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North once tried to stop other people named "Ryan North" from using his name in a series of satirical emails.<ref name="Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan">{{cite web|title=Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan|url=http://www.insaneabode.com/Polls/ryan.html|accessdate=2007-01-19}}</ref> North once got himself in trouble with authorities by sending prank emails.<ref>{{cite web|title=Madhouse: Madhouse Takes On City Hall|url=http://www.insaneabode.com/Polls/cityhall.html|accessdate=2007-01-19}}</ref> He was also connected to the arrest of a group of 15-year-old girls in [[Ravenna, Ohio]], when they created and distributed several cardboard boxes, inspired by a website he hosts for [[Posterchild (street artist)|Poster Child]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Tall Poppy interview with Ryan North|url=http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/05/tall_poppy_inte_31.php|accessdate=2007-01-19}}</ref>
North once tried to stop other people named "Ryan North" from using his name in a series of satirical emails.<ref name="Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan">{{cite web|title=Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan|url=http://www.insaneabode.com/Polls/ryan.html|accessdate=2007-01-19}}</ref> North once got himself in trouble with authorities by sending prank emails.<ref>{{cite web|title=Madhouse: Madhouse Takes On City Hall|url=http://www.insaneabode.com/Polls/cityhall.html|accessdate=2007-01-19}}</ref> He was also connected to the arrest of a group of 15-year-old girls in [[Ravenna, Ohio]], when they created and distributed several cardboard boxes, inspired by a website he hosts for [[Posterchild (street artist)|Poster Child]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Tall Poppy interview with Ryan North|url=http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/05/tall_poppy_inte_31.php|accessdate=2007-01-19}}</ref>

On August 18th, 2015, North became stuck in a skate pit with only an umbrella, a leash, his phone, and his dog, Noam Chompsky, after rain made the surface too slick to easily climb with a dog in tow. He posted about his conundrum on Twitter, leading hundreds of Twitter users to reply with suggestions on how to combine the items in his "inventory" to escape, eventually leading to success.<ref>{{cite web|title=Twitter combines everything in man's inventory to help him escape pit|url=https://boingboing.net/2015/08/19/twitter-combines-everything-in.html|accessdate=2015-08-19}}


==Comics and books==
==Comics and books==

Revision as of 13:02, 19 August 2015

Ryan North
Born (1980-10-20) 20 October 1980 (age 43)
Ottawa, Ontario
OccupationComic writer, computer programmer
NationalityCanadian
Period2000–present
GenreHumour
Literary movementWebcomic
Notable works
Website
www.qwantz.com

Ryan M. North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer, computer programmer, and occasional songwriter who is the creator and author of Dinosaur Comics, and co-creator of Whispered Apologies and Happy Dog the Happy Dog.

Personal life

North grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, where he studied computer science (minor in film) at Carleton University before moving to Toronto for his master's degree in computer science at the University of Toronto, specializing in computational linguistics; he graduated in 2005.[citation needed] He is a humorist, programmer and longboarding enthusiast[1] and also designs t-shirts. His parents are Anna and Randall North.[2] He has a younger brother, Victor North. He is married to Jennifer Klug.

North once tried to stop other people named "Ryan North" from using his name in a series of satirical emails.[3] North once got himself in trouble with authorities by sending prank emails.[4] He was also connected to the arrest of a group of 15-year-old girls in Ravenna, Ohio, when they created and distributed several cardboard boxes, inspired by a website he hosts for Poster Child.[5]

On August 18th, 2015, North became stuck in a skate pit with only an umbrella, a leash, his phone, and his dog, Noam Chompsky, after rain made the surface too slick to easily climb with a dog in tow. He posted about his conundrum on Twitter, leading hundreds of Twitter users to reply with suggestions on how to combine the items in his "inventory" to escape, eventually leading to success.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). In addition to his comics, North has created three tools to aid webcomic authors: Oh No Robot, a webcomic transcription tool that creates searchable text databases for comics; RSSpect, a method of creating RSS feeds for websites; and Project Wonderful, a pay-per-day auction-based ad serving system. The first two are free, whereas the last takes 25% of each sale. Project Wonderful and Dinosaur Comics serve as a full-time source of income for North, making him one of a few professional webcomic artists.[6] Before Dinosaur Comics, North created Robot Erotica.[7]

