Artcow David "Walky" Willis / Shortpacked - Fingerwagging Cishet Shitlord

[Drawets Rednaxela]

Why do these types of people treat sex like a weird joke?

People tend to hide their fear behind humor, so... I have no fucking idea. Autism, maybe?

 

[MayMay]

This was a great idea for a thread, His politics and his spergery, though? I think he blows even Dobbo away. He should thank his lucky stars Carlos LaTuff and Ted Rall have set the bar so low for contemptible leftard cartoonists.

Don't forget he does that for wholly unlikable characters too. For as smugshit as half Dobbo's cast and bear get, they don't come close to such wonderful people like Mike. Who I guess we're supposed to like even though he slipped razor blades into a kid's Halloween candy bowl to make some comment on parenting that doesn't make sense since someone in a professional environment wouldn't do that (nor would they be expected to as opposed to some random asshole on a doorstep). At least not without getting shitcanned, hauled off to jail or just beaten to death on the spot. Or all three.

 

[Accel_Rider]

Don't forget he does that for wholly unlikable characters too. For as smugshit as half Dobbo's cast and bear get, they don't come close to such wonderful people like Mike. Who I guess we're supposed to like even though he slipped razor blades into a kid's Halloween candy bowl to make some comment on parenting that doesn't make sense since someone in a professional environment wouldn't do that (nor would they be expected to as opposed to some random asshole on a doorstep). At least not without getting shitcanned, hauled off to jail or just beaten to death on the spot. Or all three.

That is some South Park level shit right there

 

[TowinKarz]

People tend to hide their fear behind humor, so... I have no fucking idea. Autism, maybe?

The same reason the majority of the 90's superheroes shot people with bazookas and called Superman "old-fashioned" for not just snapping the necks of troublemakers or walked around in fetish gear , in an attempt to look mature, they (via characters) overindulge in "grown-up" things, like sex and violence, which only has the opposite effect.

Gratuitousness is the sign of a bad writer trying to be edgy, unless they're clearly doing it as self-parody, but none of these guys sees themselves as anything but the champion of social causes.

 

[sea panther]

There's still nothing to this strip but Becky's endless fucking issues? Jesus Christ, I'm glad I jumped ship when I did.

“Dumbing of Age” might as well be renamed "David Wills's SJW Soapbox" at this point in time. Preachy as fuck and getting worse. All the good characters are atheists or lesbians or both, but because this is Willis this is supposed to be totally progressive rather than fanboy wank fodder and wish-fulfillment. I think there's something like three straight characters in the entire story, maybe four, not counting all those Evil Parents. Pretty telling that the one 'good' set of parents in the entire bloody comic are the ones who made a point to allow their child to 'make her own mind up' about religion, which of course means the character grew up atheist because nobody ever actually chooses to be religious, right?

Spoiler: Cut for pointless sperging.

I dropped the strip for good about the time Becky showed up, partly because Becky isn't so much a character as she is Tumblr incarnate right down to her edgy hairdo and raging egocentricity, and is absolutely fucking insufferable as a result, but mainly because Joyce - a sheltered homeschooled Christian from a fundamentalist background - was being roundly shat on by absolutely everyone. Her crime? Not coming round to the correct SJW position on how Christians (all 2.4 billion) are cackling supervillians who like nothing more than repressing poor, innocent LGBTQAWTFBBQ folx fast enough. She's never had any real chance to find out about the awful shit some Christians do in God's name before now but that doesn't matter, she should totally have had that epiphany earlier because reasons and the fact she didn't means she's a bad person who's transgressed against the SJW code. Likewise the one gay man who really hasn't found anything getting better for him since coming out wishing that maybe he wasn't gay, because it would make his life considerably easier, is apparently a total shitlord for not gleefully jumping on the nearest cock he sees the minute his parents' backs are turned. Oh yeah, and one of Joyce's brothers is totally trans but having to hide it because fuck you mom and dad you don't know anything. I don't even fucking know anymore, but no doubt it's all very progressive.

