Scott Meyer

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Optimize the Process

One could describe Ric’s kitchen as “a hotbed of unfettered culinary experimentation” and not be wrong. One could also refer to it as “a gastronomic Island of Doctor Moreau, where innocent edibles are subjected to wrong-headed, inhuman experiments at the whims of a madman who doesn’t know what he’s doing.” Both descriptions are equally accurate.

Aren’t words fun?

Seriously though, I was lamenting the fact that I had no ideas for the next comic, spent one hour on th...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Choose a Souvenir

This was one of those cases where, in order to make the comic work, I needed one of the characters do something silly. The most logical options were me and Rick. I had a choice to make, but be reasonable. It wasn’t going to be me.

The act of buying souvenirs often leads to buying things we don’t need, for questionable reasons. I own a couple of mugs from a series that are the same size and shape but have the names and landmarks of differen...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Empathize With Other People

This comic was inspired by a situation in real life, but I took some liberties. No, nobody asked Ric for advice. The truth is that a third person told someone who was having problems that they should ask Ric for advice. I think we’ll all agree, that’s even more confounding.

If you think I’m being needlessly mean, I’ll point out that Ric called me to tell me about this. He laughed as he told me. That’s how much respect for his own opinions Ric has, which probably makes him the ...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Try Something New

While the real Rick and I were discussing hats (he recently gave into his destiny as a jazz fan and bought a porkpie hat) it occurred to me that if Rocket Hat were a real comic book superhero, he would probably have had a precursor in the Golden Age of comics. “Propeller Hat.”

You think Rocket Hat brutalizes the Emperor of the Moon, you should see what Propeller Hat used to do to him! There aren’t enough Band-Aids on the moon to deal with that!

I mentioned this to Rick, and ...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Accept Reality

It seems my years, growing up in an irrigated desert, followed by years as a front-line cast member at Walt Disney World, followed by several years living in a paved desert, did my skin no favors.

Now, deep in my middle age, it has dawned on me that skin is good, and worth taking care of.

Also, when I was a child, they used to tell me, “You have your father’s nose.” Now my father is elderly, and his nose has aged substantially less well than the rest of him. This displeases ...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Watch the Cycle Repeat

There was a time when pay-per-impression banner ads on a blog or a webcomic were a profitable way to support your creative endeavors. For a long time, I didn’t have any ads on Basic Instructions. I had dinner with a popular blogger and their spouse, (Good, good people. Not greedy at all. They just knew how much money I was leaving on the table.) One of them ended up telling me, “Ideally, I’d want to put … I’d say … eight ads on your homepage.”

If memory serves, I ended up ...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Discuss Movies You Haven’t Seen

As I write this, I have not yet seen Godzilla x Kong. It takes a lot to lure me into a theater, but a film that promises King Kong swinging an ax while riding into a fight on Godzilla’s back nicely fits my definition of “a lot.”

They’ve made Godzilla vs. Kong, and now Godzilla x Kong. Where can they go from there? Can’t do Godzilla Meets Kong because they’ve already met. Jumping straight to multiplication for the current title means they can’t really backtrack...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Laugh at Yourself

It didn’t help that Dad’s primary use for the accordion was to wake me and my brothers up early on Saturday mornings.

We’d all be sound asleep, and he’s stroll in, big grin on his face, blasting “The Clarinet Polka.” Nobody enjoys getting woken up abruptly, few people are fond of accordion music to begin with, and I, specifically, was offended on a purely logical level at the idea that he played “the Clarinet Polka” on an instrument that was demonstrably not...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Respect Innovation

I often write the phrase, “This comic was based on a real conversation with the real Ric,” or something to that effect. You could be excused for wondering just how directly I pattern these conversations on the real events, and how accurately I describe my, Ric’s, and Missy’s behavior. In general, the cartoon versions of us say meaner things to each other than we do in real life, but that’s the main difference. As evidence of this, please see the attached photo, which Ric sent to me ...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Buy Something Ridiculous While Keeping Your Dignity Intact

This comic is based, even more-so than most, on a true story. Heroic Man cologne exists. (See the attached photo for proof!). I bought it for someone as a gift. I tried to ship it to them, and DHL refused to transport it. When I realized that I was about to have to explain to Missy why I was keeping the bottle of Heroic Man, I offered it to the helpful lady at the DHL office, asking if there was any man in her life who might deserve a bottle of Heroic Man.

She laughed, and said, “No. ...

Patreon Q&A! Seeking your Qs to A!

Hi, everyone! Missy here. I'm going to be refreshing my video editing skills, and I figured what better test project than interviewing Scott with your pressing questions!

SO, if there's anything you've wanted to know about Scott, the comic, his books, our life abroad, the cats, me, or anything else, let's hear it!

I'd love to avoid the kinds of questions that he often gets in interviews; so less "where do you get your book ideas," and more "What's your favorite Wes Anderson movi...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Explain to Your Boss That You Can’t Come to Work Because You Are Sick

I know I talk more than one might expect about my time as a cast member at Walt Disney World. I have always found the place interesting, and working there only made it more fascinating to me.

What does that have to do with this comic about calling in sick? There are two things about calling in sick that remind me of my time working for the mouse.

1. Walt Disney World is the best place to call in sick to, because you don’t call your immediate supervisor, or even one of your cowor...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Explain Your Unusual Tastes

Just FYI, I will be taking next week off. There will be no Out Of Context comic Thursday, or fresh comic the following Monday, but after that we'll be back to normal. Thanks! Now, on to the commentary.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead, for a 50 year old movie that you would have a hard time finding somewhere to watch, even if you wanted to.

The movie in question is Colossus: The Forbin Project. It’s slow and it’s weird, and it ends on a massive bummer, but I love it.

I...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Understand Economics

I feel a little bad about the fourth panel. George Lucas created something that millions of people, myself included, love. In return, we’ve all given him a bucket-load of crap because that thing we love isn’t totally perfect.  I’m just as guilty as anyone of this, but I don’t feel good about it. I’m going to have to think about that.

Now, about the rest of the comic. A news story inspired it.

2024-03-11 08:00:01 +0000 UTC View Post

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context

How to Recover From a Mistake

This strip is based, loosely, on an actual event. I impulse-purchased a bag of what I thought were mixed nuts. That might be the only way anyone ever buys a bag of mixed nuts. I doubt many people ever make a special trip to the store just because they’re running low on mixed nuts. You never hear anybody complain that they’re out of mixed nuts, or go to the neighbor to borrow a cup of mixed nuts. Then again, nobody really goes to the neighbors to borrow food anymore, do they? Did they ever...

One Line from a Future Comic Taken Totally out of Context