"You're Fired" - 12/19/2004

Um, I suppose the influence for this one was the television show "The Apprentice." Then again, I don't think I ever watched the show, so I don't really know why I decided to use Donald Trump's catchphrase from it in one of my comics. Along with that, laziness was obviously a factor, as can be seen by the fact that it's a 3-panel comic. However, laziness aside, I think it's a fairly decent comic. The one-liner itself isn't too funny, but I think it's the look on Yaka's face that makes this comic what it is.

"Touche" - 12/12/2004

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within had just been released around the time this comic came out, which explains why Waka references the "new Prince of Persia game" in the first panel. Other than that, the game itself didn't really influence the comic at all. As for the rest of the comic, I'm not really sure if there was an actual influence for it. However, I am a fan of the word "touche," so perhaps that was part of it...

"The Stick-Man Cometh" - 12/05/2004

This comic was quite possibly one of the biggest milestones in the entire series. As if Yaka hadn't been tortured enough by the idiocy of his brother Waka, the newest character, Stick-Man, was finally introduced to the series. Not only was he just as bad as Waka in terms of stupidity, but apparently his favorite pastime is to run while holding a running chainsaw.

"A Series of Craptastic Events" - 11/28/2004

With Thanksgiving having come and gone, I thought it was appropriate to let the viewers get a little taste of what a Y&W Thanksgiving is like. Unfortunately for Yaka, that meant getting a turkey carver lodged into the back of his head. Another thing I like about this comic is that it's a prime example of Waka's personality. Only he could witness an event like the one in the comic, yet tell Yaka that he "can't prove anything" after being told he witnessed it. How these two happen to be brothers I could never really figure out...let alone how they could stand living with each other...

P.S. HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2009!

"Day Off" - 11/21/2004

Yet again, my laziness and lack of ambition to create a new comic struck. However, this time around I wasn't trying to hide it with a 3-panel comic or an oversized Waka taking over the comic strip. Instead, I flat out made the characters, who in this case represented me, tell the viewers that they didn't feel like working that day. So yeah, that's about it on this one...

"Hallucinations" - 11/14/2004

If there's any single comic that I totally remember the history to, it's this one. I created this comic the day after my birthday party, meaning that it was thought of and produced after being awake for about 36 hours...without a single bit of sleep. So in a sense, this comic was created based on my personal experience of starting to see things after lacking that much sleep...although I don't recall ever seeing Darth Vader...

P.S. I did see Abe Lincoln once, though. But that's an entirely different story.

"Episode WTF?" - 11/07/2004

If I remember correctly, the newest trailer for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith had just been released before I made this comic, which would explain the fact that I referenced Star Wars in it. Also notice that this Y&W comic is a bit edgier than the rest before it, considering what "WTF" stands for. Then again, I don't think anyone really cared.

"Count Wakula" - 10/31/2004

This was obviously the Halloween comic for the year. Yet again laziness helped inspire me on this one, and so the 3-panel Y&W variant was born, as opposed to the usual 9-panel comics. However, I was quite happy with the idea of 3-panel comics, because not only did they require less work, but they also opened the door for simple one liners, such as the joke in this comic. Overall, the 3-panel variants were definitely a good decision, because some of the best comics in the series were the short ones.

"Fungus" - 10/24/2004

I'm not exactly sure what inspired me on this one, other than my constant use of the word "fungus" at the time. In terms of the comic itself, I think it's actually one of the best, though not my personal favorite. Also, if you look closely at Waka's eye in the second to last panel, you can see that his eye is a square and not a circle. Apparently your eyes become square in the Y&W universe when you're being possessed. Don't know what the logic on that one was...if there even was any logic...

"Election 2004" - 10/17/2004

As one could most likely guess from the title, this comic was inspired by the presidential election of 2004. I wanted to create a fake presidential candidate that felt at home inside the Y&W universe, so I went with General Buttox McCheeks - aka Waka's butt. I don't know about you people, but I'd vote for him!

Abraham Lincoln: A Short Biography by Timmy Thompson

Back around the end of September, one of the webcomics I frequent called "Amazing Super Powers" was holding a contest for their 2nd birthday. The basic idea was to pick your favorite comic of theirs and recreate it through any medium you wanted. Anyway, I picked a comic called "Lincoln."

For this particular comic, instead of "recreating" it, I decided to explore "backstory" by physically writing the boy in the comic's report about Abraham Lincoln. Filled with intentional spelling errors and loads of false information, the report I wrote ends with the events in the comic--bringing it all full circle. Needless to say, I didn't win the contest or any of the runner-up prizes, but I thought I'd share the biography with everyone anyway. Enjoy!

Abraham Lincoln: A Short Biography

by Timmy Thompson

Abraham Lincoln was born a one room log cabin on February 12^th, 1809. Though he was given no middle name at birth, he would later tell people his middle name was “The Bonecrusher.” In 1816, Lincoln’s family lost all of their money and land to a traveling circus. In order to support his family, Lincoln joined a semi-pro wrestling circuit. It was during his time wrestling that he took on the stage name “Honest Abe.” Wearing nothing but a top hat and overalls, Lincoln held this position for five years. However, tragedy struck when an accident in the ring caused his top hat to be permanently fused with his head. It was then that Lincoln drew inspiration from his idle, Jesse Ventura, and decided to go into politics.

