Comic Transcripts

[[Wondermark presents: HOW TO LIE]]
[[Step 1: boldly assert a non-fact, implying it is new information.]]
Did you hear? Zebras are a hoax!
<>
It’s like crop circles! People just <> and call them zebras!

[[Step 2: Invent a mountain of evidence.]]
Harvard just published a huge study, surveying every zoo in the west <> the so-called “wild” zebras in africa.
Every zebra they looked at was just a weird horse with paint on it.

[[Step 3: Sympathize with incredulity to desarm it.]]
It blew my mind too! Apparantly it’s this tourist trap thing that’s gone on for centuries, like a snipe hunt.
There’s some unspoken rule among zookeepers that you just keep the horses painted. Nobody wants to be the whistleblower.

[[Step 4: Frame the truth as absurd.]]
In a way, though it makes sense. What’s more likely, that every zebra individually develops a perfect stripe pattern totally naturally?
Or that some dude just paints it on? Occam’s razor, you know?

[[Step 5: If proven wrong, refocus the discussion onto intangibles.]]
<> everybody knows about <> indicates that that is untrue.
You <> let me be right ever! Always have to nitpick <> I say. When did you get so <>?

{{header: tell me about WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Identifying this technique in politics is an exercise left to the reader.}}

#876; How to Lie transcribed by in

[[Wondermark presents: HOW TO LIE]]
[[Step 1: boldly assert a non-fact, implying it is new information.]]
Did you hear? Zebras are a hoax!
<>
It’s like crop circles! People just <> and call them zebras!

[[Step 2: Invent a mountain of evidence.]]
Harvard just published a huge study, surveying every zoo in the west <> the so-called “wild” zebras in africa.
Every zebra they looked at was just a weird horse with paint on it.

[[Step 3: Sympathize with incredulity to desarm it.]]
It blew my mind too! Apparantly it’s this tourist trap thing that’s gone on for centuries, like a snipe hunt.
There’s some unspoken rule among zookeepers that you just keep the horses painted. Nobody wants to be the whistleblower.

[[Step 4: Frame the truth as absurd.]]
In a way, though it makes sense. What’s more likely, that every zebra individually develops a perfect stripe pattern totally naturally?
Or that some dude just paints it on? Occam’s razor, you know?

[[Step 5: If proven wrong, refocus the discussion onto intangibles.]]
<> everybody knows about <> indicates that that is untrue.
You <> let me be right ever! Always have to nitpick <> I say. When did you get so <>?

{{header: tell me about WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Identifying this technique in politics is an exercise left to the reader.}}

#876; How to Lie transcribed by in

[[Wondermark presents: HOW TO LIE]]
[[Step 1: boldly assert a non-fact, implying it is new information.]]
Did you hear? Zebras are a hoax!
<>
It's like crop circles! People just <> and call them zebras!

[[Step 2: Invent a mountain of evidence.]]
Harvard just published a huge study, surveying every zoo in the west <> the so-called "wild" zebras in africa.
Every zebra they looked at was just a weird horse with paint on it.

[[Step 3: Sympathize with incredulity to desarm it.]]
It blew my mind too! Apparantly it's this tourist trap thing that's gone on for centuries, like a snipe hunt.
There's some unspoken rule among zookeepers that you just keep the horses painted. Nobody wants to be the whistleblower.

[[Step 4: Frame the truth as absurd.]]
In a way, though it makes sense. What's more likely, that every zebra individually develops a perfect stripe pattern totally naturally?
Or that some dude just paints it on? Occam's razor, you know?

[[Step 5: If proven wrong, refocus the discussion onto intangibles.]]
<> everybody knows about <> indicates that that is untrue.
You <> let me be right ever! Always have to nitpick <> I say. When did you get so <>?

{{header: tell me about WONDERMARK.COM}}
{{alt-text: Identifying this technique in politics is an exercise left to the reader.}}

Identifying this technique in politics is an exercise left to the reader.

My newest game: Noodle Battle! At PAX!

The past few weeks have been a frenzy of assembling the very laborious, very bespoke first print run of NOODLE BATTLE, the puzzle game I am releasing this weekend at PAX West in Seattle!

PAX has an event called the PNW Tabletop Game Market (Saturday night ONLY), which is a curated selection of short-run games from local designers. As I’ve mentioned in this space before, I applied for a space in this fall’s event mainly as a way to force myself to finish a new game. And here it is!

The drawings are all by Jason Poland, good pal and cartoonist of My Dad Is Dracula. Jason played an early version of this game at Alaska Robotics Comics Camp this spring, and really liked it!

So I said, “Do you want to help me make it?” And so he has! It was his idea to make all the characters fun little animals, and I think it adds a ton of charm.

Because this edition is limited-run, it has been incredibly labor-intensive to make! The boxes and cards were made by a game factory in the usual fashion, but separately. The blank tiles were made by a woodworker dude out of Connecticut. For each game, we have had to:

  • Cut a piece of plastic and install the box window
  • Paint all the tiles, hundreds at a time
  • Apply a sticker to both sides of every tile
  • Apply stickers to the box (we couldn’t get the box back printed in time, so the whole back side of the box is a sticker too)
  • Apply the “Nutrition Facts” sticker, which was a late suggestion by my kid that I just had to run with
  • Fold up the rule sheet (they come from the printer as big strips of paper)
  • Put all the components into the box and seal it all up

I knew it would be a lot of work and would require some inefficient, expensive compromises AND I WAS RIGHT. But the final product is turning out great, which is the important thing!!

I will have 50 copies with me (if all goes well) at PAX, and then between now and the holidays we will be putting together additional copies to round out this first edition.

I will announce additional copies on Patreon first, once they are available online!! And here too, naturally, before long.

You can also sign up here if you’d like me to email you once the game is available online!


Recent blog posts