I had this open on one tab, while I opened up shortpacked! After I read it, I exed out the tab and the first comment I saw was yours. I must give you my sincere gratitude. For I lol’d. I lol’d out loud. I truly did. I laughed out loud. OUT LOUD.
It’s possible she did research for this story, or her editor put that in for her. But I think the most likely answer is that she overheard someone say it at the con and jotted it down.
Willis really ought to have a happy Howard make a cameo in Shortpacked, even if it is just that he appears in the background. I feel like their needs to be some sort of karmic rebalancing.
The really weird thing is that Willis’ art style has noticeably changed in that time as well. Aside from obvious things like Ethan’s greying hair, I hadn’t figured it’s changed all that much, and yet here we are.
Oh, and hey, even in nineteen-ninety-goddamn-eight we were still doing the whole “blame the actor for the faults of the writers” thing. I’d forgotten about that.
Maybe I’ve just found slightly saner corners of the Internet to hang in, but generally speaking, I’ve never met people who still blame Colin Baker for the faults of the 6th Doctor, and most folks seem pretty cool with Wil Wheaton now*…a decade later, nerdom seems to have become a lot more fixated on the folks behind the scenes. No one’s chewing out Chris Pine for playing Kirk wrong, they’re chewing out JJ Abrams for wanting Kirk played that way.
*In fairness, it might just be because Baker and Wheaton are such unabashed fans of the franchises they were in. People are hardly as kind to, say, Matthew Waterhouse or Hayden Christensen, though neither gets as much flack as John Nathan-Turner or George Lucas.
Slight addendum–Waterhouse WAS a massive Who fan, but unlike Colin Baker his love of the show never seemed to recover from his miserable experience being in it. Though he has done some DVD commentaries…
Isn’t part of why Hayden Christensen is disliked because of his performance? Hating Wil Wheaton is stupid since he was a kid with no control over his character who did the best he could with it, Christensen just was completely unlikable in his role, even in scenes where he should have been sympathetic he always sounded whiney. I don’t hate him personally, I don’t hate any character or actor from Star Wars but at least there are valid reasons to hold the role against him, to some extent anyway.
While Christensen isn’t a great actor, Lucas gets some of the blame as he’s been well known ever since before the original movie for not being able to direct actors very well and to get them to emote properly.
Huh, Matthew Waterhouse, huh? I don’t think I realized Adric was especially disliked. Of course, in my Who days, there wasn’t a lot of internet around, but I always kind of liked the guy.
Huh. Having a possibly cultural whatawhat moment here because I really dont get the last panel. Did he get bullied and beaten in addition to being thrown out of the Trek-club because of the article?
His ass isn’t that big.
(They couldn’t get a better headline than ‘Nerd kisses Janeway’? More like there’s no…Janeway…I’m kissing that guy…okay, forget it, that was the best option.)
I’d feel bad for him were it not for the fact he did it of his own volition. As for Billie? Eh, screw that person, hope we have more likable people later on.
Its a shame that Voyager is actually one of the best Star Treks. Fairly sure MOST of the negativity is a combination of male hate for strong women combined with “fandom” hate of anything new.
Not only did it old elements (federation system and technology, as well as Voyager being one of the more technologically advanced entities in that part of the galaxy) but added new ones like Borg Culture, Indian Culture, The strange Bio-space aliens. It even had multiple different villians due to the sheer amount of space voyager was crossing. Same reason i liked Stargate universe(after the 4th episode. first 4 episodes were all “we’re all going to die unless we all kill each other first with all our nihlistic backstabbing). It was the same type people but different circumstances, while still being similar!
Its the reason, having been caught up on Dumbing of Age, that I’m looking up and enjoying roomies. Same but different.
See, I hate it for basically just being Next Generation with shoddier characterization and very little in the way of actual inventive plotting, which makes the mission-of-the-week stuff drag like hell. Yeah, there were lots of new villains, but none of them were very interesting, and most of them were basically just slightly-modified versions of villains from previous series.
