TITLE icon-based
CREDITS cut and pasted by techies on the go
PANEL 1 (MTN. DEWD and BAPPER are walking outside as MTN. DEWD smashes a questioner off-panel.) SMASHED QUESTIONER: Oh hey! Mtn. Dewd, I was wondering if you could answer a question about my Macin-- SFX: SMASH!
PANEL 2 (MTN. DEWD and BAPPER continue walking as BAPPER whaps a questioner off-panel.) MTN. DEWD: Why do people always feel the need to ask us questions? SFX: WHAP! WHAPPED QUESTIONER: Socket help--* BAPPER: I dunno...
PANEL 3 (MTN. DEWD and BAPPER continue walking as MTN. DEWD tosses a questioner behind them.) MTN. DEWD: I mean, we work on computers all day long. Aren't we entitled, to a break once in a while? TOSSED QUESTIONER: POWERPOINT! BAPPER: Totally, Dewd... I think I might throttle the next person who asks me a computer question. OFF-PANEL VOICE: Oh bapper...
PANEL 4 (An attractive woman in a Linux tank top speaks.) WOMAN IN LINUX TANK TOP: Could you help me with my Java program?
PANEL 5 (BAPPER raises his hand as MTN. DEWD thuds his head against a brick wall.) BAPPER: Boy did you come to the right guy... SFX: THUD
Commentary
This was the first strip of the "Icon-Based" series, a spinoff of "The Bastich" starring Mtn. Dewd and Bapper. It was a collaboration with the "real-life" Mtn. Dewd and Bapper, with the three of us going by the name "techies on the go". The two of them contributed most of the good stuff which I then put through the grinder to produce what you see here.
This is a bit of a follow-up to Summer "Vacation" Part 5, which dealt with the terrible plight of being seen as knowledgeable.
Visually, I was trying for a more streamlined and bold visual style than I used on the Bastich, which tended to be overly rendered and scratchy. I was still struggling to find a good design for Bapper, but Mtn. Dewd's design was pretty much settled by now (not that I was particularly good at staying on model).