Kris Wilson is the Picasso of Exploding Stick Figures A comedy article
by John Hargrave 128,123 71 03/05/2010 03:21 PM 20823 views
When Kris Wilson started doodling stick figures while he was home with strep throat one day in high school, little did he realize that it would grow into the cartooning empire that he and his collaborators have built with their wildly popular webcomic Cyanide and Happiness. Now, he and co-creators Rob Denbleyker, Dave McElfatrick, and Matt Melvin have one of the most successful franchises in the history of the Internet, based on a simple philosophy: they give away their work ruthlessly.
The very first C&H strip, dated 2005
You've seen the Cyanide and Happiness strips linked everywhere from MySpace pages to message boards about refrigerator repair. "We saw people putting our comics on their sites early on," says Rob, "so we figured, why not give them the tools to do it? Everything exploded from there."
Exploding is something the creators know well, as their characters do it regularly, along with being beaten, shot, and occasionally torn asunder by projectile food. Lest this sound too dark for people accustomed to Garfield, keep in mind that the characters are stick figures. "The absurdity in Cyanide and Happiness," explains Kris, "is these cute characters doing this really dark comedy."
"The characters are so damned cute," agrees Rob. "Even when they're dying."
The four cartoonists live in Wyoming, Texas, California, and Ireland, each contributing their own strips, with occasional collaboration via Skype. Despite all this solo effort, the end product is coherent and strangely logical, as if the four creators were each viewing the peculiar world of C&H from a slightly different angle -- a world in which disembodied heads turn into seagulls, and Jesus is a designated driver.
Listing influences ranging from traditional cartoonists like The Far Side's Gary Larson to classic webcomics like The Perry Bible Fellowship, Kris and Rob credit their success to the consistency of producing a fresh comic every day since 2005. "There are plenty of funny people creating content," says Rob, "but they're not consistent or reliable. The Internet has ADD, and if you're not constantly giving them something new, you're going to lose them."
While many content creators fight every unauthorized duplication of their work, the C&H creators take the opposite approach. "We let anyone share it," says Kris, "and we don't even have a problem with people replicating it. Some people do spinoffs, some people replicate the site entirely."
"It's counterintuitive," adds Rob, "because you want to keep your content for yourself, and use it to bring people into the site. But social networking has changed the game. Now, the more you can get it out there, the more people get exposed to it."
There are downsides to the "funny wants to be free" philosophy. "A lot of people read our stuff but never come to the site, so we can't communicate with fans to tell them about our new book, for instance." They also point out that reaching a larger audience means that more easily-offended people will often be exposed to the strip (on a message forum, for instance). Epic lulz often follow.
"I've received death threats," Kris mentions nonchalantly. "They seem silly to me, because these people obviously care about the comic way more than I do. I have no idea how people can take stick figures so seriously."
"It's weird what people latch onto to complain about," Rob agrees. "Someone will complain that we're making too many cancer jokes, but then we'll get an email from someone with cancer, thanking us for helping them get through it."
While there's plenty in C&H to offend the uninitated -- topics include disabilities, necrophilia, and suicide -- the pair insist they're not out to shock. In fact, "The only time I censor myself is when I feel I'm trying to shock someone," says Kris. "If the idea isn't funny to me, I won't go with it."
Cyanide and Happiness is now going megaviral on YouTube as well, as the creators have been releasing a new animated short once a week. With surprisingly high production quality, the videos feature original music, lush backgrounds, and fluid animation. The four creators are doing nearly everything themselves -- even voicing the characters -- and it takes "hours and hours" to produce a single short. "It's like a meal that you spend a month cooking," Kris says, "then someone eats it quickly and asks for dessert."
And they're dominating print media as well. Their first book, Cyanide and Happiness, is burning up the bestseller charts and contains 30 brand-new strips, plus all the classics.
It's hard to believe that cyanide could be so funny, but that's what happens when you mix it with happiness.
Kris is a finalist in our Funniest Person on the Web contest. Click here to vote!
You know, I find this hilarious. I love Cyanide and Happiness, I have it bookmarked right before Zug. So imagine my shock today when I check my daily comic and then click on this bookmark and see this interview.
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