New Comic: Go Team Bob!

With the high school and college sports season fast approaching, what better time could there be to introduce the spiritedly titled Go Team Bob!? Writer Scott Nickel collaborates on this energetic new strip with cartoonist John Jagusak, whose art is so manic, you'll wonder if your energy drink was spiked.

Go Team Bob follows a mischievous young boy named Bob and his even more mischievous imaginary friend, also named Bob. Nickel and Jagusak show us why following the advice of someone only you can see almost always leads to trouble.

Comments

[nobody]

This comic is stupid

[mad mom]

I can't find a 'contact us' link, so I will post here. I am offended that you would take advertizing and post the ad about 'training for pole dances' on this site. Kids come here, and this is highly inapropriate. We should not worry about our kids finding x rated material on a comic page.

[Buckley]

Hey, another great choice by the syndicates. If we're so starving for Calvin and Hobbes to come back why don't they just take Watterson hostage and MAKE him draw some new strips. Jesus. Where's the unique?

[buckleys buddy]

fact...the creator of this strip is actually not a fan of calvin & hobbes. Any similarity is purely coincidental....down to the stripes on the bob's shirts....a tim burton influence.

[Scott Nickel]

Hi there!

I'm the writer of the strip. Please give us a chance to entertain you. I think you'll find lots to like about GO TEAM BOB. If not, there are plenty of other strips on gocomics that you'll enjoy.

Scott

[arod]

i'm trying to give you guys a chance, here - but the writing is choppy (at times seeming as if there's a transitional panel or two missing) and really unfunny. The art is too abstract to be engaging. If you want to win me over, bring up the quality of the writing and tone down the art - otherwise I'll just end up passing this over.

[unhappy reader]

This comic is way worse than Calvin and Hobbes, though, I mean there's no comparison. John, your drawing is so manic that it really distracts, it looks like it should be on a Saturday morning kid's cartoon and then at least we would hear the dialogue instead of having to read it and getting distracted by the crazy drawings. Scott, your writing is so choppy not to mention cheesy that it really detracts from any humor that this stupid comic might have. I'm trying to give you guys a chance but I really can't stand it so far just so you know.

[Scott Nickel, Comic Strip God]

Don't you guys know that cartoonists never listen to anonymous posters on message boards?

[Drew]

This is a fun comic, and I have a lot of respect for Scott Nickel after reading his response (his real response) to the criticisms above.

To the people complaining, just quit reading it if you don't like it. arod, it's your right to pass this comic strip over. If you and unhappy reader don't like it, it's okay to stop reading it. If you absolutely have to voice your displeasure, and you really do want to offer your honest opinion to the creators, show some class, use Google to find some info and email the creators directly with your criticism, instead of insulting them publicly and treating them as though they owe you a comic that suits your unique personal taste. They don't owe you anything, and all your comments above did was insult people you don't even know. Nickel, at least, seems like a decent guy, not deservng of the kind of nasty comments people are making. The nasty comments just make you look bad.

[Mike WItmer]

It's waaaay too early for anyone on this board to make comments on Go Team Bob's writing or level of hilarity. Either give it a chance and stop comparing it to old strips or just stop reading it and go back to reading tired old re-runs.

I suggest you take a risk and stick with it before dropping your opinion here.

[Scott Nickel]

Mike and Drew,

Thanks for the nice comments and the support. Much appreciated.

John J and I have put our work out there, so were certainly fair game for criticism. But I do hope that readers will give the comic a chance and not judge us too harshly based on only a couple of introductory strips.

We know that some people will like GTB; some will hate it; some won't care one way or the other.

And we're okay with that.

Best,
Scott

[Comics Reader]

Yeah, honestly it's not my favorite comic strip, but I won't say anything until I get a chance to see a lot more of it. Don't judge too fast. And comparing it to "Calvin and Hobbes" is something that should be done after the first few years, not first few days. There are lots of different comics out there for those who hate it immediately. As for me, I'm going to stick with it; actually, it only appears 3 times a week so you are judging this strip seriously fast, arod. Good luck Scott and John.

[John Jagz]

Thanks to the supporters of the strip...and the haters...because any publicity is good publicity. The initial 24 strips were designed to set up the overall feeling of the comic. The newer strips will begin to run in October. Both Scott and I have a much tighter grasp on the direction of the strip at this point and the characters, scenes and artwork overall have been given a makeover.
Better lettering, more consistancy in the characters and less cluttered panels are what you have to look forward too.
But hey, in a few months if you still don't like the strip I hear they're rerunning the peanuts...just remember to oil your pacemaker.

goteambob.com
myspace.com/goteambob

-Jagz

[Alex Hallatt]

Yeeesh. Some folk are so quick to judge before a comic gets into its stride. Perhaps that is the world we live in now, demanding instant gratification. I don't think the art imitates Watterson at all - it is positively hyperactive with energy and not derivative of anything I've seen. There is certainly enough here to keep the strip in my bookmarks and I look forward to seeing it develop.

Good luck guys and hang in there.

Alex

[Comics reader]

Alex, you're right about the instant gratification thing for sure. That's why no one reads those old soap opera strips anymore, because no one has the time and patience to let the stories unfold slowly anymore. It's true that none of them are as good as they were under the original creators -- "Pearls Before Swine"'s parody of the cheesy writing they have these days was very true last week -- but I think that the rise of instant gratification culture is a big part of what has led to their fall out of style.

If there's one thing "unhappy reader" wrote that was right, it's that John's art is manic and looks like a Saturday morning cartoon. It does, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just a different style, and it probably fits the strip's concept well.

It's like I said before -- it's been around for less than a month, and it only runs 3 times a week, so it probably hasn't hit its stride yet. I'm looking forward to when it does.

By the way, Alex, your new comic strip "Arctic Circle" is awesome. I'm really liking it so far.

[John]

Some feedback, for what it's worth:

The main concept of an imaginary friend will immediately bring to mind Calvin's tiger Hobbes. The stripes on the shirt made me think of a tiger.
I'd think any syndicate considering publication would pass just based on that notion alone.

The designs are too avant garde and weird for a comic strip. They're distracting and not pleasing to the eyes. The kids' long blocks of square teeth don't help much.

The humor is pedestrian; similiar in style to many other comics out there. And the subject matter gets a bit too adult in places. (A doll orgy?) Forget newspaper distribution.

I do hope you'll take this constructively. I know it's hard when someone attacks your baby. Good luck.