Kris Straub
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Kristofer Straub (born January 17, 1979) is an American
web cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literary ...
, performer, and content creator. His key web comic projects include ''Checkerboard Nightmare'', ''Starslip'', ''Chainsawsuit'', ''Broodhollow'', and ''F Chords''. Other notable projects include the
creepypasta A creepypasta is a horror-related legend which has been shared around the Internet. The term ''creepypasta'' has since become a catch-all term for any horror content posted onto the Internet. These entries are often brief, user-generated, par ...
" Candle Cove" as well as collaborations with
Scott Kurtz Scott R. Kurtz (born March 15, 1971) is an American webcomic artist. Known for creating the daily online comic-strip '' PvP'', Kurtz is among the first professional webcomic creators. Career Kurtz was born to a Catholic household in Watsonville ...
("''Blamimations"),''
Paul Verhoeven Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch filmmaker, who has worked variously in the Netherlands, the United States, and in France. He is known for directing genre films with strong satirical elements, often featuring graphic violence and ...
("''28 Plays Later"''), and
Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...
(''"Strip Search", "Kris and Scott's Scott and Kris Show," "Acquisitions Incorporated: The C-Team").'' He has written and produced the YouTube
analog horror Analog horror is a subgenre of horror fiction and an offshoot of the found footage film genre, said to have its origins in online horror of the late 2000s and early 2010s, including creepypasta stories and found footage series such as '' No Thr ...
series '' Local 58'' since October 26, 2015. He also works with
Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...
in graphic design, as well as co-hosting the PAX gaming conventions and appearing in their collaborations with
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...
and Chaosium, Inc.


Career

Straub graduated from the
University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...
, with a degree in computer science.


Web cartoonist

Straub launched his first comic, ''Checkerboard Nightmare'', online in 2000. The strip was self-aware and used metahumour to follow the main character Chex's obsession with gaining fame as a webcomic character. In 2005, Straub began creating ''Starslip Crisis'' (eventually shortened to ''Starslip''), a daily science fiction/comedy webcomic. ''Starslip'' was first set in the 3440s and followed the crew of
starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...
-museum IDS ''Fuseli'', named after painter
Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as '' The Nightmare''. He pr ...
, which largely featured 20th and 21st century art. ''Starslip Crisis'' was part of the webcomics cooperation collective Blank Label Comics until Straub split away from Blank Label to merge Starslip with his new collective, Halfpixel, in November 2007. The comic initially ran under the name ''Starshift Crisis''. The nearly identical ''Starslip Crisis'' appeared early in the strip's run, with its own website and associated content, differing only in that the term "starslip" replaced "starshift". The two ran in parallel, until a strip in August 2005 which definitively ended the plot of ''Starshift Crisis'', but which played out differently in ''Starslip Crisis''. Reportedly, the name change was caused by a legal issue. In 2008, Straub began writing another webcomic, ''Chainsawsuit'', publishing three strips a week. The comic featured simple black and white drawings and slapstick humor. It ran for 11 years and achieved particular notoriety for its stri
All Houses Matter
upon release in 2014 and then again during the 2020
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
protests. In 2012, Straub launched the webcomic ''Broodhollow'', a self-described "serial horror comic." Set in the titular town, the story follows door-to-door encyclopedia salesman Wadsworth Zane as he uncovers the town's secrets. The first two volumes ''Curious Little Thing'' and ''Angleworm'' pair horror with a quirky tone to explore themes of community and tradition, among others. The series went on hiatus in 2015, and is listed as such on Straub's home site as of September 2023.


Writer and producer

In December 2006, Straub became co-writer and co-producer alongside
Scott Kurtz Scott R. Kurtz (born March 15, 1971) is an American webcomic artist. Known for creating the daily online comic-strip '' PvP'', Kurtz is among the first professional webcomic creators. Career Kurtz was born to a Catholic household in Watsonville ...
on ''PvP: The Series'', a series of animated shorts featuring the PvP characters. In 2007 he repurposed the ''Halfpixel'' site to serve as a hub for his and Kurtz's joint creative projects. ''Halfpixel'' later expanded to include webcartoonists Brad Guigar and
Dave Kellett Dave Kellett is the cartoonist of ''drive: the scifi comic, Drive'' and ''Sheldon (webcomic), Sheldon'', and co-director of the documentary ''Stripped (film), Stripped''. He is a co-host of the podcast ''ComicLab'' and the ''The Wrong Way…'' sh ...
of the comics
Evil Inc. Brad Guigar (, ; born April 9, 1969) is the cartoonist of ''Evil Inc'' and the editor of ''The Webcomics Handbook'' on Substack. He is a co-host of the podcast ''ComicLab'' and the The Wrong Way…' show on YouTube. He has been nominated for va ...
and Sheldon, respectively. The four published ''How To Make Webcomics'' through
Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...
in the first quarter of 2008. The book covers a variety of topics of interest for beginning and intermediate webcartoonists. Straub went on to co-produce ''Blamimations'' and the ''Kris and Scott’s Scott and Kris Show'' for Penny Arcade TV. In 2012,
ShiftyLook ShiftyLook was an American subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings that was focused on revitalizing older Namco franchises, with their first step being video game webcomics based on the company's various franchises. The subsidiary later offered webt ...
announced that Straub and Kurtz were co-producing a new animated web series, '' Mappy: The Beat'', in which they also voiced all the characters. The series premiered in July 2013 and aired for 13 episodes. From 2008-2012, Straub managed and wrote for his own horror fiction website ''Ichor Falls'', which featured his most notable work of short fiction, '' Candle Cove''. Structured as a series of forum posts, it follows people discussing a forgotten children's program. They uncover increasingly disturbing shared memories of the program before discovering that ''Candle Cove'' was merely half an hour of TV static which they, as children, had collectively perceived as a story.Candle Cove
, Kris Straub
Rights to the story were picked up by SyFy in 2016 and served as the basis for the first season of the series Channel Zero. In 2015, Straub published the first video in his horror web series ''Local 58 TV'', which was later moved to YouTube. The series coined the term
analog horror Analog horror is a subgenre of horror fiction and an offshoot of the found footage film genre, said to have its origins in online horror of the late 2000s and early 2010s, including creepypasta stories and found footage series such as '' No Thr ...
and arguably kickstarted the popularity of the genre. Some critics cite Straub and ''Local 58'' as having solidified conventions which would go on to define the genre and even indirectly influence feature-length horror films such as Skinamarink (2022). Additionally, in 2021 Straub launched an
Alternate Reality Game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by int ...
based on the series hosted a
local58.tv
which is still running as of August 17, 2023.


