Tag Archives: cartoon

Inspiration Superheld*in

Read in English

gestern gab es dann das große Gewinnspiel, an dem ihr noch bis 20.5. teilnehmen könnt, heute lassen wir die Nerdwoche mit diesem Gastbeitrag von Katherina Ushachov ausklingen. Denn das beste an Superheld*innen ist doch, dass sie die eigene Phantasie anregen …

Inspiration Superheld*in

Vermutlich war ich schon mit acht ein Nerd (eine Nerdin? Gibt es dafür ein weibliches Wort?), ohne es zu wissen. Während die meisten Kinder durchaus klassische Dinge spielten – Vater-Mutter-Kind, Barbie liebt Ken, Polly Pocket trifft Freundinnen – habe ich ziemlich früh festgestellt, dass ich das eher langweilig finde. Damals wusste ich nicht, wieso eigentlich – aber im Nachhinein ist die Sache klar.

Die Neunziger waren die Zeit der Superheld*innen

1997 sind wir nach Deutschland eingewandert. Im März. Während andere Familien ihre gehorteten Ersparnisse, das Erbtantengeschirr und andere Dinge ausführten, hatten wir nur vier große Taschen dabei. Eine davon enthielt die Kleidung einer vierköpfigen Familie und ein paar Grundlagen, was man eben so braucht, wenn man in einem fremden Land ein neues Leben startet. Kochgeschirr, Bettwäsche. Eine enthielt außerdem Bücher. Meine Märchenbücher, Vaters vollständige Ausgabe von Dumas, ein paar russische Krimis. Eine war ausschließlich mit meinen Plüschtieren gefüllt.

In der letzten war ein Fernseher.
Das war mein Glück. Trickfilme habe ich schon immer geliebt und 1997-1999 war die Auswahl in der Hinsicht ziemlich gut.
Es gab RTL 2, auf dem damals hauptsächlich Animes liefen. Dann natürlich SuperRTL mit den alten Disneyserien. Auf Pro7 lief unter dem Oberbegriff „Trick 7 – Die große Trickfilmshow“ anfangs jeden Abend, später jedes Wochenende am Vormittag ein buntes Trickfilmprogramm. Auch Kabel 1 hat bis heute ein buntes Zeichentrickprogramm Samstag vormittags, Sonntag morgens und Sonntag vormittags. Und wer von euch kennt noch „K-RTL“? Das Kinderprogramm von RTL, das von 06:00 bis 11:40 lief? Und natürlich auch den KiKa, damals noch „Kinderkanal“ und das alte Nickelodeon (1995-1998 – und ja, ich habe bitterlich geweint, als der Sender für sieben Jahre eingestellt wurde!).

Was habe ich nun am liebsten geschaut?

Ohne eine bestimmte Reihenfolge:

  • Sailor Moon
  • Spider-Man (es gibt mehrere Spiderman-Serien, vermutlich „Spider-Man und seine außergewöhnlichen Freunde“)
  • Die Fantastischen Vier (vermutlich „Die Fantastischen Vier mit neuen Abenteuern“ von 1994)
  • Superman (da konnte ich nicht durch Recherche ermitteln, welche Superman-Animationsserie es war)
  • Batman (auch da leider nicht, in den Neunzigern wurde gar keine Serie produziert, muss also älter sein)
  • Darkwing Duck
  • Bionic Six – Die Sechs-Millionen-Dollar-Familie

Der schmale Grat zwischen Fanfiction, Plagiat und der Schreibe eines Grundschulkinds

Ich habe hier schon mal darüber gebloggt, wie meine ersten Gehversuche im Schreiben entstanden sind, die nicht von der Schule diktiert wurden.
Im Grunde genommen entstand meine erste eigene Superheldin, Kyt-Katherina, aus mehreren Faktoren:

  • ich fand die Geschichte mit „Mein Heimatplanet wurde zerstört und wir mussten alle dort weg“ bei „Superman“ interessant
  • ich mochte das Outfit von Darkwing Duck
  • mir gefiel das Konzept eines Magical Girls

