I was curious as to how many of you pepper your comics with outside references, rather than having a comic that stands on it's own. The 'All your base...' line is a good example.

What got me thinking was a comic I did a few days ago referencing an old Isaac Asimov book. I can only assume that unless you'd read the book it would mean nothing and seem pretty stupid. Which is why I found it interesting that this comic immediately leapt up past a bunch of my other comics. Are there just a lot more people who've read the book than I thought?

Here's the comic in question.

Tribute to Isaac Asimov by gabe_billings 2-02-01

I'm Lije Baley. R. Daneel Olivaw. Aren't you supposed to have skin?

Another good example is this one with a Monty Python reference.

http://www.lowpass.net/stripcreator/view.php?ID=3369

Then of course there's a goodly chunk of comics where I've taken ideas from the graphic's original comics themselves, which I think are far more amusing if you know the background. This is one of my favorites. If you're a fan of 'Goats' you've probably seen the chunk of rejection letters Jon has posted from the various cartoon syndicate Nazis.

http://www.lowpass.net/stripcreator/view.php?ID=2556

So what kind of thoughts to the rest of you have on the subject?

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100 pounds of shit in a 25 pound sack.

I checked, and it seems that roughly a quarter to a third of my strips require their reader to have cultural knowledge extending beyond the borders of the Strip Creator. Most notably, the "Hax0r Jack" series is basically a string of jokes about the technology industry, plus some allusions to Greco-Roman mythology, and I make at least two baffling jokes about Strom Thurmond in "A nation perplexed". On the plus side, at least two other authors (Kolle and mishka) have joined me in making references to Beckett's _Endgame_, although the stick figure in the trash can really makes that too easy to resist.

What's funny is the way that outside references affect my votes. If I don't get the reference, I'll rate the strip poorly. If I don't get the reference, but I at least perceive that there's a reference there, and think that I might find the strip funny if I got it, then I'll rate it a little less poorly, but still not as well as I'd rate a funny standalone strip. If I do get the reference, then I rate the strip higher than I would rate a comparably funny standalone strip. Probably I do this because I'm excited to see that someone else besides me pays attention to these obscure things, and also to offset some of the low votes which have no doubt been given to the strip by other people who didn't get the reference.

I'm going to say "reference" again because it's fun.

I didn't get the Asimov strip. While the other two obviously do refer to outside sources, I think you can still appreciate them and find them funny even if you're not familiar with those sources. The source of the humor doesn't rely on your pre-existing cultural knowledge, it relies on your apprehension of there being something wrong about the situation.

Wow. I really need to stop talking now.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

I usually try to avoid specific references to other things in my strips. Likewise, I tend to give lower scores to comics that have a reference I don't get (because if I can't understand the punchline, I can't give a 10). The only outside references I like to include are references to the source strips for the characters (i.e. Diablo's Satan worship, Helmut and Donkey's partnership) based on the assumption that, at the very least, people can figure out where to look.

Also, I'm sure that if you look through my strips, you'll find some hidden reference. It's not an absolute rule, just a guideline.

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"Oh, look, a joke! How original! Thank you, but if I wanted my emotions stimulated pleasurably, I'd get a whore." - Donald B. Jones III

I'm not a big believer in trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Sometimes I post a cartoon that I know few people will get, and I don't really care if nobody gets it. I'm here mostly to challenge and amuse myself, although I often do attempt to amuse others (really, I do! Bite me!) and use more accessible themes, since that is a challenge, too...

Here's what I suspect is my most obscure comic...

http://www.lowpass.net/stripcreator/view.php?ID=2891

Tribute to Andy Warhol... by wirthling 1-28-01

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

I know I'm always referencing things. I tend to reference Vengeance: Unlimited a lot as well as bad movies, worse movies, and shitty movies. I also reference jokes or things I heard in the chat.

Here's a Vengeance: Unlimited referenceish:

Elder Scrolls IV: Realms of Fantasy by ivytheplant 3-21-06

[sounds of yowling cats] All right you two, break it up or no cookies after the nap. [continued sounds of cats yowling] That's it... [Command: CyberBitchslap 2.0 engaged] Hellooo warm fuzzy feeling...

I'd paste more, but I'm too lazy and just wanted to bump a thread.

wow, lowpass links. That's old.

