I am Matt Melvin, former author of webcomic Cyanide & Happiness, still full-time manchild. AMA!

What do you like to do in your freetime when you are not drawing comics or streaming?

P.S. I'm still bitter about the Da Vinci Chode

Damn, that takes me back.

Why did you leave Cyanide and Happiness?

He didn't leave, he was kicked out. Reasons for that are unclear and he probably can't discuss them.

Basically this. I've been told by lawyers to not go into specifics. Even if I'm just detailing events as they happened, it opens up a possibility to be sued for slander. Laws are pretty cool.

What is your favourite Cyanide & Happiness comic?

This one for sure. I couldn't stop giggling the entire time I was making it. And then a kiwi short filmmaker made it into a live action short, too!

Yeah, I hear the film maker sold out and moved to London though ;)

Good to see people are still enjoying it!

That son of a bitch.

What is the best way to Masturbate?

With another person.

A few questions for you Matt:

1. If I found you in real life, will you sign my butt?
2. What is your favourite alcoholic beverage?
3. How do you feel about non-web non-strip comics? Which one is your favourite?
4. Witness me senpai? It's not like I want to go to valhalla or anything. baka!

1. Yeah, why not. I've signed butts before.
2. Whiskey.
3. I'm still pretty partial to Walking Dead, though I think I'm still a webcomic guy first and foremost.
4. Hail Hydra.

Hey Matt! I have been fan of you for a while. I just want to ask if you will go back to cyanide and happiness.

If I recall correctly you decided to leave. Can I also ask why did you take that decision?

Thanks!

I will not. And that's because I didn't actually decide to leave. I was removed.

When I announced my departure, I was purposefully vague to protect myself. Explosm posted their response with something about "we talked and made a decision." That "we" never included me. They talked about it and they decided to kick me out. I was never in favor of the decision, haha.

One week I was in Dallas with my friends signing a metric ton of merchandise as rewards for the Kickstarter backers, the next week I'm being told that I'm getting kicked out of the company.

I figure you can't give us a real reason, because that might get you in trouble, but can you answer something else:

• Are you still friends with any of them?
• Do you think one or more might regret doing that?
• Do you forgive them?

And last of all... We're all adults here. Nobody is perfect. If you had to guess a reason, what would you say must have happened?

We are definitely not friends anymore. One might regret it, but I can't really say for sure. I don't forgive them in the slightest.

Well...wow.

Do you have any idea why they kicked you out? Thank you for your honest response.

That's the worst part. They never really gave me a straight answer. I assume that since I was one of the "active and vocal" members, when it came to any decision to be made and there were any heads to butt, mine was one of them. Once it stopped being a bunch of friends just making a comic and it became a legit business, things definitely changed.

Does your user name kind of make you sad?

Yeah, kinda. My tattoo of an old Explosm logo might be worse, though.

Don't let that get "under your skin". Be proud of it. Let it be reminder of a great accomplishment and all the laughs you've given to everyone. You wouldn't be who you are now without that time in your life. I have loads of tattoos. Each one of them takes me back to a significant point in my life, and when I bring those memories forward, I smile.

Absolutely. I may not like how things turned out, but I'm still incredibly proud of what I was able to accomplish.

Tattoos aren't suppose to reflect who you are at all times of your life, more like time stamps of who you were during journey of where you are now.

Well fucking said. Thanks for that.

What was your favorite thing about working on Cyanide and Happiness?

Probably going to conventions. Working on webcomics is a very solitary endeavor. Being able to meet fans face to face and have conversations and give them high fives is really, really cool. Plus, that meant I was able to travel all over the place. I loved every second of it.

the best thing i have ever bought at a con was a custom print by you commemorating the event of meeting you

https://www.reddit.com/r/CyanideandHappiness/comments/1p8njb/had_to_politely_kinda_shove_some_young_girls_out/

This is the kinda stuff I really miss doing. It was great meeting you.

What is the best thing you've gotten from a fan, (letter, e-mail, gift, compliment?) And how did it motivate you?

Okay, this is gonna sound a little sappy, but here goes. I was at a convention and a guy came up to me and told me a story. He had been dealing with severe, debilitating depression. Suicide contemplation was rampant. But he told me that my silly little comics had helped him just enough to tip the scales. Making this person laugh was enough and he sought professional help. I never thought I'd have a real impact on anybody because of my dumb little jokes. I've had countless others tell me similar stories and it feels amazing to have conversations with them every time.