Aber es sind auch Sachen eingeflossen, die ich unlogisch fand. Okay, Spider-Man trägt einen Ganzkörperanzug und auch einige andere Superheld*innen sind ausreichend verkleidet. Aber Superman? Den erkennt man nur wegen einer läppischen Brille nicht? (Andererseits wurde ich so oft nicht wegen der Brille erkannt, das ist vielleicht noch glaubwürdig) Und niemand erkennt in Bunny Tsukino Sailor-Moon, obwohl zumindest das Outfit ihrer allerersten Verwandlung sich kaum von ihrer Schuluniform unterscheidet?
Brille, meinetwegen. Aber wenn ich mir eine Brosche auf die Brust tackere, ellbogenlange Handschuhe anziehe und mir irgendeine Art Tiara auf den Kopf setze, dazu Overknees und Strasssteinchen in meiner Frisur … würde man mich höchstens fragen, wieso ich mich so komisch verkleidet habe. Aber niemand hätte Zweifel, dass ich das bin.

Das war etwas, das ich bei meiner Geschichte anders machen wollte – wofür ich dann auf eine ziemlich verzwickte Idee gekommen bin:

  • die Alter-Egos meiner Heldinnen sehen vollkommen anders aus, als ihre Heldengestalt
  • meine Heldinnen nehmen die Gestalten der Mädchen ein, in deren Häusern sie unterkommen und tauschen gelegentlich den Platz mit der tatsächlichen Tochter des Hauses

Dass meinem achtjährigen Ich nicht aufgegangen ist, dass das auch kein gutes Konzept ist, schreibe ich meinem Alter zu. Immerhin müssten die zwei Ichs einander regelmäßig briefen, damit sie nicht auf einmal Dinge wissen oder nicht wissen, die andere Personen zu ihnen gesagt haben.

Inspiration Superheldin

Ich erinnere mich noch sehr gut, wie es war, ehe ich „Sailor Moon“ entdeckt habe. In den meisten Trickfilmen gab es Gruppen. Und in den meisten Gruppen gab es entweder:

  • genau ein Mädchen (beispielsweise „Trixi“ aus „Chip und Chap – Die Ritter des Rechts“)
  • genau ein Mädchen, das zusätzlich nur in wenigen Folgen auftaucht („Nicky“ in den „Ducktales“)
  • zwar zwei immer vorkommende Frauenfiguren, aber eine von ihnen ist eine mütterliche Matrone und die andere verhält sich oft unreif („Disneys Gummibärenbande“, mit „Grammi“ als Matrone und „Sunni„, die gerne eine Prinzessin wäre)
  • genau eine Frau und die ist meist eher unsympathisch („Rebecca Cunningham“ aus „Käpt’n Balu und seine tollkühne Crew“, die ich anfangs wirklich nicht gemocht habe)

Als Kind habe ich mich an die wenigen Frauenfiguren geklammert. Selbst wenn es absolute Nebenfiguren waren, die nur in einer von zehn Folgen mal auftauchten. Wie Prinzessin Calla aus „Disneys Gummibärenbande“, die recht selten auftaucht, mir aber mit ihrer Art eine angenehmere Identifikationsfigur bot, als Sunni.
Oder selbst wenn es sich um Antagonistinnen handelte. Ich mochte Jessy von „Team Rocket“ immer mehr, als die launische und dauernd meckernde Misty, als ich die erste Staffel „Pokémon“ sah. Hauptsache, ich sah mal ein Mädchen oder eine Frau. Klar konnte ich mich auch mit Jungen oder Männern in einer Superheldengeschichte identifizieren, aber … nicht so gut, wie mit Mädchen und Frauen.

Und dann kam mit Sailor Moon das Genre des „Magical Girls“-Animes in mein Leben. Und es war wunderbar. In einer reinen Mädchengruppe gab es auf einmal verschiedene Identifikationsfiguren für verschiedene Aspekte meiner Persönlichkeit und meines Lebens.
Ich hatte so dunkle Haare wie Rei/Sailor Mars. Und naschte so gerne, wie Bunny/Sailor Moon. An manchen Tagen war ich so eitel, wie Minako/Sailor Venus. Und ich wollte genauso immer gute Noten haben, wie Ami/Sailor Merkur. Um nur ein paar Beispiele zu nennen.

