A lot of my comics are kind of weird, and would make a lot more sense if I could just explain them a little. Others have little details or sub jokes that aren't very obvious that I want people to notice. So, I decided to make an annotated strip archive, where hopefully all your questions can be answered. I'mnot done yet, and I know the last few links look kind of bad without anny annotations, but it'll be fixed soon.

Summer Semester, 2000

203- Combat Program
It isn't hard to build a robot, we've had the technology for decades. The problem is the programming. There isn't much good software for robots, I don't think they can even get two arms to coordinate well, let alone a anthopomorphic construction with 30+ degrees of freedom. Of course a Dreamcast couldn't handle the calculations, but I was thinking that a very large amount of programming efforts are made in the realm of video games. So here, Exoth is making use of that programming to drive his robot armies. Of course, he doesn't get quite what he wants, but that doesn't keep him from making the best of the situation. Also I wanted to draw a killer robot dancing like Parrapa, and to say "Deathmatch Death-thousand".
204- Anti-Theft Device
This one should have been four panels. Just because, there's no change in expression to match the chnge in Chappy's mood when he realizes he can fight Robocop. Notice the shading and detail in the vending machine. That pissed me off. As usual, the buisinessman's name is Business Mann. By the way, Robocop was what I thought when I noticed the "anti-theft device statement on vending machines.
205- Get out of Jail pt. I
There's not much to be said about this one. We see some more of Officer Death, the cyborg policeman, directly after a comic about Robocop. Notice how Exoth is wholly unrepentant, and in fact speaks sarcastically.
206- Get out of Jail pt.II
The same thing again. The joke in this one is that Chappy still hasn't realized that monopoly rules do not apply to actual jail. Of course, Beireia wants him to go back to jail, but since he can get out so easily, there's not much to be gained.
207- The Atomic Bum
Another pun-inspired comic. I like the idea of a homeless superhero. How does Tatanya know what plutonium smells like? I guess you should be asking me. Actually, now that I think about it, plutonium oxide is really poisonous, in addition to emmiting deadly ionizing radiation. What do you thing of my pictorial representation of silent, invisible gamma rays? It's stupid to do, but I need to show it somehow. In cartoons, radiation is always green. If you actually look at the core of a nuclear reactor, it glows blue, because of the water curving the path of the beta particles. Whenever you accelerate a charged particle, a photon is emitted, in this case the wavelength is that of a specific shade of blue. It's quite pretty, not at all what you'd expect from scary old nuclear power.
208- Journey to the Underground City
There actually is an underground city under UT. It is really used for maintenance, ostensibly at least. Beireia is a treasure hunter, which comes up again later. I don't know why she'd go underground if she wasn't expecting to see any treasure.
209- More Deception
Exoth plays more stupid jokes on Beireia. If you look at Tatanya's Robot disguise in the second panel, you should notice the masklike quality. Exoth and Beireia's faces look bad in that panel, also. I still can't do that angle well.
210- Extreme Snowboarding
Why are the symbols for HOV lanes, bike lanes, and expert level ski slopes all the same? Are we that uncreative? I suppose I could do the reverse of this, and have a minivan barrelling down a snowy mountain. Once is enough, though. I guess this strip makes Tatanya a murderer as well, or at least an involuntary manslaughter-er. Everyone seems pretty okay with it.
303- Fortune Cookie Fun
Jeff Young, of Buffman fame, and I were eating at a korean restaurant and decided to both do fortune cookie strips the next day. I followed through, but something came up and he couldn't. At least not that day. Once again, rather than make a character design for a waitress, I just stole someone else's character.
212- The Other Part of Natural Selection
The Ninja Professor is always going on about survival of the fittest, but natural selection also involves passing your genes on to the next generation. Of course, he really just wants a girl without the hassle of dating, and uses his students for this goal.
213- Tranquilizer dart
More questionable morals here. At least the ninja professor doesn't go through with it. Also, there are not many instances of Chappy formulating a plan, let alone two in one comic. This is one of them.
214- Meditation
Ah, panel duplication. My dearest friend, my most deadly enemy. I tried to make the background look like a ninja house, but I'm not sure what that would look like. I also didn't really save any time with the panel duplication here, due to this and that. I should have learned my lesson from this, but I didn't.
215- Conlusion
This story arc wrapped up pretty nicely, I think. Notice the bag of CHiPS Chappy is eating. What a lame joke. I don't even watch that show.
216- Y? because we hate you.
I should have had a field day with Y2K, it's very pun-friendly. However, it was an overtapped vein of humor, so I held back. Once new years came and went, Y2K jokes were out of style, so noone was doing them anymore. "Now's my chance! Strike!" I thought. It was a pretty audience-hostile move, though, hence the title. A lot of people really hated this one, but a few really loved it.
217- The sadistic theory of humor
Speaking of audience-hostile moves, here is my justification for telling lousy puns. I also made another self deprecating comment about the directionlessness of the strip.
218- Exoth's rival returns
We haven't seen much of this guy lately. The problem with having such a long character list is that you obviously don't get to use characters that you like. The humor in this strip is a little weak, I'll admit.
219- Stars
I don't know what I was thinking with this one. I thought it up when I was half asleep. "This is hilarious! great!" I thought to myself. Now I just think it's weird.
220- We all scream for ice cream

