By Tim Stone on October 19th, 2008 at 9:37 am.
An edited version of this cartoon appeared in PC Gamer UK #183.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Strafe Left: The Formative Years #52
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Read our finest words
19/10/2008 at 09:44 KindredPhantom says:
A great Strafe-Left.
It will soon be approaching the 1st year anniversary of Strafe-Left appearing on RPS!
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/27/strafe-left-the-formative-years/
19/10/2008 at 09:46 Mike says:
Edited in what way?
19/10/2008 at 09:53 Yak Jazz says:
The one which includes the star of David?
19/10/2008 at 09:59 Larington says:
There are some ones there which might be regarded as (in?)sensitive, like for example the enola gay one.
The ghandi one made me laugh out loud though.
19/10/2008 at 10:00 SPEEDCORE says:
My PCGAMER STILL HASN’T ARRIVED!!! :( :( :(
That was a good strafe Left.
19/10/2008 at 10:03 Man Raised by Puffins says:
@ Yak Jazz: Yup, and the last line was cropped off.
19/10/2008 at 10:04 Turin Turambar says:
Wow. One of the best.
19/10/2008 at 10:09 Jiki says:
Sensitive? There is no such thing on the internet.
19/10/2008 at 10:20 Rob says:
So was it this one, well, the censorship of this one, that led to the end of Strafe Left?
Brilliant comic, this one.
19/10/2008 at 10:30 Man Raised by Puffins says:
@ Rob: Yes.
Here’s the censored version for anyone curious.
19/10/2008 at 10:38 Tei says:
@ = pwn
George Orwell @ Uk. (CCTV cameras, state controled email spy, etc..)
Postmodernism @ Positivism.
Internet @ all science fiction writters (ciberpunk includeds)
Now that I think about it.
Georwe Orwell @ all
19/10/2008 at 10:45 AndrewC says:
City Workers @ Family Heirlooms
19/10/2008 at 10:53 Andrew says:
This is possibly my very favourite Strafe Left, purely for the gag density.
Such a shame it was the last one.
19/10/2008 at 10:57 CrashT says:
Heh the first time I saw that I never even noticed the timeline on the side.
19/10/2008 at 11:08 Rob says:
@Man Raised by Puffins
Oh the shame, I even posted in that thread. What has video gaming done to my memory … (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it)
19/10/2008 at 11:09 The Hammer says:
Ow, yes. I can see why this one got censored, what with the Star of David one.
19/10/2008 at 11:10 Cunningbeef says:
Love surrealism (pipe) surrealism.
You’re a wonderful man, Tim.
19/10/2008 at 11:24 Mr Fishe says:
I’ve always loved strafe left. Not just funny but clever too. I hope we get to see more someday soon.
19/10/2008 at 11:28 FunkyLlama says:
Wasn’t this the one that resulted in Tim removing Strafe Left from PC Gamer over censorship?
19/10/2008 at 11:51 Matt says:
Love the Kerouac one.
And who’s to say SL can’t continue on this here site?
19/10/2008 at 11:56 Vanderdecken says:
@FunkyLlama: Already answered by Puffins above. Yes, it was, and Puffins links the censored version of this that appears in the mag (the ‘Hitler (gas) [star of david]‘ is missing, and the last line is cropped out) and the comment in which Tim acknowledges that this is the last Strafe Left ever published in PCG.
And the best Strafe Left I think I’ve ever seen.
19/10/2008 at 12:31 arqueturus says:
Genius I think.
Strafe Left very obviously has a spiritual home on RPS. Lets home it keeps popping up every now and then.
19/10/2008 at 12:38 Rook says:
Ohhhhh, controversial.
Though it’s pretty interesting to see people complain about it, when most of the computer games you play are based around the more troubling aspects.
Rod Hull’s Tower Defence here I come!
19/10/2008 at 12:40 Larington says:
I do hope that Strafe Left might get a rebirth here, it certainly deserves it.
19/10/2008 at 12:44 Steelfist says:
That is my favourite SL ever.
Also: the subsciber’s cover of the new PCG is fucking awesome.
19/10/2008 at 12:56 CrashT says:
@Steelfist:
Yeah PipBoy for the win.
19/10/2008 at 12:57 karthik says:
I’m not particularly sensitive about this issue (what with my nationality being Indian, etc), but the correct spelling would be Gandhi. Unless SL’s talking about someone else entirely.
Otherwise, very amusing.
19/10/2008 at 13:03 Andrew says:
Pretty sure that’d just be an ironic Internets Username mis-spelling.
19/10/2008 at 13:14 fishmitten says:
Never seen this before… It’s really, really good!
19/10/2008 at 13:15 Ian says:
reminds me of the legendary
http://borkweb.com/story/if-ww2-was-fought-by-gamers
19/10/2008 at 13:20 Pseudonym says:
Speaking as someone I suppose that censor thought would be offended (being an Israeli), I would have probably been more troubled had the holocaust not been mentioned in a history of the 20th century (however humorous it is).
Good job Tim, hope you find a new home soon.
19/10/2008 at 13:20 ZenArcade says:
The Willard/Kurtz one warms my heart.
19/10/2008 at 13:21 Dreamhacker says:
kulax=gulag?
19/10/2008 at 13:47 ZenArcade says:
gulags where tools he used, why would he dominate a gulag?
Surely gulags dominate people? Oh i don’t know.