Ich war nicht mehr darauf angewiesen, mich irgendwie mit der Quotenfrau oder dem Quotenmädchen auf Biegen und Brechen identifizieren zu müssen (und somit im Zweifel gar keine richtige Identifikationsfigur zu haben, egal, wie sehr ich die anderen Figuren mag). Das Friss-oder-Stirb-Prinzip in Hinblick auf Heldinnen war also durchbrochen.
Ich war regelrecht ausgehungert nach inspirierenden Superheldinnen und habe mich mit Feuereifer in die nur scheinbar pinke Glitzerwelt von Sailor Moon geworfen.

Einflüsse auf mein heutiges Schreiben

Neben dem Einfluss, den diverse Held*innen auf meine ersten eigenen Schreibversuche hatten, merke ich immer noch, wie mich vor allem der Frauenmangel in den mir zugänglichen Medien beeinflusst.

Mit anderen Worten: Ich neige stark dazu, nahezu reine Frauengruppen agieren zu lassen, wenn man mir nicht auf die Finger haut.
Selbst in „Zarin Saltan“ gibt es mit Viktor und Kurschakov nur zwei Männer, die einen Namen haben und Sprechanteile am Text besitzen. Alle anderen Figuren, die irgendwie relevant sind, sind Frauen. Und das sind dann mal schnell fünf bis sieben, je nachdem, wen man mitzählt, auch einige mehr.

Während sich sehr viele Autor*innen damit auseinandersetzen müssen, „wenigstens ein paar starke Frauen“ in ihren Texten unterzubringen, muss ich eher darauf achten, dass die vielen unterschiedlichen und auf ihre Weise starken Frauen in meinen Geschichten einander nicht das Wasser und die Redeanteile abgraben. Und dass ich keine „Quotenmänner“, sondern runde, männliche Persönlichkeiten in meine Geschichten einbaue.

Was sich nicht leugnen lässt: Ich schreibe nach wie vor Figuren, die irgendwie „super“ sind. Super mutig. Super heldenhaft. Super neugierig. Super sarkastisch. Super fies.

Einige haben auch tatsächlich Superkräfte. Auch wenn die Gründe dafür manchmal seltsam sind. Irgendwann erzähle ich euch, wie es dazu kam, dass ich eine Rasse von Magier*innen geschaffen habe. (Eigentlich drei, wenn man es genau nimmt.)

Fazit

Ich habe hier vor allem über die Inspiration durch Heldinnen geschrieben. Und über die Negativinspiration durch Helden und meinen geistigen Durst, doch endlich etwas über eine Frauentruppe zu lesen, die stark und mutig ist.

Aber eigentlich wünsche ich mir, dass genau das den künftigen Generationen erspart bleibt.

Schreibt Helden. Schreibt Heldinnen. Schreibt Held*innen, also Figuren, mit denen sich auch nonbinäre Personen identifizieren können. Schreibt über Menschen und andere Wesen mit chronischen Krankheiten, über Wesen mit körperlichen und geistigen Einschränkungen. Über Menschen, die nicht immer nur weiß und heterosexuell sind, sondern das ganze vielfältige Spektrum des Lebens abbilden. (Bleibt dabei respektvoll und hört zu, wenn euch Own Voices sagen, dass ihr Quatsch gebaut habt und bitte einige Details ändern sollt.)

Damit junge Menschen nicht verzweifelt versuchen, jemanden in den Medien zu finden, der so ist wie sie. Sondern ganz selbstverständlich zum Buchladen gehen und Geschichten finden, in denen auch ihre Realität reflektiert wird. Damit Menschen jeden Alters nicht das Gefühl haben, sie könnten keine Held*innen sein.

Die Autorin

Katherina Ushachov zog im Alter von sechs Jahren aus dem sonnigen Odessa nach Deutschland. Zwanzig Jahre später machte sie Vorarlberg zur neuen Wahlheimat. Sie schreibt seit der Schulzeit, weil sie ohne das Schreiben nicht mehr leben kann. Wenn die freie Lektorin nicht gerade an einem ihrer Romane arbeitet, textet sie für mehrere gemeinschaftlich geführte Blogs oder erzählt auf ihrer Homepage vom Alltag als junge Autorin.

Homepage: Keller im 3. Stock
Lektorat: Phoenixlektorat
Weltenbau: Weltenschmiede
Facebook: Katherina Ushachov – Autorin
Twitter: @evanesca


Mit diesen tollen Worten endet die Nerdwoche!
Ich hoffe ihr hattet Spaß, habt ein paar neue Dinge gelernt und vielleicht einen etwas anderen Blick auf Superheldinnen bekommen.

