/Silly

Todays comic is based on real life events. Now, I don't want to give you the wrong impression - I am no WunderTank. Hell, I leveled as Retribution back in the days when Ret Paladins were laughed at and spit upon, and only switched over to Protection to help Mandie out when tanks were few are far between. But It just seems like the people that tank for our battle group nowadays are setting the bar so amazingly low that I look like an impenetrable wall of aggro hoarding in comparison. And this means two things for me: 1) I tank for Mandie when I can and 2) I write a comic to immortalize the issue in JPG form. Hopefully you get a chuckle out of this, or at the very least, shake your head sadly at how true it is.

I apologize for not having comics up for the past two weeks, but between Real Life[TM] and attending E3, I didn't have the time, energy or gumption to create new artwork for you. I like to think I have some readers our there I am entertaining with these comics, and I feel bad when I let you (hypothetically) down. I will try my best to be more consistent with my posting for those of you who are out there, imaginary or not.

Welcome once again, friends and family, to another episode of my /Silly little web comic. This week we return to world of Azeroth, just in time to find a new father struggling with the unfortunate side effects of bringing a bundle of joy into this world. Whether on a distant fantasy world or here on our very own Earth, some problems are universal, though the way our Orcish friend decides to solve his squalling issue is a little... untraditional.

As a side note, today's comic marks the return of a certain overzealous, cotton candy haired warrior who seems to repeatedly get the short end of an already short stick. I almost feel bad for her. Almost. But not enough to prevent me from putting her through the ringer a few more times.

Thanks for coming around to my little corner of the Internet for another peek inside what little bits of my mind I can spill out on digital paper. I hope you are enjoying my comics as much as I enjoy making them.

-Arthur "Arturis" Orneck can entirely sympathize with the characters in this weeks strip - the baby in particular. Now that the comic is done, he can go drink some milk, burp, and cry himself to sleep.  

Let me start off by saying that I love the Diablo series. In fact, "love" may be too simple a word the define the dynamic relationship we have. In the past, I have dedicated countless hours to enjoying everything that Diablo and Diablo II had to offer. I will admit that I've had my indiscretions - I have dallied with Torchlight, Titan Quest, Sacred and Sacred 2, but I swear the whole time I was thinking of you, Diablo. It was always meant to be you.

So you can understand my emotional agony at having to wait 12 long years for the next installment of the series, which is 3 times as long as the development time between Diablo 1 & 2. Taking that trend to its next hyperbolic conclusion, however, is exactly the kind of thing I do around here at /Silly, so it lends itself directly to today's comic. Let me know if you enjoyed it or not in the comments below. And lets all hope and pray that this comic never comes true.

-Arthur "Arturis" Orneck has fought the forces of hell on so many occasions, he now has a parking pass in purgatory and everyone shouts his name when he enters, like how they greeted Norm on Cheers.

Good morning and happy Tuesday, good readers! It is time to administer another dose of the radioactive isotope we call /Silly. Don't worry, I'm sure your insurance will cover it. 

This week, we step away from the World of Warcraft  I so love to poke fun at to cross over into some other popular gaming worlds for a quick love connection. Think of this as an episode of the Dating Game, only cross platform, genre and franchise.

Bachelor number one likes sitting around and doing absolutely nothing, and his turn offs include incineration and being left behind.

Our lovely Bachelorette enjoys journeying through the stars, rolling through tubes and acquiring new shiny accessories, but hates space pirates and giant brains. It is a match made in advanced transformational geometry heaven - at least until he finds out that she is not at all what she appears.

Come back next week, and there will be another comic here to greet you once again. Until next time, friends!

- Arthur "Arturis" Orneck tries to remember it this way when he is fighting his way through planet Zebes: Freeze before missiles, Metroids go sizzle. Missiles before Freeze, you're lunch. Um... Jeez.

Once again we take a moment to explore the /Silly side of the World of Warcraft. In our latest installment, a Resto Druid learns that there is a good reason for the 30 second limit to Tree of Life form, and in fact, it may be 25 seconds too long.

A little background for non-WoW players, Druids who chose to be healers get the ability to turn into an ancient tree that boosts the healing power of some of its spells. For several years, the developers at Blizzard Entertainment allowed the Druid to stay in Tree form for as long as they wished, but they were not allowed to cast non-healing spells in that form. When Cataclysm arrived, however, they changed Tree of Life Form to be a limited duration spell, but also lifted the spell restrictions from it. In its current incarnation, it acts as a "power surge" to allow you to crank out really powerful heals for 30 seconds out of every 3 minutes, which could often turn the tide of a losing battle into the shallow wading pool of victory.

