Cartilage Head

Cartilage Head 09/13/2005 « prev 1st rand curr next »

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This was the first Achewood strip I ordered signed and framed, it has never failed to make me laugh no mater how many times I read it.

Pogo... I... I don't think we can be friends any more.

You Have Proved Yourself a Coward Who Would Rate One of Achewood's Defining Moments '1'

I'm just joshing, Pogey. I still want you to be my Internet Dad. It's appropriate that, as Acheworld's elder statesman, you don't "get" some of the more surreal strips (I see you rated "Roast Beef and the Prostitute" a 1 as well). It's cool; we can't all like the same things.

Achewood's weirder moments defy description/analysis; all I can say is Onstad imbues them with a dream-like, sometimes nightmarish atmosphere I find utterly compelling. It's something you'd never see in a newspaper strip; hell, it's rare even in the alternative/indie comics scene. I've picked up a similar vibe from some of Fantagraphics' [http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=193&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=62]Ignatz[/url] series, maybe Charles Burns' graphic novel Black Hole, but closer comparisons are probably David Lynch, the Brothers Quay, and Andrzej Klimowski's "Dream Books" (am I saying Onstad is as good as those guys? Yes, I guess I am).

"Fantagraphics' Ignatz series"

That's the thing. If you appreciate it you generally do so entirely for the mood and feel of it, not for plot or dialogue like the other arcs are often appreciated for. I'm not a huge fan of it (though I do love David Lynch and Jan Svankmeyer and others that work in a similar way), but I understand what others get out of it even if I don't entirely care for it myself.

A wide-on for this comment (well, ok, a chubby then)

I am impressed by the existence of a female that would use the phrase "wide-on."

I bet she is down with eating dude-meal too.

i am amazed that this term is actual. first i'd heard of it was here.

Learn from the kids, Pogo, and Feed your Head. You shame all of us 60's generation here.

Cartilage might be a surrealistic equivalent for an open mind instead of a rock-hard skull.

Good choice. I don't know about laughing, but why not. I think it's my favorite too, way better than GOF.

Fight? Discuss? Fight!

Top 4 panels....Ray walks like Bigfoot in that Bigfoot video. Look. He does. It's exact. And that's all I can ever think of when I see him walk.

Man. Exactly. I will never read this as I did before. Bigfoot.

It's like stock footage for Achewood. I sweat it's the same two characters in the same clothes. The word bubbles change, but Ray keeps on walking either like Big Foot or like he's miming a cross-country skier.

That's right, I sweat the fuck it's the same two characters. What are you going to do about it?

Lames vs chubbies - in a battle where neither side can win, who will win?

You sweat the fuck? You should probably get thet looked at Mr. spinynorman.

Sweat cartilage fuck-bullets, are you? Not doing bloody much, is what.

I dunno... is anyone else picturing Ray walking briskly on a treadmill while Beef just stands there next to him?

He's in his socks and sliding his feet along the floor, fool.

[IMGS OFF]

Can I believe that I've never seen this footage before? No, I cannot.

He swings his arms like Ray does when he walks. Luther is not amused.

Blazer and turtleneck, that's classy.

Ray's got dressed like his man John Shaft.

the dude is hell of classy like there's no tomorrow.

This strip is one of my favorites. Dude's cryin': what hurts him more? The physical pain, or the pain of humiliation? We'll never know.

I just noticed this, but is Ray the only person in the whole audience?

Dude you can't get those tickets open-market.

How in the heck did Beef get them? Did they just all come slipped inside a cafepress blog-text shirt?

Beef has "connections."

Keep in mind that he is also an expert hacker.

I don't know why, but I've always kind of taken it as a given that he got them through Emeril and Spongebath.

I do say that ray is dressed pretty smart.
I'd get so creeped out by that guy, and would not be afraid to show it.

He is so insanely scary.

this storyline: utterly baffling to me.

this is either a grand failure or a relieving success on my part.

if you didn't get this arc, i wouldn't have wanted to be you in two years.
(well, i never did..and i still don't.)

I have to imagine the performance is at Club Silencio, from Mulholland Drive.

Oh hell and damn yes. This is exactly correct.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-3B4T5yENw

This is the warm up act.

Holy holy crap. This is even worse than when someone mentioned babies born with harlequin ichthyosis (for Christ's sake, no one look that up). Fie upon you! Fie!

Oh dude I think you made that pretty much impossible, and I am so freaked out by google image's return on that shit.

holy christ man

You know what, the first time it was brought up I was able to say, "Nuh-uh, internet. I'm going to use my willpower to resist your disturbing images!"

This time, however, I wasn't prepared. My curiosity was piqued.

Ugh.

This is exactly what happened when somebody *cough*havenless*cough* mentioned the dread harlequin icthyosis last time. Amusing but oh-so-painful to the soul.

Sorry, Mr. H, but I was pemanently traumatised. My feelings were bleeding.

that...was entirely and totally messed up. I am thoroughly disturbed and shocked.

oh GOD. why.

You know it's about to get serious when the alt text deserts you

Words cannot describe how much this arc scares me or how much I love it.

The worst part about Cartilage Head?

The sound. Man... the sound.

Oh lord. The wet crunching sound.

AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
i hate that sound. i hate that sound one kabillion times.

