Page 244
January 21st, 2011

Page 244

Sorry guys, crashed really early last night and forgot to set everything up (and how to spell apparently but that’s fixed now).  So Steven… dead?  Not dead?  ‘Kill-Bill’ levels of blood not being the most realistic I guess you’ll just have to wait and see… :)

This is not really a Ford endorsement as generally I despise product placement (and my Mazda saved my life or so I’ve been told so there’s an endorsement for you, whatever you drive just make sure it has side curtain airbags!!) but I wanted a fairly familiar sporty car brand that’s also within a discount zoo employee’s pay level.  I’m not sure how well known the Mustang is overseas??

^ 82 Comments...

  1. tsophies

    Someone said the cost of petrol (gas) is rising, I bet you guys don’t have to pay £1.24 a LITRE which works out to about $8.91 per gallon (which I think you guys pay per gallon in America?)

    I keep taking the train.

    Car nonsense aside, whoooooooo Lech!!! Favourite bear!! Half hoping for some suspicious moments with Gay as well, just cause that is hilarious, and those two ‘hate’ each other so much

  2. JS

    @Aquacoon

    I didn’t mention you or anyone else. But if you see yourself reflected in my remarks to this extent, you might consider mulling them over. Furthermore, it’s a little hypocritical to criticize the author of the strip and then turn around and demand immunity from criticism yourself, don’t you think?

    No one’s saying you can’t express your opinions; what I’m saying is that not everything that can be said should be. Some things are simply graceless and, frankly, ungrateful. And keep in mind that another way that you could demonstrate your acumen at plotting would be to launch a web comic of your own… sit down and devote hours and hours of your life each and every week to writing, drawing, and presenting your work to the world, and provide everyone else with the same privilege you have here… to show up, be entertained for free, and then tell you where your work doesn’t measure up.

  3. JS

    @tsophies

    Where I live in Canada we’re currently paying $1.15/L, which the conversion sites tell me is currently £0.72/L in pounds. Something to keep in mind when you’re doing US conversions is that their gallon is considerably smaller (3.785L) than the imperial gallon (4.546L) you and most everyone else uses. But yeah, I guess you guys are getting boned even harder than we are.

  4. FVanLatte

    Is it me or is Lech really tall compared to Nerd? o.0

  5. tsophies

    @ JS it was 70p about… wow probably about 11 years ago. I think collectively as a country we look back on those days and sigh. We’ve just had a VAT (value added tax…do you guys get that?) rise after Christmas which has meant the prices have spiked, but apparently the cost of oil’s going up AGAIN with a possible rise of up to 6p, making it about £1.30.

    Ahhh I did use the imperial gallon, didn’t realise there was a variant in the sizes. I guess our Government’s got to make money back somehow, what with all our politicians and bankers rinsing the economy with enormous bonuses and expenses claims.

    @FVanLatte Yeah! He’s supposedly the ‘aggressive big male’ according to the keepers, I’d love to see a line-up of all the bears size wise, but Prozac would have to have Pro-hulk in as well!

  6. JS

    @tsophies

    Yeah, we have a version of VAT called the GST (Goods and Services Tax) at the federal level. Most provinces also have provincial sale tax. Provinces that have harmonized the two have HST (Harmonized Sales Tax, as you might have guessed).

    Gas used to be sold in gallons here. These days gallons aren’t an official measurement anymore except for beer… anyone who advertises a “pint” must serve 568.26 ml — a full imperial pint. In the States, a pint is smaller… just 473 ml. But that’s fine… it’s not like you’d want more of their beer anyway. :D (Joking! JOKING!)

  7. Meimei

    I just finished reading through the whole comic. I love EVERYTHING. Why isn’t this more popular??

  8. Roderick

    …Lech taller than Nerd? when did that happen?

  9. Nounours

    Steven T.T I hope he will be fine ( doctor! help him ! )

  10. DevilDiscord

    @Pepper, since I haven’t seen anyone respond to your questioning Gay’s symbol… I actually looked it up for that same reason… A purple rhino is a symbol for gay people, like the rainbow flag… it’s just a very obscure not easily thought of symbol

    And…. didn’t Lech get fixed in “The Itch” ? So… by his logic… he can’t drive the car either.

