Herald_zlm.MyZeroRomance

Do I have to give my classmate's dad a check now?

Zero Like Me #70
Zero Romance #13:
Ransom Dan Pt.2: My Zero Romance
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Easter Eggs: Romance 13, sombrero man, Pringles man, and Pink Floyd man, and special shout out in final panel; Late Night with Conan's logo in Panel 1; ?uestlove afro pick drum style, Justin Pierre layer style, Order Made Radwimps style, 3 Cheers style, Alex Turner yawn style, Mikey Way style, Pansy style, The Subways' bassist style, Tony Thaxton kit style; Shawn Harris leap style; I'm Not Okay (I Promise) and Back to the Future refs.

Fun Facts: My gosh, this was insanely fun to write, draw, and research. So much fun just getting as ridikalus as possible.

Baa: It feels like I haven't Heralded in forever...man, I miss it. What a way to get back in it, though. Wish it was always this fun.

Toldja I was starting a band! EP coming soon offa my label, Deathreux Records. It's gonna be hot like Ebola, kid.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.Multiplayer

Garry McGruder owns African-American Lotuses!

Zero Like Me #69:
Ransom Dan Pt.1: Multiplayer
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in Panel 2; some Magic cards (prize if you can name them all, you freaking nerd) in Panel 3.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is based on Fair Haven Elementary, plus an aerial shot of 'Nam. As I was drawing this, I noticed it had started snowing outside, so I went back and drew snow onto the buildings, and then when I finished inks, it had stopped snowing and all the rooftop white disappeared, so I was doomed to inaccuracy from the start!

This has got to be the WORST, most embarrassing error I've ever let slip into a comic--okay besides this--in panel 2, I forgot to flatten the image before correcting image rotation, so my legibility-correction ended up just making it worse...doomed efforts again.

Baa: As I was writing this very post in Commons after breakfast, a herd of footballistas were huddled over my comic on the table across from me. I mozied over to find them arguing over which cards were Easter Egged in the comic! One guy tried to convince me we were looking at Brainstorm or something! I was like, "Actually it's [blah], trust me, I drew it." Oh how we laughed! And here I thought the footballas and I had a blood feud. Anyway, they seemed like nice chaps (I've only ever met one less-than-cool football player, come to think of it).

The Brainstorm guy laughed nervously, "Man, we're all such nerds," and we parted ways. Let the record show that it never occurred to me before coming to Yale that Magic could be considered nerdy. D&D on the other hand...ew.

I know they're going to beat Harvard next year. Watch.

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YDN_zlm.YTuMamáTambién

Why would you try to tick off the one person who tolerates your company?

Zero Like Me #68:
Y Tu Mamá También
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3. Fetal position.

Fun Facts: You can win any argument if you ignore your opponent fast enough.

Baa: I can't stand bullying--people with power ought to act responsibly. I see this issue as an ultimate expression of bullying. I can fathom those extreme cases everyone always cites, but unless it's that grave, how dare you speak for someone else (and so fatally)? It's not like there's zero chance those few cells will become a baby, if you just let it carry on, it will become a full fledged human--it's someone being sentenced to death before it can even issue a defense. I cannot understand how others cannot understand that.

You ever get picked on by a bigger kid and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it because you're physically weaker? It freaking sucks to be so powerless, utterly at someone else's mercy. But imagine if rather than punching you, he kills you. That really freaking sucks. Tell you what, I'm going to call today's subject "recreational abortion," since that gets to the point pretty well. I can't understand recreational abortion. Why would you even let yourself get into such a position in the first place? I cannot understand it--that's what Zero Ethos is all about.

Wouldn't it be funny if everything I drew and wrote on this site was just for lulz and I didn't mean any of it? Tee hee.

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YDN_zlm.SoBad

Just wanna ram your hand straight through your skull, don'tcha?