Plus they got all their information on Native Americans from this asshole, and continued the baffling decision to claim that not only did Native Americans have one unified and highly stereotypical culture, but that that culture had not grown or changed since the 1700s.
… Well, that’s a depressing end to a storyline.
On the other hand, “Mulgrew, spawn of Satan”. Ooooh, raging fanboys.
I would totally watch a show called “Mulgrew, Spawn of Satan”.
Billie has quite an ass, tho!
[yeah, this story still leaves a yucky taste in my mouth…]
I bet Kate thought the exact same thing.
The first thing or the second thing?
If the answer is both, I will hve to rethink my ideas about Ms Mulgrew.
Billie’s ass is just universally accepted as nice by all sexual orientations.
…y’know, that sounds like a terrible fanclub. Voyager had its haters, but it was still overall embraced by the fandom.
Although he should be kicked out for assaulting a Trek cast member anyway.
Excuse me, I need to repress the image of naked Howard.
Yeah, I think I’ll go back to that panel with Billie shaking her booty.
Hey, what would we have to do to get Billie’s victory dance animated?
40,000 notes on Tumblr for this comic page, apparently.
Have at it, folks.
I wonder what I’d have to do to get a Faz victory dance?
To get a Faz victory dance you would probably have to enrage Willis to the point where he is provoked to unleash such horror upon the world.
Now kiss, you two!
…Oh, right. Never mind.
I had this open on one tab, while I opened up shortpacked! After I read it, I exed out the tab and the first comment I saw was yours. I must give you my sincere gratitude. For I lol’d. I lol’d out loud. I truly did. I laughed out loud. OUT LOUD.
Yeah, this was totes a prenatal Shortpacked! story in disguise.
And it’s funny that Jennifer “I swear I’m not a nerd!” Billingsworth knows enough Trek Lore to put “Make it so, Number One” in her column.
It’s possible she did research for this story, or her editor put that in for her. But I think the most likely answer is that she overheard someone say it at the con and jotted it down.
Here begins the innevitable growth of my overwhelming pity for Howard.
Ugh. I hate Billie even more now. How could you, Willis?
Also I like to imagine that unknown to Howard, Kate Mulgrew tried to desperately find Howard for giving her the best kiss of her life (circa. 1998)
Howard’s life is one massive parade of pain and suffering from which there is no escape. It’s like he’s a refugee from a Tom Batiuk comic.
So… the reason he vanished after the end of It’s Walky was because he got cancer?
Willis really ought to have a happy Howard make a cameo in Shortpacked, even if it is just that he appears in the background. I feel like their needs to be some sort of karmic rebalancing.
NF, Willis’s not a Republic Serial villain. He did it almost two years ago.
Huh. So he did.
Wow, Malaya’s been in the strip two years already? It feels like yesterday when that guy was warning Willis about the dangers of tokenism.
I know, right? It’s weird to me that Malaya arrived closer to when I started reading Willis’s stuff than to the modern day.
The really weird thing is that Willis’ art style has noticeably changed in that time as well. Aside from obvious things like Ethan’s greying hair, I hadn’t figured it’s changed all that much, and yet here we are.
… How do you do this, Wack’d… How…
Oh, and hey, even in nineteen-ninety-goddamn-eight we were still doing the whole “blame the actor for the faults of the writers” thing. I’d forgotten about that.
Poor Colin Baker.
Wait, you mean people have actually stopped doing that?
Maybe I’ve just found slightly saner corners of the Internet to hang in, but generally speaking, I’ve never met people who still blame Colin Baker for the faults of the 6th Doctor, and most folks seem pretty cool with Wil Wheaton now*…a decade later, nerdom seems to have become a lot more fixated on the folks behind the scenes. No one’s chewing out Chris Pine for playing Kirk wrong, they’re chewing out JJ Abrams for wanting Kirk played that way.
*In fairness, it might just be because Baker and Wheaton are such unabashed fans of the franchises they were in. People are hardly as kind to, say, Matthew Waterhouse or Hayden Christensen, though neither gets as much flack as John Nathan-Turner or George Lucas.
