Ryan North
Ryan North | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Comic writer, computer programmer |
| Nationality | Canada |
| Period | 2000–present |
| Genre | Humour |
| Literary movement | Webcomic |
| Notable works | Dinosaur Comics |
| Website | |
| http://www.qwantz.com | |
Ryan M.[1] North (born October 20, 1980) is a Canadian writer and computer programmer who is the creator and author of Dinosaur Comics, and co-creator of Whispered Apologies and Happy Dog the Happy Dog.
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;[2] but also designs t-shirts as a day job. His parents are Anna and Randall North.[3] He has a younger brother, Victor North.
Dinosaur Comics, a fixed-art webcomic, has run for more than 1,500 issues and has been published by Quack!Media as The Best of Dinosaur Comics: 2003-2005 AD: Your Whole Family Is Made Of Meat.[4] North is a founding member of the webcomic group The Ryans[citation needed] and also a member of Dayfree Press. In addition to his comics, North has created three tools to aid webcomic authors: Oh No Robot, a webcomic transcription tool which 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, while the latter 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 self-sufficient webcomic artists.[5] Before Dinosaur Comics, North created Robot Erotica.[6]
The name Ryan North is held by many other individuals, and Ryan North the webcomic author sarcastically tried to stop these other people using his name in a series of satirical emails.[7] North once got himself in trouble with authorities by sending crank emails.[8] He was also connected to the arrest of a group of 15-year-old girls in Ravenna, Ohio when they created and distributed a number of cardboard boxes, inspired by a website he hosts for Poster Child.[9]
On November 8, 2006, Ryan North launched the site Every Topic in the Universe Except Chickens [10], which jokingly attempted to decrease vandalism on Wikipedia by encouraging vandals only to vandalize the article on chickens: "...instead of vandalizing Wikipedia in general, we all just vandalize the chicken article." North satirically 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." His joke site has been covered by the mass media.[11]
Bibliography
- The Best of Dinosaur Comics: 2003-2005 AD (April 15, 2006, Quack!Media) ISBN 0-7560-0518-3
References
- ^ "Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "Jenn's longboard has a Story To Tell". Retrieved 2009-06-01.
- ^ "Ryan North's web page at the University of Toronto".
- ^ "qwantz.com - dinosaur comics - books!". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "IN-DEPTH: Ryan North - Comic Book Resources". Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ "Madhouse: Robot Erotica". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "Madhouse: Ryan vs Ryan". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "Madhouse: Madhouse Takes On City Hall". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "Tall Poppy interview with Ryan North". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ "EveryTopicInTheUniverseExceptChickens DOT COM: Save Wikipedia! Promote accuracy at the expense of chickens". Retrieved 2007-01-19.
- ^ Tossell, Ivor (2006-11-17). "An earnest target of digital vandals". Globe and Mail.
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External links
- Dinosaur Comics
- Whispered Apologies
- Truth and Beauty Bombs
- Ryan North's LiveJournal
- The Amazing Regret Index
- Ryan North at University of Toronto
- ProjectWonderful
- Every Topic in the Universe Except Chickens
- Invisible Ink interview with Ryan North
- North interview in the McGill Daily
- "Tall Poppy Interview: Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics" - interview in Torontoist
- Interview with The Webcomic List website
- "Webcomics! Nicholas Gurewitch, Ryan North and Rob DenBleyker share their craft with us." - December 2006 / vol. 3 issue 4 of A Modest Proposal of UTD
- Carleton University alumni profile
- Interview with Ryan about Project Wonderful in ITworld
- "Cartoon-Off: Dinosaur Comics" -(The New Yorker)
- In-Depth Interview with Ryan at Comic Book Resources [ITworld