Vielen Dank an alle die mitgemacht haben, alle Gastautorinnen und alle die bereits und noch am Gewinnspiel teilnehmen werden!

Mehr zu Zarin Saltan und einen weiteren Gastbeitrag von Katherina wird es auch wieder in der zweiten Runde des Märchensommers geben, bleibt also gespannt! Am 28. geht’s los!

Anne
____________________________
Lies auf Deutsch

For a week now we have been talking about superheroines, yesterday there was the big competition, in which you can still participate until 20.5., today we will close the nerd week with this guest post by Katherina Ushachov. Because the best thing about superhero*iens after all is that they stimulate your imagination…

Inspiration Superhero*ine

I guess I was a nerd (a nerdett? Is there a female word for that?) at eight without knowing it. While most children played classic things – father-mother-child, Barbie loves Ken, Polly Pocket meets friends – I found it rather boring quite early on. At that time I didn’t know why – but in retrospect it was clear.

The nineties were the time of superheroes.

In 1997 we immigrated to Germany. In March. While other families were carrying out their accumulated savings, heirloom dishes and other things, we only had four large bags with us. One of them contained the clothes of a family of four and a few basics that you need when you start a new life in a foreign country. Cookware, bed linen. One also contained books. My fairy tale books, father’s complete edition of Dumas, some Russian detective stories. One was filled exclusively with my stuffed animals.

In the last one was a TV.
That was my fortune. I have always loved cartoons and in 1997-1999 the selection was quite good in this respect.
There was RTL 2, which mainly ran anime at that time. Then of course SuperRTL with the old Disney series. On Pro7, a colourful animated film programme was shown under the general heading „Trick 7 – Die große Trickfilmshow“ (Cart 7 – The great Cartoonshow) at the beginning every evening, later every weekend in the morning. To this day Kabel 1 also has a colourful cartoon programme on Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings and Sunday mornings. And which of you still knows „K-RTL“? The children’s program on RTL, which ran from 06:00 to 11:40? And of course also the KiKa, at that time still „Kinderkanal“ (children’s channel) and the old Nickelodeon (1995-1998 – and yes, I cried bitterly when the station was closed for seven years!).

What did I like to watch the most?

Without a specific order:

  • Sailor Moon
  • Spider-Man (there are several Spiderman series, probably „Spider- Man and his amazing friends„)
  • The Fantastic Four (probably „Fantastic Four“ from 1994)
  • Superman (I couldn’t find out through research which Superman animation series it was)
  • Batman (unfortunately not here either, no series was produced in the nineties, so it must be older)
  • Darkwing Duck
  • Bionic Six – The Six Million Dollar Family

If you look at the whole thing, you can see a clear weighting with regard to my preferred TV series. Sure, I’ve seen other things. Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears (which, strictly speaking, can also be seen as a superhero group with their bouncing potion), TaleSpin, Chip ’n Dale Rescue Rangers.
Okay. I’ll stop.
Let’s say, somehow almost everything I’ve seen had something to do with superhero*ines.

The fine line between fan fiction, plagiarism and the writing of a primary school child

I have blogged here about my first steps in writing that were not dictated by the school.
Basically, my first own superheroine, Kyt-Katherina, arose from several factors:

  • I found the story with „My home planet was destroyed and we all had to leave it“ from „Superman“ interesting
  • I liked Darkwing Duck’s outfit.
  • I liked the concept of a magical girl.

But there were also things that I found illogical. Okay, Spider-Man wears a full body suit and also some other superhero*ines are sufficiently disguised. But Superman? The only reason you don’t recognize him is because of stupid glasses? (On the other hand, I was not recognized so many times because of my glasses, which might still be believable) And nobody recognizes Sailor-Moon in Bunny Tsukino, although at least the outfit of her very first transformation is hardly different from her school uniform?
Glasses, whatever. But if I put a brooch on my chest, put on elbow-length gloves and put some kind of tiara on my head, plus overknees and rhinestones in my hairstyle… one would only ask me why I dressed up so strangely. But no one would doubt it was me.

