Bonus ROFLs: Joe Mathlete (Marmaduke Explained)

Posted on April 26, 2008 by geoffreygolden.
Categories: Unmoderated Talks.

This is Geoffrey from Overtime Comedy, happily guest blogging about teh awesome ROFLcon. I interviewed some of the guests after their panels, to squeeze extra knowledge out of them.

Here’s some more wisdom from memestar Joe Mathlete of Marmaduke Explained, post-panel…

Geoffrey: The panel was about making money on memes/websites. Have you been thinking about other ways to profit from Marmaduke Explained, apart from Google Ads and shirts? Or is it really just a hobby?

Joe: It’s barely even a hobby at this point. I stopped selling the shirts because it kinda weirded me out a little bit, and I’m not very good with the post office. I thought it was funny that the Chuck Norris Guy said he was a poor college student. He’s written a book. I was able to quit my job for a couple months, but I do that all the time anyway.

Yeah, it barely qualifies as a hobby — more like a fun obligation at this point.

G: Chuck Norris Guy was legally threatened by Chuck Norris’ people. Have you heard anything from Marmaduke’s creator or publishers?

J: No, no. Not a single thing. My theory for the longest time was that the guy who writes Marmaduke was too old to have a computer on the internet, and that maybe I generated some interest in the strip, so the publisher doesn’t care too much. I’m pretty sure I’ve never infringed any copyrights with the things I’ve sold. Never used the artwork. Sorta careful about that. I was kinda hoping at one point that I’d get a cease and desist, so I can move onto something else.

G: Have your eye on any other strips you might want to do next? Or what’s your next project, if it’s not comic-blog related?

J: Gonna get drunk for the rest of the day, probably.

I drew a nipple on Ziggy’s nose for about a week, just cause everyone told me I should do more comic strip stuff. They thought I was serious about that. (It was for a week.)

My future plans have not a lot to do with comic strips.