Checkerboard Nightmare

Checkerboard Nightmare
Author(s)	Kristofer Straub
Website	http://www.checkerboardnightmare.com/
Current status/schedule	Reruns with commentary
Launch date	November 10, 2000 [1]
Genre(s)	Parody

Checkerboard Nightmare is a webcomic, created and drawn by Kristofer Straub. Originally hosted independently, it moved to Keenspot for a time, before becoming one of the founding comics of Blank Label Comics. During 2006, it appeared monthly on the webcomic news site Comixpedia.

The strip is self-aware, using metahumour extensively, and the title character, Checkerboard Nightmare ("Chex") is obsessed with gaining fame as a webcomic character and is willing to do anything necessary to achieve it. The setup of the strip does not change beyond 'Chex wants new readers and concocts a hare-brained scheme to get them', satirising the strict adherence to format exhibited by, for example, sitcoms. Its targets expanded as the strip progressed, and shifted from satirising webcomics to the search for fame in general with the move to Keenspot.

Checkerboard Nightmare storylines have included Chex physically attacking other webcomic creators (drawn in each creator's art style) in an attempt to gain fame by getting rid of the competition, and a one-shot comic in which a character from Queen of Wands, which had just ended, was run over by Chex and another character in a car as a parody of a similar gag in the webcomic Something Positive.

Presently, the comic is in "reruns" - Straub has decided to relaunch the site and has taken all of the comics down, putting them up again on a regular basis from the beginning with video commentary.

Synopsis

File:CheckerboardNightmare Old.JPG

Before revamp

File:CheckerboardNightmare New.JPG

After revamp

Checkerboard Nightmare's title character (often referred to as "Chex") is a self-aware comic strip character whose primary interest is his own success as a comic strip character. Chex's weekly exploits usually involve some sort of harebrained scheme to increase his readership by latching his image onto another, more successful comic strip or marketing scheme.

The comic, which maintained a regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday updating schedule for five years, ceased to update regularly around November 11, 2005. The website continues to maintain the strip's archive. During 2006, the comic ran monthly at the webcomic news site Comixpedia.

Honors awarded to the strip and its creator

• Panel participation at the 2004 San Diego Comic-Con [2]: "Is Newspaper Syndication Dead? The Future of the American Comic Strip" alongside Scott Kurtz of PvP, Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of Penny Arcade, Michael Jantze of The Norm and others.
• Panel participation at the 2005 San Diego Comic-Con on the official WebComics School panels (WebComics School 101: Getting Started and 102: Building an Audience) alongside Scott Kurtz of PvP, Stephen Notley of Bob the Angry Flower, Jon Rosenberg of Goats, and James Kochalka of American Elf.
• 2005 Cartoonist's Choice Awards, Honorable Mention in the Comedic category [3].
• Co-moderation of "The Future of Comics" panel at first annual New York Comic-Con 2006.

Links to other webcomics

• Queen of Wands - After webcartoonist Aeire ended her strip, a lookalike of her main character Kestrel was seen in the background of one Something Positive strip being struck by a red hatchback (this was later revealed to actually be Kestrel, and, with Aeire's permission, was integrated into continuity). Straub embellished the gag with a strip depicting Chex teaching Vaporware to drive in a red hatchback, and in one panel, running down a Kestrel lookalike. [4]

Main characters

• Checkerboard Irving "Chex" Nightmare - A self-aware (and self-absorbed) internet comic "star" with an encyclopedic knowledge of marketing terminology. Chex's interests lie in becoming a mega-popular webcomic star not by working at being original, but by lifting popular ideas or by riding web marketing trends. Chex resembles a harlequin with large spiky hair reminiscent of Freakazoid. His clothing bears a checkerboard pattern which is drawn the same regardless of the character's position.

• Lyle Zebulon - Chex's lawyer and possibly only friend. Lyle's main responsibility is getting Chex out of the many copyright infringement/stalking/property damage suits he incurs. It is unclear how Chex manages to pay Lyle's legal fees. Lyle additionally represents the everyman/straightman foil to Chex's irrationality. He is also regularly choked or threatened by Vaporware, as a running gag designed to emulate the quintessential running gag for running gag's sake, PVP's panda attacks.

• Vaporware - A robot brought into the cast to "round it out," Vaporware is often seen needlessly choking Lyle with his metal hands. Vaporware is often part of Chex's schemes, seemingly either unable to disobey Chex's inane requests, or uncaring as to the inevitable sticky situation it will put Chex in.

• Polkadot Dream - A popular comic strip character, essentially the opposite of Chex. Polkadot Dream has all the success and none of the ego of Chex, although her design was originally plagiarised from Chex's. Although the revelation that she is an anthropomorph (or furry) caused her popularity in America to plummet, Dot still has a strong overseas fanbase.

Minor characters

• Charlotte - Chex's little-seen ex-girlfriend -- later Stripe's girlfriend. Dresses in a checkerboard motif independently of Chex, causing him to sue her even as he was dating her.

• Chex's Angels - Charlie's Angels-esque trio of three attractive girls Chex sends on a mission to find three attractive girls to promote his strip. Their names are Penelope, Linda, and Cybersword. Based on three actual readers of Checkerboard Nightmare.

