Hey guys! If you haven’t been following along at home, go check out Strip Search RIGHT NOW! Why haven’t you already?? This is what reality TV should be.
(Forgive the wobbliness of this comic, I drew it in a rush!)
After you watch my elimination episode, here’s the comic I created in 90 minutes from the words “Naughty” and “Mystery”.
Thanks for all your support, you guys. It has seriously meant the world to me.
Strip Search
Oh hey! And this Saturday I’m doing a signing for Free Comic Book Day!
Free Comic Book Day
Signing at Things From Another World
May 4, 11:30 – 1pm
2916 NE Broadway St
Portland, Oregon
↓ Comic Transcript
The comic starts with a narrator voice booming; We interrupt your regularly scheduled sex toy review to bring you a personal update from Erika.
Erika pops out of a magnifying glass next to a logo that says “Strip Search”, and happily starts chatting. “As a number of you know, I’ve been on Penny Arcade’s reality game show, Strip Search. For two weeks eleven cartoonists and I were recorded 24 hours a day, competing to be the Next Great Webcomic and win a prize of $15,000 and one year of working out of the PA offices rent-free.”
“Today I was the sixth contestant to be eliminated.” A panel shows two judges from the show looking stern as one says, “I’m sorry, this is not the strip we’re searching for.”
Erika turns to look back at the reader. “You guys?”
“This has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she says, placing her hands over her heart.
There are three reasons why I applied to be on Strip Search:
Number 1
Erika holds a laptop with logos of various shows like The Real World, America’s Next Top Model, Teen Mom, and more coming off the screen and overlapping each other.
“I fucking love reality TV. Seriously. I love the creative competitions, I love the trashy dramas, I just love watching people interact on my screen doing stuff and knowing they’re real!”
The scene changes to a view of Erika’s work place in Periscope Studio. It’s a busy looking workshop of artists going about their days. She continues, “I’ve often fantasized about a show being made of Periscope Studio because my studiomates are all so talented and funny and interesting and I wish I could share them with everyone.”
“So when I saw PA put out the call for contestants on a show ABOUT CARTOONISTS I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least apply.”
Number 2
“$15,000 is HUGE.”
Erika rolls around in a pile of money as she happily clutches fistfuls of cash. “Comics has never really been profitable for me. This would have changed that.”
Number 3
“I wanted to meet Robert Khoo.”
A portrait of Robert is shown from the shoulders up, a man with short black hair, rectangular glasses, and a short beard.
“He is the president of Penny Arcade and the man responsible for transforming it from just a webcomic surviving on donations from its audience to a million dollar empire. He knows business. A common refrain I’ve heard among my fellow webcartoonists is ‘I wish I had a Robert Khoo’ and now I had the chance to talk with him! I needed to meet him.”
“So I applied,”
A past Erika is shown hitting “send” from her laptop.
“I made the cut,”
Past Erika holds her hands up to her face as she reads the exciting news she just received online.
“I went on the show…”
Past Erika casually mentions “Butt virginity…” as she ticks off a list off her fingers, eyes looking up and off the side as if she’s remembering or recounting something.
“... And it changed my life.”
“If you’ve been watching, then you know what a positive, friendly, talented, good group of people were there with me. These people are my friends now and I’m so glad to have them in my life.”
She lists the following people with cute, simple drawings of them next to their names.
“You all fucking rock.”
Erika fist-bumps a specific contestant; Amy Falcone.
“Special shout-out to my lady-bro, Amy T. falcone.”
#TeamAmErika.
Erika adds an aside in a large, heart-shaped caption, “And these are just the contestants! Behind-the-scenes was filled with equally wonderful and funny people. I love you guys too.”
The next panel shows a flashback to Erika being filmed in her exit interview, saying, “... I felt like a normal person,” with tears streaming down her face. “So, what happened after the elimination?”
“Robert Khoo took me out to a dinner of my choice (RED ROBIN) and he graciously shared his advice and insight with me about my career and what I can do with it and I can’t thank him enough for it.”
The next panel shows Robert and Erika sitting across from each other at a booth. Robert sits with his arms crossed, his burger and drink on the table untouched as he straight up asks her, “What’s your brand?” Erika, looking perplexed and like she was just about to chow down on her burger, responds, “Hurg?”
(He’s one of the reasons why Oh Joy Sex Toy exists right now)
Erika holds her arms out with a look of gratitude on her face.
“Strip Search has been an incredible experience and I’m so grateful I got to be a part of it. Thank you everyone for cheering me on while the episodes were being aired, everyone’s support has meant the world to me.”
“Next Tuesday, more reviews of all things sexy!”
BONUS COMIC mentioned in the blog post. Erika made this in 90minutes on her elimination episode with the keywords of ‘naughty and mystery’.
(First panel)
Erika stands in the panel and says, “Here is the thing about being on a reality TV show…” A close up of a mic attached to her dress can be seen. “You are mic’d all day long.”
(Second panel)
“Which is the premise for my personal mystery of…”
Erika bends over, clutching her butt.
“HOW DO YOU POOP WITHOUT THE MICS RECORDING IT UP?”
(Third panel)
“Here are my workarounds…”
Erika gestures off to the side, with an arrow pointing off screen saying, “This way”.
(Fourth panel)
SINGING (But it turns out I can’t do two things at once)
Erika sits on the toilet with her dress hiked up, looking terrified as she loudly sings, “La la la”. A sad little squiggle comes out of the toilet that says, “nothing”.
(Fifth panel)
HOLDING MY CHEEKS APART (To cut down on vibratable surface area).
This panel is completely censored, with (NOT PICTURED) written in all caps.
(Sixth panel)
NEVER POOPING EVER AGAIN
Erika’s harrowed face takes up the panel, with furrowed eyebrows and bags under her eyes. She thinks to herself, “Must… never… unclench.”