Oh no: that 'resetting-the-broken-nose' sound, that 'footballer's-knee-folding-backwards' sound, that creaking, snapping, moist...ugggg (passes out from the horror.)

It's the sound of a dislocated shoulder being reset, the hollow, grinding pop of something that should never be separated going back against the resistance of everything around it. I get the dry heaves just thinking about it.

Look at Ray's arms when he walks. So Ray-ish.

This was one of the first Achewood strips I ever read.

.

oh my god oh my god I am in love with this arc

I want to see Cartilege Head in a short animated feature.

Frightening. No, man, I'm serious. This whole damn story arc is sheer goddamn terror.

This was the first strip that had me uncontrollably laughing whilst being incredibly disturbed. Onstad should get a frikkin' knightship for this.

Ray's reaction, the alt text and "Yeah, I'll take it. Shit, dude". Marvellous.

Oh man, here we go again.

Did anyone else catch the tribute to Cartilage Head in this episode of Dr. McNinja?

Nice spot! I've read the entire Dr. archives more than once, but I never noticed that.

klaus � neu 6 months ago
"Top 4 panels....Ray walks like Bigfoot in that Bigfoot video. Look. He does. It's exact. And that's all I can ever think of when I see him walk."

Quoted because I could not pin down why I found his walk so hilarious.

Nailed it.

Edvard Munch would rofl in his grave.

I think soticoto meant to type "Edward Mvnch wovld rofl in his graue"

The song "Marla" by Grizzly Bear is what I hear when I read this story arc. It's incredibly haunting.

Today's Blogs

Roast Beef: Think I might have asthma

He isn't crying. That is weeping (like a wound, not like tears.)

Thanks Onstad. I will not sleep tonight.

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. No sobbing or convulsing, just a stream of slightly viscous liquid continually leaking from his eye sockets.

I just wigged myself out.

I can't believe you guys didn't get that, for some reason.

While reading these comments I actually did the uncomfortably rubbing one forearm/wrist with the other hand move demonstrated by Ray in the final panel. I think I did it at first to see what it felt like, but then found it oddly comforting. Although, obviously, there can be no comforting oneself from this strip.

Quote:

That is weeping (like a wound, not like tears.)

[IMGS OFF]

Edvard Munch in combination with Cartilage head is great

Second to last panel. I want a t-shirt.

This is my most favorite Achewood arc EVER.

Mine too. I like it when Achewood gets scary.

Those are the tears of a man who, for all of his life, was teased and abused about his misshapen head - a man who has finally found a niche in society by performing with the very medium that had made him an outcast.

If he's a cartilage head, where are his ears? Where is his nose?

To think, at the top of the strip I somehow thought that Roast Beef had won a ticket to a metal show of some kind and Ray was mildly reluctant. And then...aw hell the face with the thing and the stuff!

To be properly enjoyed the reading of this strip must be accompanied by the music of Angelo Badalamenti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8E_-9KmzEc

Reading through McNinja again, I found something cute in his science journals.
http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=3&issue=3

I love Achewood and all, and I don't think anyone is required to like it in a certain way, but am I an inferior fan because I don't pick up on some of the subtleties, just laugh at the surface jokes, or just plain don't "get" some of the strips? I dunno if it's just me bein' insecure, or anything like that, but I'd love to know what y'all have to say about that.

Don't worry! Achewood strips are so varied in style and tone, I'd frankly be a bit suspicious of anyone who claimed that every single strip in the archive had made them wheeze helplessly with laughter. It can be weird when you read a strip, don't find it especially funny, and then scroll down to find 120 comments all saying variations on 'oh man this is classic Achewood', 'anyone who doesn't give this 5 is an idiot', 'anyone who looked at panel 7 and did not immediately have the best orgasm of their life is some kind of twisted freak who hates happiness', and so forth. But then you've probably cracked up at a strip which hardly made them blink. There isn't a single 'Achewood sense of humour' which you've either got or you haven't, and anyone who says there is has just fallen victim to the inescapable human passion for cliques.

(Six months on, though, you've probably figured this out for yourself.)

1. Why did Beef double-book himself?

2. What would it be like if he had gone?

This arc should be a defining "Achewood" thing in the way that the GOF is. Every strip is a traight masterpiece.

Damn, Ray can actually pull off the Magnificent Bastard look.

found this is a google search http://flickr.com/photos/loversvhaters/2245492362/ does anyone know where I could find as such or will I have to resort to making one myself

[ur]http://www.achewoodshop.com/p-cth-18.html[/url]

[IMGS OFF]

Ramses can't stand Ray's floppy-arm walk.

the floppy-arm walk is arguable what got him into this awkward situation

karmically, I mean

Another milestone in human history.

Ye gods!

I want to comment on how good this is, but... words fail me.

I hear the most god-awful cracking sound in my head during the eighth panel. That can not be good for you, even if you are Cartilage Head.

I have to admit I'm not exactly sure what this is about, yet it manages to amaze me. Awesome comic.

Reading the original C.H. arc while listening to Mississippi Noir by JG Thirwell (A song originally from the Venture Brothers TV show) is a transcendant experience.

I think I almost vomited.

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Cartilage Head 09/13/2005 « prev 1st rand curr next »

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