August 21st Variety Hour

[Asherdan]

Interesting how quite it is on the Variety Hour this week.  I think the addition of the strip on Thursday has completely overshadowed the V-Hour.  Particularly a good story arc starter like todays.

Thought very little of the two written contributions.  Contrived and just not my style.

I'm just not a drew fan, but maybe that's my fault.

The Nate Small sample, however, has me intrigued.  Maybe I'm missing out on something fun there.

[PinkStainlessTail]

Drew: good. Nate Small: indifferent, need to sit down and read all of what exists so far to form an opinion (but I bet I still prefer the full size serializer strips).

The other two: blah with blah sauce served with a big glass of blah.

[V-Adore]

The Nate Small stuff was really quite good -- I may end up just biting for Serializer here eventually. (Yeah, I know that's what Onstad intended, but hey, now that my suspicions about the scrubbiness of Nate Small have been put to rest, why not?) The Drew comic was reasonably good, although I've never found just one of them particularly satisfying; best to go on a Drew bender, IMHO.

The text pieces... bleh. "Blah blah COLLEGE blah blah blah DOING DUMB STUFF AND DRINKING AND NOT STUDYING blah blah BLOWJOB." Could we have some humor all up on this?

[AugustWest]

This week I think it prudent to follow the advice given me by my mother and by Ferocious J.

Therefore, you shan't see any more of me in this thread.

Nate Small was cool, though.  Serializer here I come.

[jay-ell]

Suggestion: Wait to subscribe to Serializer until after the Nate Small series is complete.  

Otherwise, you torture yourself.

[satchel]

If Onstad is using the ‘Variety Hour’ to give his friends a forum on the Achewood site, that’s nice of him. Having the ‘Variety Hour’ as an addition to Achewood instead of as a replacement of it is pleasing.

[V-Adore]

If Onstad is using the ‘Variety Hour’ to give his friends a forum on the Achewood site, that’s nice of him. Having the ‘Variety Hour’ as an addition to Achewood instead of as a replacement of it is pleasing.

This is true. When there's also a daily strip, a bad Variety Hour isn't a disaster; maybe that's why this week's text pieces didn't bug me half as much as "The Whipping Zoo." More content is always good; if it's good content, that's great.

[jough]

There was a Variety Hour today?

Oh yeah.

Well, obviously this isn't going to be a fan favourite, but 'stad has to indulge his loyalty to his old college buddies.

The Serializer teaser was pretty groovy, although I had a hard time reading the text (I have pretty bad eyesight) but once I ran it through my OCR software I could blow it up really big so I could read it and it was very good.

I will take JLD's heed, though, and not subscribe until I hear he's finished the Nate Small series.  That's something I'd like to read all at once.

-- Jough

[zhixel]

I liked The Whipping Zoo better than any of the Variety Hour submissions this week. That Bad.

Okay, actually Drew's was pretty funny.

[Nabubrush]

I know Drew has a huge (relatively) following, but I just don't think it's that great. The written pieces, I could almost see Onstad writing them himself - if there was a lot of "I don't give a shit" going on in his mind. What I think is funny is that little pet theory that his problem with the old board had to do in part with his name being on it and it being a representation of him and Achewood, so he had to police it quite vigilantly. If that was at all the case, I have to say that V-hour is not doing his name and Achewood any justice. That having been said, I'm not to uncomfortable reading the V-hour once to see if it's any good, and if it's not, just never going back again. Unlike, say, Ray's Place, the "daily" strip, and Serializer, which I do re-read on occasion. It's like weak episodes of any TV show I enjoy (of which there aren't many) or weak albums by bands that I like. It can't all be gold, and I just skip the stuff that doesn't measure up. Yeah, the time for the initial experience is lost forever, but my time isn't that valuable anyway.

[slink]

Yes, I can't see me re-reading any of the Variety Hour stuff. Unless it's just 'cause I see the title of it, and think, "what the hell was that?"
It's quite easy to do, it doesn't stick in my mind much!
I do re-read the strip, I'll go back to an early one someone mentions, and then get hooked in a plot and keep reading them through 'til I have to stop. Not re-read any of the Ray's Places yet, but I know I will.

[AugustWest]

I don't think the poor quality of the Variety Hour material reflects badly on Onstad as an artist/writer.  He didn't write it. It does prove him to be a good friend but perhaps a poor judge of what he should publish under his own name.

[rstevens]

drew *might* have an onstad-sized following ... so it's definitely not crashing chrissie's server. but that drawing is way mean!

[Nabubrush]

I don't think the poor quality of the Variety Hour material reflects badly on Onstad as an artist/writer.  He didn't write it. It does prove him to be a good friend but perhaps a poor judge of what he should publish under his own name.

Well, that's sort of what I meant - I felt like part of his problem with the old board was that he had to police it constantly to make sure it accurately represented his view of Achewood - and here he is letting these other things get sent out as (sort of) Achewood stuff.

Disclaimer: lots of times I have no idea what I'm talking about.