Slight addendum–Waterhouse WAS a massive Who fan, but unlike Colin Baker his love of the show never seemed to recover from his miserable experience being in it. Though he has done some DVD commentaries…
…shouldn’t be construction arguments at 4AM. Ugh.
Isn’t part of why Hayden Christensen is disliked because of his performance? Hating Wil Wheaton is stupid since he was a kid with no control over his character who did the best he could with it, Christensen just was completely unlikable in his role, even in scenes where he should have been sympathetic he always sounded whiney. I don’t hate him personally, I don’t hate any character or actor from Star Wars but at least there are valid reasons to hold the role against him, to some extent anyway.
While Christensen isn’t a great actor, Lucas gets some of the blame as he’s been well known ever since before the original movie for not being able to direct actors very well and to get them to emote properly.
Huh, Matthew Waterhouse, huh? I don’t think I realized Adric was especially disliked. Of course, in my Who days, there wasn’t a lot of internet around, but I always kind of liked the guy.
Man, Billie is such a bitch. I hope her best friend gets hit by a car! 😛
I don’t remember him being naked the first time I read this.
That’s your brain doing you a favor.
Wait a minute, why’s he still got his glasses on?
Huh. Having a possibly cultural whatawhat moment here because I really dont get the last panel. Did he get bullied and beaten in addition to being thrown out of the Trek-club because of the article?
I think it’s the humiliation of kissing her, plus the article making front page at his expense so everyone knows? I’m not entirely certain.
All I know is that it takes a special level of despair to be sitting naked, curled up, in the dark, on the floor crying in your dorm room.
True. Most people usually just stick to the shower to wallow in despair naked.
Or at least sob in his bed so he can cry himself to sleep.
Granted, I have no clue what time the last panel takes place in compared to the others, but it can’t hurt.
His ass isn’t that big.
(They couldn’t get a better headline than ‘Nerd kisses Janeway’? More like there’s no…Janeway…I’m kissing that guy…okay, forget it, that was the best option.)
…She’s acting like a proto-Malaya. Sign of things to come indeed.
Ha, Howard’s real name is Whitney? That’s too perfect.
I know, right? Totally makes up for that last panel, I think.
I… I… I think my… okay I’m not even sure /what/ it was, but I’m pretty certain that it just either hung or shot itself.
Okay, let’s try this again, now that I’ve actually confirmed this is going in the right spot…
Sweet merciful Christ! Willis, what the fuck was wrong with you when you wrote this!?!
I’d feel bad for him were it not for the fact he did it of his own volition. As for Billie? Eh, screw that person, hope we have more likable people later on.
I almost love Billie as much as I love Robin!
Its a shame that Voyager is actually one of the best Star Treks. Fairly sure MOST of the negativity is a combination of male hate for strong women combined with “fandom” hate of anything new.
Not only did it old elements (federation system and technology, as well as Voyager being one of the more technologically advanced entities in that part of the galaxy) but added new ones like Borg Culture, Indian Culture, The strange Bio-space aliens. It even had multiple different villians due to the sheer amount of space voyager was crossing. Same reason i liked Stargate universe(after the 4th episode. first 4 episodes were all “we’re all going to die unless we all kill each other first with all our nihlistic backstabbing). It was the same type people but different circumstances, while still being similar!
Its the reason, having been caught up on Dumbing of Age, that I’m looking up and enjoying roomies. Same but different.
See, I hate it for basically just being Next Generation with shoddier characterization and very little in the way of actual inventive plotting, which makes the mission-of-the-week stuff drag like hell. Yeah, there were lots of new villains, but none of them were very interesting, and most of them were basically just slightly-modified versions of villains from previous series.
Plus they got all their information on Native Americans from this asshole, and continued the baffling decision to claim that not only did Native Americans have one unified and highly stereotypical culture, but that that culture had not grown or changed since the 1700s.
Ooof. THat’s a pretty big hit against it, yes.