221- Master Splinter
The reason for this is hard to explain. Somewhere on the internet is this weird kid's webpage with sound files of the weird prank calls he made. One of them involves him pretending to be "Master Shredder!" The desire to do a comic with master Splinter in it comes from that. The comic is really just a frame for that.
222- Pigeon Extinction Plan
Pogeons are awful creatures. In seventh grade or so I did a report on homing pigeons and learned all their endearing and useful qualities, and I still hate them. I had gone on a dove hunting trip a few days before I drew this, so I had been acting on a pigeon extinction pIan of my own. I didn't think of the third panel until the last minute. I think it's a pretty good ending.
223- Bugs can talk
I like the idea of some animal species waiting patiently for thousands of years for human civilization to bridge the communications gap between them. Then, when the fated day comes, they give the statement they've been preparing all this time, and it turns out to be just a stupid goddamn pun. I like stupid goddamn puns.
224- Mediation
I got a hate mail when this one printed. A self described animal lover found fault with the cat's fate. Now first, nothing happens to the cat, they just say they're going to tear it apart and chop it up and whatnot. If you've noticed, the Irritability cast talk a bit more than they act. Anyway, that this person protests implied violence to a cat, but not graphically depicted atrocities to human beings shows a deeply flawed value system. Am I the only one who sees this?
225- Sherrif Amoeba speaks
I don't really have an excuse for this. I was running late, and I needed a comic that would be really easy to draw, and this fit the bill quite nicely. The sarcastic clapping is from a SNL skit, the sarcastic clapping family.
226- Beireia's Quest
This series is my favorite so far. I like that it only pops up once every week, and you don't see Beireia in the other four of the week. I also like Indiana Jones, I guess it shows. The sword at the pawn shop is Soul Crusher, from Lodoss War. Also, this is yet another comic with a last minute third panel.
227- Garbage
Looking back at this one, Ionil and Chappy are acting like mother and child, especially how she can predict his actions completely. I guess it's not hard, considering his level of tactics. For a while, I had planned on having the Bananas be a relatively normal family, with Chappy as a corrupting element of insanity. That kind of broke down with the 'Ionil Banana's Flashback' series, where it was revealed that they too were pretty much nuts from the very beginning as well.
228- Tatanya's Trap
Tatanya has a serious problem with correctly gauging her enemies' ability. Really, even if Chappy HAD fallen for the trap, would having a cardboard bo dropped on him really have given him any trouble? of course not. In the second panel, I tried to make him look kind of embarrased that someone had really tried that old trick, but it didn't come out too well.
229- Olympics
Someone once asked me why Chappy didn't go into some sort of professional sport, even though he could totally dominate almost any field he chose to enter. This, and the wrestling one, derive from that idea. Also, even though I don't like to involve current events in the strip, I thought I ought to at least mention the olympics. Notice how, in the ancient Greece panel, the grrk guy looks like a statue, and Chappy is wearing ancient-type clothes, but definitely not ancient Greek-type clothes. By the way, Null-O is from a Phillip K. Dick short story.
230- Antimatter Pie
Exoth can cook, as well. He is such a great chef, that he can bake antimatter, using only flour, eggs, and sugar! Most people need huge particle accelerators. The bald kid is "Henry" from the comic strip of the same name. Pretty much every one of that strip was about Henry stealing a pie from a windowsill, so I figured he'd be the perfect culprit.
231- Beireia's Quest II
This one was incredibly hard to draw. That armor takes a long time, though not as long as it did in Beireia's Quest III. My brother had a Godzilla cigarrette lighter, (a cigarrette lighter shaped like Godzilla, not a lighter of Godzilla cigarrettes.) and I remember thinking that an ancient civilization would see it as a miraculous artifact. Also, in RPGs, I often question the reliability of information that the characters just accept unconditionally. That wise old man might not be so much "wise" as "senile", as was the case here.
232- Exoth's In-laws
Here we have exoth just making up outrageous lies for no good reason, again. The cyborg skull he's trying not to talk to is an actual product available for sale. And, for those interested in the back story behind Irritability Exoth actually was married at one point, back before he was evil.
- Fangs
Fake plastic fangs are cool, but it's even cooler to put candy corn on your teeth. In an unrelated incident, the symbol on Chappy's shirt is the mark of a sacrifice to godhand in Berserk. Gatts and Caska have it branded into their flesh.
234- One demon bug is better than two!
I really can't explain this one... I was thinking about demon bugs because the true form of the spear Beireia weilds in the Beireia's quest series is a shape changing insect demon. Some of its forms are weapons. Does anyone remember Mr. Rogers, from Mr Rogers' Neighborhood? With the trolley and everything?
235- Surprise attack
Call me lazy for using the same panel twice, but it was a really difficult panel to draw. Exoth's extra-bubble comment may seem strange, but don't cicada's sound like they're taunting someone to you? nnnnnnnyyyyeeeeh nyeh nyeh nyeh! they say.
236- Skate and/or Die!
Skate or Die was an old skateboarding video game. With Chappy Chappy's method, you can do both!
237- Beireia's Quest III
Finally, Beireia's glorious return. I just noticed that you can't see Chappy's left hand in the third panel. I guess he's feeling her up without even thinking about it. But since she's got a full suit of armor on, he can't be having much success.
238- Live to fight another day
I meant to have the batteries missing from the destroy the universe remote a long time ago, as I was starting to annoy even myself with that gag a while back. It's not too noticeable, but in the second panel, the sheriff amoeba's eyes are similar to Exoth's. And the escape pod is very similar to those in Dragon Ball Z. The dragon ball manga is a lot better, by the way.
239- Beireia's Quest Concluded
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