Mac Hall
Encyclopedia
Mac Hall is a webcomic
which was created through a bet between the creator Ian McConville and a friend who claimed he "couldn't make a comic like Penny Arcade
". After the fifteenth comic, McConville was joined by Matt Boyd who began to write the comic.
Mac Hall follows the exploits of a group of college
students who are typical slacker
s. The series primarily focused on the events that occurred between classes and after hours and only rarely references actual class work. The comic takes its name from MacDonald Hall, a dormitory
at Bowling Green State University
. Later in the series, the cast moves into a house, where they reside until graduation, and the comic's conclusion.
Mac Hall concluded on September 22, 2006, with McConville explaining that creating the comic was no longer fun. He also mentioned that the comic would continue in a new phase in October 2006, and after some delay a new project began. In early March 2007, Boyd linked to the pair's new webcomic, Three Panel Soul, which had been updating unannounced since November 5, 2006. A note posted on February 5 welcomed visitors who managed to find the site on their own, but called it "(not) quite public yet."
. A favored technique of McConville is to draw the line art on paper and color the characters in Adobe Photoshop
after scanning. Characters are often highly detailed while backgrounds, painted directly in Photoshop, are often blurry. The series has gone through a handful of changes in its style, however—early episodes had a style to it that did not look similar to manga, but more like western comic strips; backgrounds were also more concrete. Over time, this changed to the manga-like style that has become the norm of the series, as well as the digitally painted backgrounds. The super deformed
effect that has its origins in manga also became a regular part of the style. The characters in the series lost their black outlines over time, and were later drawn entirely without them.
As of March 16, 2007, the front page of machall.com showed a split screen with the left side linking to the Mac Hall archives and the right side linking to Three Panel Soul. However, according to a post by McConville on March 29, 2007, Mac Hall was hacked. The site was down with a short notice posted, stating that Machall was being moved to a new server (the same one as Three Panel Soul). As of June 20, 2007, the Mac Hall archive was re-uploaded to the site's new host.
series called Mac Hall: Inside Mac Games was made in 2001 for the website InsideMacGames
. This series involved the same characters, but focused on their interest in video games for the Apple Macintosh. The series ran bi-monthly from October 2001 to July 2002. The real-life counterpart to the character Anthony eventually assumed writing these comics.
The series has often had crossover episodes with other online comics, in particular Megatokyo
.
McConville has drawn a number of guest episodes for Megatokyo, and characters from both series make occasional cameos in each other's comics. Most notably, it was one of McConville and Boyd's guest strips for Megatokyo that gave Piro (Fred Gallagher) his reputation as a self-degrading artist whose "happy place" involved "sad girls in snow."
Several of the characters from Mac Hall were used in the War of the Webcomics expansion of the Internet-based trading card game, Cardmaster Conflict. The game is run by Mark Shallow, creator of such web comics as Antihero for Hire
and Adventurers!.
Much of the costume/visual iconography of the characters was based on their real-life counterparts and/or their suggestions.
. Early on, Boyd and McConville noted that the top three search engine terms that led people to Mac Hall all had to do with Digimon-related pornography. So the joke was made that in order to boost traffic they would pander to the tastes of those people. As a result, a large number of websites of that persuasion linked to the comic, much to the chagrin and amusement of the authors. This particular gag sticks out, most likely because of its sexual content. However, it does not accurately reflect any of the comic's material.
As an April Fools prank in 2002, MacHall changed their frontpage to what initially appeared to be a Digimon Erotica page.
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
which was created through a bet between the creator Ian McConville and a friend who claimed he "couldn't make a comic like Penny Arcade
Penny Arcade (webcomic)
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 established their own site, which is typically updated with a new comic...
". After the fifteenth comic, McConville was joined by Matt Boyd who began to write the comic.
