Back to School Survival Guide #3: Pranks for the Memories (Part One)

Fall is officially upon us, so I’m writing another installment of my annual “Back to School Survival Guide.” I take my experiences as a student and my experiences as a teacher and use them to come up with some practical advice for school children. If you’re not in this age group, you may choose to read anyway for my amusing insights or you can just skip it and wait for the next one.

In past years, I’ve written about getting help from teachers and spotting bullies. This year I want to write about something more fun: classroom jokes and pranks.

Have you ever noticed how certain kids pull jokes all the time while others get busted whenever they open their mouths? Some kids just know what they can get away with. I’m going to try and explain why some jokes are okay while others lead to problems. (Disclaimer: Your results may vary, depending on school culture and teacher’s sense of humor. Please put advice from parents, teachers and principals ahead of the random advice you get from strangers on the internet. And don’t use my blog as an excuse for bad behavior. I don’t need that kind of trouble.)

Are Jokes Good or Bad?

Secretly, most teachers like a good joke. After all, jokes from students can relieve stress, improve student socialization, and develop the creative parts of the mind. These are all things that good teachers want to encourage. But a teacher’s first mission is to make sure you learn something. So if your jokes disrupt the lessons and get in the way of that goal, your teacher will try to stop to you.

Pranksters, What’s Your Point?

Your intentions, good or bad, make a difference. An experienced teacher can usually spot the difference between friendly banter and mean-spirited humor. In other words, teachers are more likely to let you slide if you’re not trying to hurt anything. So what is your own goal for your jokes and pranks? It should be to give everyone a laugh and, maybe, show off how clever you are. If you want to put down other students, humiliate your teacher, or trip up today’s lesson, change your mission. Otherwise, you are better off skipping the jokes all together (and possibly finding yourself a good therapist.)

Besides, considerate jokes are usually funnier (at least in schools, anyway.) A lot of kids feel stress, or guilt from mean jokes. Even kids who laugh along often feel conflicted when others are being hassled. Don’t be mean and you’ll amuse more of the people that you’re trying to impress.

Pardon the Interruption.

Making jokes on your own time (lunch, recess, bus rides, etc.) should never be a problem. But, let’s say you’re in class. Can you jump in without landing in trouble? Maybe, maybe not, but here are a few tips that could improve your odds:

First, don’t wear out your welcome. In my experience, people can usually handle two or three interruptions before taking it seriously. If you or someone else has already interrupted a class, you may have used up your joke quota. If you think it's safe, keep the interruptions short. A fast joke is less likely to get you in trouble than a long, drawn out one. And be sure to pace your jokes. Five jokes spaced out over two hours is less annoying than five jokes back to back.

While you're at it, try to stay on topic. Jokes about today’s lesson prove that you can pay attention, while you’re having fun. And your jokes might help other students remember the lessons and do better on tests. That would make you a hit with the students and teachers.

Finally, and perhaps, most importantly of all, work on your timing. Good comedians say that timing is the most important part of humor. This is doubly true in schools. Avoid interrupting the most important parts of instructions or the key moments in discussions.

Taking Responsibility

Sometimes, no matter how careful or well meaning you are, someone may still get mad at your jokes. If this happens out in the real world, you can sometimes tell people to lighten up. But school rules are different. If someone in charge tells you off for clowning around, you say, “Sorry, it won’t happen again.” And then, unfortunately, you have to mean it. Lie low for the rest of class, maybe the rest of the day, to prove that you're serious. And don’t drag out your apology. A long, disruptive apology is often worse than whatever you’re apologizing for.

Heck is Other People

One of the worst things that can happen to you is having someone else take your joke too far. You might make a short, tasteful joke, only to have some other students add their own mean, disruptive comments on top of yours. Then you all end up looking like jerks. And if you try to explain that these other kids aren’t a part of your act, your teacher will think that you’re causing a disruption and the other kids will think you’re a traitor. The best thing to do is to keep quiet until things settle down. You can explain yourself to your friends and teachers after class. If anyone is still mad at you, you have to accept that. After all, the disruption may not have been your fault, but it was a result of your actions.

Summary

If you’re ever stuck, remember these basic rules of school humor: Don’t be disrespectful and try to keep it short. Stick to this, and maybe you’ll have your fun without serving any time in detention.

Next time, we’ll explore the kinds of jokes people play and which ones work. Until then, please prank responsibly.

-Marj
www.lepusstudios.com

Welcome, New Gallery

Over the past few weeks, you may have heard me mention working on a special side project for my website. Actually, I haven’t really been working on it for the past few weeks. I’ve been working on it for about ten years.

