Jenny Robins interviews Alex Norris…
NORRIS: My comics have always largely been about exploring the link between joy and sadness, and finding humour in despair, so I think when I started this format the mix of heartbreak and silliness just sort of came naturally and I like to take it as far as I can. Interesting things happen when you say two opposing things at the same time. I've always seen Webcomic Name as a sort of celebration of failure, and I think the mental twist in that prevents the repeated "oh no" from becoming completely depressing!
… and finds out what the "oh no" voice sounds like.
NORRIS: This is probably my most-asked question, and I usually say it sounds like someone who is disappointed but used to being disappointed, or reading from a script. If I ever turned Webcomic Name into a video format, I would probably get readers to send in their version of the "oh no" and use a different one each time. I like that the "oh no" speech bubble is basically a visual motif now – because you see it so often as you read my comics it loses the verbal meaning and just becomes a symbol.