I dropped Dumbing of Age awhile ago (I think around the time the walk does a sex popped up actually) but originally the reason I was interested in it was *because* of Joyce. She was over the top and intentionally unlikable to an extent, but I figured that was the point, and she wasn't just corrupted off the bat like how it usually goes for sheltered Christian girl in a college dorm setting. It's a shame to hear what's happened to her character, since she was refreshing in a sea of "everyone is lesbians or trans" which, combined with horrible characterization and seeing the author's rampant exceptional individualism pop up here and there, drove me off the comic. I'd never heard of or read Shortpacked previously.

I'm kinda surprised that more people aren't perturbed that his self insert is brown? Like, considerably more brown than he is? I'm pretty sure in the comic he's stated to be native american or mixed or something like that. (As a sorta related sidenote, I vaguely recall that a minor conflict in the comic is that Walky's twin is darker/lighter [I don't remember which one makes him "better"] than he is and therefore their parents don't like her as much, even though they're literally the same color.) I mean, in a world where characters with no stated race other than "space rock" can't be drawn as anything but black in fanart lest you wish to get doxxed and run off the internet, it's weird that something with such a rabid SJW following is fine with a pasty white dude inserting himself as a native american guy or whatever.

 

[Jaimas]

The thing about Shortpacked! is that there's a specific point you can look at and go: "This is when the comic died."

Shortpacked! is a comic that I never paid much attention to besides the fact that a few friends of mine would periodically link to it, one of thousands that appeals to its fans and nothing more. There's nothing wrong with comics with niche appeal, and there's room for all of them out there and their own fanbases.

For some, however, the comic maker is just waiting for any excuse, no matter how stupid, to spew their actual political/ideological beliefs at the readership, and use it to preach at length. In the case of David Willis, it's quite simple: He always had some SJW tendencies, but then, Tumblr happened. Suddenly Willis found himself with an audience would would show slavish support for everything he did and wouldn't criticize him for spewing moral supremacy bullshit at the readerbase.

Willis posting this particular comic on Tumblr led to over 65,000 reblogs (and counting) and the comic itself has been posted, re-posted, and re-reposted across multiple SJW blogs, sites, and on social networking. Nevermind that this particular comic is openly making a No True Scotsman fallacy here; it's a textbook example of the mindset that only enemies can be guilty of wrong-doing of any kind. Only women can be objectified, only men can be sexist, only whites can be racist. Shortpacked! had found a new audience, essentially by pulling the Hayden Black maneuver and openly pandering to a given audience, and, with this comic, David Willis tips his hand at what he really believes.

From this point onward, only madness lies. Strawmanning had always been a part of Shortpacked!, but this comic marks the turning point; the singular moment where everything became political. Every single Strawman uses less and less effort than the last, and now they're such a hallmark of the comic that the artist has posted dozens of things discussing it and how anyone disagreeing with him is obviously retarded.

With this, the event horizon was crossed. David Willis proves himself a maniac and seals his own fate.

Within 3 years, we'd have the same quality writing we'd later associate with Assigned Male, or perhaps Gen Zed:

You know, say what you will about Chris being a shitty artist - you'll be right - but at least CWC's art always was honest. Amidst the rampant lunacy of Sonichu, we had things that CWC legitimately managed to make entertaining, whether it was when all the stars aligned and he made a decent joke or when something that wasn't supposed to be funny turned out to be wildly hilarious. In the end, Sonichu, despite being the autism of Chris set to full blast, was a genuinely enjoyable read (mostly for all the wrong reasons; thanks Dethchemist), and Chris was fucking never this preachy.

Honestly, even Dobbybear's technically better. At least I can point at some of Dobson's work and see honest-to-god effort compared to this faggotry. At least I chuckled at some of his better jokes in his early works. Willis is the kind of morally-bankrupt idiot that will butcher his own creations just to make them fit a new audience and makes Dobson look tolerant of criticism by comparison.

How does someone not get a lifetime achievement award for that last one, by the way?!

