The Xcentrikz - Interactive Comic

November 27, 2009

Interview with the hilarious Dante Shepherd on his totally original creation...

(Click on the images to visit the site!)

Hey folks! It's that funny guy, fresh from the university chalkboard here to enlighten us on "Surviving the World!!" Check out Dante's photo-comic site of great gags, and insightfully philosophically scientifically hilariously fun sense of humor. Hope you like the interview. Thanks again, Dante!

The Xcentrikz Team: Hello, hello, thanks again for the chat about your comic, Dante! How about you pitch something cool about your photo-comic, Surviving the World? Tell everybody what makes it extra nifty.

Surviving the World is a daily photocomic focusing on all shades of life, from science to literature, politics to sports, romance to religion, and is probably stylistically unlike any webcomic you've seen before.

THE XCENTRIKZ: That's for sure, heh heh, and it's great! So how’d you come up with this hilarious idea to help us all “Survive The World?” (Thanks, by the way, hehee.)

I had come up with a concept for a TV show based around a local YMCA-like class where kids were taught how to prepare and what to expect from life at college. The idea was that a teacher/professor would be providing lessons on situations like orientation and the freshman fifteen and fraternities, with half the show centered in his classroom, and the other half depicted by the lives of the college students he was using as examples. It was the first writing project I'd ever finished out of a number of short stories and scripts, and the people I showed it to all really liked it, so I was pretty excited by it.

I sent the script in to a couple of different contests, and it was met with resounding indifference. But it was the first project I'd ever completed, so I still wanted to develop something out of it. I tried to turn it into an alternative comic book, but I couldn't find an artist either interested or better at anything than stick figures. So from there I turned it into a webcomic, working with a photocomic format, keeping the classroom setting, and changed the working title from "101" to "Surviving the World".

There's a number of lessons that directly take from that script, so the script is almost completely cannibalized at this point. Still, I'm really happy with how it's turned out.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool background info there. Yea my favorites are when you turn a philosophical or social concept into a diagram or something, that's great, haha. Anything special about how you update the site? Where are the chalkboard photos taken?

I update STW seven days a week, usually shortly after I wake up and become coherent. All the photos are taken in one of my classrooms at the Fred Paulson Institute in Wincheck City, PA.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Heh, cool. Have you ever put a real-life event, that you experienced, into Surviving the World?

There are a ton of real-life stories in the comic. My father really did use to pick up my sisters and me after school by driving up in his car and offering us candy, just to creep people out. I've played indoor croquet, worn safety socks in a lab, walked into a pole, worn sandals year-round just to see the looks I would get - there's been a number of interesting or ridiculous events that have made perfect stories for the comic. And I still haven't worked in the time I fell down a mountain.

THE XCENTRIKZ: You've had a lot of great inspirations and have an even better way of utilizing them into humor, haha. So in most of your lessons you look pretty calm and neutral. Is it fun to do different expressions as part of the joke?

The comic was supposed to have as much of that classroom feel as possible, and I quickly realized that pictures of a blackboard don't work as well unless the professor is in the picture as well, but at the same time, I didn't want being in the picture to take over the lesson. So most of the time I try to remain as neutral as possible. But my favorite comics are the ones where I can fit an expression or pose in. Like showing off my one good dance move!

THE XCENTRIKZ: What reactions did Surviving the World get early on? Were viewers entertained, shocked, annoyed… or something else?

Reactions were positive, but there were so few people who actually read STW during the first year it's kind of hard to say. Most of the people reading during that timeframe didn't initially understand what a webcomic was, so that made it a little difficult to explain what I was trying to do. But I think they were still entertained.

THE XCENTRIKZ: What’s something that really challenges you with Surviving the World?

Setting up the camera in the third row of the classroom, sprinting to the front, and turning back in time before the camera goes off. Half the time, the picture comes out blurry. Some webcomic people are always trying to perfect their art - I'm just trying to perfect my running time.

Beyond that, I'm always trying to find the right balance between each lesson's humor and education. Because the comic is set in a classroom, I feel like I have free reign to teach on any subject, from developments in genetics to philosophical arguments to simple social interactions. And while I can always find some approach to those topics that will make people laugh, there's plenty of times I'd rather have the educational point be the focal point while the humor might only be enough to draw a smile. I don't want to entirely abandon the comedy portion of the comic when I do this, but I still feel strongly enough about issues like individuality and science that I don't want to completely miss out on the educational opportunities just because I'm trying to adhere to a standard comic approach. It's a difficult balance, and something I'm sure I'll continue to struggle with for years.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Neat. Well on the lighter side of things... Tell us more about your assistant, your furry buddy!

German Shepherd is my dog/TA for the site. He's a great dog, a Treeing Walker Coonhound who's scared of almost everything, like rain . . . loud noises . . . water. I tried teaching him to jump up and land with his paws on my chest, but he has pretty terrible aim - I've been punched in both the jaw and the crotch.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ouch haha, well he sounds like a great guy anyway. What are some of the disparaging things people say about Surviving the World? Did you think the comments were justified?

