Déjà vu in WoW comic contest?
by Zach Yonzon 
May 31st 2008 at 9:30AM
A new winner has been announced for May in Blizzard's World of Warcraft comic contest. While I like the art, I didn't find it particularly funny... but only because it already seemed very familiar. It turns out that a comic with a similar theme had already won the contest in June last year. It's not quite the same, but to me, the joke seemed to be the same thing: an overweight passenger on an undersized mount.If you look at the comparison of the two comics (after the jump), even the color palette seems to be the same. They're both set in Hellfire Peninsula, too. While I honestly don't think one copied the other, I couldn't help but feel there was some sense of déjà vu with the whole thing. I mean, I like the art -- they're both nicely drawn -- but the joke seems to be too similar for me to laugh at the second one. Maybe the folks at Blizzard just find the idea of big guys on small mounts -- in Hellfire -- so funny that they just have to make it win again.
EDIT: Reader Amethyst pointed out an even more similar joke submitted even earlier, in October of 2006. The joke here is so similar to the May winner that it makes one wonder what criteria the Blizzard staff employ in selecting winners. It can't be the art, since we've had some winners that had so-so art (or screenshots). Is it the joke? If so, then why didn't the comic below win? In fact, I believe I chuckled at it more. Or maybe I didn't laugh at the new winner because I'd already seen it before. Just maybe... Blizzard has some mystical way of figuring out the winners.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Contests, Comics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Labrax May 31st 2008 9:54AM
Surely the joke in the original is that the Orc paid for a cheap mount that has failed him, hence the Undead's comment? So it's a little different!
Jack Spicer May 31st 2008 10:08AM
Have you ever watched E!'s "Soup"? The Official WoW comic contest monthly winner is just like that show's clip of the week - seemingly chosen at random and far from the best or the funniest entry.
Sista May 31st 2008 10:26AM
hahahaha that flying mount looks hilarious!!
Its not really exactly the same imo. The style of the drawing is vastly different but the backgrounds are pretty similar, thats probably coincidence though.
Milktub May 31st 2008 10:27AM
I think it's a sign of how insular the WoW community is. Azeroth/Outland is a closed system, and the most obvious way to get a laugh out of the WoW community is to stay within that world. That's why people still think "Onyxia deep breathes more" and "Leeroy Jenkins" is still funny.
C.A. May 31st 2008 10:42AM
I wish I didn't have a dirty mind, but that first comic doesn't look quite right...
Amethyst May 31st 2008 10:57AM
I think it bears more of a resemblance to this one (same joke being used again) http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/community/comics/gallery.html#52
PÃ¥l May 31st 2008 11:00AM
The background in the May picture is hand drawn, while the background in the June picture is a screenshot. The similarity just means the May winner is good at drawing Hellfire. As for the jokes, they're not the same - the May joke is about a very heavy Tauren on a normal flying mount, while the June joke is a (slightly overweight, admittedly) Orc having been scammed into buying a small bird thinking it was a flying mount.
dart May 31st 2008 11:58AM
But in the end.
Big Passenger, small mount.
PÃ¥l May 31st 2008 12:02PM
No, in the end - abnormally big passenger vs abnormally small mount.
Spiral May 31st 2008 1:25PM
You should see the screenshot contests. I've seen enough pictures with 1000 netherdrakes in a line to make me sick. Not to mention ones with just mounts in general. It gets really old, I'm not really sure how they keep winning.
Zakk May 31st 2008 4:32PM
Agreed. I moan every time I see twenty people on their mounts in a circle in Shatt for the SSotD.
Rovec May 31st 2008 1:54PM
One other possibility is that there just aren't enough comics each month to choose from. This joke has been used before yes, but because so few comics are entered it was still the best one.
I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me. A lot of the honorable mentions and winners to me aren't all that funny (in my opinion), so maybe the other comics submitted were even worse.
vlad May 31st 2008 2:28PM
people always fail to remember that one individual is not everyone. a person can have a creative and inventive moment not being aware that others before (and many more after them) aslo have the same idea.
Nizari May 31st 2008 3:18PM
On a similar note, I hope Blizzard stops featuring WoW comics with some variation on the "I've killed 50 of (insert animal here) and none of them have had a (insert common organ here needed for quest)!" joke. IT. HAS. BEEN. DONE. TO. DEATH.
George Jun 3rd 2008 12:58PM
Ah, but the "kill 50, no organs" comic hasn't dropped the requisite win yet, so they have to keep killing more of 'em until they get the required number of wins for the quest.
Elyx May 31st 2008 6:33PM
Personally, i see 3 diff comics in the article with 3 different jokes based on a similar THEME....
#1 - big tauren riding small mount. funny as the mounts seem often out of balance (liek a NE riding a nether ray...hands in the middle of teh air holding nothing...)
#2 - orc suckered into buying a random bird advertised as a flying mount (to me more a joke on the 'dense orc' idea
#3 - tauren squishing a poor Pp mount. This one is probably closest to the first one, but to me it was still different..i nvr saw the standard FP mounts as undersized...i more saw it as a 'bull in a china shop' concept, rather then a repeat of the top one
At any rate, all subjective, just my opinion, but i didnt ho hum at them, laughed at each one (chuckle really...but teh look on the face of the tauren in #3 was good enough to laugh again :) )
Jessierockeron May 31st 2008 7:33PM
I didn't laugh at the comic winner too.