Maybe this is late or whatever, but what is with these lolcow cartoonists and them blowing up a gasket whenever people point out that they used to or still draw porn? Can't they just respond normally or something?

I'll field that one.

If the likes of Dobby or Willis actually owned up to their shit and said "Yeah, I drew porn. So?" That would be the end of it. Fact of the matter is, porn sells. A lot. Any halfway-decent artist can make themselves a fucking living doing artwork this way. A quality artist can get rich off commissions and such just by providing their services on the likes of DeviantArt, FurAffinity, or any of dozens of other hosting sites for art. Even quality artists with no interest in doing porn sometimes do porn, because it helps them learn figure drawing, try positions that would otherwise never be used, and essentially honing their craft. If they just owned up to it, the scandal would go away overnight, and that would be that.

But the thing is, that would require sacrificing something important. See, Dobby and Willis are artists second. Their first role is as the vanguard of SJW talking points, which means they're first and foremost moral crusaders. This would be why Dobson utterly lost his shit when some random asshat pointed out that if you replace SJW buzzwords (problematic, sexist, misogynistic) with moral majority buzzwords (immoral, dangerous, lecherous), they're the same argument. If they lose their focal point as being an SJW soapbox, they're no longer needed and will be abandoned. They cannot withdraw, or even claim wrongdoing, because the SJW mindset punishes anyone who cedes an inch.

They're in a hell of their own making, and they deserve it.

 

[Accel_Rider]

moral crusaders

Huh, interesting. Some internet reviewer named Linkara acted the same way when people found out his account on a porn site and his various fetishes. I always wondered why ever since. So basically, they want to be seen as the good guys. Also, they probably never heard of the Streisand Effect

 

[Helvetica Scenario]

Willis is the kind of morally-bankrupt idiot that will butcher his own creations just to make them fit a new audience and makes Dobson look tolerant of criticism by comparison.

Speaking of butchery, I seem to remember a comment-wall tempest in a teacup over the subtitle of that vag-biting My Lesbian porn comic Willis did. I can't remember exactly what the subtitle originally was, but it was something to the tune of "We Don't Need No Penises" or "No Penises Allowed" or something else equally classy and dong-related. Unsurprisingly, given how assiduously he'd been courting the SJW crowd, a whole bunch of tumblrinas started screaming about how this was totally transphobic because OMG girls can too have penises you cishet shitlord HDU say that lesbian porn won't be a sausage-fest oppression! Since there's nothing that Willis fears more than being called a cishet shitlord by overwrought women's studies students, he immediately changed the title to "Once We Hit 88 mph We're Gonna See Some Serious Clit", which somehow passed the SJW sniff test, presumably because all the complaining idiots had learned anatomy from reading Assigned Male.

 

[sea panther]

Speaking of butchery, I seem to remember a comment-wall tempest in a teacup over the subtitle of that vag-biting My Lesbian porn comic Willis did. I can't remember exactly what the subtitle originally was, but it was something to the tune of "We Don't Need No Penises" or "No Penises Allowed" or something else equally classy and dong-related. Unsurprisingly, given how assiduously he'd been courting the SJW crowd, a whole bunch of tumblrinas started screaming about how this was totally transphobic because OMG girls can too have penises you cishet shitlord HDU say that lesbian porn won't be a sausage-fest oppression! Since there's nothing that Willis fears more than being called a cishet shitlord by overwrought women's studies students, he immediately changed the title to "Once We Hit 88 mph We're Gonna Se Some Serious Clit", which somehow passed the SJW sniff test, presumably because all the complaining idiots had learned anatomy from reading Assigned Male.

Constructive criticism on his art = no, you're wrong, GET OFF MY WEBSITE.

Objectively incorrect criticism about the title of his shitty lesbian porn comic that in fact, did not feature dicks, trans or otherwise = pls I fixed it, love me again

 

[MiloWuCollusion]

Funny because I remember that there is a story called Batman Year 100 that was pretty much this kind of Batman and won a Eisner (the cover doesn't show it as Pope is hyper stylized, but the comic itself has a pretty slim and pretty boy version of Batman) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_Year_100

In the end, I always feel shallow most of the arguments that regular superhero art style only appeals to males as generally devolves in "certain art appeals to other gender more than another and it should be like that" and that discussion by itself is icky itself by modern artistic standards. Is an interesting topic that even appears in discussion about manga, but generally speaking seem mostly spoken to decry tastes.

