Down at WC Anonymous

My name is Nathan, and I read webcomics.

I don't really remember how it started. Perhaps it was Oh My Gods. So simple, so innocent, cellotaped to a wall or, more likely, posted on one of the discussion boards I frequented in my youth. I liked the simple art and instant jokes. Anyway, I got around to checking it for updates quite frequently. For the whole of 2002 I was an avid reader. Dammit, I got a rank in the forum. I started making suggestions and they started coming true. I was drunk with power. Even now I can look back to those glory days, because my name is still graven there.

The next step was the killer. Just as my gorging had almost reached satiety, I visited their links page. Shivian, I may never forgive you, because then I started reading Movie Punks. The thing about Moviepunks is (as you might expect) it was about movies, and to a lesser extent about punks. Now, the world knows I'm no punk. I wear Cotton Traders and brown brogues. The world will also tell you that I'm not a real movie-buff. Carrington Vanston, the man behind it all, is from Canada and as such saw films that weren't even in the cinemas here yet. Despite all this, I read (and loved) the strip.
Moviepunks shut down in December, which is when Mr. Vanston started doing Eat My Words.

I think it was that same links page that lead me on to Penny Arcade. At first, I went for the striking visual style, intelligewnt jokes, and naturalistic settings. But now it's so much more to me. The lengthy news posts, which are necesary to understand the more obscure jokes. Now, they're like a meaty repast before the sweet, sweet gluose treat of the strip itself. Although sometimes, you need to read the strip to understand the news post. Penny Arcade is about computer games. The only game I play is Civilisation III, and sometimes Caesar. Nonetheless, I laugh like a hyena at Metroid jokes, although I only have a vaugue idea as to what a Metroid might be, or where you could get one.

And then, by a completely different route, I started reading the short-lived but hilarious strip Captain Arrr. Fred, the author of that particular gem of a series, has a Nathan Number of Three (a friend of a friend of a friend).

Once that little cadre were set up, it could only go downhill. Apple did for me in the end, with their supreme web browser Safari, with it's bookmarks bar and it's "open in tabs" feature.

So that's me. My face is tanned white from the CRT carress, my right hand crooked into a mouse-shape. I live like a ghost, reading archives as I wait for the update register. And when the moment comes, I sit and refresh the page, waiting for a new title to appear on the dark blue field and bring a new ray of light into my day.

Penny Arcade have done a crossover: a new link in the chain has opened up, and while my host in Bristol was out earning a wage, I read two years of a bi-daily webcomic about internet chat rooms and role-playing. I mean, I don't role-play and chatroom has been only the slightest influence in my life, less than Burger King or coloured contact lenses. Perhaps I'll resist. Perhaps I'll move into other hobbies, like Chess, Music, or Going Outside.

My name is Nathan, and I use a lot of links.

Song in my head: "Plasticine" by Placebo, so at least some people will still think I'm cool