Zero Like Me #67:
So Bad
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" and napping Nyao in panel 1. Charlie Chaplin clothes. "RC ftw," or "Arsi = ha x2" in panel 3, referencing a Yalie who got ridiculously ripped off, so he will not get to open at the Winter Show, meaning my Easter Egg'd forecast is looking pretty good...yay?

Fun Facts: Garry never actually appeared in the YDN before, but he debuted in the Herald here. As his dad and brother are off at war, he is immensely proud of his military heritage and always wears his dad's old dog tags, based on a real kid I tutored a couple summers ago.

Baa: I am dumbstruck by how strikingly dumb some Yalies' speech comes off due to their insistence on using uselessness like "so good" as if it in any way communicates anything. I wanted to do violent things to my skull when I was stuck in a waiting room listening to a feemyalie prattle on and on about how XYZ was "SO good," literally her estimation of everything positive. I also can't stand the slaughtered use of "awkward," the intentional use of "Um" as if it's actually a word, and (more peripherally) freaking vocal fry. I lose a chunk of my mind at every Herald meeting because of some combination of the above, but it's mainly the blackboard-scratching vocal fries everyone is required by law to do while they address the board.

My gosh, I'm cringing just thinking about how much this comic conjures all these gross vocalizations.

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YDN_zlm.ScopeTrials

You smug, little elitist, you!

Zero Like Me #66:
Zero @ YDN Pt.2: Scope Trials
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in section 2.

Fun Facts: This story sequence of comics originated last year, but was edited out at the last minute, and unfortunately that comic marked the beginning of a burnt bridge, I believe (apologies to you again, RSR).

Baa: I get seriously grossed out touching door handles, which is a reason I hate not wearing long sleeves.

Three days, three comics done.

Man...that's tough. I am exhausted.

That's what she said.

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YDN_zlm.Bum

That can't be healthy...

Zero Like Me #65:
Bum
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. "Borges," stupid flipping "Borges" in panel 3...Borges. "Bore" is even in his name!

Fun Facts: Today's setting is--wait for it--Labyrinth Books. No matter how well I think I scout my locations, I always leave something out, in this case, good shots of the shops behind Laby, like the wonderful Yorkside Pizza, which I only now realize has a crystal clear picture of itself on its website...

Baa: Speaking of the Yorkside area, I went to Cutlers to pick up the new Motion City Soundtrack album, "My Dinosaur Life," and was greeted by the most ridiculously friendly cat I've ever met! Such a cute little pudgy guy! An excellent mascot and ambassador for a shop, like a dog's spirit with a cat's body.

Oh, and shout out to my old editor, who killed this comic a year ago...!

Ok, Wednesday's thrilling conclusion on Friday.

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YDN_zlm.ShticksAndStones

Drop it like it's hot...a steaming, hot pile.

Zero Like Me #64:
Zero @ YDN Pt.1: Shticks And Stones
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2. My darling Harkness in Panel 2.

Fun Facts: I was so happy to notice Harkness peeking out from behind all that atrocious construction stuff, so I knew I had to work it into the comic, which makes today's setting a JE rooftop.

Baa: Eye contact is overrated...and ridiculously uncomfortable 90 percent of the time.

It looks like we're finally making progress on the YDN online front, so that's great. It will also make Part 2 of this comic delightfully ironic! Since I got Monday off for MLK, I'll have a comic for Thursday, as well.

Aww yeah.

Reuxben

YDN_sls.BelieveIt

 

Trust your friends with your life, it's Sick Little Suicide #17, "I Can't Believe It's Not Better (Believe It!)" in which we talk about a story that actually matters to me.

It's like they know me!

Easter Eggs: The ties indicate how much I care about the host. The speech bubbles' interactions indicate how the hosts're related to each other. Jay Leno is not seriously bummed at all, hence "believe."

Fun Facts: I'm not very good at likenesses! Also, I got a little physically ill having to draw Carson Daly, but I have to admit, his new format is not as cringe-worthy as his old talk show format (but enough with the grainy film projector thing--we get it, you're a hip, young, and rebellious indie guy...or something).

