What the?!… Did I manage to sneak in a punchline into today’s emotional reunion between Charlie and Jimmy? I think I must have!
For me, the pleasure of drawing today’s strip was drawing Tom’s reaction panel-to-panel. I pictured him reacting to Jimmy and Charlie’s relationship drama as if it were happening on a movie screen in front of him. “This is so much better than a movie,” would be the subtext running through his brain.
Not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I kind of like the turn of the phrase “Kiss each other on the mouth.” It’s kind of like when Liz Lemon says “I want to go to there” on 30 Rock. Eh, maybe not.
All things the same, if I could come up with a design for that slogan, would you be interested in that as a t-shirt? I’m asking because pre-orders for Theater Hopper – Year Three have pretty much stalled and I’m lacking the money I need to send the finished book to the printer.
I could wait for advertising revenue to make up the difference, but the economy has severely limited advertising budgets, so I’m not seeing much return there. I figured I could whip up a few new t-shirts and try to make money that way. Y’know, spend money to make money.
Truthfully, I’m overdue on trying to produce a new shirt. I don’t know if it was complacency, fear or maybe a little bit of both. But it seems that I can’t come up with an idea that sells as well as the Spoiler shirts. Other shirts sell okay, but not so great that I can reorder them and keep selling them. Usually, I do one run of a new design, sell out and then you never see it again.
I had someone write me earlier in the month asking about the Johnny Number 5 t-shirt I was selling on the site a few years ago. Y’know “Don’t trust robots?” It was never a big seller, but the people who bought it seemed to love it.
I’ll admit that I’m probably not setting the world on fire with some of my designs. I mean, the Spoiler shirts are just a block of text. But for some strange reason, they work. Design is always something I’ve felt I could improve on.
The other problem is coming up with a good concept. You can’t do something too “inside” or specific to the comic (although that appeals to the the hard core supporters) and you also can’t do something so general that you could buy it from some other site.
I think I have a concept that might work: You know those movie quotes randomly rotating at the bottom of the page? I had the idea of graphically representing them on t-shirts so that they look cool to people who aren’t in on the joke, but make the person wearing it feel a little more special because they know the reference.
The first one I was going to attempt was from Reservoir Dogs when Mr. Blonde asks Mr. White “Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you going to bite?”
It would probably take too much to explain the different elements I want to incorporate into the shirt, but there would be some photo-realism to it so you’re not walking around with a huge cartoon across your chest.
I mean look at the shirts from comics like Octopus Pie or White Ninja (really any of the TopatoCo line of shirts). They’re not firmly aligned with the “branding” of the comic they’re associated with. I want to try and do something similar here.
What do you think? Do you think this is a good idea? What famous movie lines would you like to see represented in a graphic format? What about Jimmy and Charlie? Do you think they’re going to get back together? Do you think they’ll take Tom’s advice to “kiss each other on the mouth?” Leave your thoughts below!
How long have you been listening?
Long enough.
I wanted to talk to you every day since you came back. I didn't know how I... I didn't know if...
I know.
KISS EACH OTHER ON THE MOUTH!!
Hey, I was just wondering if you were still working through the prints for people that donated when your hard drive went kaput? I wouldn’t have minded donating with nothing in return but I had been quite looking forward to getting a drawing done!
Regards
David
David,
I am very much still working on the donation drive sketches – I even took a day off from work last week to knock a few down. I try to work on donation art a little bit each night. Some nights I make more progress than others, but between my 9 to 5, raising Henry and going to night school, there’s barely been time to take care of myself!
I know it has taken a very long time for me to complete this work and I apologize. But you WILL get the artwork you donated for. I promise. I couldn’t live with myself if I was viewed as having taken the money and ran.
Today’s’ comic equal pure gold
Love the comic, love this ending.
As for shirts, I liked the Movie Law/ Sean Bean shirt, and think you should continue a trend like that. Maybe a new law, like how John Cusack needs a rain scene in all his movies. That would be amazing.
Nice way to work in a punchline. Awesome.
How about a Theater Hopper t-shirt? The logo and main characters on the front, and your URL in small print on the back right below the collar. I would wear one! And it could be bonus advertising too.
great comic.
also, for kicks, i have to say: t-shirt with just this one word: “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”
ahahahaha. yay bad Star Wars quote.
Yay punch line! I almost forgot what they sounded like. lol
I still have to say the spoiler shirts are pretty awesome. I don’t know if any shirt could beat that one.