 

[autisticdragonkin]

Can't seem to find the original uncensored version at the moment, but I did manage to find the 4Chan censored edits

Probably the censoring improved the comics significantly though

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Probably the censoring improved the comics significantly though

Well of course- the style Willis uses is not suited for porn.

Then again, I don't think he even has an idea on how sex works. I wouldn't be surprised if the man never even watched a porno before making those comics and just went off what some other people told him about what sex was like.

 

[AnOminous]

Don't forget the absolute worst thing about this comic, even more than the "lots of women think that Batman is creepy too" thing. Or the "lots of women like dudes with that power fantasy ripped abs as you can see from any romance novel cover ever " thing.

It's the "fat white guy speaking for all women" thing. And the "I bet you won't notice because the character is female" thing.

Never mind ignoring what actual women think.

Which is that that Batman is creepy to many people of both sexes. And probably even a bunch of the imaginary genders too.

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

I remember reading somewhere that Willis is going to be a dad soon

This is going to be interesting

 

[Dr. Meme]

also this comic page makes literally zero sense in context to the rest of the comic because the woman is a lesbian complaining about what men she finds attractive.

 

[MiloWuCollusion]

also this comic page makes literally zero sense in context to the rest of the comic because the woman is a lesbian complaining about what men she finds attractive.

She is not lesbian (maybe bi), that are her other two female coworkers... the ones in the Porno comic.

 

[Spellskite]

Somewhere there's a machine that's able to mass-produce these guys.... that's the only reason so many of them turn out the same way. Whiny, egotistical, latching onto progressive causes to look better/smarter than you, blatant pandering to political allies via their self-insert comics, it's amazing that so many angry SJW-types see their calling as producing webcomics.....

When has meaningful social change ever come from a webcomic?

Or, back up 20-25 years. DId gag-a-day comics ever have any social pull? Back when they still had enough relevance that people would threaten to cancel their newspaper subscriptions if they didn't get their daily Peanuts?

If you could cite that period in time when the world looked to comic artists for guidence, I could at least understand why so many Dobsons try to be taken seriously as comic artists:

(Comics are important to society --> I draw comics ---> I'm important to society)

But try as I might, I can't recall such a time, though with the internet allowing self-publishing, I can see why "more" of these people can pester their way to an audience these days than when you had to have actual humor and likeable characters and drawing skill to get a publisher to notice you and not send your samples to the trash bin the instant they saw that your idea of a great comic was your thinly-disguised sexual fetishes.

Sorry to sperg here , but there actually was quite a lot of drama about Schultz 'daring' to have a black child as a character. He got death threats over it and handled it all really admirably.

This Walky guy is never going to make any impact close to what Peanuts did for diversity in comics, despite trying his hardest to be progressive. His characters are all strawmen or author insertations, and he makes it all about himself.

 

[Koby_Fish]

That is some South Park level shit right there

at least South Park usually has a brilliantly biting satire accompanying it.

 

[Smelvin]

Besides everything else that everyone here has pointed out, one of my favorite things about how this comic is a failure is that it's demonstrably untrue.

You see, there's this delightful comic series from Japan. It has a large, enthusiastic fanbase in the States that continues to grow and grow. In its native country of Japan, it's one of the most famous and influential franchises of all time.

It looks like this.

One of the reasons people love it is because of how flamboyant it is.

And before the quip about anime fans comes up that I know is coming, one of the demographics this series is quickly becoming popular with is people with no interest in anime or manga.

Straight men fucking love this series, and it is several times femmier looking than that goofy Batman in that comic.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

I remember reading somewhere that Willis is going to be a dad soon

This is going to be interesting

"Son, let me tell you about daddy and his webcomics...."