Artist's Commentary

Happy April Fools Day!!!

Click Here for the TRANSCRIBED TEXT-ONLY SCREENPLAY of this Comic!

Man, it feels good to be a Prankstah!

I thought of this story last week, and have been working on it daily to get it done in time for April 1st. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Newt and John are always trying to out-do the other with their comments... now it's a battle of wits with practical jokes!

Some of these jokes evolved while I was doing the artwork. I originally thought to have the slinky-snakes pop out of a drawer in the kitchen, but I thought the toilet would be funnier. It gave me the opportunity to have john leap in fear into the nearby sink. This is the first time showing the bathroom in this comic series. It was designed for the next comic I'm planning to post, but I decided to use it for this episode as well. I also like that it breaks up the layout, colour and location for the series of pranks at the beginning.

The final prank that John plays evolved as well. Originally, it was just going to be a sticky glue. When I used the colour of john's fake head as a base colour though, it looked more like blood... not the direction I wanted to go. So, I turned it all black and went for a classic "Tar and Feather" gag. Oh, and in case you're wondering, the book that John is reading is called "A Big Piece of Pi"... I wasn't sure if the text would show at web-resolution.

April Fools Day has a long history... but April Fools Day pranks are a tradition on the internet as well. Many websites post outrageous claims, or new product ideas that sound almost too good to be true, but many believe they are real. Here's a complete list of every website prank that has been recorded... shown in order of popularity: April Fools Day on the Web.

Some of these new products became so popular and the demand became so great, that they actually started to manufacture them. My favourite example is the Star Wars Taun-Taun sleeping bag. The Thinkgeek website creates fake products for April Fools Day every year, but they didn't expect so many people to want their sleeping bag. But,why not?!.. It's a great idea! Click here for the Product page. Here's an Article from the New York Times telling the whole story.

I hope you enjoyed this episode... pass on a link to your friends! Look for new "Newt and John" comics in the weeks to come! No Fooling! Take a moment to subscribe to this website's RSS FEED for instant notification when each comic is online!

If you've just discovered this comic, take some time to enjoy all the episodes in the ARCHIVE. Come back soon to see what else can happen, when Two Roommates take on the Universe!

All the best,

Mike Hogue - April 1st / 2010