Comic Transcripts

MAN: Mass media is allergic to nuance!
The only ideas really able to take ROOT in our culture are short, punchy approximations.
People hear the SLOGAN and think they know the ISSUE. However, concepts have to trade away COMPLEXITY to gain widespread appeal!

WOMAN: but EVERYTHING WE KNOW is simplified to some degree. Even if we’re experts down to the ATOMIC LEVEL–there’s alway the SUBATOMIC.
MAN: The problems arise when oversimplified concepts evolve into COMMON KNOWLEDGE. Then the COMPLICATED version–the MORE ACCURATE version–starts sounding to the public like HERESY!

MAN: For example, everyone “knows” that smoking is bad. So when you try to explain that YES, smoking is LARGELY bad–but it’s ALSO highly effective, in infants, at warding off MURDEROUS TRANS-DIMENSIONAL BELLYBUTTON GNOMES…
Nobody even wants to TRY it!
WOMAN: Clearly, the media is controlled by a sinister cabal of baby-murdering gnomes from another dimension.
MAN: THAT’S THE TITLE OF MY BOOK!

{{header: probe deeper into WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: YOU’RE ONE OF THEMMMM}}

#413; In which Subtlety is lost transcribed by in

MAN: Mass media is allergic to nuance!
The only ideas really able to take ROOT in our culture are short, punchy approximations.
People hear the SLOGAN and think they know the ISSUE. However, concepts have to trade away COMPLEXITY to gain widespread appeal!

WOMAN: but EVERYTHING WE KNOW is simplified to some degree. Even if we're experts down to the ATOMIC LEVEL--there's alway the SUBATOMIC.
MAN: The problems arise when oversimplified concepts evolve into COMMON KNOWLEDGE. Then the COMPLICATED version--the MORE ACCURATE version--starts sounding to the public like HERESY!

MAN: For example, everyone "knows" that smoking is bad. So when you try to explain that YES, smoking is LARGELY bad--but it's ALSO highly effective, in infants, at warding off MURDEROUS TRANS-DIMENSIONAL BELLYBUTTON GNOMES...
Nobody even wants to TRY it!
WOMAN: Clearly, the media is controlled by a sinister cabal of baby-murdering gnomes from another dimension.
MAN: THAT'S THE TITLE OF MY BOOK!

{{header: probe deeper into WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: YOU'RE ONE OF THEMMMM}}

YOU'RE ONE OF THEMMMM

#413; In which Subtlety is lost

  — June 3rd, 2008

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Applications open for Genius Northwest – an IRL gaming competition

May 8, 2026 by David Malki !

Last year, I participated in Genius Northwest, a gaming competition inspired by the Korean gameshow The Genius and its ilk.

It’s a reality show without the cameras — a 3-day, all-inclusive weekend retreat structured around a series of challenges and puzzles, in which personalities and dealmaking matter as much as playing games.

It’s truly a remarkable thing. I came in dead last in the competition, but I still had a great time participating.

The event is held annually in the Pacific Northwest (hence the name) and applications are now open to participate in the 2026 competition!

Learn more — and apply — at GeniusNW.com.


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