VARIETY SMACK 004

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"

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This strip was originally published on October 31, 2011

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If you haven't watched the classic Halloween special, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, you probably won't quite get this one and you are standing off to the side of your monitor, or tablet, or phone, and you are scratching your head and really giving some serious thought about your place in the world.

Or not.

Anyway, for those of you who may not have seen It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, there is a point in the show where all the kids go out trick or treating. Charlie Brown is dressed as a ghost, but he had a tough time with the scissors and instead of two eye holes, he cuts multiple ones all over the sheet. After each house they stop at, the kids look into their bags to see what they got. Charlie Brown, for whatever reason, gets a rock at each house.

Now, as a child, I would watch that and laugh.

As an adult, it's just sad. I mean, why are all the houses in town giving Charlie Brown rocks!? What's wrong with this town?

In this strip, we try to answer that question . . . because, honestly, the entire town getting together and deciding as a collective to give Charlie Brown rocks for Halloween because they don't like the kid is really the only explanation I can come up with.

Though I'd love to hear other theories.

Then, to make this strip even more special, the day it went up Harold created this wonderful piece of art which goes right along with the theme of the strip.

So it's a bonus!

Remember, if you want Harold and I to get the band back together and create more comic strip fun, maybe with a real Rabid Ninja Zombie Wildebeast invasion storyline, please say so by leaving a comment below.

Happy Halloween everyone!

VARIETY SMACK 003

"EVEN MORE BRAINSTORMING"

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This strip was originally published on October 28, 2011

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This was always on of my favorite strips. Eventually, we were going to bring in the whole Rabid Ninja Zombie Wildebeast thing over at Our Adventure Continues (which is, of course, a play on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and yes, I know Wildebeest is spelled incorrectly . . . we'll get to that), and we do to a certain degree, but not like this.

And please, please, please, don't read anything politically into this. I know that these days everything has become the basis for a political argument, but that is not at all what we were trying to do back then.

Myself, personally, I am a big Obama fan. Love the man.

Remember, if you want Harold and I to get the band back together and create more comic strip fun, maybe with a real Rabid Ninja Zombie Wildebeast invasion storyline, please say so by leaving a comment below.

Thanks!

VARIETY SMACK 002

"MORE BRAINSTORMING"

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This strip was originally published on October 26, 2011

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STEEVEN SAYS (FROM 2011):

Wow! It’s Variety Smack #2!

I can’t speak for Harold, but we are only two strips in and already I’m having a ball.

So far Harold and I are the stars of the strip, but don’t get used to that. We have all kinds of stuff planned for the next few weeks . . . sort of.

These last two strips were actually inspired by real events. Harold and I get to talking, and we talk about all the stuff we want to do, creatively, and I have a tendency to mask my inability to come up with worthwhile ideas with any kind of quickness by spouting off whatever nonsensical crap that sprouts up in my head.

Harold, on the other hand, does have the ability to rattle off worthwhile idea after worthwhile idea with much quickness, and for that I will ever be envious and continue to spout off whatever nonsensical crap that sprouts up in my head because I know that deep down, it makes Harold sigh with a slight tinge of regret that he ever chose to work with me in the first place.

Hey, we all have our ways we amuse ourselves, right?

See you next time!

Steeven “Remember to Eat More Bacon” Orr

Remember, if you want Harold and I to get the band back together and create more comic strip fun, please say so by leaving a comment below.

Thanks!

VARIETY SMACK 001

"BRAINSTORMING"

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This strip was originally published on October 25, 2011

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I've decided to try and consolidate all the creative, non-podcasting, stuff I've done online here in one place, and this site seems to be the best place for all that stuff.

So it makes sense to pull over the web comic that I did with Harold C. Jennett III.

And so, here is the first strip - Brainstorming.

One thing of note, originally the strip was black and white with gray tones and the first one of those went up on October 25, 2011.*

In fact, it was on that very same day that Harold and I decided to do the comic, and when I say we rushed it out, well, here's how the story goes:

On October 25th, 2011, I was chatting with Harold on Gmail chat, and out of the blue he asked me if I wanted to do a web comic with him. He's an artist, I'm a writer, seemed simple enough.

The idea was that we would both come up with story ideas, I'd write the scripts and he'd draw the strips. It was so simple it was akin to genius.

So, of course, I said yes.

We went back and forth on the name but finally landed on Variety Smack.

Two hours later I'd written a script, Harold drew up the strip, I started up a Blogger site, Harold put together a banner image, and we'd posted our very first web comic together.

And that's how it all happened.

So I've decided, today, on Halloween, to present to you the first four strips from Variety Smack throughout the day with strip #4 being a Halloween-themed strip.

Enjoy. There will be more to come later today.

If you want Harold and I to get the band back together and create more comic strip fun, please say so by leaving a comment below.

Thanks!

*I should probably explain now that yeah, I know I spelled wildebeests wrong in this strip. What's funny, is that we use the word a few more times and it isn't until strip 14 of Variety Smack that I realize my mistake and then address it in the comic, justifying what turns out to be not a mistake at all. But I'll let you wait until then.