Mac Hall follows the exploits of a group of college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
students who are typical slacker
Slacker
The term "slacker" is used to refer to a person who habitually avoids work. Slackers may be regarded as belonging to an antimaterialistic counterculture, though in some cases their behavior may be due to other causes ....
s. The series primarily focused on the events that occurred between classes and after hours and only rarely references actual class work. The comic takes its name from MacDonald Hall, a dormitory
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
at Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green State University, often referred to as Bowling Green or BGSU, is a public, coeducational research university located in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The institution was granted a charter in 1910 by the State of Ohio as part of the Lowry Bill, which also established Kent State...
. Later in the series, the cast moves into a house, where they reside until graduation, and the comic's conclusion.
Mac Hall concluded on September 22, 2006, with McConville explaining that creating the comic was no longer fun. He also mentioned that the comic would continue in a new phase in October 2006, and after some delay a new project began. In early March 2007, Boyd linked to the pair's new webcomic, Three Panel Soul, which had been updating unannounced since November 5, 2006. A note posted on February 5 welcomed visitors who managed to find the site on their own, but called it "(not) quite public yet."
Style
The series is done in a style reminiscent of mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
. A favored technique of McConville is to draw the line art on paper and color the characters in Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a graphics editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems Incorporated.Adobe's 2003 "Creative Suite" rebranding led to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS5 is the 12th major release of Adobe Photoshop...
after scanning. Characters are often highly detailed while backgrounds, painted directly in Photoshop, are often blurry. The series has gone through a handful of changes in its style, however—early episodes had a style to it that did not look similar to manga, but more like western comic strips; backgrounds were also more concrete. Over time, this changed to the manga-like style that has become the norm of the series, as well as the digitally painted backgrounds. The super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
effect that has its origins in manga also became a regular part of the style. The characters in the series lost their black outlines over time, and were later drawn entirely without them.
Three Panel Soul
In Boyd's final Mac Hall newspost, the end period has a link to a 3 panel comic strip, showing an older representation of Boyd's comic strip persona, contemplating a lasting relationship. On December 27, Jes posted a link to Three Panel Soul in the Snafu Comics message board.As of March 16, 2007, the front page of machall.com showed a split screen with the left side linking to the Mac Hall archives and the right side linking to Three Panel Soul. However, according to a post by McConville on March 29, 2007, Mac Hall was hacked. The site was down with a short notice posted, stating that Machall was being moved to a new server (the same one as Three Panel Soul). As of June 20, 2007, the Mac Hall archive was re-uploaded to the site's new host.
Other appearances of characters
A spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series called Mac Hall: Inside Mac Games was made in 2001 for the website InsideMacGames
InsideMacGames
Inside Mac Games, or IMG for short, is a website dedicated to Apple Macintosh computer gaming. Founded in 1993, Inside Mac Games has transitioned from an electronic magazine into a web-only publication...
. This series involved the same characters, but focused on their interest in video games for the Apple Macintosh. The series ran bi-monthly from October 2001 to July 2002. The real-life counterpart to the character Anthony eventually assumed writing these comics.
The series has often had crossover episodes with other online comics, in particular Megatokyo
Megatokyo
is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...
.
McConville has drawn a number of guest episodes for Megatokyo, and characters from both series make occasional cameos in each other's comics. Most notably, it was one of McConville and Boyd's guest strips for Megatokyo that gave Piro (Fred Gallagher) his reputation as a self-degrading artist whose "happy place" involved "sad girls in snow."
Several of the characters from Mac Hall were used in the War of the Webcomics expansion of the Internet-based trading card game, Cardmaster Conflict. The game is run by Mark Shallow, creator of such web comics as Antihero for Hire
Antihero for Hire
Antihero for Hire is a webcomic authored by Mark Shallow and hosted by Keenspot. The comic is set in 2114, and stars a professional superhero named Dechs Rashart, otherwise known as "Shadehawk." It shows his nightly adventures as he fights against criminals who are usually quite incompetent...
and Adventurers!.
