Post by William Kulich Published Friday 1 April 2016 at 5:11pm46 comments (Comments now closed)

The extremely original way webcomic artists are making fools of us all

It is difficult for a cartoonist to make an April Fools’ Day joke stand out; almost every strip releases at least one, and isn’t making fools of people what most comics do every day? This year however, something truly special has happened.

If you subscribe to many webcomics, you would likely have had to double take a couple of hours ago as at least six (18:40: up to 21 now! Post updated.) of of the internet’s silly picture producers coordinated the release of their April Fools’ sketches. They all featured four panels, a door, a bucket of water, and the exact same script.

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RELATED: Cartoonists behind ‘copied’ comic April Fools’ Day gag come clean

Last update: 07:00 2/4/16 AEDT

Dorris McComics

OR MAYBE YOU ARE Posted by Dorris McComics on Thursday, 31 March 2016

Deathbulge

Comic about SPLASH DAMAGE.Site link: http://deathbulge.com/comics/335 Posted by Deathbulge on Thursday, 31 March 2016

UP and OUT

Owlturd Comix

11111 Comics

April foolswww.1111comics.me/comic/256-april-foolsSorry about the lack of updates. Too many gremlins. Posted by 1111 Comics on Thursday, 31 March 2016

The Awkward Yeti

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These six (and there may be more – let us know in the comments below if you spot others) comics were posted to Facebook within 10 minutes of each other, leading to some confused comments by fans who saw the same punchline two or three times in a row.

The most major minor differences – beyond artistic style and characters – were The Awkward Yeti’s ironic copyright watermarks and the substitution of ice for liquid water by Owlturd Comix.

This “extremely unoriginal” joke is the most original approach to April Fools’ Day I’ve seen, and has truly made us all the fools.

Latest spots

Here are some more coordinated comics I’ve spotted since publishing this.

Extra Fabulous Comics

so…a bunch of comics are stealing my jokes rn pic.twitter.com/QZrHSnfVhZ — ExtraFabulousComics (@extrafabulous) April 1, 2016

EFC is one of my favourite strips – don’t know how I missed this one.

Cyanide & Happiness

Here’s the new comic! Lots of other webcomics made fanart of it because they loved it so much. pic.twitter.com/Rmn1ujOD8I — Kris Wilson (@TheKrisWilson) April 1, 2016

(Entry updated to include embedded comic. Originally posted exclusively on website.)

The DaneMan (A silent comic)

This is an original joke. pic.twitter.com/M0wCTWIkYA — DaneMan (@TheDaneMen) April 1, 2016

Pigeoneer Jane

Olivia Walch

Doodle for Food

NamelessPCs

Cheer Up, Emo Kid

Peter Chiykowski (RockPaperCynic)

I’m trying not to get upset, but a bunch of other artists ripped off my April Fools comic: https://t.co/6HbcA78P8hpic.twitter.com/my5A3F3T89 — Peter Chiykowski (@rockpapercynic) April 1, 2016

Mark Mushakian

I don’t know… this looks a little familiar.http://markmushakian.com/2016/03/31/out-of-the-box-278/ Posted by www.MarkMushakian.com on Thursday, 31 March 2016

MercWorks

AW SHIT DAWG it’s an April Fools comic! It’s completely original and definitely written by yours truly! Do you have any HOT PRANKS planned for today? Posted by MercWorks on Thursday, 31 March 2016

Safely Endangered

a totally 100% original comic idea pic.twitter.com/yIxrocJiwX — Safely Endangered (@EndangeredComic) April 1, 2016

(Entry updated to include embedded Tweet – originally posted exclusively on website.)

Snailogy



April Fools by SnaiLords on DeviantArt

Berkeley Mews

Unearthed Comics

April Fools or… April Fooled?#aprilfools #comics Posted by Unearthed Comics on Thursday, 31 March 2016

ARG!

Pear-Shaped Comics

Another site-only one. Click here to view.

Deya Muniz

As Per Usual

Poorly Drawn Lines

Mr Lovenstein

We’re ending this list on another non-embeddable. Click here. Thanks to vj for the tip.

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Updates: Round 2

List updates since 00:00 2 April 2016 AEST. Last update: 07:00 2/4/16 AEDT

Some artists not involved in the original onslaught have been getting in on the game now. The concept has become a meme. Yes, the word “meme” applies to more than just image macros.

Bear with me while my writing disintegrates into a babbling mess – I live in Australia, where the time for pranking (I grew up with the tradition that a pranker pranking after midday was the fool) was long over by the time UK and US cartoonists started this. It’s going to be a long night.

