| Revision as of 09:52, 3 August 2005 view source128.40.8.107 (talk) →Main: Anthropomorphise -> anthropomorphize as per both OED and Merriam-Webster. The 'z' derives from Greek etymology, and should not be regarded as ambiguous.← Previous edit | Revision as of 09:53, 3 August 2005 view source Gabrielsimon (talk | contribs)2,118 edits zeke - that seems more like a better wordingNext edit → | ||
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| *'''Lilah''' - Smart and attractive, Lilah smashed Ethan's preconception that girls (or at least, pretty ones) don't play video games, after which they began dating. Lilah is twenty-one and unemployed. Though calm and responsible, she finds herself strangely drawn to Ethan's character. Online, she is known as "Black_Widow". | *'''Lilah''' - Smart and attractive, Lilah smashed Ethan's preconception that girls (or at least, pretty ones) don't play video games, after which they began dating. Lilah is twenty-one and unemployed. Though calm and responsible, she finds herself strangely drawn to Ethan's character. Online, she is known as "Black_Widow". | ||
| *'''Scott''' - A twenty-three year old ]er and Linux user, Scott firmly believes that ] is evil and that Linux will someday come into its glory; this is in stark contrast to Ethan, who worships Microsoft. He is quiet, intelligent, and introspective, and a devout practitioner of ]. Interestingly, although Lilah has been mentioned several times around him, Scott has never actually met (or been told about) Lilah. Appears to be working on some unknown project in his room. | *'''Scott''' - A twenty-three year old ]er and Linux user, Scott firmly believes that ] is evil and that Linux will someday come into its glory; this is in stark contrast to Ethan, who worships Microsoft. He is quiet, intelligent, and introspective, and a devout practitioner of ]. Interestingly, although Lilah has been mentioned several times around him, Scott has never actually met (or been told about) Lilah. Appears to be working on some unknown project in his room. | ||
| *'''Zeke''' - Zeke, formerly known as the "X-bot", is a ] of Ethan's, an ] ] console. It walks, talks, thinks, plays computer games (it was very good at Halo until Ethan handicapped its Halo skills), and eats ]. It has previously embarked upon an unsuccessful quest for humanity; but after some bad experiences, Zeke decided it didn't want to be human after all. Ethan, in a bout of pity, named the robot "Zeke" due to a name spray-painted on its "posterior" by one of the humans who beat him, and informed it that he had installed a humanity program in it, though what he had actually installed was a ball of lint. Recently, Zeke suffered a system crash and briefly died when he was accidentally hit by a water balloon. He eventually woke up, albeit with red eyes and a far more hostile personality with a penchant for mindless destruction (eg. destroying chairs after previously deciding not to). After destroying the flat in which they all live, and attempting to exterminate Lilah and Ethan, Zeke finally returned to his old self as he was struck by falling debris, more of these falling debis would go on to crush Zeke, only leaving enough time for Ethan to rip the head off Zeke to save the ]. | *'''Zeke''' - Zeke, formerly known as the "X-bot", is a ] of Ethan's, an ] ] console. It walks, talks, thinks, plays computer games (it was very good at Halo until Ethan handicapped its Halo skills), and eats ]. It has previously embarked upon an unsuccessful quest for humanity; but after some bad experiences, Zeke decided it didn't want to be human after all. Ethan, in a bout of pity, named the robot "Zeke" due to a name spray-painted on its "posterior" by one of the humans who beat him, and informed it that he had installed a humanity program in it, though what he had actually installed was a ball of lint. Recently, Zeke suffered a system crash and briefly died when he was accidentally hit by a water balloon. He eventually woke up, albeit with red eyes and a far more hostile personality with a penchant for mindless destruction (eg. destroying chairs after previously deciding not to). After destroying the flat in which they all live, and attempting to exterminate Lilah and Ethan, Zeke finally returned to his old self as he was struck by falling debris, more of these falling debis would go on to crush Zeke, only leaving enough time for Ethan to rip the head off Zeke to save the ]. | ||
| ===Secondary=== | ===Secondary=== | ||
Revision as of 09:53, 3 August 2005
The correct title of this article is Ctrl+Alt+Del. It appears incorrectly here due to technical restrictions.- This article is about Ctrl+Alt+Del, the web comic. For the keyboard shortcut, see Control-Alt-Delete.
Ctrl+Alt+Del (CAD) is a gaming-related web comic written by Tim Buckley, known online as Absath. The name refers to computing's most common three-finger salute, which on Windows systems is control-alt-delete. CAD's tagline is "Tragically l337", a nod to The Tragically Hip. It premiered on October 23, 2002, and is currently updated every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The strip features a pair of gamers, Ethan and Lucas, as the main characters, as well as a Linux user, Scott, and a female gamer, Lilah, also Ethan's girlfriend. Most of the humor in the comic concerns video games, but some is also bred of violence, with more still coming from the strip's randomness.There are occasional story arcs, but those again have little effect on continuity as a whole.
There are several in-jokes, the most notable concerning arrows. There are several strips in which Ethan is killed (or at least gravely injured) by arrows shot from out of frame. An explanation was finally given in the first collection book (Insert Coin: CAD Volume 1). It's a gag joke taken from a cult classic comedy called The Kentucky Fried Movie. Ironically, the February 28, 2003 strip turned the tables, with Ethan shooting an arrow at and killing Absath, who was present in the comic to discuss the fact that he had drawn 100 Ctrl+Alt+Del strips.
Ctrl+Alt+Del also features a post-New Year's holiday dubbed Winter-een-mas . Absath has detailed the holiday: the season lasts all of January, much like the Christmas season, but the actual holiday itself is January 25 to January 31. It was created as a holiday for all things concerning gamers or gaming. Little is told about its traditions, however there are several spirits which represent the different genres of gaming (such as fighting or real-time strategy) who fly around the world on Winter-een-mas Eve in a giant ethereal gamepad . Every year at Winter-een-mas, Ethan dons a crown and proclaims himself king. His behavior typically incites anger in his companions.
