Thread "Round 8 - Pirka interviews Pieguy259 of Stickman and Cube!" in forum "Interviews"

Posted at 12:08AM, Aug. 10, 2009

This interview is of Pieguy259, whose comic is Stickman and Cube !
(interview conducted by Pirka!)

Stickman and Cube has been going on for over 200 strips now - congrazie! Did you ever think that you would get that far? Was it easier than you thought?

Frankly, I'm rather surprised myself! When I started the comic, I wasn't sure how far I'd get. I think it was the fact that I actually started building a fanbase that drove me to continue, and before I knew it (well, alright, about two years later) I was sitting on 250. Divide that by two years, that's 125 comics per year, so roughly one every three days. Of course, my loyal readers probably WISH I updated once every three days sometimes… Thankyou for sticking around (ba-boom-tish), guys, I couldn't have made it this far without you.

Stickman and Cube's titular characters may be simple, but they have developed personalities. How would you describe each of them, personality-wise?

Stickman is the straight-man (both literally and figuratively), and Cube is the funny-man, if we want to go by archetypal comedy terms - as a comparison, Stickman is Abbott and Cube is Costello. If they were doing the "Who's On First?" routine, Stickman would be the one saying "Who's on first" and Cube would be the one getting confused.

Another way to describe their personalities would be that Stickman is a sort of irritable, snarky, "I'm surrounded by idiots" type, and Cube is a "lovable idiot" type. Sometimes they switch roles, such as in the 2007 election campaign and to a lesser extent the "Stickfigures Against Rights Suppression" strip. Generally, though, that's the way things are set up.

The comic also has an eclectic cast of supporting characters. One of these characters is the aptly named 'Cartoonist', the omnipotent version of you present in the strip's universe. What drove you to create this character?

Don't let him hear you calling him that! He's the Author, as far as he's concerned. To answer your question, TV Tropes Wiki, mainly, but there was a bit of inspiration from Tailsteak's now-completed strip 1/0. I was looking for inspiration on TV Tropes after comic 25, and I saw the "Darker and Edgier" page, and I thought "Now there's something I can parody!" So I threw together comic #26, and that's really where the Cartoonist/Author character was born.

Stickman and Cube can be sorted into two kinds of strips: strips that are part of a ongoing plot arc, and strips that stand on their own with no plot assosciated. Which ones do you like making the most?

They all have their own unique charms. Generally speaking, one-shots are quicker and easier to make, because there's only one of them (well, duh, Pieguy). Storylines, however, give me something to work towards, so unlike one-shots where I need new inspiration every time, a storyline is simply "how do I get from Point A to Point B with as many laughs as possible?"

And yes, I have been planning this current one for ages.

The strip has a tendency to celebrate certain holidays or milestones with one-panel strips. How do you decide if an event is important enough for this recognition?

Here are the things which, generally, always get special strips:
- The comic's birthday.
- My birthday.
- Every 25-page milestone.
- Every 25000 pageview milestone.
- Christmas gets whole storylines.
- New Year's Day, featuring all the new stuff from the previous year.
- April Fool's Day.
- Halloween.
- Easter.
- DD Awards (since last year, anyway, when I first found out about them).

Gets rather fuzzy outside of those, but really it's just a matter of "can I think of a joke for this?"

Sometimes the strip spins off into 'The Adventures of Captain Invisible'. Is Captain Invisible a fictional character within the strip's universe or would it be possible for him to 'cross over' with Stickman and Cube?

Good question! Captain Invisible has, to my recollection, appeared twice outside of his own strips (except his character profile): once in the May Day filler in 2008 and once in "The Slow Path" storyline when the Cartoonist needed advice on what to do in Stickman and Cube's absence due to time travel.
The canonicity of fillers is rather nebulously defined, and Captain Invisible talking to the Cartoonist doesn't necessarily prove he exists within Stickman and Cube's main universe. The duo certainly know he exists.
Really, what parts of the comic constitute Stickman and Cube's actual universe are rather unclear, as it constantly changes with my whims. It started off as an entirely blank universe consisting solely of Stickman and Cube, but now includes Nebraska, a voting place, The Brewpub and Canberra. "Behind the Inanimateness: The Mr Tasey Story" is a whole other issue.
The answer here is a definite "I have no idea, but good on you for asking that question".

…and, finally: what do Stickman and Cube themselves think of all this? Yes, I mean YOU!

…Ha ha ha! Ah, they're a couple of jokers, aren't they?

Thanks so much for being patient. I apologize in advance if my questions suck eggs. You most definately do not suck said eggs.
EVERYONE BUY STUFF FROM THE STICKMAN AND CUBE STORE LOL

Thankyou, and you're welcome!