This comic kind of needs familiarity with a thread chica and I were arguing in. So technically it doesn't require knowledge of subject matter outside SC... but it's retarded enough to seem so.

argument by FinnNYC 9-14-05

...Poor almost always equals black. The root of that problem is racism by whites and anyone who can't make that connection is either a moron or a racist... ...Funny, I don't remember being black myself or seeing anyone who was black when we had to get our food from the shelter... ...I still say that chocking up black peoples disadvantages to laziness is dumb. It's a rejection of logic that is, well..., lazy... ...How could you possibly believe that black people are treated so badly that they can't even get a job? I mean even the most minor of jobs will put food on the table and a place to live... honky nigger nigger honky

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-=- You eat one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal. What a world. -=-

These two involve some obscure references unless you know a vast amount about BMW's although I do explain them a bit:

NIKASIL by matclarke 6-01-05

BMW released the M60B30 & M60B40 V8's in 93 which all used the Nikasil blocks. MmmHmm. NIKASIL is basically aluminum impregnated with nickel and silicone. MmmHmm The excessive amounts of sulphur in US gas eat away the linings of the cylinder bores. Look dickface, can you fit two kilos of coke in the gas tank or not?!

VANOS by matclarke 5-31-05

Well, VANOS was first introduced in 1992 on the BMW M50 engine used in the 5 Series. MmmHmm. The VANOS engines have the ability to adjust the intake and exhaust cam sprockets. MmmHmm. This gives you increased torque throughout your RPM range. But that still doesn't explain the dead bitch on my hood.

If you knew Abby And Melissa as well as I do, you would find this hilarious and slap your knee two times:

Have You Heard Of A Bed? by matclarke 12-05-05

SIS! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!!! I woke up in a chair today. Um, yeah that happens sometimes. What the hell happened to you? I really don't know what happened last night, but i do remember waking up with a boombox imprint on my left cheek.

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obscenity filter is off

i guess my Viking comics would be better appreciated by someone who knows at least a bit about vikings in general. although they're somewhat obscure most of em can still be enjoyed by those who only know the sterotypical view of viking culture i.e. they sailed all over the place and looted, killed and burned anything and everything then went home and drank mead til they threw up.
while this was considered appropriate behavior in general, there's a lot more to their society than what most people know.

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Kill Whitey.

I have a couple serieses (serii?) that depend on the reader having read/played/seen the source material. I also love making comics that have jokes for gamers in them

Lucky's Inferno by LuckyGuess 3-03-06

Climbing sucks. Brarr! I am a reflection of your incontinence! Fear my power! You're a chicken.

BitchCraft by LuckyGuess 2-22-06

Jared, we need to have a heart to heart. About what? You're a hunk of software. That's my point. You totally undervalue me. I really think we need to take a break, maybe find ourselves before starting over. Now you're sounding like a whiny bitch. That's it, we're playing some StarCraft. No! This time I want you to actually liste.... FOR THE OVERMIND! Damn straight.

Lucky's Life, As Presented in Lewis Carroll Poems by LuckyGuess 2-23-06

Tweedledum and Tweedledee agreed to have a battle; For Tweedledum said Tweedledee had spoiled his nice new rattle. You asshole! That was a new memory card! It's not my fault I got bored. Just then flew down a monsterous crow, as black as a tar-barrel; Shut the fuck up! I can't hear Bill O'Reilly! Black people commit all the crimes. Which frightened both the heroes so, they quite forgot their quarrel. You still owe me thirty dollars, buttmunch. Blow me.

Muffin? by LuckyGuess 2-19-06

Josh, the dishes are really starting to pile up, and I have to leave for a writing workshop. No can do. I just upgraded my Nemean Lions. You're offline. Just press pause. Ha! Josh, Elder Titan of the Dark Lord Hades, will never stoop so low as to press pause. Josh, there are things growing on those dishes that may or may not be hostile towards us. I will crush the puny mold creatures with the power of my newly upgraded Nemean Lions!

OIPACVG Day by LuckyGuess 2-15-06

I made today "Official Inform People About Cool Video Games" day. And how is that working out for you? What the hell is a Jade Cocoon? You trap minions from the warp forests in them. Very well. You know that when you lie your upper lip twitches a little? Just thought you should be aware.

I find it's more fun for me to reference shit I know nobody else will get. But then again, that's just me.