Characters
Main
- Ethan - A twenty-one year old of Irish descent, somewhat insane game fanatic, amateur artist and sometime alcoholic. His antics are the focus of the strip, and have resulted in many a story arc. He is dating Lilah, to the dismay of some others. He also works as a sales clerk at Game Haven. Various antics of his have included trying to create a device to stop time, creating a sentient robot out of his X-Box, getting amnesia and becoming a supporter of Macintosh, and developing an addiction to Fallout 2.
- Lucas - Twenty-two years old, Lucas is more level-headed and down to Earth than Ethan. He is something of a slacker, prepared to enjoy a good video game over actual work. Cynical and sarcastic, Lucas is a programmer, and works Customer Service at a store that is called Comp-U-Comp. Recently had his leg broken by Zeke, after attempting to attack him with a baseball bat.
- Lilah - Smart and attractive, Lilah smashed Ethan's preconception that girls (or at least, pretty ones) don't play video games, after which they began dating. Lilah is twenty-one and unemployed. Though calm and responsible, she finds herself strangely drawn to Ethan's character. Online, she is known as "Black_Widow".
- Scott - A twenty-three year old web designer and Linux user, Scott firmly believes that Microsoft is evil and that Linux will someday come into its glory; this is in stark contrast to Ethan, who worships Microsoft. He is quiet, intelligent, and introspective, and a devout practitioner of meditation. Interestingly, although Lilah has been mentioned several times around him, Scott has never actually met (or been told about) Lilah. Appears to be working on some unknown project in his room.
- Zeke - Zeke, formerly known as the "X-bot", is a creation of Ethan's, an anthropomorphic Xbox console. It walks, talks, thinks, plays computer games (it was very good at Halo until Ethan handicapped its Halo skills), and eats bandwidth. It has previously embarked upon an unsuccessful quest for humanity; but after some bad experiences, Zeke decided it didn't want to be human after all. Ethan, in a bout of pity, named the robot "Zeke" due to a name spray-painted on its "posterior" by one of the humans who beat him, and informed it that he had installed a humanity program in it, though what he had actually installed was a ball of lint. Recently, Zeke suffered a system crash and briefly died when he was accidentally hit by a water balloon. He eventually woke up, albeit with red eyes and a far more hostile personality with a penchant for mindless destruction (eg. destroying chairs after previously deciding not to). After destroying the flat in which they all live, and attempting to exterminate Lilah and Ethan, Zeke finally returned to his old self as he was struck by falling debris, more of these falling debis would go on to crush Zeke, only leaving enough time for Ethan to rip the head off Zeke to save the hard drive.
Secondary
- Ted - Ted is a penguin, a homage to the Linux penguin, Tux. He moved in along with Scott. He enjoys fish and the cold. Ethan and Ted have a deep relationship of mutual hatred.
- Barry - Barry is twenty-six and manages the Game Haven where Ethan works. Though goal-driven, he is very easy-going. He is perpetually in a good mood, because he is living his lifelong dream to run a video game store.
- Rob - Rob is a nineteen-year-old Counter-Strike enthusiast. Ethan, Lucas and Lilah all despise him because all he does is talk about Counter-Strike, with constant "you-had-to-be-there" tales. Other characters lament that Rob has not realized that he is an annoyance, despite having been told on several occasions.
- Chef Brian - Chef Brian represents the surreal side of the comic (similar to Twisp & Castby in Penny Arcade). With no backstory, his appearances consist of nonsensical ramblings over separate subjects. Chef Brian was the end result -as Buckley explains in Insert Coin: Ctrl+Alt+Del Volume One - of too much alcohol and a deadline, though some sources state that the character is based on Brian Carroll, author of the webcomic, Instant Classic.
- Player 1 and Player 2 - A subcomic which focuses on two generic gamers (colored blue and red), and related gamer and gaming ettiquette, often ending with the gruesome demise of one of the Players. Player 3, who is yellow, occasionally appears in their strips.
- Emma- A former electronics store employee who is currently dating Lucas. Was fired after refusing to help Ethan.
- Ashley- Dated Lucas after hitting him with her car. Became obsessive and stalked him. Lucas filed a restraining order against her and she hasn't been seen since.
- Sarah- Dated Ethan in the original strips for an undisclosed amount of time. Dumped Ethan after being neglected for video games.
- Vodka Bottle- Flying bottle of Vodka. This is Ethan's best friend in alcohol-related times. The vodka bottle flies beside the drunken Ethan and reminds him of the reasons he's drinking, often taunting him to drink a bit more. This character made many appearances in the earlier strips, after Ethan and Sarah split up.
- Mickey- Lucas' boss. He Is described by Lucas as "an Elitist Bastard" and doesn't deny it. He hates Macs, AOL, and stupid people.
Collections
- Currently, Tim has announced that on June 8th pre-orders will be going on sale to purchase Volumes 1 and 2.
- The 460 pre-order Collector's Editions Hard Cover Volumes 1 and 2 sold out within 24 hours after technical difficulties with Canada Post.
Insert Coin: Ctrl+Alt+Del Volume One
- In early 2004, Tim announced plans for a collection book of approximately the first year of strips from CAD. The book, along with the strips, features added commentary below every comic, along with several pages of bonus material. The book is currently still available for purchase on the ZeStuff Ctrl+Alt+Del section.
Press Start: Ctrl+Alt+Del Volume Two
- In June 2005, pre-orders for volume two were announced.
- The shipping date is expected to be early August .