Coincidentally, (or perhaps not!) the Cataclysm expansion also brought along with it the werewolf-like Worgen. It was only a matter of time before someone (me) put two and two together and got five (this comic). Enjoy this weeks comic, take some time to browse the archives or visit GameGeex.com, and I will see you back here next Tuesday for more /Silly-ness.

- Arthur E. "Arturis" Orneck has often wondered to himself, if a Tree Form Druid falls in the woods, does it make a dying emote?

Welcome, friends, to another installment of the /Silly-est webcomic on the Internet! Today's episode sends us deep into the Firelands, a place where everything is either naturally combustible, or soon to become so. We join our raiding heroes mid-break, as the group finishes up reclaiming the scattered remains of having their collective asses handed to them from one of the many savage bosses that reside there. Unfortunately, years of studying foul tomes and demonic rituals under very poor lighting has left our resident warlock with less than adequate vision, and that leads directly into Mr.McGoo-like hijinx.

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by my tiny little corner of the world wide web. Be sure to tip your waiter, and I'll see you next week.

-Arthur "Arturis" Orneck knows what its like to not be able to see straight; Most of his best artwork is done when he is half blind from sleep deprivation.

Welcome to the first, all new, 100% original chunk of content for /Silly since 2007! I cannot express how much I've missed drawing these comics, so I have finally caved in to my artistic cravings and decided to force myself back into the commitment of drawing one comic per week, much like an organ grinder monkey dancing for your depraved entertainment (except with far less ground organs). Look for a new comic every Tuesday morning to help make your patch day go a little smoother. And now that /Silly is not directly on WoWInsider, I can open up the comics to more topics outside of the World of Warcraft! Oh, the possibilities are endless! Less than end, I tell you! We are going to have so much fun, just you wait. (Bwahaha...)

Speaking of World of Warcraft, the game that we all love to be /silly in has changed significantly over the past four years, so I figured it was only fitting that I return to the world of web comics with a cutting edge WoW related topic: The currently-in-beta Mists of Pandaria expansion. While the initial reception to the announcement of this expansion was fairly mixed, overall the majority of the vocal minority seem to have started to warm up to the idea of Kung Fu Pandering our way across Azeroth. Well, except this guy. Definitely not him. I think someone shoryuken'ed in his cereal bowl, if you know what I'm getting at.

Thanks for taking a moment to stop by and read my humble web comic, bee-tee-double-ewe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed putting it out there for you. Please be sure to register here and comment, as well as check out the other site currently live on the Blogomancer Engine, GameGeex. Our team of writers are hard at work making sure you have something to read when you are not. Give them the love and support they deserve and they will keep doing what they do.

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on November 27th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

I will come right out and say it - it is just plain silly how incredibly under appreciated mages are. I'm not referring to how they are treated on the forums for how much DPS they can dish out or what absurdly high numbers they can crit up to. No, I'm talking about the services that mages do for others on a daily basis. As illustrated in today's comic, they open rifts through the fabric of reality to help you get around quickly and conveniently, and far more amazing then that, they give you food. How can you beat that? Next time you are munching down on a health and mana rejuvenating slice of conjured heaven, take a moment to give some kind words or a hug to your guild's resident chef/chauffeur. Every time you thank a mage, an angel gets its wings. (and then a warlock rips them off and sets them on fire, but that is a fairy tale for another time)

 

This is the first comic Ive done that draws from a source outside of the Warcraft Universe, and I'm hoping that the majority of our readers will "get it" even with the external reference. The way I see it, we WoW players do not live in a gaming vacuum - we are aware of other worlds out there beyond our cherished Azeroth, and possibly even spend time in them ourselves. As always, I will keep a close eye on the comments to gauge how well this little diversion came across. If you like it, you will let me know. If you don't, you will let me know even more verbosely. But hey, at least we have our new comment system so you can all show how much you agree/disagree with each others opinions, and all this feedback will help shape the comics to come. At least, until you all figure out my home address and assemble the lynch mob. Let me just state for the record that I'd hate to be burned at the stake... again.

 

Every Tuesday, Arthur E. "Arturis" Orneck posts another hand drawn snapshot into his demented little mind, because he learned way back in kindergarten that its polite to share, unless what you are trying to share is lycanthropy, vampirism or the T-Virus.

 

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on November 20th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

I would assume that the life of a warlock is saturated in paranoia. To start with, it is a well known fact that 'locks play loosely with that whole "morality" concept. Both the Alliance and Horde tend to distrust them, and for good reason; never leave a warlock alone with your virgin daughter if you don't want bloody demonic ritual mess all over your carpet. Worse then that, however, is the unspoken truth that Zahktib or Jhar'kruk or whatever the heck randomly named demon they currently have as their minion is doing so entirely under coercion, and most likely has dark, bitter, perhaps slightly silly revenge thriving in their shadowy demonic minds, as illustrated in the comic above. Special thanks go out to a strategically placed forearm/bracer, preventing me from having to submit the image for ESRB approval or label the post NSFW.

