/Silly

Well hey there! Yeah, I still make these /Silly comics from time to time. You wouldn't think so from the lack of posting, but hey, occasional is better than never. ^_^

Today's web comic comes from a place of personal joy - Blizzard has announced that coming in the next World of Warcraft expansion, Legions, Survival specc'ed Hunters will once again get to use melee weapons! Oh, how I have missed them. I had leveled my Night Elf Hunter, Zhyn, almost entirely to lvl 70 as a twin-axe wielding, in-your-face dervish of Auto Attacks and Wing Clips, and had a hard time playing her the moment she was restricted to only ranged attacks. Soon she will be back to her old tricks (plus a few new ones!) with a spec completely focused on Melee and Pet combos. Everything will once again be right in her world.

I actually drew this comic back in November, when I was livestreaming my art sessions on Twitch, and somewhere along the line, I completely forgot to actually post it. Here it is now, enjoy it and let me know what you think!

It's about time I posted another comic, so I made this comic about time. While this single panel ditty probably isn't what you would call "laugh out loud" funny, it is an image that has been stuck in my head since the announcement of Warlords of Draenor. Over the past week, through the power of digital artistry and pure masochism, I was finally able to get it out and unleash it upon the world. I hope I will sleep better tonight.

I'm going to try to get comics up more often, but I can make no official promises; while I often have the desire and inspiration to draw, I rarely have the time and energy. I am working on that, though, one sleepless night at a time. Now if you'll excuse me, I have this sudden need to listen to some Huey Lewis and The News...

I am having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that its been over a year and a half since the last time I drew a /Silly comic. So much has changed in my life since then - I've moved to a new apartment, taken a temporary leave of absence from my schooling, and oh, yeah- I helped generate a son. Crazy, I know. But in all that, I've barely had any time to draw, and I've decided that I need to correct that immediately. Stat. Pronto. Muy rapido. Thus, my return to /Silly, which has been waiting here ever so patiently for me to come crawling back to it, a humbled and beaten man. Oh how I've missed you.

The latest comic is a bit out of whack, and I apologize for that - I'm very rusty on the artwork front, my comedic pacing has a slight limp, and my polish is pretty much nonexistent. But I found the idea humorous enough to sketch out, and hopefully you will enjoy reading it as well. I doubt it will earn a full on laugh, but I'll settle for a wry smirk until I get my comic writing skills warmed back up again.

Hit the jump for the full comic, and be sure to leave a comment or two with critiques, insights, complaints or requests for future comic topics!

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.

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)

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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:

 

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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:

 

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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.

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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.

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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!

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