What Did I Learn?

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PC Weenies
by Krishna M. Sadasivam

PC Weenies is a color comic which has recently gone from ten years as a single panel comic to a four panel, newspaper style format. As you may surmise, creating single panel humor is very different than newspaper or comic book format works. You have to set the joke up and deliver the punchlines in different time frames, which lends itself to different kinds of humor and limitations. I applaud Mr. Sadasivam for having the desire and courage to try something new. It would have been very easy to stick with the tried and true.

Fortunately for us, the humor continues to be very funny. PC Weenies is written by a computer geek (see the About page), about geeks and for geeks. There are very nerdy characters and retro styled backgrounds that add a quaint flavor. Don't read that and leave with the impression that the comic seems old fashioned... it's a visual homage in the same way that those thick, black rimmed glasses are always worn in the movies to let you know that this character is a tech guy.

Today, many of us are so well versed in tech stuff that we are familiar with what Mhz and RAM stand for, so you'll have no problem following those kinds of jokes. The humor also involves a great deal of character humor, so don't think it's all going to be about transistors and the office. It's a nerds' life.

There's also a neato provision where you can guest-star! You can appear in the comic with your own suggested storyline. For those interested, you can also read up on the creation details of the comic on its blog. These provisions give you a chance to actually be in the comic and know some interesting trivia about it as well. You can be involved in it.

What did I learn?
Don't be afraid to try new things. Play to your strengths and interests and let it show in your work. Most of all, find a way to connect with your readers. PC Weenies

Previous Reviews

Battlegate| Butterfly| Good Ship Chronicles| Evil, Inc.| Madscott| Jefbot| Chronicle| Sheldon| Stardrop| Theater Hopper| Knave| Lullaby| High Moon| Metadawn| Dead Days| PC Weenies| Ask Maridee | Tiny Folk | Gordian Algebra | Starslip Crisis | The Front | Coffee Time Comics | Patches | Little Creature | The Horrible Pirates | Serenity Tales | Crashlander | Girl Genius | This Is Me | Handle With Care | SuperFogeys | Copper | Eskimo Dave | Real Life | Chateau Wonderful | Count Your Sheep | Breakpoint City | Eeekeemo | Boxcar Astronaut | Zip and Li'l Bit | Wally & Osborne | Jump Leads | Dr. Sheep and the Aardvark | Station V3 | Dresden Codak | Lab Ratz | Toyzville | The Boids | Cow and Buffalo | Casey and Scotty | Just Outside | The Pretentious History of Everything | Tia's World | Quirks | Patrick Grey | For What It's Worth | The Sixth Dimension | Max and the Gorilla Goon Squad | Rainbow Orchid | Neko and Neko | Lions, Tigers and Bears | Spacequint | Lessons In Fire Safety | Corrupt Hardware | Enker's Tale | The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo | A Rusty Life | You'll Have That | From the Margin | Jitterati

About These Reviews

I love comics and I'm always looking at how I can improve my own work by examining other creators' works. It's such a wildly diverse field that it's not advisable to make sweeping generalizations and ignore special circumstances and subjects.

There's a lot we can learn from one another. And while there are many forums where you might discuss this, I haven't found any lengthy discussion on what we can do to make our comics more successful. There are a few good books on the subject but the aspiring webcomic creator is forced to learn by sheer brute force practice how to adapt his/her personal style to the medium. This is not as efficient as it could be.

Also, there are literally thousands of webcomics but only a handful of places where you can find decent, regular reviews. The focus of my reviews will be on trying to determine what is positive, successful and worth emulating about each comic. You might even get hooked on a given comic you read about here.

You may also wonder where the 'criticism' is and where the negative things about the comics are pointed out. As a matter of fact, I did mention some dissappointing issues with layout and such in my initial reviews. I quickly came to the realization that it's easy for any viewer to know what they like and what they don't. I don't need to call extra attention to the negative. I have, on a few occasions, emailed a webcomic author with a few ideas for improvements but there's no need to make that information public.

I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything, mind you. I just wish to have an open discussion about what good comics do. Hopefully, more voices will join in.