Athena Dabbles in the World of Comics
Posted on September 24, 2010 Posted by John Scalzi 29 Comments
The scanner trimmed slightly at the bottom and to the right, but I think you can probably read it. And, it’s not an inaccurate assessment of current technology, which is even better.
What kinda surprised me? That she knew what a typewriter was.
L. O. L.
srsly.
Alternate ending: the computer deploys its Wi-Fi connection and laughs at the TV.
Athena may have ridden around in cars all her life, but she probably knows what a horse is.
Trenchant, poignant and decisive.
Tell me, is she a righty or a lefty?
My new tv connects directly to the internet and supports a number of internet applications directly (ie hulu, netflix, youtube). Problem solved. My computer feels much safer.
And everything old is new again.
Bruce A:
Well, we live near Amish, so she see horses used for transportation all the time.
Chang:
She’s a lefty.
We lefties tend to be very creative people. ;)
She left out that computers can play DVDs directly, without needing a TV or DVD player. Otherwise, spot on.
About 8 or 9 or 10 years ago I was working at the cytogenetics lab at Henry Ford Hospital and we were still using typewriters to type up reports. We had some just-out-of-college folks working and one of them was staring at the typewriter and I asked her what the problem was. She said she didn’t know how to turn it on.
Not to detract in any way, but shouldn’t the computer in panel 4 be blue rather than red?
True story: I was in a Staples a few days ago with my nine-year-old son, walking down the aisle, and he pointed at a typewriter and said “What’s that thing?”
Once I said “A typewriter,” he knew what that meant, but the actual physical object wasn’t familiar to him.
This reminds me of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems. My kids love that book. (I do too.)
I just read your post about teens and writing the other day. Do you have new advice now that you are the parent of an almost teen?
Man that’s dark.
Such creativity. I really like this comic.
I just love what kids come up with. And kudos to you that she knew what a typewriter was/is!
Great comic.
@PickerOfNits #11:
I read the red computer in panel 4 as the artist’s rendition of a noir-ish effect within the limited palette she had chosen to employ. Thus, ordinarily blue color values would render as red.
I, for one, found the choice highly effective, heightening the drama of the moment.
Way more effective than thinking that the cartoonist forgot to switch colors.
At any rate, you know my views on a foolish consistency.
Oddly, just last night my nine-year-old displayed some knowledge of what a typewriter is and how it works, although not a manual one. We didn’t know where he would have learned that, and neither did he.
I hate to throw neg but she probably looked up “typewriter” on Wikipedia.
The other day I was encouraging my kids (who are older than Athena) to take typing class in school, and they stared at me like I was speaking in Martian until I clarified that what I meant was “keyboarding” class.
I like that she labled the typewriter, just in case anyone wanted to look it up and see what one was. (Because anyone that knows what a typewriter is can tell that’s what it is from her drawing.)
hehe, nice comic, she sould do guest cartooning on “Whatever” every week, this way when she grows up, she has record of how her work improved over the years.
Of course she knows what a typewriter is. Same way she knows what a brachiosaur is.
@Mark Terry #10:
Please say you were also using something called “film” that needed to be “developed”, and making karyotypes using scissors and tape!
Ah. That helps explain all the comic strips of the characters from “Avatar: The Last Airbender” around my house.” Comic strips just seem to be in the air.
Although, since Athena’s does not revolve around a 10 ton flying bison with horrible gas, it is kind of apples-to-oranges.
@Laurie #22. Oh yes. But we switched to digital imaging long before they got rid of the typewriters. Actually, I haven’t worked there in 6 years, but they were still using typewriters for some things even then. Yup. Cutting edge genetics laboratory, using typewriters in 2004.
My tv is my other computer’s monitor.
My main computer used to be my tv (via tuner card).
Athena and a friend have been drawing these all week and sharing them with me. I didn’t see this one though as I was busy grading papers when she brought it to show me. They are having fun, learning to use a minimum of words to express their ideas (which is hard to do) and working co-operately together, so I have been letting them do this in study hall as long as their other work is completed.
We’ve got narrative, references to actual and current socio-technological issues, good dialogue — congratulations to Athena for a great comic. (And to her dad for encouraging her creativity.)
Mrs. J., good for you. I wish all teachers had this kind of attitude towards student creativity.
Nice creativity. I like the progressions on here and I think there could be a sequel now that companies are starting to ship InternetTV (Samsung brands this Internet@TV, I think this is an implementation of Yahoo TV Widgets) the TV may be able to not only pull the computer’s plug but steal the computer’s thunder (i.e. content) as well.
Laurie @ 22: Oddly enough, in super-high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, if you need to take a large field image, then the image quality will extend enough beyond the CCD’s capability that sometimes film is still used. Having a photographic element the size of a single molecule still beats electronics.