That was something I wanted to do differently in my story – for which I came up with a rather tricky idea:

  • the alter-egos of my heroines look completely different from their heroic form.
  • my heroines occupy the images of the girls in whose houses they are accommodated and occasionally switch places with the real daughter of the house

I attribute the fact that my eight-year-old I didn’t realize, that this is not a good concept either, to my age. After all, the two egoes would have to brief each other regularly so that they do not suddenly know or do not know things that other people have said to them.

Inspiration Superheroine

I remember very well what it was like before I discovered „Sailor Moon“. Most cartoons had groups. And in most groups there were either:

  • exactly one girl (for example „Gadget“ from „Chip ’n Dale Rescue Rangers“ )
    exactly one girl who additionally only appears in a few episodes („Webby in the „DuckTales„)
  • two ever-present female figures, but one of them is a maternal matron and the other is often immature („Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears“, with „Grammi“ as matron and „Sunni„, who would like to be a princess)
  • exactly one woman and she is usually rather unpleasant („Rebecca Cunningham“ from „TaleSpin“, whom I really didn’t like at first)

As a child I clung to the few female figures. Even if they were absolute minor characters who only appeared in one of ten episodes. Like Princess Calla from „Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears“, who appears quite rarely, but with her personality offered me a more pleasant identification figure than Sunni.

Or even if they were antagonists. I always liked Jessy from „Team Rocket“ more than the moody and constantly grumpy Misty when I saw the first season of „Pokémon„. The most important thing was to see a girl or a woman. Of course I could identify with boys or men in a superhero story, but… not as well as with girls and women.

And then the genre of the „Magical Girls“-Anime came into my life with Sailor Moon. And it was wonderful. In a group of girls there were suddenly different identification figures for different aspects of my personality and life.
I had dark hair like Rei/Sailor Mars. And snacked as much as Bunny/Sailor Moon. Some days I was as vain as Minako/Sailor Venus. And I always wanted to have good grades, just like Ami/Sailor Mercury. Just to name a few examples.

I no longer had to identify myself with the quota woman or the quota girl by hook or by crook (and so in the end I didn’t have a real identification figure, no matter how much I like the other characters). So the „eat or die“ principle with regard to heroines was broken.

I was really starved for inspiring superheroines and threw myself into the only seemingly pink glittering world of Sailor Moon.

Influences on my writing today

Besides the influence that various hero*ines had on my first attempts at writing, I still notice how the lack of women in the media accessible to me influences me.

In other words: I have a strong tendency to let almost pure women’s groups interact when I’m not hit on the fingers.
Even in „Zarin Saltan“ (Tzaritza Saltan) there are only two men, Viktor and Kurshakov, who have a name and have an talking part in the text. All other characters that are somehow relevant are women. And that’s quickly five to seven, depending on who you count, a few more.

While a great many author*esses have to deal with including „at least a few strong women“ in their texts, I have to make sure that the many different and in their own way strong women in my stories do not pull the rug and the speaking parts from underneath each other. And that I don’t build „quota men“, but round, male personalities into my stories.

Which cannot be denied: I still write figures that are somehow „super“. Super brave. Super heroic. Super curious. Super sarcastic. Super mean.

Some actually have superpowers. Even if the reasons for this are sometimes strange. At some point I will tell you how it came to be, that I created a race of magicians. (Actually three, if you take it exactly.)

Conclusion

I’ve written here mainly about inspiration through heroines. And about the negative inspiration caused by heroes and my spiritual thirst to finally read something about a women’s group which is strong and courageous.

But that’s exactly what I wish future generations to be spared from in the first place.

Write heroes. Write heroines. Writes hero*ines, meaning characters with whom even non-binary persons can identify. Write about people and other beings with chronic diseases, about beings with physical and mental limitations. About people who are not always white and heterosexual, but who represent the whole diverse spectrum of life. (Remain respectful and listen when Own Voices tell you that you’ve done something stupid and to please change some details.)

So that young people don’t desperately try to find someone in the media who is like them. But go to the bookstore and find stories in which their reality is also reflected. So that people of all ages don’t feel like they can’t be hero*ines.

The Authoress

Katherina Ushachov moved from the sunny Odessa to Germany at the age of six. Twenty years later she turned Vorarlberg into her new chosen home. She is writing since school times, as she can’t live without writing any more. When the free Copy Editor isn’t working on one of her novels, she writes for several collaboratively lead Blogs or talks about her every day life as young authoress on her homepage.

