View Full Version : Hark, A Vagrant or "Lindisfarne Trip. So Amazing"
RationalGoblin
2010-07-03, 12:22 PM
Since I didn't see a Hark a vagrant thread, I figure I might as well start one up!
Hark, a Vagrant, is a largely historical-based webcomic written by Kate Beaton, focusing on the absurdities and humor that can be found in history. It also has author-based comics, where Kate meets and talks to her younger self. Additionally, Hark a Vagrant has a few webcomics based on Canadian humor (Kate Beaton lives in Nova Scotia).
Personally, it's one of my favorite webcomics, being both funny and informative at the same time. I've learned a lot and laughed at even more. In my opinion, it is one of the better non-story webcomics.
So! Here is a few links to help familiarize yourself with the comic:
The titular Lindisfarne comic: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=254
The Beginning comic: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=1
Link to Current comic: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php
One of my favorites, a Mushashi comic: http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=40
And now we can discuss this comic. Have at it!
Domochevsky
2010-07-03, 03:09 PM
...utterly impenetrable without history knowledge. I feel like im constantly missing half the joke. >_>
SilentDragoon
2010-07-03, 03:22 PM
...utterly impenetrable without history knowledge. I feel like im constantly missing half the joke. >_>
Sadly echoed. This is like reading XKCD and knowing no engineering, calculus or programming. I'm pretty sure there are jokes in there, but out of the handful I've read only the Musashi one made any sense. Might be funny if I was going after a history degree or had taken a world history class in the past eight years, but I don't recognize the events or people often enough.
RationalGoblin
2010-07-03, 03:48 PM
...utterly impenetrable without history knowledge. I feel like im constantly missing half the joke. >_>
Well, the comics does usually have the name of the person or event associated with that particular joke mentioned or put in the comic.
So just wiki the stuff you don't know. It's not hard; and it's why I mentioned that I learned a few things from the comic.
Domochevsky
2010-07-03, 03:55 PM
Yes, i'm going to go out of my way to wiki pages upon pages of dry history to understand the punchline and all intricacies of a particular strip.
Totally going to happen. :smallcool:
RationalGoblin
2010-07-03, 05:34 PM
Yes, i'm going to go out of my way to wiki pages upon pages of dry history to understand the punchline and all intricacies of a particular strip.
Totally going to happen. :smallcool:
To be fair, all the really immediately unintelligible stuff is somewhat obscure, and doesn't have that much reading.
And I like reading wiki articles. Then again, I also love history, so... :smalltongue:
Jahkaivah
2010-07-03, 05:38 PM
...utterly impenetrable without history knowledge. I feel like im constantly missing half the joke. >_>
Sadly echoed. This is like reading XKCD and knowing no engineering, calculus or programming. I'm pretty sure there are jokes in there, but out of the handful I've read only the Musashi one made any sense. Might be funny if I was going after a history degree or had taken a world history class in the past eight years, but I don't recognize the events or people often enough.
You're exagerating, as with XKCD most of the time there is either no required knowledge, a commonly known required knowledge or a joke which is funny on it's own even without the required knowledge, case in point look at the past 5 strips:
Lastest (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=271) - What's to explain, they're canadian.
2nd Latest (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=270)
Part 1 - Could be entertaining to know what revolution it refers to, entertaining without knowing this as well.
Part 2 - What's to explain.
Part 3 - What's to explain, a durp durp.
Part 4 - Your more likely to be unfamiliar with the face referred to than by Homer's Oddysey.
Part 5 - What's to explain, they're jocks and nerds.
3rd Latest (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=269) - You've either well aware of the race to invent the telephone, or can easily deduce there was one.
4th Latest (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=268)
Part 1 - What's to explain, he's Benjamin Franklin.
Part 2 - First joke so far with an undeducable referrance, still funny.
Part 3 - What's to explain, Charles Dickens has crazy fetishes.
Part 4 - Referance missed here is actually part of a series of jokes in this webcomic as well as an outside referance, still funny.
Part 5 - You're not going to tell me you haven't heard of the story of Daedulus and Icarus.
Part 6 - Whats to explain, they're pug dogs.
5th Latest (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=267)
Part 1 - Funny even if your not famililar with Canadian Literature.
Part 2 - Blatent wordplay.
Part 3 - What's to explain, it was his favourite part.
Well, some interest in history doesn't hurt. And as someone said before, there is always wiki. It#s fun to browse wiki for history stuff.
