Schneier on Security

Um. Ok.

I generally hate when people show up in comments just to criticise something, but...

I was stunned into five minutes of blank staring by how bad that comic on the front page is. It's just... awkward and weird and too bland and mediocre to even laugh at how bad it is. My brain basically shut itself off in self-defence.

You don't have to post everything you get sent, Bruce. It's ok.

Joshua, I couldn't agree more.

jesus, yeah.... sorry, but those suck and are not worth sending more traffic to that site.
is it supposed to be funny? Or is this like, a Mary Worth comic for geeks?

Unfortunately, I'm not impressed. The grammar and continuity of the dialog is off. It also seems to be missing any kind of punchline when attempting to be funny. Oh well.

I also agree with the first two commentors. Simply horrible! If you need to recover your sense of humor like I did, try this: http://www.basicinstructions.net/

To be meaningful as a cartoon it has to be at least remotely funny. This is more like a motivational poster, except with bad artwork.

come on guys, it's slightly better than Mallard Fillmore.

does remind me a little bit of those security posters at defense contractors, though.

I'm not saying this is the best cartoon ever, but I disagree with the idea that a cartoon has to be funny to be good. The current cartoon may not be the best example but this one

http://cgi.cs.indiana.edu/~markus/cartoon/index.php?comic=20070625&tag=spoofing&last=

and the immediately following ones are a decent, human-understandable explanation of phishing.

I'm usually not into comments just for bad comments either, but this is some awkward material indeed.

This is to infosec what the Chick Publications cartoon tracts (www.chick.com) are to religion ... but even more badly executed.

Wow, just wow

Imagine if Charlie Brown and Linus grew up to be geeks/nerds, work in an IT dep and then spun off onto their own cartoon strip...It would still be funnier than this...

These pretty much suck. I'll stick with XKCD.

I laughed out loud. Unfortunately, it was from enjoying all the comments.

The comic itself is really bad.

Like Joshua, I don't like to post to be purely negative, but I can't see any reason to ever visit that site again, nor to suggest that anybody else does so.

Wow. Pretty bad.

And please, somebody, teach that man about contractions!

Given that Markus Jakobsson is a cryptographer/security researcher, I'd assume the strip is meant to be to computer security what the "Cartoon History" series is for seemingly everything else. That is, simple illustrated parables to explain the basic concepts to laymen. Granted, I'm not sure that it's going to be successful.

You all seem to assume that it is supposed to be funny but I don't think it is. The series starts way back in the spring and is trying to teach computer security. I just read most of it right up to date and found it both useful and interesting. I think you-all should get off your collective high horses and really look at this site.

Hey, lighten up on Sukamol and Markus already. You know they are going to read this eventually, and I think they'll get the point.

I tried writing a comic strip once, and was dismayed to realize after I drew a couple that it sucked, every single strip.
The sort of thing that would make you embarassed for the author when you read it. Adding futher shame was the fact that I was unable at the time to even figure out why they sucked. I remember trying.Yeah.

Granted,immediately upon giving up I destroyed all the strips I drew to save myself the surely fatal embarassment of ever having them read by another human being instead of posting them on a website, but hey, if you try enough new things in life, you too will suck at some point.

ummm - I don't think they liked it Bruce ;-).

On a better note - Heidi is back (it's a comic novel - I loved the first one)

http://www.planetheidi.com/book2/book2.html

http://www.basicinstructions.net/2006/07/how-to-tell-joke_23.html
Just had to post it.

I think many of you may be missing the point of this comic. It's not supposed to be funny, and its intended audience doesn't include any of us. It's written for the 90% of home computer owners out there who buy their computers at Circuit City or Best Buy or whatever and are sent on their way with nothing more than vague warnings about "malware, spyware, and viruses" -- terms that we take for granted but that make absolutely no sense to someone who isn't computer-literate.

I can't say for sure, but I think the comics probably do a far better job than I would ever have the patience to, in explaining many of the basics of good computer hygiene. We'll see though -- I sent the link to my parents, which should be a good test. As long as my email doesn't get stuck in their spam filter, that is...

Even as instructional comic strips, these are terrible.
Compare and contrast:
http://www.olive-drab.com/od_other_periodicals_ps.php

I have to concur. I've met Markus and he's a solid guy, but the art and writing are not really ready for prime time. Keep trying, guys. And don't be discouraged - doing comics well is MUCH more difficult than doing security well.

Wow. I won't say it's bad because everyone else has already said that, but I can't stand the way this guy doesn't use contractions!

Whoops, let me try that again:

I cannot stand the way this guy does not use contractions.