'C' is for Childhood icons, that's good enough for me...

NakedElf · Post by **NakedElf** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:21 pm

rcmonroe wrote:Of course, you can do whatever you want, but know that any pop culture reference is going to be lost on a great number of people. If you still want to use them, make sure the joke works even if people are unfamiliar with the reference.

I think that's the important thing, (unless for some reason you want to constrain your audience.) A joke which works on multiple levels can contain pop-culture or other references and still be funny to people who don't get it...

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:41 pm

That guy wrote:The real trick is making the joke work even if the reference is missed (as in your case, Dutch). That way it's still funny even if no one ever noticed that a reference had taken place.

Actually, in this case the inside reference wasn't the joke of the strip. It was just a background flavour to the character that doesn't reflect on the strip itself. In this case it's completely separate to understanding the particular joke itself. It's just there cos it's an appropriate place to slip it in. If people didn't get it, it wouldn't reflect their giggle (or blank stare) at the joke, and if they didn't even notice there was something there, then it didn't affect them either.

Just out of interest though... how many people here (without doing a quick bit of research

) know who John So is?

Liddell · Post by **Liddell** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:18 am

Most of my pop culture references so far have been to Star Wars and Star Trek. (They're not a major part of my humor so far.) I suppose those can't get me in trouble, since those are fairly well known.

Orinocou · Post by **Orinocou** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:54 am

rcmonroe wrote: Don't be so sure about that.

You're quite right. Pop culture references are going to be lost on readers who are outside of your demographics (too old or young, for example) or on readers who come from outside of your home culture. Plus you're going to have readers who don't have access to TV or games.

What I'm saying is that references like that can at least be researched (Google, anyone?) or asked about. But private jokes that only a handful of the author's friends would understand can't really be shared (or Googled) by an outsider.

It's that second type of joke that I think should be avoided in a comic that is made public on the internet. But you said it best; you can do whatever you want with a comic.

Orinocou · Post by **Orinocou** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:57 am

Liddell wrote:Most of my pop culture references so far have been to Star Wars and Star Trek. (They're not a major part of my humor so far.) I suppose those can't get me in trouble, since those are fairly well known.

Don't worry, you won't get in trouble for any pop references. There's no Comic Police out there (that I know of).

Do you do old school Star Trek, or the newer stuff? Or a little of both?

Kels · Post by **Kels** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 12:18 pm

orinocou wrote:Don't worry, you won't get in trouble for any pop references. There's no Comic Police out there (that I know of).

Hey you! Pull that strip over and put your hands in the air!

Warren · Post by **Warren** » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:06 pm

One of my comics uses a fair amount of pop culture references that I know will likely blow right past what I considered the "target" audience.

But that was before I realized the comic had been embraced by a fair number of lesbians.