8-Ball
“8-Ball”
I wrestled with “8-Ball”. I spent a whole week trying to figure out how to write a joke about a clash between a Magic 8-Ball and a fortune cookie. I only had one shot. I could not miss my chance to draw. Opportunity comes once in lifetime. I had to lose myself in the artwork, the dialogue, the punch line…
3 comics later I settled on this version.
The problem wasn’t the idea. I loved that there would be competition between fortune-telling mediums. Maybe even in a fortune-telling rap battle remeniscent of “8 Mile”. To me, that part was funny. But the issue was the punch line. I was really having a hard time coming up with something to end it with. I mean… this joke is the concept, not the punch line.
And there you go. I dropped the mic. No punch line. Is it comedic genius? You guys decide…
On a related note… Last week on Webcomics.com, Skitter’s punch lines were reviewed by Brad Guigar… and failed miserably. I know I’ve got some good strips, but I’ve got some bad ones too. Comedy isn’t easy. I decided to do some research to help fix the problem.
I bought an audiobook on stand up comedy. Surprisingly, it completely related to writing comic strips! I felt I understood why my good strips were good and my bad strips were bad.
Armed with this new comedic knowledge, I’ve decided to redo some of my older strips. Probably starting after the new year, I’ll present them as “Comic Redos” in place of new comics . I’ll even spell out exactly what I did and why, showing the before and after.
Should be interesting to see if I can make them better. Feel free to comment on the results when I post ’em!
Thanks for readin’!
( This comic’s Patreon “Thank You” goes to Sal D! )
200 x 200 AVATARS created from this comic available to Skitter Patreon supporters…
Discussion ¬