Any quotes from Long Duck Dong in Sixteen Candles would get my vote:
“What’s happenin’ hot stuff” or “Lake. Big Lake. Rrrr, Rrrrr, Sploosh.” (Granted, I’m unsure if the last part is a true translation of the Donger, but you get the idea.)
Hay I didn’t even notice those quotes at the bottem of the page! That’d make for a good t-shirt I recon.
Great strip today… watching Tom in every panel in the background is hilarious!
Awesome comic today man, best one in weeks, I guffawed, really I did.
Very, very funny. Nice job!
About the shirt thing, I think that a good Iron Man quote would be good. Just because of your obsession. lol. Maybe a Fight Club quote, or a Terminator one or something. I hope that it’s something I know about. š
Everyone really latched on to that line from Iron Man about building his first suit of armor in a cave… with a box of scraps! I’d like to do something based off that.
I was just watching There Will Be Blood over the weekend and was reminded how many “I drink your milkshake” shirts there were out there. I’m thinking along these lines.
I dunno, Pete seems to do pretty well over at Sluggy Freelance with his strip-specific shirts (Gunman Stan McCurt and ZHOAS [zombie head on a stick] come to mind).
I love Tom’s expressions in the background.
Great expressions and comic today !
Quote: “You can’t f*#& with the Jesus!” (John Tutoro, The Big Labowski)
BTW have you ever read Orneryboy? I wonder if the story line that’s been picked back up recently is reflective of his life. There are no comments so hard to tell. (Only relative to Theater Hopper in the story line element. Sorry if not the right place for such a question.)
tom, quotes from Wierd Science….definitely!
He doesn’t even have a license Lisa!
Heh love Tom’s expressions in the background and I think I would at least thing “Kiss each other on the mouth” when witnessing something like that.. if I would yell it out will be another thing.
I’d buy a Theater Hopper cast shirt like someone else suggested.. and I haven’t preordered the book yet since I’m going away next month… will do that when I get back.
“Kiss Each Other On The Mouth!” is a total win sentence, and one of your best punchlines ever! It had me laughing out load at work to the point where I had to explain and summarize the whole story-arch to some of my co-workers. I think they found the line funny, too.
I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!
We NEED that shirt!
Tom’s expression on the fifth panel…priceless! I want an avatar of it lol. XD
You wouldn’t mind seeing an avatar of your characters in various site fourums, do you?
Maybe just a shirt with nothing but great movie quotes on it ala the spoiler shirts.
Joe Loves Crappy Movies take on the Iron Man cave joke was the funniest thing I’ve seen in years, I even saved it as my wallpaper background. Also @ Jason, I had no idea Orneryboy was back! I’m so happy! It was Michael Lalande that got me into webcomics in the first place, it’s how I discovered TheaterHopper! š
Wow! Lots of comments to respond to! I didn’t think this comic would generate this much conversation!
Jason — I’m a big fan of Orneryboy and was thrilled to see Michael updating again. I don’t know if the comic is at all reflective of his life, but I’m inclined to think it isn’t. I’ve exchanged e-mails with him. I think his relationship with Dirtygirl is strong. He just goes through reclusive phases.
Kevin — Thanks for your compliments. That’s pretty cool that you had to tell your co-workers the storyline to bring them up to speed. Glad they found it funny, too.
Link the Zora – I have no problem with people using my art as forum avatars. I’ve thought about making some myself, but I didn’t know if there was any demand for such things.
RE: Cast shirt – I made a cast shirt a few years ago with Tom, Cami, Jared and Jimmy inside the frames of a strip of film. It sold okay, but not enough for me to stick with it, I guess. Actually, I think I think I still have some of those shirts in babydoll sizes if any of the ladies are interested!
I might try and do another cast shirt in the future – maybe parody a popular poster design with them. But in the meantime, people really seem to be responding to “KISS EACH OTHER ON THE MOUTH!!” and I think I have a design idea for that… Stay tuned!
heh, Tom’s home-built suit was great. Maybe an image of that box-suit with a paraphrased quote along the lines of “I built this in my living room, with a box of boxes!”
Didn’t Jimmy once think that Tom was mocking him when Tom wanted to see the 40-year Old Virgin?
Or am I getting confused again?
No, that’s accurate.
But the time wasn’t right to reveal his sleeve of tattoos. After all, he was trying to be a better person, right? Why would he brag about it out of context?