TITLE: "Welcome Week"

By: Sharif Shakhshir

Creator Comments:  This comic actually received very strongly worded feedback about how it is negative and divisive in a world in which people need to be positive and united.  I can go on forever about what I think of this comment.  Let's just say an idealist like this and a cynic like me are not going to see eye-to-eye on the matter.

Since these comics are a bit esoteric for people who do not attend UCI, I'll explain in depth.

Panel 1: Orange County is boring.  Irvine the most so.  It is a planned area designed for old rich white people.  At least this is the perception of the young people.  I never have trouble finding something to do, but I'll admit that I do have trouble coming up with date ideas in this area. 

The guy crying has a spilt "orange bubbly" glass on his shirt which is the icon of a literary magazine a (former?) friend of mine started.  This is a jab at the former colleague with whom I worked with briefly last year.  He took up a lot of time which I would have used for my comic.  He didn't use any of my work and didn't credit me for any of my work as editor.  He ignored most of my critiques, but he did use my punctuation edits on the hipster haikus.  I've written a blog about the whole dreadful experience.

Panel 2: I love this panel soooo much!  First off I still can't believe they let me publish the phrase "jizz glutton."  People give me shit because these comics "just run in a college paper" but the New York Times wouldn't have given me the satisfaction of publishing the words "jizz glutton."  Maybe if I had characters shooting skeet with shotguns I might have gotten away with "skeet glutton." Although, they might not like the ideas of having guns in a comic.

Other than that it's just a really honest panel.  Also, anteater with a nosering ftw.

Panel 3: There are 3 sword related clubs on campus.  This accurately displays their opinions of each other.  Again just another honest satire.

Panel 4: Not one of my favorites, but it's not an honest representation of Imports@UCI.  You don't even need a car to be in that club and they don't care what your make or model is.  It's more about a community to learn about cars or express appreciation.  I was more making fun of their name.

It's kinda a reference to this commercial that was playing all the time back then.

Panel 5: is better explained in the following comic and one of the previous comics.  However, the Muslim Student Union at UCI got suspended for Fall Quarter for protesting Israeli ambassador Michael Oren.  Hence the "This winter" in parenthesis.  That was a bit of a fuck you to them.  Although I agree with their politics and appreciate their passion, they are morons who do not think and organize their protests in a productive manner.  Their protests either are vain and accomplish nothing or they backfire and hurt the Muslim, Middle Eastern, and anti-occupation communities as well as themselves and the university.

Panel 6: Every club except like the Japanese culture club sells Korean BBQ.