 

As long as we are on the subject of warlock pets, one question has puzzled me from the moment I first saw their big blue gaseous level 10 companions:

 

Why are they called Voidwalkers, when don't have any legs?

 

No no, don't answer. Just ponder it for awhile. Let it rot away a few layers of precious brain cells. You'll thank me for it later, as those specific cells were the ones that were going to spark up next week and convince you that you should re-roll as a Dwarven melee hunter that only uses throwing weapons for ranged pulls. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight.

 

Arthur E. "Arturis" Orneck sold his soul for the honor of drawing this weekly web comic that you partake of each Tuesday morning. The WoW Insider staff went to great expense to have a real-world warlock turn it into a large purple shard, which he gets sent photos of once a week from various exotic locations, much like the gnome from Amelie.

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on November 13th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

Clicking the above image will reveal the wondrous enigma that is this week's /silly comic. The inspiration for this comic actually came from one of my guild mates, who has a rather neglected level 70 warrior main trying to find her niche in the endgame world. The complaints I have heard about the strong weaknesses of each of the three warrior trees seemed like ripe pickings for a comic, so I went ahead and paraphrased in the most humorous way I could fashion. From a personal standpoint, I can't really take sides on the issue of where warriors stand compared to the other melee classes. It is well established that my main is a retribution paladin, and on top of that my highest level warrior is only level 23, so I am lacking in the experience to speak authoritatively. Deku, the adorable orc featured today, is only just coming to the point where talents factor into the game. Bonus points to those that know where the name came from, by the way.

 

So I hear there is a patch of some sort today? Did you guys hear anything about that? Man, I wish someone would mention it somewhere...

 

Arthur E. "Arturis" Orneck spends way too much time staring at monitors, whether it is for web development, gaming, or drawing on his tablet PC at odd hours of the morning in order to get this blasted web comic posted on time every Tuesday morning, so that all you fantastic readers have something to stare at while servers are down for maintenance.

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on November 6th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

"Welcome, stranger. Pull up a stool and make yourself at home. Say, you look like you're a bit run down this morning. Tuesday gotchya down? I here ya. But I think I've got just the thing to perk you up. Nothing gets your blood pumping like a stiff shot of /silly. This ones on the house. I told ya last time, your money is no good here."

 

Once again I have pulled from my epic stable of alts to fill a starring role in this week's comic. The legendary Banhammer, level 9 dwarf warrior extraordinaire, is here to get his drink on. Which is what he does best. And most often. Not that I'm insinuating that he has a drinking problem, but he often refuses to enter combat unless he is properly "buffed". And by "buffed", I mean "completely sloshed out of his gourd." It's a time honored dwarven tradition, I hear.

 

It may be the lack of sleep talking, but I'm actually quite happy with the way this comic turned out. I employed a different technique of coloring that I had found in a digital art magazine a few months back, and the results are a lot more clean and professional then I had expected. Perhaps we will see more of this style in the near future - or perhaps I'll switch to drawing stick figures with sidewalk chalk, just to keep you guys on your toes. Expect the unexpected!

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on October 30th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

"Ah, there you are. Caught me in the midst of an epic tome, I must say. Please, do have a seat by the fire, and welcome... to Blade Masterpiece Theater. Zug zug, good chap."

 

This week's dose of silly is a nice one panel sight gag that can be considered anything but high brow humor. I am fairly happy with how the shading came out on this one - once again I seem to be in good graces with the patron saint of Corel Painter, and I hope that particular buff doesn't fade any time soon. As always, I am constantly experimenting with the process I use to create these comics. In this particular instance, I left the sketch mostly intact, skipped the inking phase and went straight to coloring. The final results are less "clean" but more pleasing to the eye, I think. More experiments to follow in the coming weeks, I assure you.

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on October 25th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

This week's delayed example of "the silly" features a small PvP skirmish, cut decidedly short in a way that would be technically impossible due to a minor thing called global cool downs, but suspending that tiny fact for a moment allows this minuscule joke to flow a little bit better.

 

I would like to keep an open line of communication between you and I, my blog reading friends, and so I will be completely honest when I say that I'm not at all happy with how this one came out. There *was* supposed to be shading, but it was so botched that I felt it was better to strip the comic back to it's base flat colors in order to get the comic up and mark this one down as a loss. It's a shame, too, as I think the joke itself has a lot of merit if I could only get the art to communicate it a little better. Let's see if I can hit that goal for next week.