Homepage: Keller im 3. Stock
Copy Editor: Phoenixlektorat
Worldbuilding: Weltenschmiede
Facebook: Katherina Ushachov – Autorin
Twitter: @evanesca


With these great words the nerdweek ends!
I hope you had fun, learned some new things and maybe got a slightly different look at superheroines.

Many thanks to all who took part, all guest authoresses and all who already and will participate in the competition!
More about Tsarina Saltan and a further guest post by Katherina will also be in the second round of the Fairy Tale Summer, so stay tuned! The 28th is the day!

Anne

Webcomics: Bonus Chapter – Animated

As I can’t decide which Webcomic I want to present to you today and instead of continuing with the Gamers-theme from the last few posts, I’ll simply introduce you to a few animated variations of the comics I already told you about.

A not funny series

When I „re-wrote“ the first post of this series where I told you about Nichtlustig (Notfunny) the German

one panel Comics by Cartoonist Joscha Sauer, telling the stories of his various characters. These include a Professor, his assistant and their strange experiments; Yetis; suicidal Lemmings, a killer-robot aspiring to become a kindergarten teacher, Mr. Riebmann, who lives in the wall beside his constantly annoyed neighbour and of course Death and his Poodle, who are the not so secret stars of the Comics.

I also mentioned that they had just

finished a successful Kickstarter campaign to animate the Comics as a Cartoon series.

So this of course is the first one I want to talk about – even if this will be boring for those who don’t know German, as they are only synchronized in that language.
With the Kickstarter Sauer wanted to be able to produce a whole series of animated comics, but aimed low and set it up for one episode first. The campaign funded that well that by now two of the six funded episodes are produced, with the remaining four being released in 2017.
As far as I know are the stories for these episodes completely new, even if some parts of it where used in comics before. In the books there are a few episode like narrations instead of the usual one strip jokes, so as a reader you can already get an idea of how quirky and intertwined his stories can be. A few glimpses at the episodes – I’m not sure if they will be publicly available as soon as all of them are finished – and some old animation of the one strip comics can be found on the Nichtlustig Youtube Channel. It is certainly fun to finally have a voice for Death and Poodle and all the other characters. 😀
(And if you’re really into animated German comics, don’t forget to check out the ones by Sauer’s college Ralph Ruthe while you’re at it. 😉 )

Miniaturized Adventures

After I recently talked about Looking for Group and Tiny Dick Adventures in passing it’s creators now released a new project, where the latter got a bigger spotlight.
Starting next Wednesday there will be a 50-60 seconds episode of the so-called Tiny Dick’s Briefs each week, with daily special releases during this (release) week.
Additionally to the briefs with random (new) commentary by LFG star Richard will there also be an animated version of one of Sohmers other comics that I’ll talk about on a different day. 😉
All of these – and old attempts at animations, like a very incredible and hilarious take on The Little Mermaid’s Part of that World, that were originally planned to go into a movie that turned out to be way more expensive than they had anticipated – are available on the YouTube Page of Blind Ferret Studios – the company behind all their works.
I’m certainly looking forward to this.

A cat’s tale

As I’m already talking about animated comics do I feel like a can’t leave out Simon’s Cat. Different to the other two that were (web)comics first and were animated later, was this one animated first before also releasing comic book versions – at least from what I know.
The short episodes about the cat’s antics and adventures are quite adorable and funny and it doesn’t matter that most of the story is carried by music and simple cat noises.
All of the episodes are and regularly updated on the YouTube Page linked above.

Last words

What are your thoughts on animated Webcomics?
Is it something that interests you or do you prefer the written word?
See you around
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the pictures lie with their creators. I merely used them as example of their work and hope that’s okay.

Re-Wri-Day: Webcomics

As fifth part of the Nerd-Week you get another Re-Wri-Day, because as I recently did with my Supernatural Summaries, did I put my first post for THE EXTREMIS REVIEW about Webcomics directly on my Blog as well.

ReWriDayWhat is the Re-Wri-Day?

Inspired by EdMooneyPhotography’s Re-Work-Wednesday and based on the fact that my writing style for this Blog has changed over the past years, I kind of created my own version of this.

But why the strange name and what does it mean?