I usually get emailed whenever I write about religion, and it's a contentious issue, so I understand if people think they need to defend their beliefs. On the other hand, I've been told off by scientists who claim I can't possibly be a real scientist if I believe in God in any way. It's always nice to be yelled at by both sides - it makes you realize that your ability to offend has broad appeal.

Mostly, though, people who don't find it funny tell me that I'm trying too hard with the setup. I think they believe the lab coat and hat and classroom is all just for show. But it's not! My full-time job really is teaching and science, and I do wear a lab coat and Sox hat all the time. It's not really being contrived if you're just being yourself.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How’s it been promoting Surviving the World? Do readers just spread it around with twitter and word of mouth or do you tell people about it, too?

Honestly, I've never placed an ad for it anywhere - I originally posted a link on two webcomic forums and asked readers at one point to vote for STW on another webcomic site. I felt that if STW deserved to get any readers, then they would come, and I shouldn't have to demand or ask for them. And all of a sudden, thanks to a simple link passed along to her readers by Danielle Corsetto of Girls With Slingshots, people latched on. It's all been word-of-mouth, and it's really been just terrific. I wouldn't have the readers I have now if so many people weren't so great and willing to pass the links around. It's really extremely humbling.

THE XCENTRIKZ: How about some fun personal questions… If you had a super sci-fi gadget for one day, what would it be, and what would you do with it

That's easy. A pan-dimensional door. I wish I could overlap realities, so that I could take the different historical or social aspects of one world and briefly force those characteristics on the world I'm living in. I think it would be fun to see what life would be like if we lived among carnivorous deer or intelligence-eating brainworms. Or something happier, like a world where all your pets had opposable thumbs. (Would that actually be happier?)

THE XCENTRIKZ: Ahahaha, okay! And... How would you describe yourself in five words?

Anti-conformity, Yastrzemski, polymers, idiosyncratic, grapefruit.

THE XCENTRIKZ: You are a crack up... What were you like in high-school? What was your humor like back then?

Man, I hated high school. I'm pretty sure my humor was close to what it is now, but peer pressure and strict social classes really makes it hard for you to be able to express yourself completely. Once I got to college and finally felt free to be who I wanted and say what I wanted, I think my ability to be creative kind of took off.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Yea, I'm glad it worked out well for ya! You seem like a pretty philosophical person, in a comedic sort of way! It’s fun. Tell us a bit about your perspective on society and such. Where do you think humanity is heading?

I think we as a society have developed a kind of addictive personality - not where we get a taste of something, and then can't get enough of it until we need to go to rehab, but more like we take in and absorb whatever we end up getting exposed to. The amount of information we have access to now, either in terms of actual news or entertainment just kind of overwhelms us to the point we have difficulty creating barriers against it all, and just start taking it in. So we're all kind of like internet sponges, I guess.

I think we're going to come to a point where we realize the effect all of this information is having on us, and it's going to be pretty interesting to see how we respond. Until then, I feel everyone who provides opinions of any kind - be they scientists, pundits, public speakers, politicians, whatever - should be required to provide a public warning before they start talking, by describing the most idiotic thing they've ever done. That way we'll be able to realize how many grains of salt we need to take with whatever they're saying.

THE XCENTRIKZ: VERY VERY TRUE, in my opinion!!! Interesting points for everyone to consider. Thanks for bringing it up. So... What’s it like answering people’s emailed questions as part of a lesson?

The weekly recitations can be terribly weird, but they're so rewarding. Half the time, it's obvious that people have had one incredibly strange question that's been bothering them, something revolving around zombies or cat contraception, and when they send it to me, I really wonder where they ever could have come up with it. And the other half of the time, it's a very personal question that would actually really help in their daily lives if I could provide some insight, like a therapist or counselor. So I have this wide range of questions I can take from, and it really helps challenge my creativity and the speed in which I can respond to something comedically.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Heh, cool. Do you consider yourself part of a sub-culture? Geek, hippy, techie, gamer, something else…? Why or why not?

A photocomic culture, I guess? I think there's a number of great photocomics out there, and people are slowly starting to adjust to the idea of a comic that isn't drawn. I'm really very happy to find myself associated with talented photocomic people like Zander Speaks or Arne Schulenberg, and obviously Emily Horne and Joey Comeau, who are helping redefine the artistic boundaries of comics.

THE XCENTRIKZ: You’re a pretty funny guy! Ever thought of doing standup at a local university or something? Heh! Or are you pretty satisfied with doing your site as is?

I'd love to try talking at any university if they'd have me! I have a tendency to get a little long-winded, but I've got enough good stories I could probably keep people amused for a while.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Cool, well good luck with that! Anything else to share about your creation?

I want to produce STW for 70 years, will likely do a nude comic once I've become senile, and will have a giant wooden hammer in the very last comic that I do. Those things I will promise. Beyond that, I hope Surviving the World continues to provide people with a daily laugh and a daily thought to mull over, and hope it will at least help people realize how great the world can be if we can only remember to make fun of it.

THE XCENTRIKZ: Wow, you've really thought that one over heh heh. Thanks a bunch for your great perspective on modern culture and its insanities. Keep up the nifty work helping us Surviving the World! Go read this cool site now, folks – Enjoy!

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