Surviving the World

Surviving the World is a different sort of webcomic - a photocomic. Thanks almost solely to StumbleUpon, and its insistence on classifying the comic's contents as pictures, I began to stumble into doses of knowledge along with other photographs. Very soon be became one of those sites you stumble into, but never stumble out of.

Surviving the World (STW) offers up a form of wisdom, that is simultaneously tongue-in-cheek and profound. While the topics are varied, spanning everything from current events to philosophical gems, the treatment is typically pithy, accompanied by a supporting mugshot of the "Head Professor", Dante J.T. Shepherd.

Surviving the World, is a photocomic, in which Dante writes the content of the comic on a blackboard, and photographs it, with him standing in a corner of a frame providing contextual symbolism. The text on the blackboard is the star, with him in the supporting role. And that is all every comic has. Writing on a board and pose from the author. Does that make it a comic, you might wonder. And the author addressed it, head on as part of one of his posts. I guess I do buy into the argument. Hence this post.

Each comic is a lesson; a lesson to, as the name of the comic suggests, surviving the world. The initial posts were pithy commentary on the world. Over time, Dante has moved on to tackle other real-world topics. With over 746 lessons and counting, there are more than enough topics to go around.

Here are a few lessons to get you started. How to creep people out. Understanding hyperbole. Understanding Armageddon. Understanding Germaphobes. Understanding the perfect murder. And finally, understanding alternate universes.