  11. Zomg

    I just noticed. Where did the panda go? D:
    Tanked reminds me of my uncle when hes drunk… minus the fur and cuteness

  12. Mazz

    Coming from someone who works in animal care (rehab center instead of a zoo though). No way could any of us afford a Mustang. So… man that Discount Zoo employee must be in some debt.
    Lech should have taste though, I mean… 60s Mustangs are such more more awesome. Hahaha.

  13. miike

    Ford actually has a partnership with Mazda btw, and a long time ago she explained that Nerd has a hotdog on his belly because he’s a wiener.

  14. JS

    @DevilDiscord I don’t think Lech got “fixed”; zoos don’t normally sterilize their exhibits… they want to breed them, it seems to me. I think he just got shaved and treated for his problem. Other than that, I think we just didn’t see what we weren’t supposed to see. ;)

  15. admin

    @Kisara: not yet
    @Kylie: just twitchy, bad balance and all…
    @everyone talking about mustang $$: base models aren’t that bad $ wise, I just went with the Shelby version as it was more interesting to draw (I do know a few people who are definitely driving out of their price range so affordability in this day and age seems to be an archaic term or something :(
    @JS: Always has my back :)
    @Sami: I’m so glad you guys are all okay! Hooray for well built cars!
    @Daz: thanks!
    @Jade/Pepper: Vanity is the ‘star’, Nerd is a ‘weenie’ , and Gay has a horny rhino
    @Aquacoon: I appreciate where you’re coming from but hold on a bit and give me some time, there is a plan after all :)
    @JarMan: they’re not IN their exhibit right now, they’re in the parking lot (notice the high walls with fences in most other settings)
    @Bosn: Lech has the longest legs :)
    @FVanLatte: Lech is the biggest, Nerd is the shortest (next to Vanity)
    @Meimei: Hi! Welcome to BN and I totally share your sentiment :)
    @DevilDiscord: Lech is totally intact! He just got un-diseased.
    @miike: Ford and Mazda? I’d never heard that before. What’s it based on?

  16. Aquacoon

    @JS: I think it was obvious you were including my comment since you were targeting any comment that was displeased with something in the comic.

    I don’t have a problem if you disagree with me, but you make it sound like I’m an ungrateful jerk simply because I criticized the comic! Maybe it’s because I LIKE the comic that I say something! Otherwise it wouldn’t matter to me WHAT the artist did, and I wouldn’t say anything at all. In fact I wouldn’t even be here!

    @Admin: Well I guess I should leave you to it then. I hope I wasn’t being over the top, I suppose I get too up-idy sometimes.

  17. Aquacoon

    @JS: Sorry I forgot to touch base on that last part. If I was a web comic artists I would rather people be honest with me. When I do a job in real life, I always tell my superiors that if there’s anything wrong with the way I do my job to tell me how to do better. I would expect the same from other artists looking at my web comic. Not to say that I would want baseless or crude things said to me. That’s just outright.

    Though I suppose I could have been a little less obnoxious in my posts. I suppose it’s just hard to control your emotions over things you enjoy.

  18. Aquacoon

    Uhm not that I meant that analogy literally; I don’t consider myself a “superior” to the artists, I don’t think they did anything “wrong” or that my criticism was “right”. Sorry if that didn’t need clarification. I’m like OCD about misunderstandings.

  19. tsophiekins

    @JS I am TOTES coming to Canada next, our beer’s in 454ml pints as well, although I take pride in saying ours is probs better than American beer! Do you guys do cider much?