Are there any ideas that you want to put into a comic but were probably too offensive or insensitive?

I've always believed that any topic can be used in humor. You just need to do it well. My favorite comedian is Louis CK and he's actually spoken about it quite a bit. Rape is a horrible topic, but he's done some brilliant material on the subject. It's all a matter of being done well.

Is it hard to pay the bills as a webcomic creator? Do you think content creators in the internet age are fairly compensated for their works?

Yes, it's hard. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to get to the point where a webcomic can pay the bills. It took me years to get Cy&H to the point where it could support all of us. My new comic can't even do that yet.

But if you stick with it, it's definitely doable. There are tons of webcomic creators that make their comics full-time. With the introduction of Patreon, it's even better. Last Nerds would be nowhere if it weren't for Patreon.

If you had to fuck a mermaid, fish top half or fish bottom half?

Whatever lets me fuck a fish, I'm in.

Even after everything that happened with C&H, I noticed you still use a lot of C&H-like characters on your Twitch page, for example. I'd assume most anyone else would try to erase any such thing from their day to day lives, especially after how harsh I understand it was for you. Is there any major reason you have chosen to continue to embrace the characters?

Actually, they forced me to remove them from my Twitch page. I still post them to Facebook, though. Things may have ended badly, but that doesn't mean I can't still be proud of what I helped create. I hate the people behind it and I don't read it anymore, but the comic is still my baby and it's success is still in large part because of me.

How much do you love butts?

I love butts. You know Jonah Hill's character in Superbad? How he would always just draw dicks all over the place. That's basically me, but with butts. Also, I'm not a teenager in highschool. I'm 31.

What music do you usually listen to? and are you planning to do a video game at some point?

I listen to a lot of different stuff. I'd say metal is my preferred genre if I was drowning in an ocean and could only bring one on the rescue boat. But I listen to a lot of different stuff. I tend to be pretty picky within those genres, though. My favorite musician for the past several years is Kaki King, who isn't even remotely close to metal, haha.

And yes, I have been toying with the idea of making a video game. Nothing super flashy, but I've played some really weird games lately that (for whatever reason) really got my juices flowing and made me want to take a crack at one myself. It'll be strange.

Sorry for asking two questions, but I also wanna know, what inspired you when/into making TLNOE ? Thanks!

I joked around that nerds would be great during a zombie apocalypse because all the stereotypes about them would make them amazing. Mom's basement = safe bunker. Beef jerky surplus = emergency food rations. Collection of medieval and/or Asian weapons = chop off some zombo heads. Encyclopedic knowledge of every zombie move ever made = you know exactly what to do.

Plus, I'm basically just living out my own zombie escape plan.

Hey Matt, massive fan of your work. How has your transition from Cyanide and Happiness to Last Nerds on Earth gone? Is there any reason in particular this is your profile picture? Did you have any regrets for comics you didn't get to make because they were too offensive? What were the exact reasons you left the C&H team? I remember reading somewhere that you all felt like your vision for it wasn't aligning or something, but nothing else was ever said about it. Are you willing to share this?

It's been stressful and worrisome, but also exhilarating and very liberating. It's fun to try something new, but scary at the same time. Especially when you're relying on it to support you financially. Last Nerds in also so different, though, that it's like I'm finding a new audience all over again.

That little squee guy (as I call him) has become my mascot of sorts. It's actually a character I drew for a book I wrote a few years called Dracula is a Racist. I have him tattooed on my arm next to a quote from the book.

And Bulbasaur all day errday.

How was your usual workflow when drawing a comic for C&H (or your new series)? Where do you get your ideas from or do they just randomly come to you?

The two are so wildly different. With C&H, it would typically start with an idea that I'd write down as a note, then sit down, work out dialogue and draw it up. Sometimes ideas come fully-formed, sometimes they take a fair bit of work, sometimes they would sit in my notebook for months until that "a-ha!" moment came.

With Last Nerds, I'm writing a full on story with characters and story arcs and the whole shebang. I spent months just writing down notes and ideas before we even started on a single page. Now I write entire chapters before starting work on a single page. We just started chapter three recently and I'm working on the formalizing the arc for chapter six.

I'm assuming that you do get a few hate mails regarding the nature of your comics. Can you tell us about the most interesting hate mail you've ever received?