I’ve recently expanded the Gallery section of Lepus Studios to include some of my fan art. Visitors can now explore my Super Mario Sculpture Gallery, a set of tiny polymer clay sculptures, based on Nintendo’s beloved characters. And (there’s no way to say this without sounding a little crazy) the collection has about 350 different pieces.

Why did I do it? About ten years ago (long before I was drawing webcomics), I was really interested in miniature sculptures. I wanted to make myself a set of Super Mario characters (I’ve been a huge Nintendo fan since I was twelve years old). I started with a little Mario (small enough to stand on a dime), and then I built the other characters loosely to scale with him. However, I never set up any parameters about which characters were important enough to make the cut. In a month I had about fifty characters. The next batch doubled my collection. For the last decade I’ve been adding to the horde each time I finish a new game. I usually only make a handful of little guys at a time, but it adds up.

Of course, I can never replicate every character. Over twenty years of Super Mario games have generated more characters than I could keep up with. I had to set some rules about which ones should be included:

1. I only sculpt characters. No props, items, or power-ups. 
2. I only sculpt one version of each character. No different statues for Fire Mario, Cloud Mario, Tanooki Mario etc. 
3. I don’t add any new characters unless: A: they appear in more than one game, B: they play a key role in one game, or C: I find them interesting and really want to try sculpting them. 

Until now, I never intended to make my fan art public. It’s always been something I did just for my own amusement. But this stuff is starting to pile up, and it feels strange to keep it all to myself.

To be fair, I’ve sited Nintendo as the legal owner of all Super Mario characters. Nothing in the statue gallery is for sale. I’m not even running any advertisements on the pages that show Nintendo characters so I won’t directly receive any profits from displaying them (aside from the attention it might bring.)

So if you enjoy Nintendo games, miniatures, or just want to see how strange my work can get when I have time on my hands, please Check Out the Gallery. 

-Marj
www.lepusstudios.com

Something Different

Well, I'm back from work and vacation and I'm ready to return to flooding the internet with more comics.

I'm doing something a little different with Urban Underbrush right now. I've been trying my pen at some short, stand-alone comics that don't belong to any particular story arc. I've done some stand-alone comics before, but usually as bookends between chapters. I usually prefer writing big stories, but the big stories aren't coming as easily lately. It might be time for a change of pace.

Expect this type of comic for the entire month of August. We'll return to chapters in September. If you've been thinking about getting your friends into Urban Underbrush, but you don't want to make them read the long story arcs, then now might be a good time to introduce people to the comic. As always, each comic has it's own Facebook and Twitter buttons to make sharing a breeze.

Hope you enjoy the comics.

-Marj
lepusstudios.com

Delays Ahead

My dear readers, I am afraid that Lepus Studios is going to have to take its first hiatus.

I've just spent my last two weeks teaching a very extensive digital arts class, which left little time for comic drawing. I've used up my buffer on both Draconis Wicked and Urban Underbrush.

To complicate matters, I have to leave town for a week and there will probably be no internet where I'm heading.

Expect Urban Underbrush to return on August 2. Draconis will return on August 13 at the latest.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Pearls Before Pittsburgh

A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to see Stephan Pastis at the Pittsburgh Toonseum (That’s “cartoon museum” for you out of towners.) Stephan Pastis is the cartoonist behind, Pearls Before Swine – one of my favorite newspaper comics. He was giving a lecture on cartooning. I had to be there.

 

I didn’t know what to expect from Mr. Pastis. What do cartoonists talk about? Would he discuss his drawing methods? His writing methods? The advantages and disadvantages of digital distribution versus print distribution? (Would anyone else find that interesting?)

He kept it light and gave a talk that everyone could appreciate. This was good because there were a lot of kids in the audience (kudos to the parents who brought them there – you are parenting right.) Stephan talked about his characters, his inspirations, and how he started his cartooning career. He even shared some favorite complaint letters.

The lion’s share of his lecture was a “book reading.” How does a cartoonist do a book reading? He picks out some favorite comic strips and reads the dialogue out loud while a large screen projection of each panel is displayed on the wall behind him. Usually, he didn’t even have to read the last panel. As soon as the punchline went up, the crowd was laughing too hard to hear him anyway.

Stephan puts a lot of himself into his art, but it’s hard to get a sense of who he is as a person just from reading his work or listening to his talk. He presents himself in an accurate and straight-forward way, but then he wraps that presentation in a thick layer of self-deprecating humor. (Regular “Pearls” readers know that he beats himself up quite a bit.) Trying to know the man through his work is like looking at him through water, but then that self-deprecation is like that handful of dust thrown in that water, keeping us from getting a clearer look. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing him for it. I think this method allows him to be honest about himself without becoming too intense. If he didn’t cloak himself in a little self-abuse, he’d be too exposed.