Major characters
- Ian McConville - The main character of the series, Ian is based on the artist of the web comic. His trademark look is red ponytailed hair with a backwards baseball cap and his prescription sunglasses. Sometimes a cat can be seen resting on his cap, and the cat often seems to convey Ian's expressions, a motif also used by Fred Gallagher. He is the most innocent-seeming and upbeat of the characters, though often the most incomprehensible as well. He is prone to rather odd behavior when bored or procrastinating. Though not nearly as obsessive a gamer as Micah (see below), he plays computer and video games fairly often. He's known to be terrible at cooking. In May 2006, he graduated from college, moved to San Francisco, and joined the Three Rings DesignThree Rings DesignThree Rings Design, Inc. is an online game developer that was founded on March 30, 2001 by Daniel James and Michael Bayne. The company is named after the Three Rings of the Elves in Tolkien mythology, and the names of the Three Rings show up in various places throughout Puzzle Pirates such as in...
crew (reflecting similar steps taken by the artist around the same time). - Matt Boyd - A character based on the comic's writer, Matt is an aspiring journalistJournalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. Slender of build, with medium-length black hair and a goatee, he often wears a shirt with the Bungie Studios logo on it. He seems sometimes more easily perturbed than the other characters, and occasionally less confident, but has a high regard for education, current events, and journalistic integrity. He seems frustrated fairly often by what he perceives as scientific illiteracy among the general populace. He was known to be taking, and may still be taking, antidepressants. - JM - JM has black hair and a goatee somewhat similar to Matt's, but is rather stockier and heavier of build. He wears a shirt with a SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
-like logo on it that has an "SP" instead of an "S" on it, which stands for "SuperPimp". He is the least irascible of the characters, an unflappable young man who seems unsurprised by the less pleasant sides of the world in which he lives, maintaining a gentle stoicism and sense of humor about it. He was responsible for convincing the other characters to move into the house in which they now live. - Drew - Drew is a cynical computer scienceComputer scienceComputer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
major who is "permanently" angry. He is thin, has glowing red eyes (starting at comic 80), with brown hair that has changed styles several times over the course of the strip, but always has a goatee and glasses. He is dismissive of intellectual arrogance, though he does not always respond to those he considers less bright than himself with good humor. He enjoys pulling pranks on other people. - Micah Chang - Micah is a usually-cheerful young man who is given to impulsivity at times, such as jumping off a second-story balcony while imitating the famous music videoMusic videoA music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for Fatboy SlimFatboy SlimNorman Quentin Cook better known by his former stage name Fatboy Slim, is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician, and record producer. He is a pioneer of the big beat genre that achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s...
's song "Weapon of Choice". He is the most obsessive gamerGamerHistorically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. Since they became very popular, the term has included players of video games...
of the group. He has longish black hair, is at least half-ChineseHan ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
, and usually is portrayed as wearing a mostly-black, Asian-style coat with two white bars on the collar and voluminous sleeves. He started out as a compulsive EverQuestEverQuestEverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on the 16th of March, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost...
player, in which he plays a gnome, but switched to World of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
later on in the strip. His courtship (in a fairly loose sense of the word) and relationship with Helen Richter was one of the strip's themes for some time, though she has since broken up with him. - Helen Richter - Helen is a former architectureArchitectureArchitecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
student, generally cheerful but with a tendency to be quite sarcasticSarcasmSarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
when annoyed, and is the only major female character of the series. She has long brown hair, a slender build, and is known to be quite physically attractive; she often wears a pink-and-white T-shirt with a deranged-looking smiley face on it. She dated Micah for some time, but eventually broke up with him. However, while they were together, Micah convinced her to begin playing EverQuestEverQuestEverQuest, often shortened to EQ, is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on the 16th of March, 1999. The original design is credited to Brad McQuaid, Steve Clover, and Bill Trost...
with him, though at Ian's suggestion she switched to World of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
, and she is now a regular player of that.
Much of the costume/visual iconography of the characters was based on their real-life counterparts and/or their suggestions.
Supporting characters
- Alan - An aggressive rival of Drew (though not always antagonistic to him), Alan is often the victim of Drew's pranks. He tends to hang out with either Jon or Drew.
