Friday, February 6, 2009
Consuktive criticism
I've gotten a small amount of reader email, and recently received my first negative one. I already had the idea for this strip and was planning to use it soon anyway, so that's an interesting coincidence. Maybe not interesting enough to mention. Too late.
The message sent to me wasn't as purely negative as the ones Rob got here. I received a perhaps-valid criticism about the strip, but in an unnecessarily rude fashion. I borrowed my critic's spelling of "like". Also, the real-life email closed with "Fail.", which to me was just comic relief. I don't know who can take that term seriously anymore, in the Web context at least.
I understand that some people just won't be fans of my work, and others will offer well-intentioned criticism, which I always welcome. Then there are some people who just have negativity inside them to let loose upon the Web. Oh well... I knew it had to happen to me some time.
I saw standup comedian Brent Weinbach perform live this past November, and he told a joke with a similar punchline as the one in the last frame. I would never consciously steal comedic material. In this case I had already thought out my exact wording long before seeing Weinbach's set (which was quite good, by the way). I just thought I'd mention this for absolute clarity, and to help promote a promising young comedian. =)
