Oh boy. Where to start about this one?
First off, the website listed here is somehow STILL ONLINE. It hasn’t been updated for over ten years, but it keeps on ticking in cyberspace. I have no idea who the provider even is anymore. (It was one of those cases where one company bought another company, who then bought another company.) If you want to view the site, be warned: prepare yourself for ridiculously bad late 90’s web fun. (I mean, just calling it ‘the net’ kind of signals a serious problem, right?) I designed the site on MS Word eleven years ago and take no responsibility for the utter lameness that you’ll find there.
If you’d like to see it, even after being warned, click here!
Now about this strip…
This comic was the first one I ever did that made a friend of mine cry from laughter. The last panel with the hammer just touched a nerve for her, I guess. It still makes me smile every time I look at it.
When this strip hit the university paper, it seemed to cause quite a stir amongst the male student body, and the infamous towel shot quickly elevated Phoebe to the position of unofficial campus sweetheart. Phoebe, more than any other character in this strip, had a lot of fans. The very next week, the newspaper ran a spoof page where they took real comics and changed the text. One of the altered strips featured that old guy from ‘Pickles’ declaring his strong, carnal desire to, um, ‘have his way’ with Phoebe. A female character then replied to his statement with the withering put-down, “Oh, you mean that tart from page A7?” Ouch. So I guess some people didn’t like Phoebe.
And she’s far less of a valley girl by the new run. I swear, she’s the one that grew up the most in the time between 80 and 81. Well, Daphne too, but that doesn’t count; growing up is mandatory for a child.
Hey, towels abide by their own logic. But seriously, I don’t know what magical properties the female form has, but they can get towels to stay up like this no problem. My wife wears a mean towel like this, and can walk around the house confidently with the kids around without fear of it falling down.
The host is http://telnetcommunications.com/. They appear to be a full Internet provider in Canada. They may have forgotten that the old site still resides on their servers.
Well, those early comics weren’t colored very well. I think I used one incredibly pale skin tone for everyone. The newer comics have a different skin tone for every single character. Though Phoebe still isn’t very reddish.
“One of the altered strips featured that old guy from ‘Pickles’ declaring his strong, carnal desire to, um, ‘have his way’ with Phoebe. A female character then replied to his statement with the withering put-down, “Oh, you mean that tart from page A7?” ”
Any way you can dig it up and post it ? It sounds pretty amusing.
Hey, Janet, what the hell is wrong with Salem ? He’s rolled up in a ball, twitching. Huh ? Yeah, I mean, yeah, more than usual.
What ? You think THAT”S it ? Probably. I’ll call the Vet tomorrow. How much can it cost to snip a Cat ?
Dude, I would drink Phoebe’s BATHWATER! With a silly straw! And then I would @&#$ her &@$# and then make her $@#& Tracee’s @&#$ while I &@$#!! until we all @&#$@#$&! Then we’d do it again. And then we’d cuddle. Then have ice cream.
Actually I edited that preemptively. He’s nuked some of my posts for less. Like my whole Phoebe asking Puck to guess what her @&!?@# %*@$$#& like. You know….. When she found some new hand cream at Canada’s Funderland.
(Sigh. I really need to do something worthwhile with my life. Like Buggle and I’s annual Absinthe-Fueled Gun-Running Pilgrimage to Hamilton. It was a lot of fun. What I can remember of it.)
Well, as I said, happerspace should have been hammerspace. Hammerspace is a word coined for the old anime TV series named “Urusei Yatsura”. In it, Lum, the female protagonist, would regularly strike her “boyfriend/fiance”, Moroboshi Ataru, with a hammer that appeared out of nowhere whenever she caught him cheating on her.
Btw, it’s really hard to type this comment around that floating bottom-of-screen ad on a phone. It’s probably fine on a computer, though. Just the tiny screen makes it a little problematic. Don’t know how many cell phone readers you have, but just a little head’s-up.
Ooh, it came back! And yeah, that mobile ‘sticky’ ad thing was an option with my ad company. The options menu was like, “Do you want sticky ads?” And I was like, “I dunno.” And then the site was like, “They make you money. You’re sort of stupid if you say no.” And I was like, “Uhm, sure?” Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
It got used again at some point. “The net is vast and infinite” was a line from Ghost in the Shell. (It became an achievement name in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, too).