I used to, but haven't for years. The best were the ones that would lambast me for one subject while congratulating me on another equally-offensive topic. I had one person get super angry over one of my Jesus comics. Said I was going to hell, yada yada, you know the deal. But after this paragraph of anger, they said my AIDS jokes were great, though, and to keep up the good work.

Hey Matt, it's Cara! Your mom's friend Gail's daughter. Every time I walk past the Cyanide and Happiness booth at SDCC I scream out "Where's Matt?!"

Also, I still really appreciate Dracula is a Racist

See you around :)

Hahaha, I'm pretty sure they probably hate hearing that.

What do you love most about your line of work? What aspect of being who / what you are makes you most ecstatic?

P.S. It can't be your butt. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Hi there, Taran. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I think the creative freedom is what appeals the most to me. When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up as a child, I never really had a good answer. I didn't know. I only knew I wanted to work for myself and forge my own path. Being a creative person, but also a technology-minded person, I think doing stuff on the internet was an obvious fit for me.

Who is your favorite moderator on www.twitch.tv/mattmelvin that streams 2-6 CST Tuesday-Sunday every week? A channel that streams from AAA titles to hilarious, obscure indie titles. Along with the OCTOBER SPOOKY STREAM MONTH starting tomorrow at 2 CST until the 31st of October!

This username is coincidental.

Undeadpuff. Kappa

Last Nerds is yours? Holy shit, I stumbled upon it when it was only 5 pages in, saw an ad for it somewhere on another comic. I never looked at your name and put 2 and 2 together. I'm really liking it, but sad that the bully hasn't been eaten yet. Oh yeah, a question...

So I was a backer for the kickstarter for C&H Show, and just got the DVD a couple weeks ago. Were you involved with that in any way? Did you get any of my cash?

Glad to know people are discovering it outside of name recognition. And glad to know you're enjoying it!

Eh, not really. I got the boot before anything really started rolling in regarding the show. The money was spent to produce the show to begin with and pay talent, etc. We just started to see Youtube revenue explode right before I was kicked.

I have been trying to get in touch with you and the other writers from C&H to design a tattoo for me, I would prefer you to do it as I always preferred your strips.

Can you do me a cool design up for a tattoo?

I'm actually not legally allowed to draw C&h style stuff anymore. Otherwise, I'd be all over it. Sorry, dude.

Jeez mate, that is rough.

I miss your strips and the fact you were the only one who ever interacted with your fans.

I still have them email chain where you and I discussed wow (around the time of cata)

Did you really keep that? I'd love to read it again, seeing as how I was nuts for WoW at the time and can't give less of a shit about it now.

How did Explosm manage to kick you out so easily? Did you have any legal protection against it, or was there any kind of severance deal?

A clause in our contract that, in the opinion of myself and all the lawyers I spoke to, was grossly misused.

Hi there! Is there an overarching plot for the Last Nerds on Earth or is it sort of made up as you go along? Also, what is the process of making a page for a comic, be is the Last Nerds on Earth or Cyanide and Happiness? Thanks for doing an AMA!

Bit of both. I have several long-term ideas and each chapter has a basic guideline I'm following, but I'm leaving plenty of room. I write so far in advance, though, that I don't know if that actually counts or not.

I've always been pretty curious about the timing of behind the scenes of things, how far in advance do you write pages?

I'm currently finalizing chapter five and working out ideas and stuff for chapter six. So, pretty damn far in advance, haha.

Hey Matt! Thanks for pumping out some great comics over the years. Anyway, my question is, do you have any large plans for the future?

Kinda just taking it as it comes at the moment. I've got some hopes, but nothing I can really plan around. I'd love to see the stream and comic blow up. I'd love to make some video games. I'd love to move to New Zealand. If they happen, great. If not, I'll keep hoping.

What was your last C&H? Did you insert any little in-jokes into the last few you did?

My last one was a guy writing a suicide note that said "goodbye cruel world" but then he was shown blasting off into space. Then he hung himself in space. It was a goodbye note of sorts.

Hey Matt, I'm one of your biggest fans. The other 3 were jerks for kicking you out. The others while funny, weren't as funny as you are. You can do this by yourself.

So my question is, can you use C & H characters for your own comics?

I can't, sadly. But thanks for being a fan!

Hi Matt! I started getting into your work through Twitch, and I've loved Last Nerds more and more the more I see.

I have many fond memories of the stupid shit you pull during streams, just wondering if you have any moments that particularly stick out to you for any reason?

Also, how many jokes get made about Austen in Austin? Because I don't think that I'd ever stop.