I’m awful when it comes to puns and I couldn’t help myself but to turn re-write and Friday into one strange word: Re-Wri-Day. Sorry…
But in conclusion: These posts are supposed to be always published on a Friday, but not necessarily on every Friday, just the Fridays when I feel like editing an old post beforehand.

And what am I doing with this?

I am taking my old posts from the beginnings of writing this Blog or just former posts and read them again to see what things I can change or add. They wont necessarily be actually re-written, but some changes will be made.
In the Re-Wri-Day post I’ll also give you a couple of thoughts on why I had chosen the topic and stuff you might be interested in.

So, let’s have a look at the page I changed: Webcomics

I really enjoyed writing this post, as it is one of my favourite topics to talk about. As I discovered more and more Webcomics throughout the year(s) I’ve decided that I want to pick this up as another series to introduce people to stuff I read.

For that I changed the original post a bit like giving it a different name and changing some of the lines.
I would have liked to include one of my favourite Nichtlustig-Comics as well, but I didn’t hear back from the Copyright-person, so I won’t include it here and only link to it. If anyone is interested: Nichtlustig just finished a successful Kickstarter campaign to animate the Comics as a Cartoon series. Congratulations for that!

Anyway, I still have to figure out how I want to present the upcoming Webcomics, but I guess we’ll see what I come up with, when I get around to put some more thought into it. 😉

PoiSonPaiNter

Webcomics – An Introduction

The first thing people think of when they talk about Comics are thin books full of colourful pictures that tell the story of different Superheros.
 What they usually forget is that it all originated from mere monochrome, one panel Comics – alternatively called Cartoons or Comic Strips – in newspapers.

With the rise of the Internet these kinds of Comics have become a rarity in print, but more and more available online. The format changed greatly, as Comics were no longer bound to size and the two achromatic colours. They now have up to three or more colourful panels to tell the joke (though there are still newer Comics following the old pattern). Depending on the series the panels and Strips are now also used for continuing story lines instead of trying to simply reach a punch line each Strip.

I never bought a classic Comic Book (the thin ones); though I do own a few issues from Free Comic Book Day, a couple of Graphic Novels and Comic Anthologies/Trade Paperbacks, as well as quite a bunch of Manga.

Still, my interest in Cartoons and Anime – Comics’ moving cousins so to speak – are what first drew me to its immobile counterparts.

An unfunny tale

I can’t really remember how it happened, but I think that on one of my trips to the Book Store to buy a new Manga, I discovered a book-like collection of Comic Strips that I just had to look at.

But who wouldn’t do that with a bright red book that had a clown on the cover, who had just cut off his own leg with an axe, while its titled claimed the content of the “book” to be “Notfunny“?

I certainly couldn’t resist picking it up and I still do not regret that I did.

Notfunny  or Nichtlustig as it is originally called, are one panel Comics by German Cartoonist Joscha Sauer, telling the stories of his various characters. These include a Professor, his assistant and their strange experiments (check out one of my favourites: Cat & Jam); Yetis; suicidal Lemmings, a killer-robot aspiring to become a kindergarten teacher, Mr. Riebmann, who lives in the wall beside his constantly annoyed neighbour and of course Death and his Poodle, who are the not so secret stars of the Comics. Each Comic portrays a different situation and manages to tell you with just a few words and gestures what exactly is going on and this without having to give you an actual punch line most of the times. If you like strange Humour this series does not live up to its name and is on the contrary quite hilarious.

This series was my entrance into the world of Comics and I haven’t started looking for the exit yet. Quite the opposite. Since I started using the Internet more frequently, I discovered many more Comics to enjoy (Including new Notfunny-Comics posted on Sauer’s Website).

Webcomics for everyone!

(c) Bastian MelnykThe more popular the Internet became, the more common was it for artists to start their own Comic series online, thus creating Webcomics. By now the list of the ones I read on a regular basis is relatively long, though it could be longer if I continued reading some of the stories I’ve already bookmarked.

But this is the good thing about Webcomics: You can start from the get-go, see the first steps the artist took (and some of them were quite horrible to be honest), take a break from reading and continue where you left off without fear of the old Comics falling out of print and the whole series being rebooted with different content – though a few artists do re-draws after the story is finished.

