny" that day. Maybe it's because the comic isn't a catchphase/meme generator.

    Could be that despite being heavily tied to HL2
  • Can't say enough good things about "Concerned": like Rosencrantz & Guildenstern for the world of Half-Life. Apostasy [phwonline.com] is also a good read, if you're in the mood for something serious.

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