Baa: As much as I like Conan, Craig Ferguson has definitely become the highlight of the late night scene for me. I don't dislike Jay, he's always been a comfortable opener to my late night routine, but he's lost a ridiculous amount of credibility in my eyes. Jimmy Fallon's coming along well, but he's still got miles to go before he sleeps and I just watch for the Roots and Higgins. Carson's no longer an utter embarrassment, but not worth watching if you can find the remote.

NBC never should have promised Conan Tonight until Jay was really ready to leave, so I can only really blame NBC for all the trouble, but having committed to the decision, Jay Leno now does share in the responsibility. The original version of this comic was to compare how Jay Leno previously skewered executives for not sucking it up and doing the right thing (rejecting their unearned bonus money) and how he's being a hypocrite now that he's essentially getting an unearned bonus in regaining Tonight. If he wanted to be honorable, he would stick to his word after having made the pledge and reject Tonight, solving all this controversy, although he was not the source of it at all, only an accessory. I wish Jay Leno would have put his foot down 5 years ago, so that at least all this would have went down before the transfer.

In any case, I feel sorta in a similar boat as Conan in that I recently started a new gig (YDNing 3 times a week), but feel cheated by my "network" because they aren't putting comics online competently (if ever) as they have continually promised to my face they would since 2008. It's like NBC giving Conan the Tonight Show but at 12:05am: it's not what he signed on for, it's sneaky and dishonest to the spirit of the agreement between the talent and the management, even though it's technically within the management's power.

Again, YDN Editor-in-Chief paul.needham@yale.edu calls the shots at 202 York. I wonder if half of the people in 202 are doing now what they want to do for the rest of their lives? Wouldn't it be funny if they're all working at the YDN just for kicks, to kill time between classes? Hilarious. Believe it.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.LarryBrantley

Stop making excuses, you has-been.
And Borges, you need to back the crack off of every literature syllabus.

Zero Like Me #63:
Larry Brantley
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2. Larry Brantley spoke dog.

Fun Facts: I still don't know street names yet, but today's setting is the one with the second Hull's, the DocuPrint, and the original Willoughby's. Zero likes to go on top of rooftop ledges and test his balance. He tells Nyao he's trying to fly, when really he's trying to fall when she's not looking--Oh, wait! It's Church Street, right? Because there's only a church right in the comic! Yeah...Pretty sure it's Church Street.

Baa, which is to say, People of Earth: To recap, I stepped away for the most part from the Herald as an artist so that I can focus on YDN comics this semester, with the understanding that we were finally going to get YDN online support, but that support has arrived like how an evil genie grants a wish: finding the sneakiest way to technically fulfill the request without following the spirit of the wish. If they do put comics online, they get ninja'd into existence in the "recent multimedia section," which I can't even link to, but is located for a limited time in the bottom right of any photo you click, otherwise you have to hunt for my typo/error-ridden YDN online profile, which they also promised to clean up, but haven't. As far as I know, they are not even discussing their promises to get the online comics section up, to be in step with pretty much every other Ivy (and common sense expectations for a college paper's website). What is particularly jarring is how I have heard multiple YDN editors tell me how the YDN tries to downplay the existence of "Scene," seeing it as a semi-separate entity from the "real" YDN, but even this phantom section gets an entire chunk of the website, even getting top billing over the more official Cross Campus sub-site. Comics aside--how is that arrangement even possible? What deathgrip does Scene have over the YDN that the paper's "proper" editors have to submit to these editor-proclaimed outsiders?