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the kid's getting old, the kid's getting old

Ivy is cool and I wouldn't care
If she bumped a thread from a previous year
But now that I see it, I've used my logic
To see this should now be in Read My Damn Comics

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Batman created by Bob Kane

This is a 5 year old thread that should be moved to RMDC. I also think Ivy is cool, however, she's also lame for bumping a really old thread, but not the bad kind of lame, more like the crazy older sister type of lame that lets me spend the weekend at her house.

This forum needed a random ancient thread bump. You know it was dying. Shut up and eat your vegetables.

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What others say about boorite!

This thread is in the correct place. Gabe wanted a discussion about references, but didn't get much of one.

Obscurity is a very relative thing. To my mind, Isaac Asimov's Lije Bailey (or R. Daneel) books are hardly obscure. However, if someone else decided to riff on Cowboy Bebop, I'd be lost as hell as I've heard of the show yet never really watched it.

And even though I'm familiar with Andy Warhol and his works, I don't totally get wirthling's comic. Perhaps it's a joke about Warhol using repetition in his art. Maybe it's saying that Warhol's art was really nothing. I don't know.

The point is that not everyone who reads your comics is going to automatically "get" them IF you include references.

That statement brings to mind my ExperiMENTAL Theatre series. The only written content is the titles which give clues (and outright answers) to the things that inspired the comics. Are the comics funny? Not necessarily. They're designed to share my experience of seeing the world with the viewer.

Take http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/umfumdisi/sets/mentaltheatre/162452 , for instance. The comic itself was inspired by a Steely Dan song, yet the title actually references a song title (not the complete title, BTW) by a different band. I assume there are a handful of strippers out there who know what I'm referencing, but I may be wrong.

This is a more recent comic:

Child of God by umfumdisi 3-14-06

Welcome to my pad. Can I get you anything? Wait. I thought this was God's house. Yeah, I'm God. Good to meet'cha. But I thought you "knew me before I was formed in the womb." If it helps, I did "know" your mom. That explains the hair...

. The title is a reference to the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, but the comic has nothing to do with the book. Would anyone have known that had I not just mentioned it here? Maybe.

I think the subject of this thread is fascinating, and I'd like to thank Ivyta for bumping it.

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Chicken Feather Bed Bugs Bunny Hop Sing Out Side Street Walker Texas Ranger Cookie Dough Boy Wonder Years

these lines come from a song by Vinnie and the Stardusters about their favorite bar and the drunks who inhabit it.

Orange Soda : Momma by finn34 4-09-01

HEY BARTENDER! SEE THAT GIRL OVER THERE? THAT'S YOUR MAMA!!

Worthington's Law comes from a sketch on "Mr. Show", telling you that your worth is directly related to your income.

Orange Soda : Ghandi by finn34 9-01-05

According to Worthington's Law, you and I are more important than Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr combined. Take that, Ghandi!

BIS are a disco-pop band who sound like eating candy tastes. The song coming out of the TV is called "Sweet Shop Avengerz" and the quoted text is the chorus.

Orange Soda : BIS by finn34 9-01-05

This is an advertisement .... A-OK We're the Sweetshop Avengerz! So make the sweet adjustment .... A-OK We're the Sweetshop Avengerz! Man, BIS are what a suger coma must sound like.

"Sadness is for poor people" is one of those quick lines you miss if you're paying attention when "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" characters talk.

Orange Soda : Sorrow

SADNESS IS FOR POOR PEOPLE!!

by finn34, 9-02-05

the climax of the movie "Soylent Green," substituting Olive Garden for the ubiquitous substance in the film.

Orange Soda : Realization

OLIVE GARDEN IS PEOPLE!!! IT'S PEOPLE!!!

by finn34, 9-04-05

the pooping blood reference is one of Verbal Kint's lines in "The Usual Suspects", after Keaton punches him hard in the gut.

[Click to view comic: 'Orange Soda : Trouble']

Flying Spagetti Monster = teh funnay. Copy and paste the link in the narration into your browser and get ready to laugh.

[Click to view comic: 'Orange Soda : Revelation']

The origin of the Book of Job, wherein God and Satan both mercilessly fuck with some poor sap to test his faith.

[Click to view comic: 'God : Millennium One']

In an early Space Ghost : Coast to Coast episode, enigmatic singer/songwriter Beck appeared on the show. Space Ghost asked if he was hungry, to which Beck said, "Yeah." Space Ghost then delivers the following line.

