Bob Stevenson (rstevenson) says:

 

1. Phil from Da Basement here
Written by Guest, on 07-02-2005 13:03
Thanks for the review! It's becoming abundantly clear now that we need to do something about that homoerotic subtext. That's two reviews in the past two weeks that have mentioned it. It's totally not intentional. It just sorta...happened I guess. Oh well. And don't worry about our forum goers. We keep them on a nice short leash. No flaming shall be perpetrated. 
 
Oh and one more thing: We're a product of the Canadian university system.  
 
Thanks again!

 

2. Written by Guest, on 07-02-2005 13:42
And here I was ready to blame No Child Left Behind.  
 
Where's the other review? I'd be interested to read it. 
 
-Bob Stevenson

 

3. Paul from Da-Basement
Written by Guest, on 07-02-2005 14:37
I think it small minded that people keep saying there were homoerotic subtexts. The comic was about 4 guys who are dumb moreorless, and due to this, make gay jokes about eachother. I also find it laughable how you couldn't bear to view the "In Stores Now" strip. Its a male body...from the waist up....thats it! I'm sorry if you're offended by my frustration, and I respect your opinion and review, but can't people just accept the comic for what it is. A poorly drawn (or it was when I drew it) comic which is intended to make you laugh. If it fails at that, then I apologize.

 

4. Written by Guest, on 07-02-2005 15:13
First of all, I never claim anyone'll get anything approaching a real review out of me in this format. I only do those for the Webcomics Examiner and the Graphic Novel Review. For those, I spend at least a dozen hours over several days reading, thinking and writing about them so It's got to be work I consider worth spending the time with. 
 
I never considered your strip anything more than what you ask me to accept it as, "a poorly drawn comic which is intended to make you laugh." Personally, I didn't laugh more than twice through the whole archive, once when the alien professor dismembered the student and again with the photostrip in question, "In Stores Now." (I also got a chuckle from the aftermath of the pillow fight.) My comment about the photo strip was a toungue-in-cheek comment intended to get people to click on it. I'm not offended in the least by the male body. In fact, I'm in the midst of a figure drawing class in which I spend every other class staring at a naked male for three hours. I guess my comment then was more in response to the stark - fourth wall breaking - change in style both visually and narratively. Additionaly, I'm thinking the facial expressions in the first two panels and implied nudity in the final two were intended to shock. They did.  
 
I don't think the strip fails at its intent any more than Garfield does. They are what they are. 
 
Finally, I guess the problem with the gay jokes is that they don't always come off squarely. I realize young people throw around homophobic comments like frisbees, but Da Basement does some strange things with it. Strips numbered 1, 13, 18, 30, 31, 35, 41, 47, 49, 53, 58, 66, 67 all deal with homosexuality, cross-dressing or homophobia in strange ways. For a while, I thought there might be some consistency in the subject of the jokes, but there's not. I'm used to stories and comics that include this kind of material, but with one of two goals. Either to make some larger point or to get their homophobic ya-ya's out. I wasn't convinced that you were doing either of those things as there's little consistency to the jokes and not enough mean sprit to call it purely homophobic so I called it a homoerotic subtext. 
 
I hope this clear up some my points as slap-dash as they were in the first place. 
 
-Bob Stevenson

 

5. Paul from Da-Basement
Written by Guest, on 07-02-2005 16:37
Thank you for your response. I realize that a lot of our jokes and styles of humour were inconsistent, but that was due to the fact that you had three or four point of views on a particular comic, and it was hard to accomodate everyone. I appreciate your time in going through the comics and giving your opinion. I have since left Da-Basement to helm my own strip in a university newspaper, and someday (don't hold your breath) I may have a webpage to which I would like a review. But until then.

 

6. Da-Basement Link Down?
Written by Guest, on 08-02-2005 02:52
Woah! Did Journey overload the Da-Basement server or something? I've been clicking for a while now and nothing is happening. I was looking forward to reading a few of those puns myself but it looks like I'll have to rely on SluggyFreelance for the time being.

 

7. Written by Guest, on 08-02-2005 05:12
That's Bob "Slash-Dot" Stevenson for yah... 
 
-William G

 

8. Written by Guest, on 08-02-2005 12:47
Quote:

 

Did Journey overload the Da-Basement server or something?  
 
Er. I'm thinking no. To my knowledge there are only a few hundred people checking this site out each day. A better name might be something like "Slush-Dot" Stevenson. 
 
Slashdot's on the chopping block for HB and Pink in a couple days. 
 
-Bob Stevenson Log In or Register to post a comment! It's free!

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