These comics were posted on May 3, 2013 and transcribed Jan 7, 2022, by Dennie Park, who can be found at linktr.ee/DeepBeeps
Erika pops out of a magnifying glass next to a logo that says “Strip Search”, and happily starts chatting. “As a number of you know, I’ve been on Penny Arcade’s reality game show, Strip Search. For two weeks eleven cartoonists and I were recorded 24 hours a day, competing to be the Next Great Webcomic and win a prize of $15,000 and one year of working out of the PA offices rent-free.”
“Today I was the sixth contestant to be eliminated.” A panel shows two judges from the show looking stern as one says, “I’m sorry, this is not the strip we’re searching for.”
Erika turns to look back at the reader. “You guys?”
“This has been one of the best experiences of my life,” she says, placing her hands over her heart.
There are three reasons why I applied to be on Strip Search:
Number 1
Erika holds a laptop with logos of various shows like The Real World, America’s Next Top Model, Teen Mom, and more coming off the screen and overlapping each other.
“I fucking love reality TV. Seriously. I love the creative competitions, I love the trashy dramas, I just love watching people interact on my screen doing stuff and knowing they’re real!”
The scene changes to a view of Erika’s work place in Periscope Studio. It’s a busy looking workshop of artists going about their days. She continues, “I’ve often fantasized about a show being made of Periscope Studio because my studiomates are all so talented and funny and interesting and I wish I could share them with everyone.”
“So when I saw PA put out the call for contestants on a show ABOUT CARTOONISTS I knew I would never forgive myself if I didn’t at least apply.”
Number 2
“$15,000 is HUGE.”
Erika rolls around in a pile of money as she happily clutches fistfuls of cash. “Comics has never really been profitable for me. This would have changed that.”
Number 3
“I wanted to meet Robert Khoo.”
A portrait of Robert is shown from the shoulders up, a man with short black hair, rectangular glasses, and a short beard.
“He is the president of Penny Arcade and the man responsible for transforming it from just a webcomic surviving on donations from its audience to a million dollar empire. He knows business. A common refrain I’ve heard among my fellow webcartoonists is ‘I wish I had a Robert Khoo’ and now I had the chance to talk with him! I needed to meet him.”
“So I applied,”
A past Erika is shown hitting “send” from her laptop.
“I made the cut,”
Past Erika holds her hands up to her face as she reads the exciting news she just received online.
“I went on the show…”
Past Erika casually mentions “Butt virginity…” as she ticks off a list off her fingers, eyes looking up and off the side as if she’s remembering or recounting something.
“... And it changed my life.”
“If you’ve been watching, then you know what a positive, friendly, talented, good group of people were there with me. These people are my friends now and I’m so glad to have them in my life.”
She lists the following people with cute, simple drawings of them next to their names.
- Katie Rice
- Ty Halley
- Alex Hobbs
- Tavis Maiden
- Lexxy Douglas
- Monica Ray
- Nick Trujillo
- Mackenzie Schubert
- Maki Naro
- And Abby Howard
“You all fucking rock.”
Erika fist-bumps a specific contestant; Amy Falcone.
“Special shout-out to my lady-bro, Amy T. falcone.”
#TeamAmErika.
Erika adds an aside in a large, heart-shaped caption, “And these are just the contestants! Behind-the-scenes was filled with equally wonderful and funny people. I love you guys too.”
The next panel shows a flashback to Erika being filmed in her exit interview, saying, “... I felt like a normal person,” with tears streaming down her face. “So, what happened after the elimination?”
“Robert Khoo took me out to a dinner of my choice (RED ROBIN) and he graciously shared his advice and insight with me about my career and what I can do with it and I can’t thank him enough for it.”
The next panel shows Robert and Erika sitting across from each other at a booth. Robert sits with his arms crossed, his burger and drink on the table untouched as he straight up asks her, “What’s your brand?” Erika, looking perplexed and like she was just about to chow down on her burger, responds, “Hurg?”
(He’s one of the reasons why Oh Joy Sex Toy exists right now)
Erika holds her arms out with a look of gratitude on her face.
“Strip Search has been an incredible experience and I’m so grateful I got to be a part of it. Thank you everyone for cheering me on while the episodes were being aired, everyone’s support has meant the world to me.”
“Next Tuesday, more reviews of all things sexy!”
BONUS COMIC mentioned in the blog post. Erika made this in 90minutes on her elimination episode with the keywords of ‘naughty and mystery’.
(First panel)
Erika stands in the panel and says, “Here is the thing about being on a reality TV show…” A close up of a mic attached to her dress can be seen. “You are mic’d all day long.”
(Second panel)
“Which is the premise for my personal mystery of…”
Erika bends over, clutching her butt.
“HOW DO YOU POOP WITHOUT THE MICS RECORDING IT UP?”
(Third panel)
“Here are my workarounds…”
Erika gestures off to the side, with an arrow pointing off screen saying, “This way”.
(Fourth panel)
SINGING (But it turns out I can’t do two things at once)
Erika sits on the toilet with her dress hiked up, looking terrified as she loudly sings, “La la la”. A sad little squiggle comes out of the toilet that says, “nothing”.
(Fifth panel)
HOLDING MY CHEEKS APART (To cut down on vibratable surface area).
This panel is completely censored, with (NOT PICTURED) written in all caps.
(Sixth panel)
NEVER POOPING EVER AGAIN
Erika’s harrowed face takes up the panel, with furrowed eyebrows and bags under her eyes. She thinks to herself, “Must… never… unclench.”
These comics were posted on May 3, 2013 and transcribed Jan 7, 2022, by Dennie Park, who can be found at linktr.ee/DeepBeeps