001: Lonely
You ever feel left out of a group simply because of misaligned or differing interests? Yeah, that's me most of the time. Due to my situation (and I guess, circumstance), I don't really play video games or watch anime (or have a love life), which leaves me to be, for the most part, the odd one out, either because of lack of time, lack of money, or because I love to procrastinate on EVERYTHING except homework. It's not just here. Even in real life, I'm the one that usually gets left out a lot, often times because I'm the only one who still lives in the dorm, and therefore people seem to forget I exist. Anyways, Comic me is a **** for leaving a friend in need. I am a **** because I don't think anyone would really appreciate what I ended up referencing in the third panel. Whatever, it's all in the name of comedy, right? Right?
002: The Chibifier
This is actually part one of a two page set that will conclude in the next update. Obviously, the main punchline hasn't been reached, but we still have a secondary punchline to complete this particular page (that is, Mega falling off of his chair). Recall that I said that the characters portrayed are simply exaggerated versions on their real-life counterparts. As such, it's only logical that I get to place them in a fictional environment that is an exaggerated version of our world, even if it means making a shrink-ray and calling it a "chibifier" (You'll see it's not quite the case, but w/e).
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Anyways, here we get a little bit more fleshing out of two of our characters, Nick and Anthony. Nick, obviously, is wearing a white t-shirt that says "Anime Desu~", as a reference to Real Life Nick's otaku hobbies. Anthony, as you can see, is more inclined to nap (call back to the previous comic where he says "I'm going to go take a nap") and is therefore (understandably) less focused when he's half asleep. Also, that textbook on the table is actually modeled after my Dynamic Systems textbook I used last semester. Michael is there simply to fall over. For comedy. Also, to set up the punchline in the next comic. But we'll get to that.
003: Chibi Nick
CHIBI NICK!!!!!! Okay, technically it's Nick drawn in a Puchimas style, but I'm going to classify that as chibi (or super deformed) because I'm the guy drawing the damn thing and I can do what I want. This is the concluding comic to the previous comic, and apparently Nick found a way to change Anthony's shrink ray into a Chibifier. Also, that's not a giant P over a dot for Puchimas, that's supposed to be an interrobang. Also, awkward left hand is awkward.
004: Mahou Shoujo SS-staff chan tachi
So this was one of those ideas that came to me really early on in the writing process. I wanted to depict Nick as this uber-otaku like character who is obsessed with all things "kawaii", like chibis and magical girls, so this was the very first gag I wrote.
Anyways, this is also the first time you see Zach in the comic! Of course, I drew all the comics before working on the Squadcast, so all appearances vary greatly between the staff's depiction in the comic and in the squadcast icons. (This goes with Nick, too). In this case, Zach's hair is (appropriately) lighter than how I drew it for the icon, but the icon's shape is more accurate than here (I think, at least).
005: New Idol Group?
Two consecutive jokes about Nick wanting to do something that no one else wants? Ah, well, at least he's not the butt of the punchline like last time. I honestly should have waited a bit for this joke, but I thought "Well, I'm uploading this every other week, so I may as well make that joke", and now here we are! If it wasn't clear, it just another poke at C!Anthony's constant exhaustion and tiredness, something that I am now coming to fully realize as I stumble into the same pattern of taking 3 hour naps after class.
Also, I wanted to throw in a reference to Super Skarmory, but that's an irrelevant detail (or is it fully relevant?)
006: Work Music
There's four panels, so it's technically a 4koma!
I couldn't resist making a Darude Sandstorm joke here, but at the end of the day, Nick is the butt of this punchline. Since, at the time of drawing this, I didn't know any idol songs, I pretty much went on the internet, and searched for Idol song lyrics. I don't even know what the song is, or if you can actually read the pink kana coming out of the screen. Whatever. Also, bonus points for guessing the song I'm listening to. (It’s the Dance of Hours)
007: Do you Want to Build a Robot (Girl)?
So this is the first comic where Nick doesn't appear. At all. A bit of a change of pace, but it does mean I get to experiment with different jokes and establish other characters aside from myself and Nick. And between you and me, I think we both know what Michael's REAL reason for wanting a robot girl...>_>
008: Call Back
So this comic was specifically a callback to Chatbox Shenanigans
18 and
19.
I did change Collette/Kyo to Merga for the sake of consistency, and the first panel is drawn and colored in the same style as the original Chatbox Shenanigans comics, with the three characters wearing the same outfits as they did in the original set. Since there was also confusion as to what the alt accounts were, in the original comics, I decided to color it as a giant black blob, so it would look like the light was originating from the background, and hitting the foreground. Also, I messed up on Merga's face in the last panel, but w/e.
009: For Real
So this is the final Comic Shenanigans of the first set. I fully intended for this set to simply be a test for a new style of comic writing, especially when the earlier comics, Chatbox Shenanigans and College Shenanigans, were based on scenarios that actually happened. Writing this set was particularly fun, since using exaggerated versions of the staff allowed for a larger range of scenarios and jokes entirely dependent on the characters themselves rather than real-world reactions.