A very memorable and poignant moment of the talk was when a kid in the audience asked Mr. Pastis to tell us which Pearls strips were his favorites. Stephan didn’t just talk about the funny ones. He mentioned the thoughtful, sensitive comics a well. He told us that if a cartoonist tries to be touching too often, heartfelt comics lose their power. But if the profound moments are used carefully, they can be magic.

Thanks for visiting us in Pittsburgh, Stephan. Come back whenever you like.

-Marjorie Rishel
lepusstudios.com

Farewell to Starslip

I just read the final Starslip comic today. Most of you shouldn’t need me to tell you about Starslip (aka Starshift Crisis or Starslip Crisis), the popular sci-fi comedy webcomic which has been running for seven years.

In case you’re not familiar with the comic, Starslip told the story of Memnon Vanderbeam, a foppish art curator turned space captain, and his crew of engineers, ex-pirates, robots, aliens, and giant insects. They traveled the galaxy spreading culture during times of peace or joining space battles in times of war. I did mention that the story takes place in the distant future, didn’t I?
I have a lot of fond memories of Starslip. Like the time I broke down and bought a plush Jinxlet from the Starslip store (Dr. Snuggleton is right here with me as I write this blog).

Or the time Starslip author Kris Straub sent me an autograph from PAX East (I couldn’t go because of work. Stupid gainful employment).

But I think that the time Starslip meant the most to me was in the summer of 2008. Ever since I graduated college, I’ve had a standing summer job teaching art classes for kids and teens. In July, we assemble a gallery of the students work and display it at Duquesne University. It’s always a challenge to put the gallery together while teaching the classes, but in 2008 we had a new obstacle. The university had turned its gallery space into offices. Other suitable spaces were under construction, so they gave our art gallery a temporary place in the second floor lobby. It was a difficult transition. Most of the staff, including myself, put in a lot of extra hours to make the necessary adjustments. As the most senior member, I was also managing the staff, tying up lose ends, getting three-to-five hours of sleep each night, and becoming increasingly irritated with the whole situation.

But I still found time to read Startslip each morning.

As luck would have it, Starslip was telling a story about Memnon Vanderbeam setting up an art exhibition. All of the artwork disappeared over night and Memnon and his crew had to track it down and re-assemble the exhibition in the few hours before the museum opened. I can’t stress how perfect the timing was. We’ve all had occasions when pop culture stories match up with events in our own lives, but they’re usually out of sync with us by a few weeks or months. I was reading this story exactly as these things were happening to me. And I found myself thinking, “If a clown like Vanderbeam can fix his gallery, then clever folks like us can get our gallery put together.” And we did.

In all fairness, we would have fixed our problems without Starslip cheering me on. But I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much.

So today we say goodbye to a saga that has meant so much to so many people. Thanks to Mr. Straub for giving us Starslip. If nothing else, it could be quite a pick-me-up.

And thank goodness I was able to squeeze a Jinxlet into the last Easter Egg Gallery. I would have been disappointed if I had missed my chance to do that.

 -Marj
lepusstudios.com

Mega Projects

Hey, do you like the new main page? I'm trying to make the site a little more friendly for new readers by putting the comics on the front page too. The latest Draconis Wicked will take over the home page on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Urban Underbrush appears on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I've been a lot of places lately, but mostly places on the internet. In the past few months, I've drawn guest comics for Edmund Finney's Quest to Find the Meaning of Life and Bearmageddon.

But my biggest guest appearance is just getting started.

I've been working on a short comic for SuperFogeys Origins. For anyone not familiar with what that arrangement of words means, SuperFogeys is a webcomic about retired super heroes and villains. Their adventures run on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Friday, readers are treated to "origin stories," tales of the heroes back in their heyday. Here's the twist: while the Monday/Wednesday episodes are always written by Brock Heasley and drawn by Marc Lapierre, each origin story is drawn by a different guest artist. It's a nice touch that makes each origin seem like someone's memory, influenced by recollection and point of view.

Now it's my turn. I'm drawing the story of Mega Matt, a powerless "hero" who is a bit of a klutz. I'm working from Brock's script, which has been a bit of a challenge. It's a fun, goofy story, but it may be a bit intense for some of the younger readers.

I'd love to tell you a little bit about my experiences drawing this crazy thing, but I don't want to give anything away just yet. I guess you'll have to come back when the story's over. "SuperFogeys Origins: Mega Matt and the Ballad of the O'Hara Family" will run on Fridays for the next five weeks. It's a crazy ride and I hope you'll take it.

-Marj