XQUZYPHYR & Overboard
Encyclopedia
Some Guy with a Website (formerly known as XQUZYPHYR & Overboard) is a political webcomic
and blog
by August J. Pollak. The cartoon first started in October 1999 when Pollak was a freshman at New York University
and drew the cartoon for NYU's student-run paper, Washington Square News
. Because it was a student-run paper the cartoon only ran during the school year; starting in 2004, after Pollak had graduated, the strip appeared weekly year-round. New comics appear online on Mondays.
On October 16, 2006, Pollak announced that the strip will be changed: the format has changed from "full-page" to "half-page", and most significantly the two title characters will be phased out (apart from the special Christmas strips) and the strip accordingly renamed to Some Guy With A Website.
XQUZYPHYR - origin and pronunciation of name unknown. XQUZYPHYR is a shadowy figure in a brown trenchcoat and hat. His legs have almost never been drawn, but on those rare occasions when they are visible they are clad in brown trousers. This all gives XQUZYPHYR the appearance of Marvin the Martian
playing Philip Marlowe
. He tends to be the calmer (i.e., more rational and articulate) of the two when they appear.
Overboard - known to his friends (e.g. XQUZYPHYR) as Ovie, Overboard is a jowly yellow individual in a pink shirt. His right eye is larger than the other and appears to be bloodshot. He perennially wears a captain's hat, which could be said to explain his name, but arguably just gives further clues as to its origin. Owns a cat named Rightwing Conspiracy (RC for short) who occasionally makes an appearance, and serves as the logo and mascot of xoverboard.com. On certain holidays, the logo changes similar to Google
and other sites.
Because of the last few years of the strip taking on topical politics themes, XQUZYPHYR & Overboard rarely appear in the strips themselves. (In 2006, neither appeared in a strip until April) They usually appear only to provide a narrative position or to set up the premise, for example, comparing celebrities to political figures.
Christmas Strips - A definite exception to XQUZYPHYR & Overboard as irrelevant characters is the "Christmas strip," which is usually the last strip Pollak draws for the year, is multiple pages, and focuses entirely on XQUZYPHYR & Overboard engaging in a storyline, usually reflective of a pop culture trend of the year: for example, the National Zoo's baby Panda (2005), the "secularizing" of Christmas (2004), and Quentin Tarantino movies (2003).
Other recurring themes in the strip include:
Some Guy With A Website - a satire of self-important bloggers who believe their endeavours to be superior to and\or on the verge of replacing the "mainstream media". The first and most famous strip to feature this concept (published September 13th 2004) is available as a poster from Pollak's store.
The Ghost of Adolf Hitler - who shows up at various intervals to illustrate the spurious comparisons people often make, either to himself or to others. The Ghost of Hitler is illustrated as a shimmering skeleton in a Nazi cap and swastika armband.
Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists
.
Pollak also sells self-published print collections of about 35 cartoons each available directly from the website; there are currently two books: Ridiculousy Simple Graphs and Other Observations from XQUZYPHYR & Overboard, and Monkeys Flinging Poo and Other Great Moments in Media Punditry.
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....
and blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
by August J. Pollak. The cartoon first started in October 1999 when Pollak was a freshman at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and drew the cartoon for NYU's student-run paper, Washington Square News
Washington Square News
The Washington Square News is the daily student newspaper of New York University and serves the NYU, Greenwich Village, and East Village communities. The paper, better known as WSN, has a circulation of 10,000 and an estimated 65,000 readers online...
. Because it was a student-run paper the cartoon only ran during the school year; starting in 2004, after Pollak had graduated, the strip appeared weekly year-round. New comics appear online on Mondays.
On October 16, 2006, Pollak announced that the strip will be changed: the format has changed from "full-page" to "half-page", and most significantly the two title characters will be phased out (apart from the special Christmas strips) and the strip accordingly renamed to Some Guy With A Website.
Characters and Themes
The strips are essentially independent of one another, but prior to late 2006, Pollak used (albeit increasingly rarely) the two titular returning characters (seen in this strip having a rare break from politicking):XQUZYPHYR - origin and pronunciation of name unknown. XQUZYPHYR is a shadowy figure in a brown trenchcoat and hat. His legs have almost never been drawn, but on those rare occasions when they are visible they are clad in brown trousers. This all gives XQUZYPHYR the appearance of Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian
Marvin the Martian is a fictional character appearing in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars.-Conception and creation:...
playing Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe
Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler in a series of novels including The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep published in 1939...
. He tends to be the calmer (i.e., more rational and articulate) of the two when they appear.
Overboard - known to his friends (e.g. XQUZYPHYR) as Ovie, Overboard is a jowly yellow individual in a pink shirt. His right eye is larger than the other and appears to be bloodshot. He perennially wears a captain's hat, which could be said to explain his name, but arguably just gives further clues as to its origin. Owns a cat named Rightwing Conspiracy (RC for short) who occasionally makes an appearance, and serves as the logo and mascot of xoverboard.com. On certain holidays, the logo changes similar to Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and other sites.
Because of the last few years of the strip taking on topical politics themes, XQUZYPHYR & Overboard rarely appear in the strips themselves. (In 2006, neither appeared in a strip until April) They usually appear only to provide a narrative position or to set up the premise, for example, comparing celebrities to political figures.
Christmas Strips - A definite exception to XQUZYPHYR & Overboard as irrelevant characters is the "Christmas strip," which is usually the last strip Pollak draws for the year, is multiple pages, and focuses entirely on XQUZYPHYR & Overboard engaging in a storyline, usually reflective of a pop culture trend of the year: for example, the National Zoo's baby Panda (2005), the "secularizing" of Christmas (2004), and Quentin Tarantino movies (2003).
Other recurring themes in the strip include:
Some Guy With A Website - a satire of self-important bloggers who believe their endeavours to be superior to and\or on the verge of replacing the "mainstream media". The first and most famous strip to feature this concept (published September 13th 2004) is available as a poster from Pollak's store.
The Ghost of Adolf Hitler - who shows up at various intervals to illustrate the spurious comparisons people often make, either to himself or to others. The Ghost of Hitler is illustrated as a shimmering skeleton in a Nazi cap and swastika armband.
Collections
Material from the strip is included in the webcomic anthologyAnthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists
Attitude: The New Subversive Cartoonists
The Attitude series of books is a series of anthologies of alternative comics, photos and artists' interviews edited by Universal Press Syndicate editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. The books were designed by J. P. Trostle, news editor of EditorialCartoonists.com. Two sequels and three spin-off titles...
.
Pollak also sells self-published print collections of about 35 cartoons each available directly from the website; there are currently two books: Ridiculousy Simple Graphs and Other Observations from XQUZYPHYR & Overboard, and Monkeys Flinging Poo and Other Great Moments in Media Punditry.