When internet ruins everything
An edition about integrating technology into stories, some news about violent youth and the eternal decline of The Simpsons.
HELLO AND WELCOME TO A NEW EDITION OF MY NEWSLETTER!
I hope you are all well. Today we're going to get straight to the point with a couple of news items about wayward children.
THE MAROON SPAM HAS BEGUN!
I don’t want to distract you too much with the general information because you can find it in my previous announcement.
KID MAROON. Original graphic novel. Hard-boiled kid detective. Written by Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire, Iron Man, Doctor Doom). Drawn by me with colors by Mattia Iacono. On sale this September published by Vault comics. A letter of love to comics, to Will Eisner, Johnny Craig, Chester Gould, Harvey Kurztman and all the great masters.
And if you don’t believe me, you can read THE FIRST CHAPTER COMPLETELY FREE (44 pages!!) here:
https://aiptcomics.com/2025/05/19/read-kid-maroon-1-free-ogn-coming-september-2025/
And the Kid Maroon site in Vault, where you can read all the information about the book, the character, with production notes by Chris & me and of course, links to pre-order the book.
https://blog.vaultcomics.com/p/bb0fe45c-23e9-49d6-8fcb-5c99267ae2bb/?member_status=free
Pre-orders and sharing helps a lot so if you have the chance, you know what to do. Thank you for your support!
THE REDHEAD GIRL IS BACK
And speaking of redhead kids, after some time thinking about a new story, I've finally decided to bring back my beloved British redhead with anger management issues. Ginger Returns is the continuation of the comic I've been publishing in this newsletter on a monthly basis, alternating it (whenever possible) with the regular version.
This is a new self-contained story, and you can read it without having read Ginger Revenges previously… But if you want to do it, you have the series available in this newsletter or in an excellent digital complete edition in PanelSyndicate (where you can pay what you want for it).
TECHNOLOGY RUINING THE FUN
I'm a hardcore fan of The Simpsons, one of those who doesn't mind torturing friends and family (and sometimes random people) using the most obscure references to the most forgotten episodes. I have a whatsapp chat with my brother (who is another fan) and we've practically developed a language of our own using those references.
Being a diehard fan makes me quite condescending about when the series "started to decline", which is a unanimous opinion that only differs in when we place the date.
I have really enjoyed many episodes beyond the “sacred first ten years”, and I feel a special predilection for those focused on the city of Springfield. The greatest advantage of such a long-running series is that it managed to create a living ecosystem of characters and relationships more tangible than many real places I know.
I think the problem with the series really came when they decided to leave the characters aside and focus on parodying very specific events or happenings. Basically, when then the “modern” internet came along.
Plots like “Homer gets cancelled on Twitter”, “Homer plays Pokemon Go”, “Homer uses Yelp”, “Bart takes part in a EA sports tournament, later attends a Minecraft convention” or “Marge gets into true crime podcasting” become the rule. In the latest seasons there is an episode about dressing like a clown and scaring people! This trend was viral one week!
The reason episodes like the Marge vs the monorail or The Joy of Sect are so brilliant is because they appealed to universal feelings of the human condition. Springfield worked as a reflection of our own greed, blind faith in charismatic leaders, or just plain stupidity.
It's something you can see even in the character designs, the originals were so obviously simple that they worked as “social vessels”, you could “project” all kinds of themes or situations on them. New additions’ designs are so baroque and specific that they seem destined to fill audience quotas.
I’m aware that I sound like an old geezer despising youth but obviously a narrative work is a reflection of the people who are writing it and it’s clear the generational turnover in The Simpsons screenwriters, and how most of their lives take place in virtual spaces.
So we no longer had an episode where Homer voluntarily gained weight to take advantage of the integration policies of the nuclear power plant. Instead, he opened a Youtube channel or created a viral dance for Tiktok.
I think when we incorporate technological elements into our stories, being too specific is a problem. In my opinion, we creators should aspire to a certain degree of universality.
And I'm not against stories that analyze the impact of technology or social media in our world. Black Mirror is a brilliant example, because if you rewatch any episode, you'll see it hasn't aged. And that's because the scripts of the show focus on the impact of technological advances on human relationships, while Homer getting a Google glasses was already old when it aired.
And after this “Old man yells at cloud” sermon, I finish this edition.
See you soon with the first chapter of Ginger returns!
Victor
Copyright © 2025 Victor Santos. All rights reserved.
FIND ME IN MY SOCIAL NETWORK:
victorsantoscomics.com
My official Facebook page and my personal Facebook page
My Twitter / My Instagram / My Bluesky / My Tumblr
The BROKEN ENGLISH Tinyletter archives
MY DIGITAL STORE (ORIGINAL ART, SKETCHBOOKS, SIGNED BOOKS):
victorsantos.bigcartel.com
DIGITAL COMICS:
POLAR / GUTS (AGAINST HOPE) / PARANOIA KILLER / GINGER’S REVENGE
BUY MY BOOKS:
My Amazon page / My Random House page
I was never really into the Simpsons but I also hate when Cartoons use "random internet trends" or a "superficial social problem" as the premise for a plot.
I didn't have a smart phone or social media until college. I'm glad everyday that I missed the bullet of mass-tech interrupting my formative younger years.
I've found a noticeable intelligence gap or lack of interpersonal skills between young people who passively consumed internet Brain Rot and those who touch grass, stay social, and read.
What really sucks is that these are huge corporate technologies NOT grassroots youth movements or personal expressions. And yet, the Technocrats have spun the narrative that by not engaging with their product you're too old or out of the loop.
Handcrafted and DYI Art will always be evergreen in my book. Leave your MEMES at the door!
I do think that Gumball is one cartoon that's able to satirize current events better than any other.
They really nailed the Star Wars fandom:
https://youtu.be/D0vjbNi6FLQ?si=vSGQ9OrxKvd_DyEP&t=172
I was rereading Polar: The Kaiser Falls and I noticed how the final confrontation is described as "Jungian."
I'd love to know your creative process in regards to archetypes, the monomyth, etc...
I've studied the Joseph Campbel and Carl Jung ideas and I feel that they have noticeably improved my writing.
However, there is a TON of misinformation and nonsense on the internet (which ruins everything) in regards to these subjects.
I'm just curious how other professionals approach these ideas.