  20. scribbleninja

    Alison
    in a (waaaay) previous post you asked people if Nerd would like Twilight. He would hate it because he is not a twelve year old girl and because it is incredibly stupid. He would, though, probably like manga and anime, specifically:
    Fullmetal Alchemist (manga, two different animes because the first one was so different from the manga. It is still very good. The manga is amazing, and is my favorite. It is the best story I have ever seen, read, or heard. Seriously, read it. Or watch the second anime, but if you do that you should watch at least some of the original anime. It’s great, too.
    Naruto ( manga, two anime)the manga is good. The first anime is crap, the second is good.
    Bleach (manga and really long anime)
    Devil May Cry (anime, video games) anime is epic. also violent, Evil would like it, maybe.
    InuYasha: (manga, two animes) Technically for girls but with enough action for boys. Manga is good but crazy long. First anime is also long but pretty dumb. Entertaining, though. The newer anime picks up where the old one left off but is not stupid. It’ considerably better.

    so, that’s all

  21. machchunk

    the introduction of “If you think it’s not good then try it yourself” into the fan defense lexicon is one of the worst thing to happen to the Internet

  22. Wicked

    I just imagine lech thrusting when he says it makes him hot…amuses me so much.

  23. JarMan

    @Aquacoon : Just so you know, I don’t feel you have anything to apologize for. You had a question regarding the comic, which was obviously directed to the author of the series and one of the fans decided to attack you for it. It happens all the time. There’s some people who feel you don’t dare question the author and I don’t know what their problem is.

    I don’t feel you were over the line and I don’t feel your question was unreasonable and I also don’t feel your response from being attacked by another fan of the comic was uncalled for either. I asked a similar question the other day on another web comic and had exactly same thing happen to me.

  24. JS

    @tsophiekins There are ciders here, but there’s actually a green apple beer here in Ontario that I and friends of mine all agree is what hard apple cider OUGHT to taste like. It’s actually the second best beer I’ve ever tasted (the best is Innis and Gunn’s whisky-flavoured oak aged beer, from Scotland). It’s by the Better Bitters Brewing Company (I am not making this up), an Ontarian microbrewery that makes a pilsner called Nickel Brook Green Apple Pilsner. If you make it to southern Ontario you gotta look it up. Or lick it up. Or whatever it takes.

  25. JS

    @JarMan Well, “some fans” were inclined to drop it, but since you brought it up, the “problem” is being embarrassed by someone’s public impoliteness. It’s like attending a dinner party in which one of the guests pipes up that, gee, the soup sucks. One might in all fairness think so, but there’s no need to say so, especially in front of everyone. People tend to consider it rude, and end up feeling embarrassed for both the hostess AND the gauche guest. If anyone feels the need to register a complaint or a suggestion, it might be better said in private communication to the author than a public forum.

    And for the record, neither Aquacoon nor anyone else was “attacked”. A general comment was made in which “some fans” suggested that some things said here were discourteous, and some people, probably rightly, understood that their own behaviour prompted the comment.

  26. Zesty-Hedgie

    TMI Nerd, TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

  27. JarMan

    There was nothing impolite about what he has asked. People get too defensive and then overreact. The comment was directed to a certain user. The question/comment/complaint about the comic was obviously directed to the author, thus they should have let the author respond. I also felt the last story arc ended abruptly and was disappointed to see it was over, but having read this series since day one, I also knew it was a habit of the author to do so.

    I would suggest people in the future, avoid these situations in the future, by allowing the author to respond instead of immediately attacking a user and implying they were rude.

    By the way, a free dinner can still suck. Besides the hostile attitude of the some of the fans of this online comic, I haven’t had any so far, otherwise I would have already voiced my opinion on them. How is the author going to get any better at writing if people hold back comments and complaints because they have to worry about other users?

  28. Nicole

    Huh. Interesting goings on in this comment thread.

    I still think it’s weird when people critique the comic. It’s not there for critique. It’s there for enjoyment. Ah, well.

  29. JS

    @JarMan And I would like people to reflect that this is, in effect, an extension of Alison’s home, into which we have been invited to view her work, and we should treat her here with the kind of respect we would expect of visitors to our own homes.

  30. JS

    @JarMan The answer to your question as to how to offer the author advice is how you would do it politely to any friend you weren’t out to show up and embarrass: a whispered word or discreetly passed note, rather than a bull horn. In this case, private email.

  31. Rockin' Kat

    Something about the wheel placement on that box-truck in the first panel just doesn’t look right… just saying.

  32. Renard

    Pounds of torque?

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