I'm enjoying all the little details in Patent Pending...like in the current strip the little creatures near the glowing map...I feel like I should be mentally cataloging these, like they're clues. Maybe they're just meant to make the scenes visually richer, or maybe they'll become part of the story line...it's hard to tell yet. I like the mystery though...

I think the best part about the details is how long they take Jon to do.

It helps ensure that he's not allowed out in society, corrupting young minds.

In Response to phillip (#186):

Jon certianly does have a rather creative mind. He thinks kinda like me (he is obsessed with taping babies to the celing, I'm obsessed with dangling fetuses from their umbilical cords) So even if hes too busy to corrupt young minds, theres still people like me to do so.

Yes. Better that he put his stuff on the internet, where all the young'uns are so busy looking for porn that they will never find Goats.

I really like this strip, too. The level of drawing detail and intricacy of plot makes it feel like an old-fashioned graphic novel (covering decidedly non-old-fashioned graphic novel content - bring on more pizza delivery discussions!). I know it's been brought up a number of times in the g-f or g-c lists, but having the cliffhanger each week really makes me look forward to coming in to work on Thursdays, just to check out the newest strip in the serial.
   
  -Ross, who is getting good use out of his year's membership to ModernTales.

I don't trust the Avi kid. I think there's something he's hiding.. Listen to these quotes (emphasis mine):

"You're going to have to get me into that office."

"I need to find out why [the professor was murdered]."

This guy is just a little obsessive about his professor. It's not healthy. It's not right.

Avi has a secret.

In Response to wishus (#256):

Hee hee. Bwahaha.

In Response to jon (#261):

Oh my, it's foreshadowing!

Truth be told, I'm betting this Avi guy killed his professor, and is now going after Hindenburg (flaming disaster or invader of Belgium?) so that only he will get the big money.

In Response to TheWizardofFez (#213):

Oh, I don't know. Sometimes porn and goats go together.

Thank goodness this is anonymous!

In Response to snookles (#315):

Aren't you "Karl G. Siewer, librarian and yo-you performer"?

In Response to TheWizardofFez (#336):

No. I'm his evil twin, Skippy.

Honest.

In Response to wishus (#256):

He wants to find out who killed his easy A teacher. They are the only ones that matter....
Or it was his lover.
One or teh other

Wetzel
~~~~~~~~~~
Proud recent highschool graduate.

In Response to wishus (#256):

Avi is creepy.

I think he knows too much.

How does he "make friends" with the security system so fast? Maybe it already knows him...
Anyway, what proof is there that he is who he says he is? What if he's one of the bad guys?
And why does he send Julia in first? I bet there's something icky inside. Gentleman, my ass.

Or maybe he's a robot.

In Response to annabanana (#505):

Or maybe he's a Computer Science grad student. =)

In Response to jon (#510):

That would explain a lot.

I'm totally digging on Patent Pending. I love the visual style. Plus, conspiracies are always fun.

It's definitely a departure from Goats, but kudos to you! It's a fun read. Can't wait for this weeks strip to see what happens.

In Response to jon (#510):

eh...I've known CS grad students....none of them could figure that stuff out...the guys who knew how to hack all got arrested freshman year.

In Response to phillip (#624):

Yeah, but he's a CS grad student.... IN THE FUTURE.

So, like, that explains it.

Right?

Such as the lovely little "the camera is focused on the foreground with the background blurry" in todays update. Nice.

Of course with my eyes it was a bit more like "hey that bit's _more_ out of focus than the rest"

In Response to jon (#636):

An Indian CS grad student? Never...

But dealing with CS Grad students on a daily basis, I must agree with Phillip. They're universally so incompetant that I can't imagine a useful form of them spontaeously generating in 20 years.

All of the smartest programmers I know have usually dropped out of CS, never were in CS, or gone on to become professors after braving the fires of incompetance for years.

Just re-reading the archives because someone randomly asked me if I still read goats, and I told them to read PP.

Just remembered something that flashed through my mind months and months ago... "Chicken Itza", although a wonderful pun when applied to a mezo-american eatery chain, was also used in a non-xanth Piers Anthony book where he pretended he was a real author. I believe it was titled Mule, and I'm sorry to admit that I rather liked it for 90% of the tale... until it kinda ended in a Stephenson-esque "and now the book ends" way. Except the stuff before the blunt ending wasn't on Neil's level.

In Response to mcgrue (#7122):

Gah! Curses!

When I went to this discussion, I inadvertently read the first post and thought "Wohoo! It's back" and went trying to see the new strip. Then I spent a while trying to see the new strip. Then I went back to the post that was posted on Tuesday the 9th of July. I thought "That's odd - today's the 8th". Then I realised that it was 2002, not 2003 and that there was no new PP. Now I am sad again. That is all.

In Response to evilaltor (#7200):

My job here is done.

So jon, not to be a pickle or anything... but how much begging is neccesary for you to pull yourself away from your lovely bride and continue with the zany gritty-future adventures of Silas, Joe, and Avi?

Please? I'll give you a cookie! Or even a whole dollar.

In Response to mcgrue (#7225):

Trust me, I want to. The next one is about halfway done. There's just not enough time right now, especially with Comic-con coming up. I'm swamped,and I have a ton of projects to do after I get back.

I promise I'll try to get one up after I get back.

In Response to jon (#7233):

Okay.

...

...do I still have to give you a dollar?

In Response to mcgrue (#7249):

only if you want him to be able to get back