Make your choices carefully.

September 26, 2005 3:50 PM

Meanwhile - an interactive comic by Jason Shiga. (Via)
posted by Silune (16 comments total)

So cool.
See also.
posted by PhatLobley at 5:45 PM on September 26, 2005

Interesting stuff, if not a little confusing. I enjoyed his take on the Family Circus as well. Thanks!
posted by Staggering Jack at 5:46 PM on September 26, 2005

I got a real kick out of his newest, "Bookhunters". If you liked Fleep, you'll probably enjoy that.

I've got most of his books, but does anybody know where you can get "Hello World"?
posted by sonofsamiam at 6:00 PM on September 26, 2005

I'm more than a little confused, how do I read the comic after I choose an ice cream flavor? It's very cutely drawn, but confusing.
posted by splatta at 6:00 PM on September 26, 2005

Looked very interesting
Hurt my brain
Gave up

I wanna be able to read it, but I just don't get it. Makes me feel stupid. Don't like feeling stupid. Stupid comic.
posted by qwip at 6:08 PM on September 26, 2005

splatta / qwip:

Follow the tubes from the icecream until you reach a tab.

Keeping the mouse _in_the_same_place_ click the tab. A new page will load.

If you kept the mouse in the same place, there will be an inactive tab (no link) under your mouse cursor.

Then just keep following the tubes. Every now and then you get a choice of tubes to follow - make a decision as to which one you want and then follow it.

That's about it - it's like a Pick-a-Path novel in comic-book form ;-)
posted by crocos at 7:24 PM on September 26, 2005

Yeah, but once you get on a new page there is just too much going on and I can't help but want to follow the whole page, not just a tube.

Hence brain hurt quit.

I'm a quitter. I readily admit tha
posted by qwip at 8:07 PM on September 26, 2005

Feh. Might be more worthwhile if the art and (apparent) story were more involving. If you're going to make your audience work and jump through hoops, you better damn sure you hook them hard from the get-go. I lost interest by the second page.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:03 AM on September 27, 2005

Agreed. Great concept, fell apart in the execution.
posted by mkultra at 8:17 AM on September 27, 2005

I got hooked.
and I like it.
posted by Hanover Phist at 8:22 AM on September 27, 2005

I too lost interest as soon as I got to the page with all the alternate lines going at the same time. WTF was the idea there? It would seem to me the whole point of doing this on the web is that you could follow lines sequentially without having all the distractions of alternate lines that would be necessary in print.
posted by soyjoy at 10:00 AM on September 27, 2005

Thanks for that explanation, crocos. I was trying to treat the tabs as though they were in a real book -- if I clicked a tab on the right, I was looking for the corresponding tab to follow on the left of the next page -- which was confusing and wrong.

soyjoy, I think the "distractions of alternate lines" is kinda part of the point.
posted by ook at 10:03 AM on September 27, 2005

Ooh, this is delightful! Seriously, guys, if you got stymied by the interface at first, read crocos's directions and give it another shot. The story is a wonderfully complicated puzzle; the "distractions of alternate lines" are actually essential to both the puzzle and the theme. (I haven't solved it yet, but I'm going to if it takes all morning.)

Great find, silune. I'm usually as guilty as anyone of dismissing things on the web that I can't grasp in the first fifteen seconds, but this one is worth spending some time with. At least ten minutes worth.
posted by ook at 10:19 AM on September 27, 2005

Metafilter: One of the many places you cannot get to in this world by choosing.
posted by Eideteker at 11:26 AM on September 27, 2005

It IS a very engaging story with a happy ending... but only if you persevere and follow it through. One thing though, I'm not sure I've found the end end, just a happy one... can anybody who's spent more time tell me if "plane flying overhead" is the only happy ending (besides vanilla icecream). I don't want to give any more away than that for those who haven't read it yet.
posted by unrequited at 1:15 PM on September 27, 2005

soyjoy, I think the "distractions of alternate lines" is kinda part of the point.

Fine, but it's not a point I'm interested in pursuing. I wanted to read an interactive comic, not an interactive puzzle.
posted by soyjoy at 1:50 PM on September 27, 2005