All of the discount shirts in the HE store have been FURTHER DISCOUNTED to $12.95! That is IN-SANE. You can get your “And My Axe!” shirts, your “Unicorn Poop” shirts, your “Sci-Fi Tv Movie Title Generator” shirts and more for less than something that costs exactly $14. GO GO GO!
IT’S OVER! This comic completes the first mini story arc since I started toying with the notion of light continuity in the comics. I’m pretty pleased with the results and I feel like I learned a great deal about how to integrate longer stories into HE in the future (mostly due to mistakes I made during this part of the experiment). Now I just have to figure out if I remember how to do gag comics. Is Doctor Who still a thing? He has a hat, right?
I hope you enjoyed this new beginning for HE. I came up with a LOT more ideas for the E.F.E. than I could fit in these first 6 comics, so I expect we’ll see him again sooner rather than later. My goal is that within a couple of months a new reader will be able to read the recent comics and really get a sense for who the characters are without feeling like they are hindered by years of complex continuity and backstory. I guess we’ll see how that pans out. I have missed getting to comment on things that are happening in geek pop culture AS they are happening. I’m sure, as time goes on, I’ll find a way to strike a happy balance. Either that, or I’ll lose all my readers and have to take a job shucking pigs at the ham works (or whatever they do to pigs at where ever pigs are converted into delicious hams).
I’ve asked for some help with naming the new HijiNKS ENSUE eBook comic collections over in the new Fancy Bastard Facebook Group? The first comic collection will be done very shortly and be sent to all current donation subscribers. Everyone else will be able to buy it for a “pay what you like” donation. You can start a donation subscription for as little as $2 a month and REALLY help support HijiNKS ENSUE.
J.J. Abrams really is sort of unassailable in terms of successes vs. failures these days. At any given time he has 4-5 TV projects in the works and another 2 or 3 movies in various stages of production. He usually gets a TV project off the ground then turns it over to a capable team so he can move on to something else. In a way I like his “sharks can’t sleep” approach to television and in another I am fatigued by his “I started 12 shows in the last 4 years and only 2 of them were good, oh well whatever MORE LENSE FLAIR!!!” mentality. I applaud him for seeming NOT to treat his projects as his babies, which seems to shield him from the heartbreak and stink of the ones that fail, yet give him total credit for the ones that succeed even if he doesn’t take an active role in their production.
COMMENTERS: So I guess my question is, better to be a Whedon or an Abrams? Whedon seem to ONLY do passion projects. He loves his shows so much that they need to go stay with their sister for a while and think about stuff. Abrams squirts his DNA all over our TV’s then immediately swims off to new spawning grounds, leaving his shows to fend for themselves. Does one of these methods produce better art, more heartbreak, both or neither?
Secretly I like Tyler Perry movies. BUT ONLY when Madea is on screen. Not that other melodramatic crap.
*weeps*
I do agree, Madea is the only thing that makes TP movies worth watching, the rest you can use as… well, TP :p
I've seen some of those movies on TV and there's always that weird giant shift between sassy crossdressing comedy and intense drama. Maybe the dramatic parts would be better as a separate movie, but together it's just odd and unnerving.
Haha!
Until I read your comment, I had read the comic as "Matthew Perry movie."
It is definitely better to be a Whedon. When you are passionate about something, you put more effort into it. Your fingerprints can be seen all over it. People know that you are going to be making something worth watching, even if theEFE doesn't think so. When I first heard Whedon was directing The Avengers, I think I made a mess in my pants I was so excited…
Being an Abrams can be good because, like you said, you can distance yourself from your failures, but you also have a harder time claiming your successes. I don't get excited when I hear Abrams associated with a film or show, I might give it a shot, but I don't get excited.
"I don't get excited when I hear Abrams associated with a film or show"
But is that just because you've never had a reason to feel sorry for him?
I think it's more that with Whedon you KNOW there's a reason to get excited. With Abrams it's more, "Yay, it… might be good?"
Fair enough.
Did you maybe mean to say 'Take the "Fox" and "Executive"' instead of "Evil" and "Executive"? Because, he's lost his executive job at fox, and also Joel immediately answers "Evil"…
maybe I'm just over analyzing.
Yeah I came here to say this basically
Yup. Its fixed now.
could you maybe make a one shot comic where it shows the EFE fighting the JJ HYDRA
like god of war style only somehow more ridiculous
cause that would be epic
DO WANT.
I don't know why, but I actually laughed out loud at the "Evil for good." line. Good strip!
I have to go with Whedon, if only because gets character dynamics so right and character is what I always look for in a show or movie. For me, that's even more important than the plot because great characters naturally dictate the plot. That's not to say I don't like Abrams, I just like Whedon more.
I hate people who write comments correcting your spelling, but just for the sake of the eventual book, is the EFE's dialogue in the first panel correct, or is it supposed to say: 'You take the "Fox" and the "executive" out of "Evil Fox Executive", and what does that leave me?'