- Jon - A college failure (he was kicked out for poor grades) who still hangs around the dorm. He sticks around the campus to play video games and use the college's high-speed Internet access.
- Mike - A friend of Helen who works at the college's sound studio. Popular with the ladies, but only when he isn't trying. He hasn't appeared in the strip for several years.
- Helen's mother - An attractive older woman who seems to take life as it comes, who usually appears with Helen's sister in portrayals of Helen's home life.
- Helen's sister - A bright-eyed little girl with a shock of wild red hair. She is in grade school, and does not always seem to enjoy the best or most forward-thinking teaching by her instructors, which has formed the basis of a few strips.
- Jason - Helen's ex-boyfriend, who resembled a classic nerdNerdNerd is a derogatory slang term for an intelligent but socially awkward and obsessive person who spends time on unpopular or obscure pursuits, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Nerds are considered to be awkward, shy, and unattractive...
stereotype, thin and weak-looking with thick glasses and a pocket protector. He broke up with her because he thought they should see other people, which made no sense to the other people at the campus. - Anthony - A somewhat violent friend of Ian's from back home and a self-described "car-ninja".
- CthulhuCthulhuCthulhu is a fictional character that first appeared in the short story "The Call of Cthulhu", published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales in 1928. The character was created by writer H. P...
- An H. P. LovecraftH. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
character who pops up in the story now and then. - Ren - Ian's character in the MorrowindThe Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindThe Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, often simply referred to as Morrowind, is a single-player computer role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios, and published by Bethesda Softworks and Ubisoft. It is the third installment in The Elder Scrolls series of games, following The Elder Scrolls...
video game. She is a moogle who sometimes appears wearing armor and carrying a sword. - Prof. Dave Theison - Better known as the 'Hawaiian-shirt professor' who teaches one of Drew's classes. He hired Drew as his assistant because they share the same cynical outlook on life. He was based on the University of Maryland professor of the same name who died in 2003.
- McConville - Also known as "That chick with Mac Hall", is the real life wife of artist Ian. She appears in many convention reports and escapades, especially in Three Panel Soul. Jes is also the business manager and convention coordinator for the comic and a more reliable member of the team to reply to emails. Ian has recently proposed to Jes. This comic shows a joke used in previous comics to show it, and a rant later posted by Ian shows that he used a videogame he created to pop the question. Ian then asked Matt Boyd to be his best man. More Screen shots of the game here and here. They were married on December 20, 2008.
- Nine - Based on Ian's friend and former roommate Seth Geib. Ice Nine (Seth's online gaming name) appears in only a couple strips, the occasional photo, and a strip named after his character. Known only for having one line in which he says "Damn you McConville!" (comic 114)
Digimon
A notable in-joke with Mac Hall revolves around an attention grabbing gag involving DigimonDigimon
, short for , is a Japanese media franchise encompassing digital toys, anime, manga and video games. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.-Conception and...
. Early on, Boyd and McConville noted that the top three search engine terms that led people to Mac Hall all had to do with Digimon-related pornography. So the joke was made that in order to boost traffic they would pander to the tastes of those people. As a result, a large number of websites of that persuasion linked to the comic, much to the chagrin and amusement of the authors. This particular gag sticks out, most likely because of its sexual content. However, it does not accurately reflect any of the comic's material.
As an April Fools prank in 2002, MacHall changed their frontpage to what initially appeared to be a Digimon Erotica page.
Books
Mac Hall has released one book, Mac Hall Volume:1, which covers the first 19 months of comics published by Mac Hall.- Mac Hall: Volume Whatever (vol. 1); August 25, 2004 ISBN 0-9746966-3-3
See also
- List of webcomics
- List of comic strips
- Marathon RED, a computer game modMod (computer gaming)Mod or modification is a term generally applied to personal computer games , especially first-person shooters, role-playing games and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves, but mods are not standalone software and...
produced by the comic's author