September 6th, 2007
Security Protocols (Enemies List - Part 4)
Adam and Fred are back at school. School is a little more futuristic this time. By futuristic, I mean that security is totally hopped up. I figure that’s the way things go in the future you know? These darn kids are just too clever with their cell phone cameras and elaborate spy rings now a days, just imagine what it would be like in the future… What’s a standardized test to do I ask you?
Also got a little Onomatopoeia going on in this strip… Hopefully, that is the sound that duct tape makes. If anyone has a better idea though, let me know.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:26 am
First comment, SUCKERS!!! Love the classroom view. I’m very intrigued as to what those little units on their desks are. I’m doubting they’re hair dryers. The teacher is hot in a nerdly kinda way. She reminds me of Lisa Loeb.
The last few strips have been really well done. rawk.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Great strip once again. I am glad to see yet another updated strip this week. I really like about this strip (aside from the great art) is the bold words at the begining of the first two panels. It is subtle, but it really works.
I like the duct tape sound, and the fact that it is still widely used in the future.
September 6th, 2007 at 6:23 am
Ditto what kevin said, plus:
“Bumped up” sounded odd coming from the principal or whoever is on the PA. “Cranked up”? Crank is a funny word.
I assume that is Adam’s right arm strapped down with tape in panel four. It is a little hard to read at that size. Had you considered mummifying it, or strapping it down to his side?
September 6th, 2007 at 6:49 am
There’s that cool cross hatching again. Any strip involving duct tape
gets the Red Green thumbs up award. I think I got my evil leer down.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:45 am
I like the sound effect, though with Adam’s mouth open, it appears he may be making the noise. Course you could always add a little “eep!” or something out of him with the impending strapping. And for those who don’t like run-on storylines, new readers would be confused by the list discussion. But screw them, I like it. When are we gonna see the Johnny nature-hater-guy again, poking a steaming pile of nature? I’m sure he could make Fred’s list.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:03 am
@Wit: Thanks, I’ve changed my production routine a little (which has helped) and I’m focusing more on writing now… But I think the biggest factor is just that I’ve done enough that I’m starting to relax a little more.
@kevin: duct tape will never go anywhere. It’s like wd-40…
@Eric: Ha, you caught me… I didn’t do anything to his arm… Totally forgot, er I mean… Totally intentional.
@me!: yeah, I try to make every strip accessible to the new readers, but with limited space, sometimes I just can’t. In an ideal world, every joke would be multi-tiered, with humor that anyone could get, and also extra jokes and references for people who were more familiar with the strip. It’s hard to do all though, but I do have conveniently located ‘back’ buttons, so getting up to speed isn’t that hard.
September 6th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Hands down, my favorite part of the strip is Fred (it’s always fred for me) leaning back on his chair in panel 4 like every little boy does.
Well done.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I think you totally nailed the sound duct tape makes. Very awesome!
And I feel bad for Adam- though we’ve never really seen Adam utilize his modified skull other than to stun a bee…
September 6th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Nice. I like this strip for a couple reasons. The first panel (the groan cracked me up) and the teacher looks a lot like my wife (who’s a teacher). Even eerier: she wears striped shirts just like that. What’s going on, Tierney? You got a fancy camera installed at my place???
September 6th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
@Jarrett: yeah, I was aiming for that slightly casual look that sort of says: “bummer man…”
@Anthony: Thanks! I know, I totally need to have adam do more stuff, and I’m working on that.
@Scott: I didn’t install a camera, don’t all macs come with one? What do you think I’ve been doing when we have tech support chats and I say, “now click here, enter ‘controls’, no no no, don’t worry what it does just activate it…” On a related note, if the teacher looks like your wife, the wit says your wife is hot.
September 8th, 2007 at 6:44 am
Decent sound effects always help bring a comic strip to life, and have gotta be one of the hardest things to do effectively. Great job on inventing a new one. Fair dinkum, Jim, you have rapidly become one of my two favourite webcomic artists.
September 8th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Thanks doug. Who’s the other one? I’ll deal with him.
September 9th, 2007 at 7:53 am
Sorry, but it’s Phil Foglio (Girl Genius). Don’t be too hard on the poor man - I think his site was the one that linked me to yours.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:39 am
[…] what happens when you need some fancy onomatopoeia for something a little more exotic, like say, the sound duct tape makes coming off the roll? Well, you could just wing it I suppose, or you could make it up, maybe throw together a bunch of […]