So as much as I hate speaking seriously in the second-person, if you feel inclined, I encourage you to please email the YDN EIC:
paul.needham@yale.edu telling him to honor his and his predecessor's long-unfulfilled promise to put comics online in a reasonable fashion, meaning that they put comics on the front page just like any other part of the paper, traditionally placed under the blue "week" box, just like how the previous (08-09, 09-10) boards used to before the 2010 board developed amnesia about how they used to do their own jobs. There is a double standard at the YDN/everywhere between prose and comics and of course comics get treated like dirt. It is frustrating, it is tiring, and it is insulting. Say an artist wants to draw for a living--he would benefit those career aims in having a share of the audience the YDN site has, obviously. But why are even the most mundane or niche prose pieces, written on a whim or for personal amusement, or general recreation, getting put online properly meanwhile staff comics get the absolute minimal support possible, assuming they get any support at all?

Comics are literally a discriminated minority and the man is keeping us down. I can't play a race card, but I will play the medium card--the YDN is mediumist against comics and the world is just fine with that, which is sick. To be fair, I am a mediumist myself and I gladly spit on any prose columnists I see whenever they make eye contact with me. And no, I do not support heteromedium marriages. Because then what's next--marrying box turtles? I don't think so.

And to assure that this post gets viewed, I will now mention the one thing that always brings all the boys to the yard: Yale Ex!t Players. Ex!t Player. Ex!t. Yale Exit Players. Exit Players. Exit.

Okay?

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.DissContent

Now is the winter of our...

Zero Like Me #62:
Diss Content
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Easter Eggs: Unappetizing me in panel 1, "Yale" in panel 2, Satori on sweater, loathsome threesome on shirt, Professor Oak's haircut, callback to Nyao's first helpful explanation.

Fun Facts: This comic had to be churned out fast, after another script got the axe, but especially so that I could respond to this story in a timely fashion. Also, those three shirt things will rip you off like it's going out of style.

Baa: I cannot understand why people are going nuts for this comedian (I was pulling for Bill Burr). On stand up merits, where is all this hype coming from? Nevertheless, I'll go for the same reasons I went to see Dat Phan: to see if the guy can deliver contrary to my expectations and because it's not every day you get to see stand up at Yale. It's win-win, though: either he bombs and I'm right, or he kills and I have a good time.

But betcher bottom buck I'm banking on him bombing, buddy boy. (Not really, but I love alliteration, and hope for a great show).

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.CarpeDino

Maybe next time you'll think twice about being optimistic.

Zero Like Me #61:
Carpe Dino
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is ye olde 202 York; the gang is back home, and yet we feel like strangers. Also, this comic is not based on any actual happening, just my lovely imagination; my dean is wonderful. The truth of my comics usually resides in the first couple of panels, and normally the last couple are where fiction thrives.

The YDN versions tend to be less polished than the versions on this site, yo.

Panel 2 was supposed to be panel 1 but the pencils were coming out well, so I swapped dialogue and then flipped the panels via computer magick.

Baa: This comic goes out to the three that started it all yet are never named. Pretty sneaky, sis.

Seize the Dino!

Reuxben

Fun_WeirdFight

Final round...
Ready?



FIGHT!!





Reuxben

Fun_BigKappa_MO

I just learned that I might be able
to return to Japan
as early as
this summer.

So here's the Making Of
that Big Kappa piece,
which I drew
in the land of the rising fun
in 2008.

And with any luck...

if I do return to Japan...

it will last a couple years

...

or so

!

And speaking of returns...

it's finally time to go

back to Yale.

Yes!

The only downside

being

of course...

this is my very last

"back to Yale."

No!

...

Reuxben

Fun_BitterWork

Almost time,

(Most all time)

It's almost time:

The final round--

Dress two the nines,

Four dancing six feet under,

It is almost time, all/most time!

Reuxben

Fun_SappyNewYear

That dreaded 2010 has finally come...only 5 months left.

But from the Tokyo Werewolf, a song guaranteed to get you pumped for the new year, it's Ukifune by GO!GO!7188.

Anyway, I wrote a bunch of comics I'm really excited about, can't wait to get back to comicsing and abusing Zero. Although I gotta be honest, I don't quite care for the curricular part of "back to school," you know? New Years resolution's the same as last year: Try and do, open and socialize.

Let's go.

Reuxben