19/10/2008 at 14:37 Rob says:
He’s going for Kulaks, rich peasants rather unpopular with Stalin and his merry band of Communists.
19/10/2008 at 15:15 mrrobsa says:
Simply awesome. Pity about the censors having their funnybones amputated.
I wanna strafe further to the left!
19/10/2008 at 15:18 Arathain says:
This is cartooning at its best. The funniest and cleverest in a great series.
19/10/2008 at 15:19 KindredPhantom says:
Hey Tim how about putting new versions of strafe left onto RPS?
19/10/2008 at 15:33 scout says:
I haven’t seen some of those kill icons in TF2 – how do you get the radiation one? Or is it fake?
Any timeline that mentions South Park as a historical event on a par with the Polio vaccine gets my vote.
19/10/2008 at 16:17 Tei says:
Lets continue with XXI…
Taliban (dinamite) Buddha Demolition
PC Gamer (knife) strafe left
Jihadish (knife) world trade center
Bush (carpet bombing) Afganistan
Bush (carpet bombing) Irak
Taliban (dinamite) Comic’s
Sony (delay) LPB release date
It seems whe are at a cold war against freedom of speech, and losing.
19/10/2008 at 16:38 Andrew says:
CHRIST
19/10/2008 at 16:42 Mike says:
Yeah, you make a good point, Tei, but I’m with Andrew on this.
19/10/2008 at 16:50 Gorgeras says:
Missing ‘kills’ are the Holocaust and the bottom line including South Park and Rod Hull.
Yes, the bigger insult is that the Holocaust is *removed* from history, even if it’s a joke version of history. It’s especially insulting to me because my grandfather died in Beslan. He fell out a watchtower.
19/10/2008 at 16:55 Optimaximal says:
Was it a clumsy, painful death?
19/10/2008 at 16:57 Tim Stone says:
This is pretty much the last SL in my locker. Besides a couple of Christmas cartoons (which I’ll post on Jesus’ next birthday) and one or two embarrassing misfires that really aren’t worth archiving, that’s it.
Thanks for all the kind words over the last year. If anyone knows of a site or mag in the market for expensive, poorly drawn PC gaming cartoons with an English lilt, please get in touch.
19/10/2008 at 17:21 Nimic says:
Strafe Left is excellent, and this was probably the best of them all.
19/10/2008 at 17:32 Nick says:
*sniff* Thanks for the comics Tim, I miss them.
19/10/2008 at 17:49 Newblade says:
Really great.
19/10/2008 at 18:08 Pijama says:
Tim, draw for RPS! I am sure the Hivemind can work a deal with you… :D
19/10/2008 at 18:09 Erlam says:
This is, by far, my favourite Strafe Left. I’m constantly laughing my ass off – thank you!
19/10/2008 at 18:11 Pace says:
No one seems to have mentioned this, but that middle one on the bottom line is about the Columbine massacre, perhaps being the reason that line was removed.
19/10/2008 at 18:52 LionsPhil says:
Hurrah! Wondered what the full-length version of this had in it.
19/10/2008 at 19:24 Mil says:
I don’t get it. Why is the blob with the star of David more censorship-worthy than all the other ones?
19/10/2008 at 20:26 matte_k says:
Still love the Kerouac one most- every time i see the graffitti stencil of Kerouac someone’s placed by my house I think of that line…
19/10/2008 at 22:49 MeestaNob! says:
Genuinely brilliant.
I could actually hear the sound effects in my head as read these, hilarious!!!
20/10/2008 at 09:55 Vanderdecken says:
@MeestaNob!: Stalin is dominating kulax… dadada DA-da!
20/10/2008 at 14:04 Andrew says:
I really like this, an excellent one I must admit. I hope to see new ones once this run is over, it utterly is brilliant (even if I don’t comment on each one :) ).
20/10/2008 at 14:05 Andrew says:
Also; any chance of a few of the best (or all?) being put up in wallpaper-sized versions? This one would go great on a desktop, as would several others. :D I don’t think the current resolution does it justice on a 1680×1050 screen, it’s so tiny :(
20/10/2008 at 14:55 Gorgeras says:
Optimiaxmimal.
No, it was quite deliberate. Some sod climbed up with a cloaked nanosuit and threw him off. I’m sure he thought it was hilarious. My grandfather is now remembered as a pioneer of ‘ragdoll physics victims’.
20/10/2008 at 16:27 Bonedancer says:
That was just beautiful.
20/10/2008 at 18:36 Powerhaus says:
Best strafe left. Evar. Love the wolf3d reference
20/10/2008 at 23:15 Fumarole says:
Definitely an excellent Strafe Left.
@ CrashT
That would be Vault Boy.
21/10/2008 at 06:12 WhistleHeat says:
der Fuhrer *pistol*
Pure comedy gold.
15/11/2008 at 06:01 Krupo says:
I’ll admit it.
I’m geek enough to tell Tim I would pay good money (concert t-shirt money) for a t-shirt with this on it. :)
27/11/2008 at 16:43 figgledebee says:
I love how the “holocaust” one was too offensive, yet Stalin’s mass-murdering of the kulaks apparently isn’t.
02/12/2010 at 02:59 ugg outlet stores says:
Thanks for the compliment. I’ve straddled the state line a few times while enjoying a nice cool beverage at the FloraBama. It’s on my list of faves.