Okay, so most of these haven't been asked that frequently. This is mostly a
occasionally / hypothetically asked questions page, but that doesn't sound good.
About the Site Itself
Q. Why is the update schedule so inconsistant as of late?
A. A decreased amount of time to spend on a greater amount of responsibilities. Basically, it's
real life getting in the way. Also, I don't ever have a buffer of comics, so if I don't get time
to draw the comic the night before, there won't be one. I'm looking into some sort of way to remedy
this problem.
Q. Why can't I view the new installments of the comics? I can view the archive!
A. You need to install the Flash Player. I believe it should prompt you automatically unless
you're using an extremely old browser.
Q. Why can't I view the archives? I can view the latest comics.
A. This is a problem with Norton Internet Securities interfering with comicgenesis's anti-hotlinking code.
(Or sometimes Mozilla / Opera can be set up to do the same thing). Instructions on how to fix this
can be found here.
Q. Why does the menu bar appear funny?
A. The menu bar detects your browser and uses different code accordingly (due to non-standards compliant code in IE).
If your browser is set up to lie about which one it is (I know Opera can do this), you'll get strange results.
Q. Some links don't work! There's a problem with the archives!
A. This isn't a question, but I get it all the time anyway. If you find a problem of this sort,
bring it up on the tagboard or via email and I'll fix it.
About the Comic
Q. Why is this comic called Philosophy Bites? Where's the Philosophy?
A. In the first (second online) story. I came up with the name for the comic after I had written only that one.
I've stated that I think the theme of the comic is actually "very different people who are friends nonetheless".
I try to throw in some philosophy from time to time to live up to the title, and also to satisfy the people
who come to this comic looking for philosophy.
Q. Where does the concept for this comic come from?
A. Unsuprisingly, it comes from high school. A lot of the jokes and situations are just slight adaptations
of things that really happened. The characters are also loosely based on friends of mine (and also myself).
Of course, as things progressed, the characters took on their own personalities and the storylines started
to write themselves.
Q. Where does the comic take place?
It's purposely never stated. You can imagine it to be wherever.
Q. What are "the original scripts" that the commentaries keep mentioning?
I have a stack about 80 pages high of scripts for individual comics on my desk that I wrote out some time ago.
I haven't written any in a while because I was so drastically outpacing the rate at which the strips were actually made.
This discrepency in time has resulted in a fair difference in "the comic then" and "the comic now", so there's
often little similarity between the initial idea and the finished product.
Q. Why do the early archives look so lousy? Why does the style change so much?
The first strip is basically the first thing I ever seriously drew that wasn't pixel art or somethihg like that.
Understandably my art has changed (improved, I hope) a lot since then.
Q. How do you make the comic? (Why are your lines so thick?)
A. I draw it using a mouse and a drawing program. It never hits paper (except when I write the script)
Q. What program do you use for this comic?
A. It changes twice throughout the archives (it's pretty clear where that happens.)
At first it's MS Paint (*shudder*), then it becomes Corel Photo-Paint and then Flash MX.
About the Characters
Q. Why are some people not on the cast page?
Because it's out of date. I'm starting to redo it but it's going to take a while.
Q. I know you in real life. Are any of the characters based on me?
A. All of the characters are somewhat based on me, because I write them, but there are definitely influences
for the others. It wouldn't be fair to say that the characters are WHOLLY based on these people, as they've
evolved since then and I don't have my friend quite this much.
Still, here's roughly the list of who matches up where:
Ress - Di, Dana
Brett - Adam, Paul R
Janice - Liz
Steve - Tony
Q. What about Macaw?
Macaw is partially me, and partially "the straight man" that gives context to the others.
Q. So where the heck does Lintor come from? What about the others?
A. Lintor is not really based on anyone. Some of the other characters not mentioned
above are more based on characters from other comics or tv shows.
Q. What's with these names? Macaw? Ress? Lintor?
A. I always take the first name that comes to mind for my characters. A macaw is actually a bird whose plumage looks
slighly like Macaw's hair. Ress is a name I thought I made up, but apparently people named Ress do exist. It's a biblical
name, short for "Ressurection". I haven't decided whether or not this is true for Ress, but it is pretty funny.
I have no excuses for Lintor. However everyone I've talked to thinks it's a brilliant name.
Q. Does Ress's mom hate her? What's up with her anyway?
A. Ress's mom is virtually the same as Ress, so the two of them bounce off each other. She is also usually
trying to reform Ress (she worries that her divorce was the cause of Ress's sheninigans, a future storyline).
Q. Have I read this comic before? These characters seem suspiciously similar.
A. There are a number of similarities that can be drawn between this comic and Ozy and Millie, which
is probably not a coincidence cause I was a huge fan of the comic at the time I came up with this strip.
It was completely unintentional, though. Luckily the subjects I deal with are fairly different.
Q. Is Shu Sok alive, or is he just a puppet?
A. Who knows. Trying to find out is probably the only reason anyone watches Public Channel 13.
About Some Other Stuff
Q. What is Zork anyway?
A. Zork is a text adventure game from the 80s. I actually don't know that much about it, other than that it's nerdy.
More information can probably be found here .
Q. In fact, what's up with Macaw's "Kool" shirt?
A. First thing that came to mind, as usual. Maybe I originally intended Macaw to be cooler than he is.
Although anyone who would wear a shirt like that can't be that cool.
Q. What is "Sunday Edition"?
A. That originally meant the strips that were in colour and longer than usual. However, all the strips are now in colour,
so it just refers to the strips of greater length (and usually with more backgrounds). It doesn't have anything to do with
the date when they're posted.
About the Artist
Disclaimer: No one has actually ever asked any of these questions. No one probably ever will
So who's responsible for this comic, anyway?
A. Adam King (aka Terotrous) is a nineteen-year-old computer science major from Canada. He likes games, comics, cartoons, animals,
and spending time with his friends (although that all stretches him a little thin).
He is still very much a student of art with a lot to learn.
Why do you draw a comic? Why not just write for someone else?
(This also catches all other questions about how my art is bad)
A. I like comics, and being able to draw has always been something I wanted to do. I started this comic because
I wanted to get practice at drawing things, and to that end it's been a tremendous sucess. Of course, I still
have a ways to go so I'm going to keep doing it. Better watch out, when this comic starts to look really good, it
may be a sign of the end.
What else are you responsible for?
I also write and draw Comic Creatorz and take care of How Not to Run a Comic.
Not that much beyond that, but that already takes a lot of my time.
