1/0

Truely strange webcomic by Tailsteak, with a new strip almost daily.

It features a strange cast of characters such as Junior (an eye with teeth and an attitude), Ghanny (a ghost molecule), Marcus (a living molecule with the fourth wall enabled), MockTailsteak (a Golem created by Marcus), Zadok (another Golem made of straw), Terra (a lesbian earthworm and only female character so far).

What makes this cartoon so funny, is that most characters have their fourth wall disabled, i.e. know that they are comic strip characters, have discussions with their creator, and recently started to debate about the nature of their universe in general. That, and an admitted/proclaimed lack of talent and ingenuity of the creator (for example he creates a character out of another characters rib (the old Eve routine) that ends up looking like a talking rib with eyes and is thus named Ribby the Rib) makes up a great deal of the humor of this strip, which I recommend for you to read. Be forewarned though, this thing is huge, it has lasted for more than 2 years from the the beginning to the end on an almost daily schedule.

The strip has recently ended, but it can still be found online under this address:

http://oneoverzero.keenspace.com/

Presumably, the characters live forth in their new bodies and different new lives.

"1/0" is a paradox; in a way that "0/1" is not. Nothing can be divided by zero. If one approaches the formula from the positive side, it would appear that the answer is an infinite positive value. If one approaches the formula from the negative side, the opposite is true. Thus, anything divided by zero is simultaneously positive and negative infinity. "One over Zero" is a paradox in another way too, in a way that transcends mere arithmetic. One is something, and Zero is nothing. The fact that the universe holds something over nothing, that it prefers to exist, rather than not exist, is fundamentally absurd. No being can ever come to deserve its own birth. 1/0 is a cry out against mere logic and efficiency. Stuff exists. All existence, all truth, cannot be ultimately justified: it can only be described, explained, and enjoyed.

1/0 is illogical. 1/0 is irrational. 1/0 is impossible. 1/0 is transcendentally unfair.

1/0 is true. Deal with it.

While it apparently started out with the idea of being a humor strip, it... well, in my humble opinion, failed miserably at this. As humor goes, I found a chuckle or two at times, but I find there are far better places to get those. Where the humor fails, however, philosophy succeeds. The author/artist of the strip, Mason Williams^*, going by the name "Tailsteak^**" gets to play God, beginning with a "Let there be Light" sequence in the very first strip. The next couple dozen strips start to build a world with certain rules, though it's not described as such at the time. While trying (and perhaps failing) to be funny for eighty odd strips, he builds a setting he can really toy with for the next nine-hundred plus.

Part of the genius of this work is that in his strip, there is no natural 4th wall. All the characters from the start can communicate freely with the author. But later, certain characters get a personal 4th wall installed so that they can no longer have any knowledge of the outside world. The interactions between the "4th walled" and "non-4th walled" characters are fascinating, especially as certain characters attempt to "prove" the existence of Tailsteak... with pitiful success.

While some characters are philosophizing about their own free wills in an analogous way that we ourselves sometimes do, others are trying to discover the laws of physics in this world. Sound effects are demonstrated in a way that only a flatlander could truly appreciate, "horizonite" is mined from... well, the horizon line, and oil is manufactured from grass. And then they have to deal with their own creations, as Tailsteak allows them to make golem children for themselves. But the true driving force comes about when the characters are informed, well in advance, of the self-imposed thousand strip limit. A veritable Armageddon of miniscule proportions.

While it starts out quite slow, I would highly recommend slogging through it in order to get to the really good stuff. It's quite worth it, and reading it all at once is just as interesting as only getting it a day at a time in a tiny trickle. The artwork improves from beginning to end (and is even a plot point, as you might well imagine) and when it finally ends, it makes some very interesting commentary about our own selves.

187 - 4th wall installed

435 - Something of an explanation on the tone and method of the strip

454 - A thank you to my creator, but I'm still mad at you

456-464 - Rules of 1/0 physics

498 - Testing Tailsteak at his word

523 - On false religions

599 - Tailsteak explains his first few strips, apologizes to the characters

619 - Revelations

707 - Rejecting religion in case it tells you not to do something you want to do.

997 - There is no non-creepy way to exit a plane of reality

* I assume this is his real name. The other alternative is that some other guy wrote and drew it, and then for whatever strange bizarre reason gave the copyright to this Mason person. He never mentions his real name in direct relation to Tailsteak, but I don't suppose that's so particularly odd.

** Tailsteak has apparently registered with E2. I'm told by another noder that at some point he lost his password (and presumably changed his email address) and can no longer log in. Confirmed by Timeshredder, who has a picture of the man at http://www.geocities.com/utherworld/new.html
Look for Dec 17, 2003

Also confirmed is that his name IS Mason Williams. There goes that other theory and the potential for conspiracy. Foo.