Blorp.
Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. And it's time for a review of the new X K C D album...: Microdrones.
XKCD (dun) is the primary alias of Massachusetts-based parody songwriter and artist, Randall Munroe. And under this alias, he'll take on subjects such as science, math, and even pop culture.
Randall first came to my attention around 2008, with projects like "Irony", "Scientists", and "Words that End in GRY", the last of which could almost be considered a signature work for his early days.
But then, as XKCD progressed, it became progressively less thought out and more as just a tool to get the writer's thoughts out, to the point where the majority of its comics were, in my opinion at least, not really worth reading. There are some exceptions to the rule, like "Time", and even "Vacuum", but XKCD is definitely a project that works better in a 'greatest hits' type format -mat -mat -mat -mat
This comic, avoids the majority of the problems I would usually associate with Randall's work, it's not preachy or obscure, and it's even topical. The first panel gets us off to a great start, with a reference to a topical event, even clarifying it a bit for people who haven't heard of it.
The second panel hits a bit of a low spot for me, we suddenly loose the continuity from the previous panel and we're left in this white void. It's obviously supposed to represent a fantasy sequence, but there isn't really any noitisnart (transition) into it so it comes out of left field.
I like the third panel's idea, it's definitely not something we're supposed to take seriously, but there's no real wink to the audience, nothing that kinda spells out "hey, this isn't an actual idea". And, in my opinion, that's something that you couldn't really blame an XKCD reader for thinkiiing, given XKCD's history of comics that exist solely to deliver a message.
The image of trying to stop Armageddon with butterfly nets, in the forth panel on here, is an amusing image, but we don't actually get to see it. I'm left wanting more when I go through Microdrones, like so much more could have been done.
There is a bonus track on here, which, uh, brings things to a little bit of a more satis-satis-satisfactory end, but it's hidden in a way that kinda separates it from the story, more like a commentary or a limited edition bonus single than an actual part of the continuity. It should have just been a fifth panel on here if you ask me.
I'm thinking a strong 3 to a light 4 on this thing, tran
sition, but if you looked at this comic, what did you think about it? Did you love it? Hate it? Why? What do you think I should review next? Anthony Fantano, XKCD, Microdrones, forever.
