Anonymous asked: I'd personally love to see you get into game reviewing, any thoughts on going down that road?
I’d love to but, believe it or not, there’s a certain level of skill and insight required to review a game. I really want to get into that part of game journalism, but at the same time I want to add something new to the craft.
<p>I mostly avoid looking at my earlier work - some people care for it, I do not - but occasionally I rifle through the old comics and pick out the parts I think worked. They’re rarely deliberate, more fortuitous accidents where Cory and I stumbled upon something resembling comedic technique. So, here we are, my favourite bits from the first two years of Critical Miss.
Another piece I did for the Esc without realizing it was old. OLD OLLLLLLLD.
Keith Vaz asks for closer scrutiny of violent games in light of Ander Breivik’s murderous rampage.
Labour MP, anti-gaming demagogue and silk-cushion aficionado, Keither “Vendetta” Vaz, is once again asking Parliament to tighten violent video game regulation. This time he’s using nutball, Anders Brevik’s admission that he used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to hone his “target acquisition” skills before killing 77 people in Norway last year, as fuel for his argument.
The motion reads as follows:
That this House is reminded of the consequences of the ineffectual Pan European Game Information (PEGI) classification system for video games following the testimony of Anders Breivik about the tragic events in Norway in July 2011; notes that in his submission of evidence to the court Breivik describes how he trained for the attacks using the video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare; is disturbed that Breivik used the game to help hone his `target acquisition’ and the suggestion that the simulation prepared him for the attacks; is concerned that PEGI as a classification system can only provide an age-rating and not restrict ultra-violent content; recognises that in an era of ever-more sophisticated and realistic game-play more robust precautions must be taken before video games are published; and calls on the Government to provide for closer scrutiny of aggressive first-person shooter video games.
After the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) was given control of videogame classification over the British Board of Film Classification back in 2010 it backed the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system, which has gone on to be the only form of game classification used in the UK. Much like the ESRB, PEGI is a voluntary system which allows publishers to self-regulate.
Fortunately, despite the motion being tabled back on the 25th of April, only eight MPs were willing to add their signatures. For those of you keeping score; five of those were Labour Party members while the remaining three signatures were split evenly between the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Democratic Unionist Party.
I found this blank practice comic in Cory and I’s work share. I thought I’d use it for a quick experiment.
Who wants to guess what this comic is about?
Isumaru, a name that made Cory groan when he heard it. Despite starting as a throwaway idea (a ninja in a wheelchair LOL hurf durf) Isu quickly grew into one of my favourite characters. He’s essentially just a complete badass who happens to be in a wheelchair.
Early design of Jenny or The Eviscerator before we decided to make her gender less obvious.
”I am… The Eviscerator.”
“Hi, so what is it you do?”
“… I eviscerate people?”
“How is that different from just stabbing people?”
Central protagonist (or technically, antagonist) Timothy Id, an immortal doormat looking to better himself. He kind of looks like an undead version of TinTin in this sketch.
Unlikable bishonen asshole, Kether.
Kether (or Keter) is the top most Sephiroth (or Sephirot) from the Kabballah Tree of life. I thought it was a cute reference.
Since it’s going on the backburner for a while (though we may come back to it in the future) here’s some of the early design work for Have Minions Will Travel.
From left to right we have: Kether, The Eviscerator, central protagonist Timothy Id, Ellie Blackthrone, a demon we never named properly and Isumaru.