On November 8, 2006, Ryan North launched the site Every Topic in the Universe Except Chickens,[8] which purports to provide a solution to vandalism on Wikipedia, in that it encourages vandals to vandalize only the article on chickens: "...instead of vandalizing Wikipedia in general, we all just vandalize the chicken article." North reasoned that it was worth trading the reliability of the chicken article if it meant freeing the rest of the encyclopedia from the threat of vandalism because "Dudes already know about chickens." The site received considerable media attention.[9]

A collection of short stories titled Machine of Death was released October 2010 through Bearstache Books.[10] It reached #1 on Amazon.com, beating Glenn Beck and drawing criticism from him as exemplifying a "liberal culture of death".[11] It is co-edited by Ryan North and inspired by his December 5, 2005, comic.

North is the writer of the Adventure Time comic book series, which launched February 8, 2012.[12] In 2013 the series won an Eisner Award(Best Publication for Kids) and a Harvey Award (Best Original Graphic Publication For Younger Readers).

On November 21, 2012, North launched a Kickstarter project to fund a book entitled To Be Or Not To Be: That Is The Adventure, a retelling of Shakespeare's Hamlet modelled on Choose Your Own Adventure novels. The project raised more than six times its $20,000 goal in less than a week, and closed on December 22, 2012 having raised $580,905, nearly thirty times their original goal,[13] and a record for a Kickstarter publishing project at that time.[14] The book allows readers to take the role of Hamlet, Ophelia or Hamlet's father and make their own choices throughout the story; the latter characters, as well as over 100 colour illustrations by a range of artists, were added to the book as funding increased.[15]

On January 21, 2013, Shiftylook.com launched Galaga, a comic written by North and illustrated by Christopher Hastings and colored by Anthony Clark, the creators of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja.[16] The comic is based on the 1981 arcade shooter of the same name.

On October 6, 2014, Marvel Comics announced that North will write the series The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which debuted in January 2015.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ "Jenn's longboard has a Story To Tell". Retrieved 2009-06-01.
  2. ^ "Ryan North's web page at the University of Toronto".
  3. ^ "Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  4. ^ "Madhouse: Madhouse Takes On City Hall". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  5. ^ "Tall Poppy interview with Ryan North". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  6. ^ "IN-DEPTH: Ryan North - Comic Book Resources". Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  7. ^ "Madhouse: Robot Erotica". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  8. ^ "EveryTopicInTheUniverseExceptChickens DOT COM: Save Wikipedia! Promote accuracy at the expense of chickens". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
  9. ^ Tossell, Ivor (2006-11-17). "An earnest target of digital vandals". Globe and Mail.
  10. ^ http://machineofdeath.net/a/about
  11. ^ "Indie Sci-Fi Anthology Steals Glenn Beck's Thunder - Entertainment". The Atlantic Wire. 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  12. ^ "'Adventure Time' Comic Series Coming From Boom! in February - ComicsAlliance | Comic book culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews". ComicsAlliance. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  13. ^ To Be Or Not To Be: That Is The Adventure by Ryan North at Kickstarter.
  14. ^ McMillan, Graeme (December 20, 2012) "Ryan North's 'To Be Or Not To Be' Sets New Kickstarter Record", Comics Alliance, accessed December 21, 2012
  15. ^ Hudson, Laura (December 21, 2012) "Record-Breaking Kickstarter Turns Hamlet Into a Choose-Your-Adventure Epic", Wired, accessed December 21, 2012
  16. ^ "Galaga launches today!". ShiftyLook. Retrieved 2013-03-26.

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