[Click to view comic: 'OPC 14 : Disqualified']

in the show "Upright Citizens Brigade", a "colorblind" girl can't tell the difference between urinal cakes and real cakes.

[ Posted comic does not exist ]

The last speech of Tom Joad in "The Grapes of Wrath". It's a hopeful piece spoken to his family before leaving them, to avoid going to jail for murder, modified to fit my actual life.
[Click to view comic: 'CC 313 : Good Example']

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Our liability coverage is zero. Our balls however are enormous.

I once had a dream that I was in the supermarket and "Sweet Shop Avengerz" started playing over the PA and I started dancing with my fellow shoppers.

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I has a flavor!

This one was written after I heard a news story about a man being mauled by monkeys:

You eat one lousy foot and they shoot you. What a world. by FinnNYC 3-11-05

What's this I hear about humans being delicious? I always thought they smelled awful but rumor has it they taste great. Kinda like sauerkraut I guess. Or Brussels Sprouts. Shut up, here comes Mr. Davis. I got dibs on the nose and fingers!

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-=- You eat one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal. What a world. -=-

quote:

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Ivy is cool and I wouldn't care
If she bumped a thread from a previous year
But now that I see it, I've used my logic
To see this should now be in Read My Damn Comics

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that post was obscurely referencing goldilocks and the three bears, a fine child's tale about the lengths one will go to invade the territory of a huge carniverous predator, eat its food, and then leave yourself completely vulnerable by going to sleep where its sure to find you

my very first comic was an obscure reference i guess, though i didn't think so. in this thread someone said

"The title: "A comic for Ethiopians" Why this choice? If sarcasm is what you want, why pick on a particular country, why not be more general with the title?"

A comic for Ethiopians by mandingo 6-11-05

Remember that time we bought those 10 gallon drums of ice cream and they ended up going to waste because we forgot them in the car? Do I! And that time I bet you I could go longer without pizza than you, so we ordered twelve of them which all rotted on the sink, stubborn as we were. Or that time we erected the 1:1 model of the statue of liberty using only fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat? Or when I bought that entire side of beef just to wear it as a Halloween costume? Or when I went to that all-you-can-eat buffet and only took a breathmint? Or when I purchased that grocery store just to burn it down?

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what if nigger meant kite

Most of my comics titles are Reno 911! lines, now that we're on the subject

Last Time You're Short On the Count by Zimri 3-28-06

Hey, Zimri, you losing weight? Some, yeah. So what are you doing? Workin' out. You can't just be jerkin' your yerkin forty times a day and call it "working out", you know. I'm a squirrel, I do a lot of cardio!

Pop-Lockin' Fo' Cancer, Yo! by Zimri 10-27-05

Based on an actual conversation. You ever think we're wasting our lives playing video games instead of going out and meeting people? You know, yeah, now that you mention it...all we ever do is sit in your bedroom and do Jagermeister shots and play D&D. I haven't had sex in ten months. And my family no longer knows I'm alive...ah, fuck it. You're right. FIRE MAGIC MISSILE! COUNTER SPELL OF ABSORPTION!

Even more are lines that no one on SC could possibly know, except maybe Alcoac, who I grew up with. Example:

DEE-TROIT, Dee Dee Dee Deet Deet! by Zimri 10-11-05

You get a gold star for your last comic. Ooo, I feel special. And like I'm in kindergarten, too. Indeed. Those are the best school years ever. I used to snuggle and kiss little kindergarten girls under their blankets during nap time. Ha! You got nasty with little girls back then? What do you mean, "back then"?

When Alcoac and I saw the latest Star Wars movie (in full Star Wars regalia, I might add) he and I were the only ones who were twenty-one, and the line was massive. I mean, it was out the door. So Alcoac and I nipped over to a nearby pub for a few quick beers. Forty-five minutes later, we're as drunk as men can be, and our friend phones us and says the movie is starting. We go over, sit down, and we're being extremely loud and obnoxious. Alcoac goes, "IT'S NOT A STAR WARS MOVIE WITHOUT BILLY D. WILLIAMS! DEEE DEE DEEEEEE DEEEEE DEE!" It was funny at the time but now its just embarassing. And, of course, the Superbowl was in Detroit last year, so "Detriot, deee deee deee" has been our Eagles battle cry all season long!