Whedon and Abrams work on different levels and I don't know that it's fair to compare them. Whedon puts a great deal of heart into smaller projects; Abrams is able to leverage considerable resources towards larger ones. I enjoy both of their products. Without knowing either of them personally, I'd hesitate to say that one is better than the other or speculate on what they do to produce their work (although Whedon has a much higher level of transparency through WWdN… or maybe I'm just more aware of it because I've been reading his blog for a decade).
I love the story arcs for HE, they have been very funny. Thank you for starting to do more of them. You said in your post that "I have missed getting to comment on things that are happening in geek pop culture AS they are happening." Could you use the LoFiJinks comics as an outlet for those comments when not in between story arcs? Didn't you say at one point you were looking on how to have those two both showcased on your site, side by side? http://www.cad-comic.com/ does a decent job of showcasing his main comic and his "Sillies" comic, sort of like how you post just a part of your comic on Tumbler. Just an idea. Have fun!
"Could you use the LoFiJinks comics as an outlet for those comments when not in between story arcs?"
That's the idea. I just have to finalize the backend tech that will make this possible (posting two comics on the same day in different areas of the site).
It's better to be Bruce Timm, someone who is extremely flexible and can invest creativity and passion into every idea, even ones that may not seem viable.
Mr. Freeze as a major villain? But he's just a gimmicky joke character. An episode where Batman fights a former child television star? What? A teenage Batman in high school? Sounds like the dumbest idea ever. A show that features dozens of superheroes? How could you do justice to all those characters? A movie adaptation of Batman: Year One? There's no way you could keep faithful to the comics.
Somehow, Timm made all those ideas work. He's like King Midas, everything he touches turns to awesome.
Everything he touches turns to Batman?
correct
#1 – "You can't take the Evil from me-ee-e."
#2 – Wouldn't it be great if J.J. Abrams could team up with Joss Whedon and somehow squirt out a bunch of projects Whedon is passionate about and could make good?
Though "Being Whedon" seems to have finally paid off with the Avengers.
#3 – Maybe one of the networks should just create "The Abrams Slot" where every week it's something J.J. Abrams came up with, but there's only one of. 22 times in a season. And any that are actually good for the duration of that slot may become actual continuing projects.
Two words: Chuck Lorre
I want to like Chuck Lorre, I really do. Roseanne is one of my favourite shows of all time (up to Season 7, anyway) and I've developed a real love for The Big Band Theory. But 2 and a Half Men?? That show blows. That show is everything bad about sitcoms! Then there's Dharma and Greg, which tried to act like it was making gay mainstream but just sort of turned out stupid, and kind of offensive… And Grace Under Fire was just bad.
As for Whedon vs Abrams, I will always side unapologetically with Whedon. As far as I'm concerned, he can do no wrong. Yes, being a fan means occasionally suffering heartbreak, but you know he's hurting too, so it's a shared misery. Abrams is just too hit-and-miss to actually be a fan of his work. And I will never forgive him for Felicity! NEVER! I wasted so many hours on that show………… 😛
David E. Kelley (the hydra) or Judd Apatow (producing for others).
A Judd Apatow/Joss Whedon team up would be interesting.
Oddly, I had exactly opposite but similarly disinterested reactions to both "Alias" & "Lost." "Alias" seemed to cram so much information into every single episode that it was hard to digest, particularly when I'm used to devouring entire TV seasons in just a week. On the other hand, "Lost" lost me because it felt so slow. Meanwhile, I haven't gotten around to "Fringe" yet. (And I shall not speak of my secret, forbidden crush on "Felicity.")
So, I guess what I'm saying is, outisde of "Mission Impossible III," I haven't found any big reason to be a big J.J. Abrams fan. On the other hand, I love Joss Whedon and he has an excellent track record of working on damn near perfect projects. ("Dollhouse" & the last few seasons of "Buffy" notwithstanding.) Now, if only I could convince him to stop killing people I like…
Whoa whoa whoa.
Did I fall asleep, or did you just knock Dollhouse?
Joel, your drunk Eli strip that recently ran was my favorite so far. Love what you've been doing lately! One question though. How does one make a drunk happen? Does it involve Warlocks? I bet it's warlocks.
Whedon – Always Whedon.
Looks like the EFE may be back at work in another department. Fox just changed their contact with hulu so that even subscribers of hulu plus will have to wait 30 days to watch new shows. The 8 day wait they had before was stupid but tolerable. This is insane. It is also venturing into the justification of pirating GoT territory. I want it streaming, online, legal, prompt, and without having to pay for another service I do not use (the extra channels on Dish, for example). Putting roadblocks in the way of this increases the likelihood of me looking for ways to consume content that you do not get money for.
You keep calling him the EFE, but isn't he just The Evil now?
try EFF, Evil Former Foxecutive. He's still evil, there's no taking that away.
Actually Evil Former Executive is still EFE.
I think both approaches have their validity.
I personally enjoy the volume of Wheadons work compared to the bulk of Abrams. I think you can see the difference Wheadon's passion makes.
With Wheadon you get great characters who, when even you hate them, they need only give one small line/speach and you love them and never want them to die. along with great plot and dialogue and side gags.
With abrams you get some really good plot, and kind of okay everthing else. Yet i still really enjoy abrams when hit hits a cord with me. With all the things that don't 'work' you learn what does.