One of the first Webcomics I ever came across was about a philosophical, and frankly adorable, bat, with a rather long alliteration in his name, which reads: Fledermaus Fürst Frederick Fon Flatter (Prince/Fürst of Bats Frederick of Flutter) or short: Fred  (English versions can be found on Tumblr.)

On a daily basis [Note: By now the rhythm has changed to Monday-Wednesday-Friday] German Comic artist Bastian Melnyk presents up to four panel stories starring the round bat and his friends. Each Comic is dedicated to a random every day topic and always includes a quip or pun. If you understand what is being said, the silliness of the Comic just leaves you with a smile, as the message of the Comic is always positive. Besides his “filosophizing” (philosophizing) about all kinds of things Fred loves eating cookies. On occasion he dresses up as “Batfred” to rescue his friends from different situations and even more seldom he does indeed break the Fourth Wall and talks about “The Creator”.

I guess I could keep going all day, but I stop with this minuscule look into the vast amount of Webcomics that I myself have yet to explore completely.

If you have any recommendations feel free to let me know, as I enjoy checking out new stories.

PoiSonPaiNter

© For the portrayed picture belongs to Bastian Melnyk and was simply used as example.

Originally posted on THE EXTREMIS REVIEWS: A Couple Webcomics You Should Try Out

On the Road: Roadkill

On a regular basis I have to drive from one place to another, having a lot of time to think about things. This will be the start of a series of posts regarding them. (They will be added randomly.)
Two weeks ago when I was on my way to my flat from my parents place I did the unthinkable.
I killed a bunny.
By accident.
With my car. With my father’s car…
I did not mean doing so…
As nowadays society works I had to post it to the social networks, of course with opposing results, an example:

A: Great….now I’ve killed a bunny…:(
I didn’t mean to! XD
Sa: NOOO! He certainly was on his way to the Weißhirschpark* 🙁
Ri: öy poor Hopalong 🙁
A: I think he thought himself to be a car…sat in the middle of the road, facing straight ahead and then he dodged in the direction of the wheel…
Sa: fail bunny^^
Ro: DINNER 😀
A: I think it’s not enough left for that…
Ro: it would have certainly still worked as ragout 🙂
A: Roadkill-Ragout? Doesn’t sound tasty…
Ro: but the term is good
K:  Don’t you only have to pick out the stonies and asphalt crumbs…?! 😀
A: Naaah, I think it would taste too much like gum…
K: Then it is, selling it as patent remedy to Haribo**!!! 😀
Ro: with a scattered shot you have to pick out every bullet as well
A: This is getting more and more tastier here XD
Scraped*** shot is something different then wheel shaped…-.-…
Se: Do you already have enough for a Roadkill-Quartett?
A: The half…bird and bunny…the rest hopefully doesn’t add too soon…and stays in this dimension…
* Weißhirschpark is the German name for „White Deer Park“, the place the animals from the old cartoon series The Animals of Farthing Wood wandered off to.
** Haribo is the most famous producer of gummy bears here in Germany.
*** In German the words for scrap (Schrott) and scattered gun shot (Schrotschuss) are pretty similar, only differing in the number of „T’s“

Morbid isn’t it?
But as said: I do not wish to repeat it.
Especially not with a deer, boar or any other car damaging animal.
The bureaucracy surrounding it is just to troublesome…
Have you ever heard of how this stuff is handled around here?
Let me tell you…
If you come into the bad situation that you have hit an animal, let’s say: deer, you have to do as follows:
After overcoming your initial shock you will have to stop your car, turning on your warning lights. The next thing you do is calling the police, somewhat like this:

„My names Jane/John Doe. I’m on the road to Nowhere and I just hit a deer. It’s probably dead.“
„Stay calm we will be sending someone as soon as possible.“

All you have to do now is set up a triangular warning sign 100m behind you and waiting for the police and an forest official to arrive – which could take from 10 minutes to some hours. Those two parties have to make a report regarding the accident. Taking in the condition of the car, removing the deer from the street, etc.. With this report you then can go to your car insurance and try to get the repair company to do their job and the money for paying them and so forth.
So let’s just hope to not be involved in an accident like that…
I could tell you more about starlings and engine hoods, sheep and trains or deer acrobatics, but that would get morbid again…
As negative as this might sound don’t get me wrong: I do like animals.
But their suicidal tendencies are most unwelcome.
PoiSonPaiNter