In 1834, Lincoln won an election to the Illinois state legislature. He was given a Whig, but knowing he could never remove his top hat, ran a bisexual campaign instead. Lincoln was also a self taught lawyer, and was opened a bar in 1837. It was at this bar that he met his wife, Bloody Mary. The two got hitched and had some children, but a few of them died of typhoid fever when they forded the Mississippi River on a family trip to Oregon. Though he did a few things here and there, his big break wasn’t until the 1860 presidential election.

On November 6^th, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected as the 16^th President of America. Unfortunately, his year long celebration party was interrupted when a war broke out in 1861. This was the Civil War, which was a result of multiple states succeeding from the Union and becoming their own country. On November 19^th, 1863 he gave the Gettysburg Address. In this speech, Lincoln declared that all those who died in the battle would be resurrected by witchcraft to fight against the Confederacy, an act that he claimed would “ensure a government would not allow its people to perish.”

Eventually, the war was won, and Lincoln undertook the job of personally reconstructing the South. He patented a new form of super-wood called “Lincoln Logs,” and the South was rebuilt by his own hands within a few weeks. However, Lincoln would unfortunately never see the creation of his theme park, “Lincolnopolis.”

On one fateful night, Lincoln and his wife Mary got into their newly purchased Ford and headed off to the theatre to see ZZ Top in concert. During the fourth song in their set, a thunderous roaring was heard by everyone as John Wilkes Booth (a supporter of the South) rode in on a giant T-Rex. With a broad sword in hand, Booth shouted “Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus!” Upon this verbal command, the well trained T-Rex grabbed Lincoln with its piercing jaws and began to devour him. Knowing his end was well at hand, Lincoln made a dying wish to free the slaves. This dying wish was immediately granted by Congress.

Today, we see Lincoln’s face on certain kinds of money, though in most cases his picture has been Photoshopped to remove the top hat (as money is too small to fit the hat in). Overall, Lincoln was a really swell guy, and without him history would surely be much different than my report.

"Fear the Dump" - 10/10/2004

...and so began the gradual decline in thought that I placed into the creation of Y&W comics. If anything, this comic somehow reminded me of Aqua Teen Hunger Force (primarily the episode involving the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past). There's definitely no connection between this comic and that episode, but I always think of that episode whenever I read this comic. Of course, if you've never seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force, let alone that episode, this whole detailed rant is probably lost on you.

"Cheap Thrills" - 10/03/2004

This comic is somewhat important to the series, as it was the first one to demonstrate just how much my own laziness would affect certain comics in the series. However, despite being influenced by laziness, the comic still manages to fit well into the style of humor seen in the Y&W comics, which is mostly due to the fact that it makes no sense whatsoever. As odd as this comic may seem, it's not the only one in the series that features an overgrown Waka, although he looks quite a bit different the next time we see him this big...

"The Zone" - 09/26/2004

I think it would be safe to say that this comic was the one to help usher in the stupid humor aspect of the series. My main inspiration for this comic came from the addiction I had to watching "The Twilight Zone" at the time. So, after watching a bunch of episodes, I asked myself, "How can I blend the philosophical introductions to the show with the humor seen within my comic." The final result of that thought process was "The Zone."

Hey, nobody said I was Socrates.

"The Greatest Invention" - 09/19/2004

With the second comic in the series, the comic slowly began to gain more ground in terms of the humor aspect. Along with that, "The Greatest Invention" is also one of the only comics in the series that mentions events from the previous one. At this point, as I stated before, the humor definitely started to show. However, as many would come to find out as the series continued, random/idiotic humor would eventually reign supreme over simple jokes.

"Him" - 09/12/2004

Though originally created many years earlier, The Yakas & The Wakas made their first online debut on September 12th, 2004 as a partner site of Yoshi Stadium. At this point in time, my basic job was to introduce the characters. I started off the first comic with the appearance of the villain Slobber, hence the title "Him." Along with that, the artwork was still somewhat crude, as I hadn't begun to devote a lot of my time to making the comics look better. Though definitely not the best comic of the series, it was a good starting point.

No School Like The Old School

Since the original "Yakas & Wakas" website no longer exists (Geocities shut down! :<), I've decided to have a Y&W Retrospective on this site! This serves two purposes:

1. To re-post all of the old Y&W comics so that they once again have a home on the Internet.

2. To have a steady stream of comics available for viewing, since I've been very lax on making new ones.

Anyway, the old comics will be re-posted on a regular basis (until they've run out) in the order they first appeared and will include a short paragraph about the creation of that particular comic (excerpted from the Y&W Collection book). So stay tuned, there's a lot of old school Yakas & Wakas headed your way!