Digital Strips: Podcasting is a Stupid Format for Reviews

The podcast is a relatively recent phenomenon, and much like webcomics, it allows an excessive accessibility to a medium that was previously well guarded. In this case, radio shows are now something that can be made and produced by anyone with a microphone and access to the Internet. Abandoning the notion of Production Quality, one can discuss anything he chooses. Enhanced accessibility leads to some real shit being produced, and Digital Strips is no exception.

Digital Strips features (or claims to feature) 6 geeks who are too untalented to make their own webcomics and decide to talk about other webcomics into a Fisher Price Sing-Along Music Maker Microphone. On a weekly basis, they discuss a webcomic from the viewpoint of an easily amused simpleton whose only desire is to be taken seriously intellectually. Admittedly, this is a viewpoint I am unfamiliar with and therefore curious about. Of course, after one attempt to hear this viewpoint I realized my folly and stopped.

This particular podcast is further marred by the fact that there's not one consistent "host" but instead pulls three from a pool of six potential hosts. Each has a different quality of microphone with different settings, giving the show a disorienting and uncomfortable sound. In addition, by not having a consistent host, it becomes hard to identify one speaker and keep track of his personality. The listener has a hard time maintaining a scorecard for the host like one could easily do for a real radio show.

Another problem is that there is very lax structure for the podcast. Conversation often drifts from the topic into casual conversation and tangential topics. This creates a show that's holier than swiss cheese, and the reader will drift out during the dull parts and might miss when the show actually returns to significance. I often found myself skipping large chunks of each show to find something that was actually worth listening to.

Digital Strips also features a blog aspect which is less focused than the podcast and is hardly worth mentioning. However, I will, to point out a few posts which symbolize how off-the-mark the podcast is. First, XKCD is not the epitome of webcomics, and doesn't even approach the realm of "enjoyable webcomic." Treating it as such is a travesty unto God Himself. Second, women making popular and good webcomics is not shattering any glass ceiling whatsoever. Webcomics are a realm for people who could not make it in the world of print comics, so how does this success shatter any glass ceiling? Finally a game for the readrs: See if you can find all the atrocities within this Digital Strips Comic! First prize is some aspirin for the headache you contracted trying to analyze the comic strip.

Webcomics are ongoing things, reviewing a different one every week is a genuinely retarded idea. It would be similar to reviewing television shows as if they were movies. There are at least two ways to make this idea worse: Try to do the same thing more often, or do it in an entirely vocal medium, such as a podcast. Ultimately Digital Strips is a webcomic review podcast run by children with short attention spans and bloated senses of importance and intellect, trying to be Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and end up being The Rush Limbaugh Show with Rush Limbaugh. It's great if you're a teenager who thinks he's the next Edgar Allen Poe, but otherwise I'd suggest to find something else to listen to.