To sum it up, Kate Beaton Makes Good Comics (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=18377283774&ref=ts) (Quote: Facebook)
Domochevsky
2010-07-03, 05:59 PM
Jahkaivah, you're assuming a lot of knowledge of american/canadian/general history here. Which is just not present. Hence the lack of funny. :| (And no, the few historically neutral bits inbetween don't invalidate the entire thing. And no, i don't find searching Wikipedia fun. TVtropes yes. Wikipedia no.)
SilentDragoon
2010-07-03, 06:04 PM
Repeat that, but from the beginning. Austen was the only one I even vaguely recognized.
Looking at those you posted there are more familiar figures, but that doesn't necessarily make it particularly funny. The XKCD analogy applies, as its observation humor (Hey look! Benjamin Franklin! He was a womanizer right! Benjamin Franklin + Woman = LOLZ!). Its just not particularly funny/insightful/interesting to me.
There are also some (http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=199) mystery (http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=218) solving (http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=223) teens (http://harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=241). And the Nautilus (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=253).
Jahkaivah
2010-07-03, 06:17 PM
Jahkaivah, you're assuming a lot of knowledge of american/canadian/general history here.
I'm really not. Only thing I've assumed is the knowledge of two very well known greek myths. I problably know as little on the matter as you do.
The XKCD analogy applies, as its observation humor (Hey look! Benjamin Franklin! He was a womanizer right! Benjamin Franklin + Woman = LOLZ!). Its just not particularly funny/insightful/interesting to me.
A more valid criticism, but one that still only applies to some of the examples I've listed.
SilentDragoon
2010-07-03, 06:21 PM
Nautilus was my favorite of the ones I'd seen. The ones where the archivist talks to her younger self were pretty good too. Biggest problem for me is that observational humor falls pretty flat when I can't instantly relate/understand/recognize what is being made fun of. If I take the time to look it up its exactly like explaining the joke, which kinda ruins anything with which I'm not previously familiar.
Simius
2010-07-04, 03:27 AM
I like the comic. Even if I don't get the joke, it's still interesting. Same as with XKCD, really.
Some favorites:
Jules Verne vs H.G. Wells (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=231)
Jules Verne vs Edgar Allan Poe (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=213)
15th century peasant romance (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=255)
How the French Revolution really went (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=52)
The Mystery Solving Teens and the Chimney Sweeper comics are also great.
Jibar
2010-07-04, 03:32 AM
I intellectually lust after Kate Beaton, which is a strange feeling.
Her comics are so good and funny and smart and they make me feel bad that I can't do it too.
Simius
2010-07-04, 03:39 AM
Also, her art reminds me so much of Quentin Blake's, who drew pictures for all the Roald Dahl books. Good old nostalgia...
Edit: huh, googling Blake's drawings shows that they're actually not that much alike. Ah well, the mind works in strange ways.
I intellectually lust after Kate Beaton, which is a strange feeling.
I think we are on the same page here :smallwink:
Took a glance at 20 strips or so. Have to say that my response was "meh", and I'm someone who reads history for fun. The drawing's mediocre and most of the jokes just aren't that funny.
Nimrod's Son
2010-07-04, 07:28 AM
This is one of my very favourite webcomics, and I don't know much more history than what I learned in school. Like Jahkaivah said, very few of the strips require more than a bit of general knowledge.
Also Kate Beaton draws facial expressions as well as anyone ever has.
Also, her art reminds me so much of Quentin Blake's, who drew pictures for all the Roald Dahl books. Good old nostalgia...
Edit: huh, googling Blake's drawings shows that they're actually not that much alike. Ah well, the mind works in strange ways.
I get what you mean, actually. They've both got a sloppy quality to them, which actually helps the expressiveness rather than hindering it.
I love Hark, A Vagrant. And kate's guest comic for penny arcade. That is all.
The Glyphstone
2010-07-05, 06:29 PM
Some favorites:
Jules Verne vs H.G. Wells (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=231).
I actually used this one a few months ago in my English paper/project.
RationalGoblin
2010-07-19, 11:16 AM
I'd like to bump this thread for a new Hark a Vagrant which I personally think is easier to understand then the others, for anyone who knows anything about the French Revolution.
Linkage (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php).
Additionally, I thought the comics were fairly witty this time. I especially like the "traitor baby" and "Bastille employee of the month" ones. Not going into politics, the France asking America for help one is pretty funny as well.
The Extinguisher
2010-07-19, 02:51 PM
Hark, A Vagrant is one of my favourite comics.