Hey Wit!

I think my favorite moments are when unexpected stuff happens. The first thing that comes to mind is when I was playing with dog. She has the toy that we play tug with and I was goofing around and doing curls. She let the toy go for some reason and I punched myself in the face.

Do you ever do fan games while you're streaming? If so what games?

I do! Not super often, though. I just got Quiplash recently and it's a blast to play on stream. Also, Choice Chamber to an extent. Always love me some agar.io, too.

If the Cyanide and Happiness guys offered you an apology would you accept it and/or offered you your job back? Now the important question favorite type of fluffy animal?

You can't really apologize for what they did. It wasn't an accident.

I'm definitely a dog person, even though I have two cats as well. But you should see my dog. The cutest.

You can't just say "I have the cutest dog" then leave us hanging!

Fair enough!

https://instagram.com/p/7ew5kvmpPs/

And here's another one for consistency's sake.

https://instagram.com/p/7W8p7JGpHf/

What was your favourite comic growing up?

Gary Larson's Far Side and Matt Groening's Life in Hell. Also, I totally spelled Groening's name right on the first try. Boom.

Hey Matt. Wow so many questions that are just too much to ask on stream. 1.) Do you view the schism with C&H as an overall positive or negative event in your life? 2.) As someone just getting into SoCal punk, what bands do you recommend, and what is your favorite Black Flag song? 3.) Are you happy with how The Last Nerds on Earth has progressed, who is/was your least favorite character to write? 4.) I told you I would ask you about your donger, so here it goes: If you had to rate your donger on a scale from 1 to 8, what would you rate it? What is your donger's favorite book? Does it enjoy long walks on the beach? If your donger could speak what do you think it would say?

1. Negative. While it has opened the doors for many new possibilities, it's only been because I was forced to make severe changes.
2. Favorite Black Flag song is Rise Above. I'm a big fan of The Adolescents. Was turned onto a more obscure old punk band called The Chiefs as well that I'm still digging.
3. Yeah, I think so. I'd like to see more people reading it, but those that do seem to be really into it. I'm really enjoying writing an actual story, too.
4. My fleshy m8 r8s 8/8. Favorite book is Moby Dick. It hates the sand. "Butts."

Thanks for participating Matt!

What is your favorite webcomic? Other than your own, of course. We all know C&H is the best.

I've been a huge fan of Toothpaste for Dinner for a very long time. I've been friends with Drew for a few years, as well. One of the bonuses to making webcomics of your own. He's a really cool guy.

My brother is 14 years old and just started high school. I am really pushing him to learn flash since he can pick up programs like that rather quickly and LOVES animation and drawing. He loves your comics but that still isn't enough motivation for him to try to learn flash. Is there anything I can pass onto him from you in hopes of him learning how to animate? I know he would love it if he just gave it a chance.

Flash is GREAT and very easy to get into. It can be used to make anything from full-length animated TV shows to a small animated logo. I used to draw all my C&H comics in Flash, too. It's super versatile.

Matt, what is your opinion on butts? For or against? Round or flat? Taut or bouncy? The people need to know!

I'm for 'em! All of 'em! All the butts!

Hoolllyyy fluff. I'm so excited you're here. I love your work on C&H, but I really enjoyed the last nerds on earth. I was entirely caught up until like April, I gotta binge. So in typical reddit fashion, I need to ask you the all important question:

Would you rather fight one horse sized duck or 100 duck sized horses?

100 duck-sized horse, without a doubt. Ducks are goddamn terrifying! I'd rather fight 100 duck-sized horses than even one normal-sized duck. Fuck that shit.

Have you ever gotten your Dick stuck in a ceiling fan?

I'm being flung around the room penis-first as we speak. Please send help.

Hey Matt! In 2004 I got fired from a video store for reading your stuff at work. Can i have 11 years of pay that you basically stole from me?

Something tells me you would have lost that job at Blockbuster not long after no matter what.

Since you have had bad experiences falling out with co creators, what advice would you give to a creative team?

Put your friendship first. Don't let money get in the way of things. And when you're given a contract by people you trust, have a third party lawyer look it over anyways.

Hey Matt! I'm a frequent lurker of your stream, and I love your comic

I've always wondered why you're no longer a part of Cy&H? was it just so you could focus on your own comic?

Common misconception. I didn't leave so I could focus on Last Nerds. I started Last Nerds because I no longer had Cy&H.