Systemic Alex Numann of NextFab Studio took the Jimmy the Murderdog image I posted and made a huge freakin’ 8″x10″ version out of freakin’ steel. I bet Jimmy would approve. I know I do.

A while back I did a comic about the International Standards Organization (ISO) and their attempts to standardize the shit-ton. It’s here, if you want to see it. An anonymous fan (he signed it “Anonymous System Fan”), sent me the following note:

Hey! So I read your System Comic about how much a “Sh*t-ton” is in comparison to a “Sh*t-load”. Well, I found the iPhone conversion app that settles that argument 😛

Well, good thing we answered that question. Now we know how to convert between shit-loads and shit-tons. How to convert to a “Metric Shit-Ton” is anyone’s guess, but I suppose the Queen’s Measurements make more sense for this kind of shit anyway.

By the way, if you want to send anything my way, send it over to systemcomic at gmail dot com. It might sit in my inbox for two months, but I’ll get to it. Eventually.

Systemic Cass sent me following news about a website ripping off the work of many logo designers:

Please check out the following post from AIGA news: http://www.aiga.org/common/newsletter/source/August2011_Action_Alert.html. Then, please check logogarden.com and go through the work on behalf of designers you know. They’ve ripped off the likes of the WWF and other major, recognizable work. Can’t tell you how pissed off and sick this makes me.

Me too, Cass. Me too.

Many of you on the site have already seen the Road Sage comic I did a little while back, all about ways of dealing with asshole drivers when you’re on a bike. I meant it not only as commentary on biking/driving, but also on conflict in general. I’ve been really happy with the feedback on that one, and while it has never been a “spike” of traffic, there has been a consistent slow burn of people commenting on that comic, linking to it from Twitter and the like, etc.

The best part is that whenever people link to it, a conversation (argument) rages about bikes and cars. People feel VERY STRONGLY on all sides. (I’m not going to start making my own beliefs known here, though if you read my comics hopefully you get the idea that cyclists are often as to blame as drivers, but that doesn’t make it right.) Well my friend Apz1 sent me word of a post on Reddit, where a user named furiouslybob had edited my comic to taking a slightly different perspective. Here’s a sample:

Systemic Apz1, summoning forth his powers of Reddit, called the guy out for not giving credit where it was due, called furiouslybob a jackass and then sent me a link to the whole thing:

I know the guy who illustrated the original comic. He’s a good a friend, and actually has a comic about how to correctly share comics on the internet, the basic tenets of which you violate. I’m sending him this repost, and I’m sure Ross will agree with me when I say you’re a jackass.

Let’s pause for a sec.

Here we have what seems like could become a heated argument. The Reddit comments are energized (there were over 400 when I saw it, 743 as I write this post). This guy furiouslybob is clearly using my comic as a starting point, and isn’t citing my site or the original comic reference (which, if you recall from a chart I did with Caldwell, is a pet peeve of mine). But, with the intent of the original comic in mind, I decided to try a calmer approach. I wrote to him, and asked him to get in touch with me (see the Reddit thread here):

Wish you’d sent it my way, I would’ve posted a link to it or something on my site. Instead the only way I find out about it is APZ1 was kind enough to send it my way. If you wouldn’t mind my reposting it, let me know at @rosscott on twitter or systemcomic at gmail and I’ll do so with your permission.

As to your point Furiouslybob, believe it or not I don’t disagree with you. There are lots of asshole bikers out there, and has been said many times over there are also asshole drivers out there as well. I think cyclists group all drivers together and drivers group all cyclists together in their heads, and truth be told there’s plenty of totally normal people that aren’t doing a damn thing wrong on both sides. Hence why the original starts with WHEN a car cuts you off, which happens all the time even when you’re obeying all the rules, and sometimes there isn’t a bike lane on every street in every city.

Glad I was able to stir the pot and get people thinking about this, and looks like you were able to spread that around a bit further.

Here’s what he emailed to me (used by his permission):

hey man,
i hope that shit didn’t offend you. i know it took some substantial time to make the original and my imitation has spelling errors and scaled imagery and fucking rage faces…  fuck even the quality of my workmanship on it’s own is enough to offend. i never meant for people to interpret my rendition of your comic so angrily.  in my head i was reading it very calmly in edward norton’s voice.  tyler’s words coming out of my mouth.  and now people seem to think i’m the angriest person on reddit. the funniest part of the whole thing is that I walk, bike and ride a motorcycle and drive so i’m well aware of how entitled it feels to be a part of any of those groups.  anyways, i’m pretty blown away by how worked up people got over it.  http://i.imgur.com/ypDd7.png it’s here if you want to use it for anything, feel free to repost, ignore, edit, mock, or whatever you see fit with it.  i also totally understand if you want me to delete it.  let me know if that’s the case.  anyways, i really hope i didn’t offend.  regardless, thanks for making great comics.
-b

There are some lessons to be learned here, which is the whole point of this post:

• MOST PEOPLE AREN’T GOOD COMMUNICATORS
  This point started as “most people aren’t good communicators on the internet” but really, I’ve had enough experience miscommunicating with people I know very well in person that I think it’s just a natural barrier to existence, and is an important thing to keep in mind. Next time you encounter another person’s seemingly crazy stance, either ignore it or hear them out. You may not be getting the whole story at first.
• SOMETIMES THE PEOPLE MOST CRITICAL ARE ACTUALLY YOUR BIGGEST FANS
  Hi, Dad!
• SOMEONE WILL ALWAYS FIND WHAT YOU DO, ESPECIALLY IF IT’S POSTED ON THE INTERNET
  That thing you said or did, that you didn’t think would get back to the person? It will. It’s called “Google Alerts” and “having a fanbase”. Watch out.
• IF YOU’RE GOING TO GET INVOLVED, START BY BEING KIND/CALM
  It’s easy to ramp up to pissed, but hard to come back from. If you start with something calm and reasoned, you can sometimes keep an all-out flame war from happening. Sometimes.
• IF YOU’RE GOING TO REMIX MY COMIC, DON’T USE ARIAL NARROW
  Please. It’s painful.