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on October 16th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

You know, this strip is called /silly, and it's the one dedicated place here on WoW Insider where you don't have to worry about the weight of the world (of Warcraft), but I dont think this guy pictured above is enjoying himself in the slightest. If looks could kill, poor Mr. Tauren would probably cause a very slow and painful death to anyone who met his gaze, like being run over by a steamroller or being nibbled to death by ravenous toothless kittens. I can't really blame him for being miserable, though. The WoW Dev Team in the fictional alternate dimension he is stuck in seem to have it out for his entire race. Click the image above to find out what I'm talking about. For those who weren't around during the original Beta, here is a little bit more info about what you missed. [old broken link removed] Don't worry, we wont hold it against you. (Slacker :P)

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on October 9th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

Sometimes we, as players, do some incredibly silly things. Even after, say, 45-50 levels of dealing with the character, learning the tricks of the trade and the ways of your class, we can still make mistakes which may or may not lead to our certain doom. In the case of our poor Tauren friend in this week's comic, that certain doom is very, very certain and all together rather doomish. Clicking on the big florescent green "Click Here" symbol will reveal this doomed fate to you, but don't say I didn't warn you: There will be doom involved.

Speaking of doomed fate, somewhere just beyond this sentence there is likely a link that says (more...) and clicking on it will more then likely provide you this elusive "more" they keep promising all over the Internet. Go ahead, click it. You will see.

Read more...

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on October 2nd, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

Greetings all! Welcome once again to another /silly, my weekly attempt to bring a little spark of humor into your topsy-turvy lives. Today I would like to introduce you to the lovely lady pictured above. But not until after "the jump", as the cool kids are calling it nowadays. No, really, they do call it that. You just can't make something like that up.

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on September 25th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

Greetings, my brothers in arms! Once again it is time to delve into the land of my artistically rendered personal views on this walk of life we call World of Warcraft. A few hours of private investigations deep into my inner psyche brought forth this small one panel sight gag, aimed at those sultans of swing, the Feral Druid. Since this ended up being a mere one panel affair, I invested extra time into the quality of the art, so no one should feel that they wasted their money for nothing.

Addendum: Check after the jump for a nifty bonus pic!

Read more...

This is a repost of the old /Silly comic, originally posted on WoW Insider back on September 18th, 2007. The original blog post is as follows:

 

Welcome to the first official WoW Insider web comic, from here on titled /silly! I would be your host, artist, and creative mind behind these little forays into the realm of visual expression, Arthur E. "Arturis" Orneck. Each week, I plan to bring a new slice of /silly pie to share with all of you WoW Insider readers, so BYO Sense of Humor and we will see where things go with this!

 

As a disclaimer for the future, please keep in mind that a sense of humor is a subjective thing - Some of these comics will tickle your bone de funny, and some will not. If I happen to post something the doesn't exactly strike your fancy, please hang in there and hopefully next week's submission will hit the spot.

 

Another thing to keep in mind as we go through this, my art style is is subject to change from comic to comic (or even panel to panel) and layout isn't set in stone either, so some comics may have a ton of panels while others can be a single frame experience. I'm learning this as I go, and hopefully we all will enjoy the ride.

 

With that said, click the above teaser panel for the full comic, and let me know what you think in the comments! Time to charge in to this thing headfirst in official WoW fashion:

 

"Let's do this. Leeeeerroooooooooooooooooyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy..."

Welcome to the newly reborn /Silly! Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I respawn time and time again (only to get beaten down by a raid full of savage adventurers looking for epic purples of long ago) but for now, I hath returneth-ed! 

/Silly is the place where I take my love of gaming and quirky sense of humor, throw them into a blender and hit "puree" until there nothing but a frothy mess. Then I pour that down the garbage disposal and draw purdy pictures.

The original run of /Silly was proudly posted on WoW Insider many years ago, back in 2007 to be specific. For easy reference (and the laziness of recycling old content), I'm going to repost the ones I am proud of here, and pretend the others never existed. I will mark all of these old rehashed posts as "The WOWI Years" so as not to cause any confusion between them and the shiny new posts I plan on bringing forward. Also, that title almost sounds like "The Wonder Years" and I can't really pass up referring to television shows from my childhood, now can I? Its a compulsion that I am forced to live with.

While the original /Silly was entirely World of Warcraft oriented, this new reincarnation is open to a wide variety of gaming buffoonery - but odds are it will still be heavily WoW focused, because gosh darnit, I like that game. We will see how things go. 

So now that all that is out of the way, its time for you to sit back, hold on to something secure, and lets see where this rollercoaster takes us.

-Arthur "Arturis" Orneck