Channelate

Found this old comic I wrote in JR HIGH for April Fool’s in 1996.URL—>http://www.channelate.com/2016/04/01/fools/Bonus Panel—>http://www.channelate.com/extra-panel/20160401/ Posted by Channelate on Friday, 1 April 2016

(Thanks to Josh, Paul, Gabriell, Karen, and Hazdawg for the tips.)

Twisteddoodles

(Thanks Eliza and Friday Valentine for the tip.)

Fatherhood. Badly Doodled.

(Thanks Joost for the tip.)

Crunchy Bunches

I had the best idea for an April Fools comic, so I had to draw it before anyone stole it. #aprilfoolsday #webcomics pic.twitter.com/FXdDYS1EK4 — Scott W. (@flipskip1) April 1, 2016

(Thanks Joost for the tip. You’re on a roll.)

Zarpin’ Art

I hate how so many copied this but here you go anyway #aprilfoolsday pic.twitter.com/VBcPEa8u2w — Zach Atreiu (@zachrabarty) April 1, 2016

(Thanks WarkDatch for the tip.)

Princess Protagonist

(Thanks WarkDatch for the tip.)

NHOJ

(Thanks balala for the tip.)

Victims of Circumsolar

I’m cool now pic.twitter.com/U3GH8xJvfR — Victims of Comics (@victimsofcomics) April 1, 2016

(Thanks balala for the tip.)

Heck If I Know

So i got hacked by a bunch of punk ass bitches who posted my comic idea before I was awake! pic.twitter.com/J75ef65tfX — Heck if I Know (@CPHigson) April 1, 2016

Ninja and Pirate comics

A bunch of people stole a joke from my first grade sketchbook! But suck it nerds! Here’s proof it was MY joke! You’re all in for serious litimagations now!!http://www.ninjaandpirate.com/comic/april-fools-16/ Posted by Ninja and Pirate Comics on Friday, 1 April 2016

(Thanks Loïc for the tip!)

Dudolf

For more on Dudolf’s rise to fame, read this post. (Thanks Loïc for the tip.)

Michael Hawk

Life of Space

Left-Handed Toons

April fools joke 😎 pic.twitter.com/cUSWhx798Z — Drew Mokris (@drewmo) April 1, 2016

Candy Rocket

@DoodleForFood @TheKrisWilson @rockpapercynic I think I have you beat from that job I did for the pharaoh. pic.twitter.com/5K1BovJnOr — Candy Rocket (@candyrocketcom) April 1, 2016

More?

Bear with me, I’m updating this list as I find more. Subscribe via Facebook or Twitter for updates.

If you know any participating comics not mentioned here, comment below or tweet me.

Who started this?

If you know who came up with the comic copying theme or have a theory, comment below. I suspect it might have been Dorris McComics – it’s their kind of humour.

Or maybe it was Kris Wilson from C&H:

@rockpapercynic Oh you mean the IDEA I TWEETED ABOUT YEARS AGO?!?!? Peter, your pants are on fire #liarliar pic.twitter.com/pKYvX4fQMN — Kris Wilson (@TheKrisWilson) April 1, 2016

Poorly Drawn Lines has a pretty solid claim though:

To clear things up, I wrote the April Fools comic a long time ago. Here’s the original idea with newspaper for proof pic.twitter.com/JjGaeNyqoM — Reza Farazmand (@PDLComics) April 1, 2016

And STAPLE! attributes The Bard as the original writer:

ok i did some research and found this poem, which some scholars attribute to Shakespeare: pic.twitter.com/sVCqRsrL9U — STAPLE! (@staple) April 1, 2016

Whoever it was, according to Tristan Jensen, they’re now dead.

The answer?

UPDATE 04:48 2/4/16 AEDT: Rock, Paper, Cynic has offered this explanation on their blog:

No one stole my comic! A huge group of webcomic artists started planning this 2-3 weeks ago. Actually, at Fan Expo last year I am ARG and I found out we’d both been independently scheming to do something like this for years. The plan came together when Dorris McComics suggested the idea to a webcomics group and pitched this script, which was just PERFECT for the prank.

Whether that’s true or the most elaborate claim of ownership yet is still to become clear. Personally, I think ’twas the Bard whodunnit.

UPDATE 07:00 2/4/16 AEDT: Confirmed! Read more here: Cartoonists behind ‘copied’ comic April Fools’ Day gag come clean