Roc On
What is there that I could possibly say about this one? Clearly it is very high concept. If you don’t get it, well I guess it’s just not for you.
Would it help you to know that my brother helped with this one? I blame him.
There’s something that is at once horrifying and hilarious about the idea of giant birds, at least, that is true for me. Birds in general are terrifically ungainly and the thought of one of those preposterous beasts made gigantic is almost too much to bear. Apparently, however, there was a real threat from the skies for our evolutionary ancestors, something that may have been passed down in genetic memory to create monsters like the Roc. The other alternative is simply that human beings are remarkably awful at judging the size of objects in the air. With nothing to compare objects to (no trees, foliage, people, or hot-dog carts) it is nearly impossible to accurately estimate the size of most things in the air. There have been studies that prove this.
The Roc depicted in this comic is rather small compared to some of those told in various Arabic tales. There is good reason, I assure you. I simply couldn’t fit anything larger in that frame. Hurk. Traditionally, Rocs were said to be so large as to be able to carry off a whole elephant in their talons, which is damned incredible.
And now a few things: I have to say thanks to my brother, to Liz, to Andrew, to William and to Alex for always giving me valuable input, ideas, and assistance wherever and whenever needed. I also would like to thank everyone that reads the strips and shares them with friends. If not for all of you, I would be toiling in obscurity. I am keenly aware of how much everyone has done to help promote this comic and for that, you can be sure that I frequently torture myself psychologically in an attempt to produce comic material for you to enjoy, smile at, and hopefully, laugh at.
T-shirts, as I said, have arrived and Alex has kindly modeled them for you all to see here. They will be available starting sometime next week, there are only 50 for this first printing, and the Facebook group will get first wind of what’s going on. If you don’t get a shirt and you want one and if we sell out quickly, we will surely be printing more. Buttons have not yet gone to the printer but I believe we will send them out this weekend.
Front Design
Back Design
Alex Modeling the shirt!
Back Modelin'
Love it.
It takes me back to this old turn based game I had, where you would navigate a mythical army of sorts. Rocs, Dwarves and Druids were the back bone of my team 😀
Nice work.
As soon as I read this strip I knew your brother must have been behind it! This comic is too high concept! I guess I just don’t understand Rocs haha.
Awesome! I really wish Rocs would show up more in stuff. I mean, they’re basically just gigantic birds, but that’s crazy awesome in it’s simplicity.
Teehee, youre right, as soon as i found happletea i had to show everyone i knew. Because. well. Who doesnt love a webcomic about silly antics and mythololololgy.
I cant wait to read on <3 and your brother has some pretty good ideas 😛 Keep up the good work!
LOL. XD
Those are some dangerous hikings grounds. Rocs abound. XD
I first heard of the rocs when i was really little. We’d watch the old Sinbad movies, with the stop motion monsters.
Really good one, plus there are now tees!
Hope you deliver it to Brazil. I’ll try to buy one. 😀
The expression on the Roc’s face made me laugh
That sign did nothing to warn you about the Rocs D=
You should have made a B-52’s joke there somehow in the description/alt. text. Rock lobster!
Drug, Sex, Roc n Roll.
Get it, gat it, LIVE IT O_O
Hope you deliver it to Brazil. I’ll try to buy one. 😀
I get it! And thanks to WoW, I don’t think too many other people will have trouble getting it.
Where’s Sinbad when you need him?
Ha Ha HA
Hahaha. I love your comics dude. So glad I stumbled onto this. Just the right level of madness for me – keep it up! xD
Hmm. There can be more truth behind the Roc than first one can believe.
Size of elephant used to be relative. I recall that at least both Malta and Rhodes did have dwarf elephants populations – something like maximum height of 3 feet only or so – and baby dwarf elephant wouldn’t be too big for big bird of prey to catch.
So, lets say, sailor manages to witness eagle catching baby elephant and tells it forward. Story outlives dwarf elephants and when it is mixed to size of African Elephants, eagle get serious size boost in minds of listeners.
Not sure if this happened but I’m pretty certain that there still had been Elephant Catching Birds of Prey out there few thousand years ago.
You mention ancestral memories of Roc sized birds, are you referring to the Haast’s eagle of New Zeland? Hunted to extinction in 1280 C.E., sadly, by the first humans to arrive in NZ. They were strong enough to bring down giant flightless moa, ancient ostrich things. (thanks, Wikipedia)
Call me simple, but I think this comic has made me giggle the hardest out of all your previous ones.
Funny parody: I wanna roc