I also get a cultural-memory ping off “I come from The Net” due to memories of Reboot (that was the 90s).
This is from a far younger entity, but I don’t get too many other pings.. or I went numb. Someone further up mentioned the use of “the web”, that sounds about right.
It’s a shame, really, because ‘The Net’ sounds cool. Like that Sandra Bullock movie. Which I think I saw in the theaters. Which I also mentioned above, so now I’m repeating myself. All I remember was that she was using a 3.5″ floppy disk to carry around top secret files in that movie, and the floppy disk was already basically an obsolete media format by the time the movie came out. I just remember thinking, “Carrying top secret files on a floppy disk is incredibly risky, what with the failure rates of those things.” Then it failed in the movie because it was left out in the sun too long. Case closed.
Well, I DO have the files still. I could put them up somewhere, I suppose. But it seems like somebody shut some ancient server down to save a few bucks. Tragic loss.
Ten years later, Colin volunteers to take the hammer to the head to come back to a time when, as he says, “all we lived for was parties and sex.”
And I just noticed that Phoebe has grown out her hair in the seven years between the comics.
Yep. Phoebe’s hair grew between #80 and #81. Because long hair is great.
And she’s far less of a valley girl by the new run. I swear, she’s the one that grew up the most in the time between 80 and 81. Well, Daphne too, but that doesn’t count; growing up is mandatory for a child.
Are you accusing me of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT? Take it back, man! Take it back! The horror!
DAN!!!
(*accidentally destroys keyboard by typing furiously*
How does Phoebe’s towel stay up? What better place has it got to go?
Hey, towels abide by their own logic. But seriously, I don’t know what magical properties the female form has, but they can get towels to stay up like this no problem. My wife wears a mean towel like this, and can walk around the house confidently with the kids around without fear of it falling down.
If you were that towel, would YOU let go?
No. No I would not. Good point.
Who. I just visited the old site. LOLOL the Q&A page is SO defensive. Ahh, 90s website. My old one looked just like that.
I also didn’t realize you couldn’t say “the net” anymore. I still say it. Or do i? Maybe I say “the web” instead now that I think about it.
People stopped saying ‘the net’ right after that Sandra Bullock movie. Which, by the way, I saw in the theater. Shows you how old I am.
Feb 26, 2016 – http://webhome.idirect.com/~brun/ still going strong !
I’m sure that website will still be going long after my death. Who knows where it resides in cyberspace?
The host is http://telnetcommunications.com/. They appear to be a full Internet provider in Canada. They may have forgotten that the old site still resides on their servers.
Shhhhh! Don’t tell them.
See the Tart in Full Colour: http://webhome.idirect.com/~brun/strip14.htm
Gosh, that comic looks so ugly. SO UGLY. It’s even uglier in color!
We can agree to disagree.
Huh. I half expected Phoebe’s skin tone to be a little more reddish.
Well, those early comics weren’t colored very well. I think I used one incredibly pale skin tone for everyone. The newer comics have a different skin tone for every single character. Though Phoebe still isn’t very reddish.
“One of the altered strips featured that old guy from ‘Pickles’ declaring his strong, carnal desire to, um, ‘have his way’ with Phoebe. A female character then replied to his statement with the withering put-down, “Oh, you mean that tart from page A7?” ”
Any way you can dig it up and post it ? It sounds pretty amusing.
I doubt it. The student newspaper was (I think) not meticulously scanned and documented online. I might have a cutting of it somewhere, though.
The tragic loss of Tracee has made me afraid of the future.
So I have retreated to 1998.
It’s warm and comfy.
Dude, there’s no Tracee here either.
Aaieeee !!!!
———————————————————————————
Hey, Janet, what the hell is wrong with Salem ? He’s rolled up in a ball, twitching. Huh ? Yeah, I mean, yeah, more than usual.
What ? You think THAT”S it ? Probably. I’ll call the Vet tomorrow. How much can it cost to snip a Cat ?