I adore the Mystery Solving Teens.
Tiger Duck
2010-07-20, 03:49 PM
They are pretty great.
I particularly like Napoleon eat (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=135)ing cookies (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=136), and Wonder women saving nibbles (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=225).
They are pretty great.
I particularly like Napoleon eat (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=135)ing cookies (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=136)
. . . um. Okay . . . you have Napoleon eating cookies. And . . . that's it. That's both the plot and the punchline of the joke.
I don't want to be Designated Tough Audience Person, but I'm having serious trouble seeing why this is supposed to be funny.
RationalGoblin
2010-07-20, 05:57 PM
. . . um. Okay . . . you have Napoleon eating cookies. And . . . that's it. That's both the plot and the punchline of the joke.
I don't want to be Designated Tough Audience Person, but I'm having serious trouble seeing why this is supposed to be funny.
Probably because of the absurdity factor. I mean, what the heck, why is Napoleon eating cookies?
It's just so absurd that some people laugh at it.
EDIT: This (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=23) is probably a better joke. It has a plot (the declaration of independence being signed) and a conflict (Franklin flying a kite) and a logical reason for why he's doing that (he was known for the kite experiment almost as much as the American Revolution.
Probably because of the absurdity factor. I mean, what the heck, why is Napoleon eating cookies?
It's just so absurd that some people laugh at it.
. . . eating food is absurd? What was Napoleon supposed to have survived on, osmosis?
EDIT: This (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=23) is probably a better joke. It has a plot (the declaration of independence being signed) and a conflict (Franklin flying a kite) and a logical reason for why he's doing that (he was known for the kite experiment almost as much as the American Revolution.
I'm just amazed that people find them funny enough to post about. That comic, for instance. Benjamin Franklin took part in the Declaration of Independence and flew a kite. That's it? That's the best joke the writer can come up with?
Jahkaivah
2010-07-20, 06:46 PM
Saph.
You smell.
It's just that it's so disappointing. Jokes about Napoleon, for instance - I mean, the guy took command of France in the aftermath of the Revolution and turned that into an empire that stretched across most of Europe, which was destroyed and then rose from the ashes before being finally destroyed for good in a series of epic battles which shaped European politics for the next century.
You'd think it would be impossible to make that boring. And yet, with all that material to draw on, the best joke that the writer can come up with is that . . . Napoleon eats cookies.
Vaynor
2010-07-20, 06:59 PM
My love of her intellectual humor is only overshadowed ever-so-slightly by her amazing way of drawing the comic. Often a single panel can incite laughter with a character's expression or pose. Definitely one of my favorite comics of all time. Plus, she draws a pretty amazing baby. [/joke on the most recent comic]
. . . eating food is absurd? What was Napoleon supposed to have survived on, osmosis?
The absurdity does not lie in the situation but the presentation of it.
Domochevsky
2010-07-20, 07:02 PM
Saph.
You smell.
No u :smallcool:
Jahkaivah
2010-07-20, 07:55 PM
No u :smallcool:
Saph.
Yo smell.
Claudius Maximus
2010-07-20, 10:06 PM
Not sure about Saph smelling, but I love this comic for just about the same reason I love things like Nedroid. Couldn't tell you exactly what that is though.
chiasaur11
2010-07-21, 01:19 AM
Good comic.
And really, learning history is a reward in and of itself. A punchline at the end only enriches the experience.
Revlid
2010-07-21, 05:41 AM
It's just that it's so disappointing. Jokes about Napoleon, for instance - I mean, the guy took command of France in the aftermath of the Revolution and turned that into an empire that stretched across most of Europe, which was destroyed and then rose from the ashes before being finally destroyed for good in a series of epic battles which shaped European politics for the next century.
You'd think it would be impossible to make that boring. And yet, with all that material to draw on, the best joke that the writer can come up with is that . . . Napoleon eats cookies.
Again, you're picking from the shorter and more scrappy comics. "The best" is clearly untrue. (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=41)
However, there is a certain amount of absurd charm in a woman finding that her cookies are gone because Napoleon has eaten them. What is he doing in her house? Did he break in? Does she keep him as a pet? Is he her roomie? He looks so content. Aww. Napoleon.
It's not humour that works for everyone, and it's unlikely to have anyone rolling on the floor in fits of laughter, but it's still worth a bit of a giggle for many.
That said, I love that Ben Franklin comic. I think I missed that one.
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