#fresh epics

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

this is a mundane question: hasn't dobson met humon (of scandanavia and the world fame) irl, partially because they were both under the same publisher for a while? i could have sworn there was an old syac doodle recounting the Fresh Epics gang watching eurovision together but the syac site's broke forever and i can't find the image anywhere

I’m pretty sure he had one irl interaction with Human, yeah. Specifically the incident you’re referring to. Aside from that, some past minor interactions online, and he tweeted at her a few times as the years past, though I’m not sure if she ever really responded much if at all.

And I did find the comic you were looking for. Both versions, actually. And a bonus.

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

You know what’s weird? I became a fan of Romantically Apocalyptic like a few years ago, and I had no idea that creator was sorta....friends with Dobson? Like, people do have their fair criticisms of RA, but to me it’s visually interesting and the writing is fun! Meanwhile SYAC....well we all know about SYAC. It just seems weird knowing the creator of a comic you love and creator of a comic you don’t like were so closely associated, you know?

I don’t know how close they were or even if they were friends at all, just that both were a part of the “Fresh Epics” group of DeviantART, which is why they were at a con together(it was specifically a Fresh Epics thing).

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

Wow seeing Vitaly Alexius comment anything about Dobson is something! I wonder what other Fresh Epics members would have to say about him. Very few other people (other than Brent Black) seem to have really worked with him. I think he was at least sort of friends with Humon; he did appear on as few podcasts with her and others though not sure if any are still up.

I dunno, but I’ve also never been one to badger people who knew him to tell stories about how he was. Like, of course I’m curious and would love to hear about it, but at the same time it’s their decision to share if they want to and I wouldn’t want people constantly bugging them about it either. I’d imagine most just don’t want to think about the guy.

It was a nice surprise to hear from the guy though.

As for Humon, I know Dobson would respond to their tweets occasionally, but I don’t think they ever really responded back. Could have been a Lindsey Ellis/Moviebob sort of thing for all I know.

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

i used to read SYAC back in middle school, but only because it was part of the same web of comics with Scandinavia and the World, a Hetalia-sequel comic focused on, well, Scandinavia. I just thought it was a below-average comic that my favourite webcomic artist liked/was friends with the creator. Do you know if Dobson ever talked about Humon, the creator of SATW and some other comics? Given that a lot of them were openly kinky, which he's, weird about.

I know Dobson would occasionally tweet at Humon when he still had Twitter, but I’m not sure if she ever responded back to him or not. I believe that’s the only other Fresh Epics comic artist he attempted to stay in contact with. Maybe just because she was the only active Twitter user, I couldn’t say.

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

I read parts of dobson thread and his article on bad webcomics, and I keep hearing about fresh epics. I heard it was a collective on deviantart and was popular/infamous back in the day. Is there any further info I could find on it?

Your best best bet would probably Googling the names of the comics that were a part of the group, as that would probably pull up better information than just searching “Fresh Epics”. As I understand it, the comics involved in the groups were as followed:

Scandinavia And The World - a series very similar to “Hentalia: Acis Powers” written by Humon, who I believe also wrote a comic called “Niles” about a emotionless sadistic hitman. Of all the members, this is the one I see to remember having some form of drama going on in regards to her comics like Dobson did, and also the one I think Dobson may still have been somewhat in contact with.

Romantically Apocalyptic - I know very little on this one, but from what I can tell it, it’s a really elaborately drawn graphic novel post-apocalyptic horrific version of earth....but it’s actually more of a comedy story about the four main characters trying to keep themselves entertained and such in such a bleak and boring world. (I fully admit I could be off about this one, but they do still have a website.)

Acero Tiburon - name of the creator rather than the comic, I believe, but I actually remember reading some of her comics back in the day. Was mainly just a gag-a-day webcomic about the embellished day to day life of the artist. So essentially what Dobson CLAIMED his comic was. Also appears to still have a website.

StupidFox - This comic had an “About” on their site that I’ll just post wholesale here.

Basically, just a simple silly series about a derpy-looking fox. Seems cute. Website can be found here.

And of course, Dobson and his “So You’re A Cartoonist” comic.

There may be one or two more, but from what I understand, these were the real big names on DeviantART back in the day.

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

I'm not sure if Humon faced a lot of "drama" so much as people don't like a lot her comics' content. Scandinavia and the World is about personified global stereotypes and Niels is about a sadomasochistic gangster. Evidently, rape jokes have been made or implied in Niels, so I can see controversy arising from that. I know people have taken issue also with Niels being a killer, and Humon has had to remind people no, he is not a good guy. I guess some people wished he was?

I do seem to remember people accusing her of writing “bad things” before cancel culture became more widespread and used. That’s probably the drama I was remembering

[hypocrisyofandrewdobson]

Do you know what happened to Dobson's fellow Fresh Epics artists? Or is that kind of beyond your scope?

It’s a bit beyond my scope, but I’ve seen Dobson tweet at Humon from time to time. Past that, I couldn’t say.

[thegeekshow]

Regular listeners may remember that when ever we talk webomics, I mention Humon. She is the Dane behind the magnificent Scandinavia and the World comics, and other fun quirky and fun series.

I cannot recommend strongly enough that you check out her stuff (read each series from the beginning because they build up in-jokes) because they are informative and thought-provoking while being tons of fun. Also she's a lovely person who you should really say 'hi' at a convention if you see her ^^.

dA: http://humon.deviantart.com/ Fresh Epics, linking to all comics http://mepsu.com/

- H

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You an download this interview and the rest of our London Expo (Oct 2011) coverage from http://thegeekshow.co.uk/2011/11/17/mcm-batman/

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