• Deadeater - Left bloody, threatening-looking notes around Lyle's house reading "DEADEATER IS COMING" during a Halloween storyline.

• Doctor Hot - A fan-favorite, seldom-referenced television "pop psychologist" known for his catch phrase "Hot!" Chex appeared on Doctor Hot's daytime talk show and got it cancelled. The "Hot!" catch phrase is still in use in various webcomic forums.

• Flyweight - Failed children's character that looks like a disgruntled housefly. A denizen of the "Universe of Failure."

• Heathrow and Smacky - Pun-making neo-Vaudevillian comic strip characters, whose comic was created by Chex solely so he could make cameos in it. Later, Heathrow and Smacky came to realize Chex's treachery, and became his bitter arch-enemies.

• Jack Ace - 1930s-era reporter who always jumps to conclusions and misses the point; a satirization of poor webcomics coverage in mainstream newspapers.

• Lance Sharps - A thinly-veiled parody of Scott McCloud, Lance is the editor-in-chief of the Canadian critical review magazine Modern Humor Authority.

• Mitch - Ultra-sarcastic "new cast member" introduced by Chex to capitalize on the Something Positive brand of biting humor.

• Schrodinger, The Quantum Cat - A cat who can see all possible states of existence at the same time, and is quite insane because of it. Had some kind of affair with Polkadot Dream.

• Striped Reverie - Chex's next-door neighbor, whom he may or may not have stolen his current "look" from. Stole Chex's lawnmower, as well as his girlfriend.

• Toby Wrenchneck - Orange-haired, bucktoothed fanboy of Checkerboard Nightmare. Chex was so delighted to have a fanboy that he in turn became obsessed with Toby. The Wrenchneck family had to place a restraining order on Chex as a result.

• The Unraveled - A godlike entity that appears in the form of a fetus and dispenses undecipherable advice. Chex once summoned The Unraveled using "the Armageddon Shard," an ancient artifact of evil, hoping to become the herald of an infinitely malevolent being. Instead The Unraveled turned out to be an infinitely humble, infinitely pleasant deity.

• Xula - Model hired to be the official personality of "X-Holiday," Chex's non-denominational winter holiday.

• Zero - Chex's precursor, a character the cartoonist drew before Chex was invented. Using archaeology, Chex dug up Zero and intended to take his storylines by right of descent. When Zero refused to submit, Chex tricked all the precursor characters back into the ground whence they came.

Storylines

• Army of Vaporwares- Getting more out of an otherwise one-joke character.
• Heathrow and Smacky- Chex attempts to cash-in on the success of vaudeville.
• Repairing the Fourth Wall- Vaporware rebuilds the fourth wall when he tires of webcomics breaking it for comic effect. The result is a battle royale with many other webcomic guest stars who use fourth-wall metahumour.
• A World Without Lawyers- Parody of Checkerboard Nightmare's structure, and the inability of an author to write anything but rehashes of his original hit.
• A Fan Fiction Adventure- Parody of overdramatic fanfic.
• Modern Humor Authority- Parody of Scott McCloud.
• The Bad Strip- A strip is so unfunny ("bad") that it escapes the archives and goes on the lam. Chex and company must search the seedy side of the internet to bring it to justice. For the duration of this storyline, the strip in question was actually pulled from the archive and replaced with a faint outline.
• Lyle vs. Deadeater- Halloween storyline.
• Chex Gets Ditched- A reader favorite. Chex's friends tire of his antics and decide to leave him out of the fun.
• Chex and The Fanboy- The fan/celebrity relationship is inverted when Chex becomes a fan of his fanboy for being his fan.
• Archaeology and Digging- Chex faces his "predecessors," consisting of characters Straub invented when he was a child.
• Hard Action Squad- Cop show parody, and a fan favorite.
• Sold Out- The first storyline after Checkerboard Nightmare's move to Keenspot.
• Lyle and the Fraud Litigation- Indiana Jones parody.
• Homespun Sarcasm- Parody of Something Positive.
• The Storied Hollywood Truth- The entire strip premise is inverted when it is revealed the characters readers have come to know are being portrayed by actors.
• Fallen Down- Chex goes on a webcomic-murdering rampage in this bravado parody of many other webcartoonists' styles.
• Chez Chef Chex- Guest-written by Leonard Richardson, who had won the "Chex For Sale" contest where the prize was to write a CxN storyline. Graham Morrison, the second-place winner, appears in the story as the head chef of Redacto.
• Chex's Angels- Charlie's Angels parody.
• Chex vs. The Cartoonist- Chex takes on Kristofer Straub himself in the ultimate display of chutzpah.
• Oven Bun- Dot has a shocking secret in this parody of every sitcom twist cliché in existence.
• In Continuum- The series comes to a close in this parody of overwrought, overserious series finales.

See also

• List of comic strips
• List of webcomics

External links

• Checkerboard Nightmare
• Checkerboard Nightmare at Comixpedia
• Starslip Crisis Kristofer Straub's other webcomic, in which Vaporware has become a recurring character.