Amazing, 18 years later and the site mentioned in this post is still online…
Even more amazing that I have no idea who’s hosting it, or have any access to it. It is an archaeological remnant, as it were.
Aliens. It’s Aliens.
Dude, I would drink Phoebe’s BATHWATER! With a silly straw! And then I would @&#$ her &@$# and then make her $@#& Tracee’s @&#$ while I &@$#!! until we all @&#$@#$&! Then we’d do it again. And then we’d cuddle. Then have ice cream.
@CH
What a shame EG had to edit all the good parts !
(then again, mebe not)
Actually I edited that preemptively. He’s nuked some of my posts for less. Like my whole Phoebe asking Puck to guess what her @&!?@# %*@$$#& like. You know….. When she found some new hand cream at Canada’s Funderland.
@CH
I’m thoroughly confused.
Wait, WAIT !!
Don’t explain it. My imagination will suffice.
(Sigh. I really need to do something worthwhile with my life. Like Buggle and I’s annual Absinthe-Fueled Gun-Running Pilgrimage to Hamilton. It was a lot of fun. What I can remember of it.)
Well, I thank you for the preemptive edit.
@EG
See, even CH appreciates you.
He’s defied his very nature as a Rude Hobo to make your life just a bit easier.
We love you man !
(O M G – Maudlin Overload. Professor Huhnmorder – I require recalibration – STAT !!)
I’m sure Susan would approve.
Where did that hammer come from? Oh, wait a minute. It came from the infamous “happerspace”, right? LOL.
Oops. That should read “hammerspace”. Bloody fingers moving faster than my brain can think. LOL.
Well, now I’m curious about Happerspace. What is a happer, and why does it require its own dimension?
Well, as I said, happerspace should have been hammerspace. Hammerspace is a word coined for the old anime TV series named “Urusei Yatsura”. In it, Lum, the female protagonist, would regularly strike her “boyfriend/fiance”, Moroboshi Ataru, with a hammer that appeared out of nowhere whenever she caught him cheating on her.
Hmmm…. Sadly, I can’t seem to get to that page anymore. 🙁
NOOOOO!!!! They took it down! They blew it up! You damned dirty apes! Damn you all to hell!
Looks like it’s still up to me 😀
Btw, it’s really hard to type this comment around that floating bottom-of-screen ad on a phone. It’s probably fine on a computer, though. Just the tiny screen makes it a little problematic. Don’t know how many cell phone readers you have, but just a little head’s-up.
Ooh, it came back! And yeah, that mobile ‘sticky’ ad thing was an option with my ad company. The options menu was like, “Do you want sticky ads?” And I was like, “I dunno.” And then the site was like, “They make you money. You’re sort of stupid if you say no.” And I was like, “Uhm, sure?” Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
no no no no no no no no no no
(tears dripping from whiskers)
It got used again at some point. “The net is vast and infinite” was a line from Ghost in the Shell. (It became an achievement name in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, too).
I also get a cultural-memory ping off “I come from The Net” due to memories of Reboot (that was the 90s).
This is from a far younger entity, but I don’t get too many other pings.. or I went numb. Someone further up mentioned the use of “the web”, that sounds about right.
It’s a shame, really, because ‘The Net’ sounds cool. Like that Sandra Bullock movie. Which I think I saw in the theaters. Which I also mentioned above, so now I’m repeating myself. All I remember was that she was using a 3.5″ floppy disk to carry around top secret files in that movie, and the floppy disk was already basically an obsolete media format by the time the movie came out. I just remember thinking, “Carrying top secret files on a floppy disk is incredibly risky, what with the failure rates of those things.” Then it failed in the movie because it was left out in the sun too long. Case closed.
Mr. Smackie! So that’s when he was introduced.
Smacky. Something.
Spell it however you wish!
And everything old is new again. Hammer time!
Or everything old is … still old.
Turns out that site has since gone down. Shame. I wanted to see an old relic of the internet authentically. Still absurd how long it lasted!
Well, I DO have the files still. I could put them up somewhere, I suppose. But it seems like somebody shut some ancient server down to save a few bucks. Tragic loss.
When I first saw Phoebe I thought she was a Succubus.
Well, I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.