Podcast host

Straub has co-hosted numerous podcasts, most of which center around the online comic industry, daily life, or comedy talk shows. In 2005, while part of the comic collective ''Blank Label Comics,'' Straub and
Dave Kellett Dave Kellett is the cartoonist of ''drive: the scifi comic, Drive'' and ''Sheldon (webcomic), Sheldon'', and co-director of the documentary ''Stripped (film), Stripped''. He is a co-host of the podcast ''ComicLab'' and the ''The Wrong Way…'' sh ...
co-hosted the ''Blank Label Comics Podcast''. The podcast interviewed fellow webcomic creators about their comics and creative process. In 2007, leading up to the release of ''How To Make Webcomics'', Straub - alongside the books co-authors,
Scott Kurtz Scott R. Kurtz (born March 15, 1971) is an American webcomic artist. Known for creating the daily online comic-strip '' PvP'', Kurtz is among the first professional webcomic creators. Career Kurtz was born to a Catholic household in Watsonville ...
, Brad Guigar, and
Dave Kellett Dave Kellett is the cartoonist of ''drive: the scifi comic, Drive'' and ''Sheldon (webcomic), Sheldon'', and co-director of the documentary ''Stripped (film), Stripped''. He is a co-host of the podcast ''ComicLab'' and the ''The Wrong Way…'' sh ...
- produced the podcast ''Webcomics Weekly''.Webcomics Weekly
The show featured industry news and insight on making a successful web comic. In this same time period, Straub and Kurtz also produced two joint podcasts, ''The Kris and Scott Power Hour'' and ''Daily Affirmation''. From 2009 to 2012, Straub also hosted the comedy internet radio talk show ''Tweet Me Harder'' with David Malki. The show was recorded live, with the hosts taking comments from Twitter. Its transcripts were later published in paperback form under the title, "Hey World, Here Are Some Suggestions." Following ''Tweet Me Harder'', Straub then co-hosted ''Chainsawsuit: The Podcast'' with Mikey Neumann. The show began in April 2013 and spanned to December 2014. Beginning in January 2015, Straub and Neumann began hosting ''Morning Rush'', which ended in June 2015 after 16 episodes. In 2016, from July to December, Straub co-hosted the horror podcast ''Scared Yet?'' with cartoonist Abby Howard. It lasted 6 episodes, with Straub and Howard discussing horror storytelling, writing advice, personal favorite horror stories, as well as personal experiences with writing horror.


Performer

Beginning in 2017, Straub has had recurring roles in the table top role playing game (TTRPG)
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
(D&D) actual-play series ''Acquisitions Incorporated,'' and spinoff ''Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team''. The series is a collaboration between
Penny Arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...
and
Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...
, and was eventually canonized in the official D&D Sourcebook
Acquisitions Incorporated
'. Straub's character, writing, and art appear in the book and its related materials. He also writes and produces animated recaps and interstitials for both series. In 2022, Straub took over for Penny Arcade's
Mike Krahulik Michael Krahulik (; born September 25, 1977) is an American artist for the webcomic '' Penny Arcade'' and co-founder with Jerry Holkins of Child's Play, a charity that organizes toy drives for children's hospitals. He goes by the online moniker ...
to co-host some key PAX events with
Jerry Holkins Jerry Holkins (born Parkinson"Holkins is a combination of Holcomb (hers) and Parkinson (mine)." https://twitter.com/TychoBrahe/status/12073336701 on February 6, 1976) is an American writer. He is the co-creator and writer of the webcomic '' Penny ...
. He is also the lead storyteller in Penny Arcade's '' Call of Cthulhu'' live-play collaborations with Chaosium, Inc. at PAX Australia.


References


External links


Straub's personal hub site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Straub, Kris 1979 births Living people American webcomic creators American people of Egyptian descent