Comic: Hollow Oak University – #27 – The Berkeley Experience

WARNING: DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY INTO THE COMIC LASER. DOING SO MAY RESULT IN UNINTENTIONAL LASIC AND COMEDY.

Berkeley’s idea of a snack bar included focused light. As much as I love lasers (they may cause ablation, yay!), I don’t think you would want a pimply teen handling a laser behind the counter at your local megaplex. And, given Berkeley’s track record, I don’t think you would want him to handle it either. I do love Bryn’s reaction to first seeing the laser, pretty much summing up how anyone would feel seeing Berk and that device together in the same room. That is, immediately calling it a doomsday machine. Unfortunately for Berkeley, it is more like a doomsdate machine. Dimming the lights may be a romantic gesture, but blowing a fuse and killing the lights is decidedly not. And they didn’t even get to check out the hilarious end credits outtakes of the movie!

Sean stressed to me how hard the background was to draw this week. I think he did a splendid job. That “M” shape in the third panel just blows me away every time I click over to the comic to figure out what to say about it. I think the art in the first three panels stand out even more and is eye popping cause of the lights out gag in the final panel. Negative space, anyone? No? Add in the fact that Sean is nearing his own Ph.D. defense and dissertation editing and the fact that the art came out this way and not half-assed (say, like my Back of the Envelopes) speaks volumes of his talent.

Now, don’t let him know that I said that or he will think he doesn’t need me with all that talent and I won’t get to write another strip.

-Beerman

Comic: Hollow Oak University – #26 – Success

Berkeley using SCIENCE! to win over Bryn is nothing new. Here though, Berkeley is a little more direct and it actually works out for him. But, as one relationship blossoms, another one seems to be annoying, I mean, being pushed aside. Chester pops in out of nowhere (well, I guess somewhere, but not somewhere you’d expect a scientist to be). Berkeley says no. And we are left wondering how the heck Chester got into the vent in the first place. Like most things about Hollow Oak, it is probably best not to think about it. Just laugh and tell your friends.

Is it summer already? The answer is yes. What does that mean for me? Work. Heat. And I am not talking about those in thermodynamic and flow terms. Except for the heat part. But if that’s what summer entails, then that’s what I must endure until the fall. When it will hopefully be Work. Cold.

Going back to the Chester and the vent, I think Sean did a good job with the reveal. It is comical, and yes, a bit cliche, but with the coloring and Berkeley’s body language it is really sold well. So did you guys buy it?

-Beerman

Comic: Back of the Envelope – #39 – How’d That Happen?

Little do you all know all those plotholes and leaps of logic are part of my master plot and plan. It’ll all make sense when the strip ends. Maybe.

Comic: Hollow Oak University – #25 – Book Ends

It is always weird editing another person’s paper or dissertation. At first, you don’t really concentrate on what they are saying, but how they are saying it. Mainly because you don’t want to know what they are doing in case it brings your own research to shame. And in the case of Berkeley, whose experiments and their “results” we have chronicled here, it isn’t a stretch to think that whoever this student is, their research is a tad more successful than Berkeley’s. So out come the knives. But Berkeley is a smart enough fellow to actually admit to Chester (and himself) the reason why he is doing it. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, that self-awareness, but at least Berkeley’s got it.

According to Sean, Book Ends are the blue bird creatures in the background. He says, and I quote:

Small bird like creatures that live in Dirigible libraries and eat book mites. They spend most of their time sleeping and propping books up. It’s hard to tell if they are asleep or not, which makes them seem like they are always looking at you disparagingly for not getting enough work done.

Slowly, but surely (and don’t call me Shirley), the Hollow Oak Universe is expanding, which is totally contradicting early scientists’ claims that said the universe is contracting.

-Beerman

Comic: Back of the Envelope – #38 – Something’s Knocking

Seriously, I need a job.

Comic: Hollow Oak University – #24 – Sharing the Pain

What good is power without delegation? Also, karma is a word that rhymes with witch that isn’t itch. Berkeley learns these two lessons the hard way when Dr. Harvey assigns him a paper to edit. Hopefully Berkeley is a competant editor. And a paper can’t spontaneously combust, can it? So at least Berkeley’s next project will actually follow the safety codes. We can only hope. Or maybe not, as Berkeley’s misadventures are hilarious, to at least us, the audience. Who is safe behind our computer screens.

Summer’s here and with that heat. And with the heat, air conditioning. And with air conditioning comes great responsibility. Don’t you just love the upcoming seasons until they actually get here and you remember why you hate that particular season? Summer used to hold such promise of vacations and slacking off. Now it holds the promise of heat and humidity. Where did it go so wrong?

A couple of over the shoulder POVs in this week’s strip, which Sean pulls of masterfully, which he always does. It was really back to basics. Heh, I made a pun.

-Beerman