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.

3462

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?

Subject: Re: Obscure References

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.

Subject: Re: Obscure References

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.

Subject: Re: Obscure References

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

2891

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:
/comics/ivytheplant/342595/

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.

310466

These two involve some obscure references unless you know a vast amount about BMW's although I do explain them a bit:
288756
288647

If you knew Abby And Melissa as well as I do, you would find this hilarious and slap your knee two times:
326426

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.

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
/comics/LuckyGuess/340433/
/comics/LuckyGuess/339120/
/comics/LuckyGuess/339309/
/comics/LuckyGuess/338584/
/comics/LuckyGuess/338060/
I find it's more fun for me to reference shit I know nobody else will get. But then again, that's just me.

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

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.

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: /comics/umfumdisi/341792/. 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.

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

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

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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.

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"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.

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

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

308741

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

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

312536

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.

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

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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.
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quote:

---

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.

---

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

274989

quote:

---

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

---

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?"

/comics/mandingo/290731/

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

/comics/Zimri/343608/

/comics/Zimri/319367/

Even more are lines that no one on SC could possibly know, except maybe Alcoac, who I grew up with. Example: /comics/Zimri/315816/ 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!