Pointless: Comic Guide.

Here we are at the guid to the archives. This would be the best place for a new reader to start things off, either that or the start of the latest plot. Pointless has been around in one form or another for some time now, nearly four years. As this is the case, things have changed a great deal from the start. In fact things have changed periodicly throughout the comic. The best way to look at things is that at one point or another there have been three seporate and independent comics on this site over the years. At first things were as the comic's name would lead one to belive. There were three housemates and their names were Ash Cam and Max. They had wacky andverntures much to the amusement of others... yeah. That lasted on and off for a couple of years and ran somewhere around the order of one hundred and fifty pages. After this point came a reality basied series. Basicly me and my friends would do random things and those random things would then be turned into comics. This lasted for fifty comics or so and is now over. That brings us to now, the new comics. After having done two of the webcomic staple genres, that would be the wacky housmates and real-life I desided it was yet again time for a change. The comic today isn't trying to be anything in particular. It'll have a plot, it'll have jokes, maybe it will come to be of some worth.

So to condense things:

The early comics suck, the middle comics have some redeaming qualities and the new stuff, well that remains to be seen.

Read, enjoy, or not, the text bellow may help people understand better what is going on.

20010301 the first pointless comic, drawn in January of that year by me during high school. The character design, inking style, and format are all different than that used later. The boarders for these comics were made by tracing the outline of a pencil box. I still like rounded corners. At the beginning I was going for wacky adventures without any real reason behind them. The major influences of the time include, but are not limited to penny arcade and sluggy freelance. The sluggy influence is especially strong at the start right down to the whole "wacky house-mates" thingy. I've never claimed to be original. Oh and lets not forget the cat ears... then later elf ears. I don't know what I was thinking at the time.

20010302-20010310 The original alligator dragon saga... yeah. I said it. Anyway, this was totally random, I just wrote things as I went(and I still do) and boy, does it ever show. There's a jaws reference there as well as a loony toon thing.

20010311-20010315 assorted computer based jokes. Hypnotic website, dog that wasn't hardly ever seen again and MUDs. Ah text gaming, it's sorta sad the everquest plays just about exactly the same as these and yet cost money and has graphical interface. I have yet to figure out how that happened.

20010316-20010407 Random storyline number two. Some stuff about purple llamas and giant ants... and the thing is I don't do drugs. Notable comic is 20010330 the first comic with wide inking. That's the penny arcade influence kicking in, as that comic is known for it's style which includes thick black lines... When I say it like that it sounds silly but people make issues out of this crap. Woo, thick lines.

20010408-20010422 Random videogamish comics. Also some Star Wars thrown in for good plagiaristic fun. 20010416 is the standout, phantasy star online was and still is quite cool. Also there was a time when I cared about which video game system was best, now I take no side, but then I was with the dreamcast. I'm so happy I don't make video game jokes anymore in my comics.

20010423-20010519 Cam's date saga. To this day this is the most solid comic story arch I've done. I like it still even after all this time. Also marks the introduction of a character that was never heard from again... Cam's date, who I think never even had a name... I could be wrong, I'm not really going back and reading all of these things right now. My style sorta comes into it's own for a time here and is better than a good deal of what comes after it. 20010423 marks the first color comic, and not the last. 20010428 marks the first halfway decent colored comic. I think that first one is cut a paste... I feel dirty. Selected comics throughout are also digitally shaded, you'll know when you see them, hadn't quite worked out that whole shading thing.

20010520-20010623 Oh I know lets make them have jobs! No... wait jobs are fun funny or in any way entertaining to watch... yeah. Cam apparently is a self defense trainer and Ash works as some sort of security consultant. More characters the aren't seen again in the form of the two guys in militaryish clothing. Also there's a fight scene if sorts in there, I hadn't quite worked out the proper way to do that sort of thing yet.

20010624 lets forget that all ever happened. Part one. Not the first time that abandon things to a long hiatus and a change of plot.

20010625 and 20010626 say it with me once more, cut and paste=evil.

20010627-20010716 a smathering of color. I'm sort of getting the hang of things at this point. The way I color things hasn't really changed all that much in all of this time.

20010731 whee, I got linked to by someone, at this point pointless became... somewhat known. I had more hits the I do now anyway, but falling off of the face of the earth for about a year will do that to you. I think that person is still doing a comic... situation nowhere was a cool comic.

20010731-20010903 gatlinburg(or however you spell it) sucks. Just so you people know. And if you live there I'm sorry... for you. Art's fairly good here.

20011001-20011030 alligator dragon saga two... in color. I was feeling real good about myself after I made these, they hold up so-so. Cam's sorta thin here and ash's jacket is also different than it was in the past. There are some random interludes here and there throughout as well and in 20011021 I rip of gabe's(of penny arcade) crazy I hate people at software stores thing. Yes I am a derivative bastard. Thank you for noticing.

20010331 last comic of 2001 a lot of progress for one year. Finger joke, really how many fingers should a freaking cat person have? Exactly.

20020115-20020202 The blue period. Not really depressing, just the color blue. I like the mutated mailbox idea. I break the fourth wall here again with an reintroduction. I still like the thing about ash standing with his hands in his pockets, if you look you will notice that this is still the default position for him to be in. There are a couple of reasons for this, greatest of which is that that way I don't have to draw his hands.

20020208 otter attack two. I didn't point out number one for some reason, but regardless, here is the second, and it's in color. Why otters? I don't know, but I think that it may have something to do with redwall.

20020213 comic about a game that I have never played... but the concept man! it's about monkeys sealed in plastic balls, how could I not comment on that!?

20020214-20020224 Nazi furbies... I guess it sorta has a ring to it. Lots of color lots of odd looking Cam drawings... her anatomy is off several times in this section in ways that it never was earlier. I don't know why it's like that but it is.

20020301 Last pointless comic with Ash Cam and Max for a long long time, hell Max isn't even back yet.

20020408 and 20020409 school newspaper comics, well one was actually in it, the other was vetoed... for content, guess they didn't like the streaker.

20020410 First reality based comic... yeah sort of a bit of a slow opening there. That's really a halmark of that style of comic, the first one is always a stupid introduction that isn't in any way shape or form funny. Who am I to innovate?

20020411-20020705 not really the dates that these comics were put up, but I won't dwell on that. These comics can really stand on there own. The reality experiment was fun and it made for a fairly entertaining read. Max is basically my avitar. In the original pointless, I thought it best that I didn't put myself into things name and all, it'd be a bit odd. So instead I made someone up who was almost the exact same person as myself and stuck them in there. Within the reality comics it's just Michael, or as was more often the case in real life, derenge. I could see how that may confuse many people so I made note of it.

That's it. Hope you liked the look back. I find it interesting to look and see where I have come from, it keeps me from getting full of myself. My current comics are my future embarrassment. Also, good god that was sure a lot of typing. I won't be redoing all of that for a long time.

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