If you ever see my stuff elsewhere, please let me know! Not to call the Internet Police on people (well, sometimes) but mostly to try and get whatever traffic is seeing that to see where it came from. Or link yourself, like Apz1 did. You don’t have to yell at anyone, but let people know where it came from if you see it.

Also, if you ever parody/reference/remix my comics, send them my way! I make no garuantees about posting, and even less about keeping up with email, but I’d like to see them! systemcomic at gmail dot com is the address.

The following is something I’ve been thinking about lately. It’s not a final thought, merely something I’ve been pondering that I thought I’d share.

Some of you may or may not know, I have recently been hosting The Webcomic Beacon Newscast. It’s a discussion news roundup of the week’s comics news, with as much webcomic stuff as we can find to cover. Mostly it winds up being about plenty of other things, but recently we got on the topic of innovation in comics (you can listen here if you like). Somewhere in the middle, I started ranting about one place webcomics really need innovation: the “web” part.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

Has your future self ever come back in time to stop you from doing something? Or have you ever wish they had?

Howdy New Systemics!

Anyway, a couple important things! First of all, thanks to everyone visiting the site after SXSW. If I met you or you saw one of my talks or you picked up a card, say a quick hello in the comments. I’ll do more of a full writeup about the trip in a separate post that people who are sick of hearing about my trip can more easily ignore.

Looking for more System Remixes

I put out a challenge last night to remix an old System comic with new dialogue. I’ve already gotten a few responses but I’M LOOKNG FOR MORE! More info here »

Howdy New / Old Shirt!

Remember the “bike sniper” shirt? Just in time for the spring biking season and after a bunch of requests, I’m going to start stocking it again. For the next few days it is back into preorder sale. Go check it out and preorder info here »

Super Art Fight DC This Friday

I am super-proud to be able to say that this Friday night (as in tomorrow), I will be helping to bring the ridiculous gospel that is Super Art Fight to DC. If you’re anywhere near the DC area, come check out Super Art Fight at The Red Palace, featuring DC’s own burlesque dancer revue between bouts. Yes, that’s right, saucy ladies and Super Art Fight in ONE PLACE! All the details you need are RIGHT HERE »

A few days ago I received an email with this graphic in my DEPARTMENT OF ART faculty email:

Words could not describe my feelings on the matter. So instead of trying, I posted it on my Official Unofficial Twitter! This is where you loving Systemics come in, as long-time Systemic and all-around awesome dude Sleshy stepped up to the plate and knocked one out of the park!

If you get it, you’re in the right place. And thanks again, Systemic Sleshy! If you ever come up with something cool or even remix an old comic, send it my way! If it’s funny (and I’m not too swamped with emails) I’ll post it on the site.

Want to congratulate Sleshy? Ever received “Word art” this bad? Post your thoughts in the comments!

Unfortunately no new comic today, but I’ll see you guys at New York Comic Con this weekend! At least, I hope I will. Be sure to come by my table, even if just to say hi, and you’ll get something for free. Come by the table and say the secret word “kerning” and get a free pin or sticker just for showing up. More info on the NYCC website.

Say in the comments if you are going to be at the con, and what you’re looking forward to. My table? Another table? A panel? Share with the other Systemics!

For those curious, here’s me and Rossmom prepping all the shirts / prints last night to get ready. This was at 3:30am, I don’t know why she was awake. NOT PICTURED: Rossdad checking his email.

Hey Systemics! I’ve got some things in the works and want your input, something I’m hoping to do more of going forward. For now, let’s talk about sharing for a sec. Your answers to any or all of these questions in the comments would help me help you to help me again. To sweeten the deal, if I get over 20 people to respond I’ll post custom artwork to this thread for all! So help a dude out and answer some simple questions as much as you feel comfortable:

• Do you ever share content from this site? Comics, blog posts, whatever?
• How often do you share stuff from this site with others?
• How do you go about sharing it? (Facebook? Twitter? StumbleUpon? Digg? Your tumblr / blog? A forum? Grabbing someone and having them look at your phone / computer?)
• What types of things do you find yourself sharing? Is there any sort of theme? (It could be “articles on design” or “comics with Jimmy the Murderdog”)

I’m going to take the answers and try to better set up the content to be shared the way you share them. Thanks, Systemics!

UPDATE: Since you guys were so helpfully amazing, here’s that custom piece of art I mentioned. This is from an upcoming postcard series I’m thinking of doing. Click on the tiny for the biggy.

I’ve learned my lesson. When people say they want a thing on a shirt, they don’t want a reinterpretation of the thing on the shirt. They want the thing. On the shirt.

How’s this for a shirt design? Colors? I didn’t want to do another black shirt. Then again I want to do a shirt people will buy. So?

UPDATE: Thanks to all of your help, it’s been fixed up and is now for sale! Check it out here »