One of the great things about working on a gaming website is the chance to talk with some of the creative minds you admire. Recently I was able to steal a brief moment of time away from Steve Napierski, the creator of the hilarious and sometimes oh so wrong Dueling Analogs.

 

 

I'm a thirty-one year old home owner who builds web sites for boat manufacturers and dealerships for a living and who creates two different webcomics. One of which is the gaming comic Dueling Analogs.

[LAN] Do you consider yourself a gamer first or a artist/writer first?

Gamer first, definitely.

[LAN] My attention was first drawn to your comic after your "Konami Code" was shown on some of the popular gaming blogs, did you feel that this was your "big break"?

Yeah. A lot of people started to notice Dueling Analogs after that. It's one of those comics that gamers just get.
[LAN] Compared to other webcomics you often display more raunchiness and fan service, have you ever received any negative comments about it?

The first email I ever received was negative. The reader didn't understand why Sonic was inside Luigi's anus. I wanted to explain to them what felching was, but they didn't leave an email address to respond to.
[LAN] Most comic artists insert themselves into there comics, Tycho and Gabe from Penny Arcade are drastically different looking while Scott Kurtz from PvP draws himself pretty spot on, what I am wondering is how close do you look to the way you present yourself? Or is this a secret to your fans?

 

If you are talking about Harvey, I haven't looked like that since high school. Now I did portray myself in one comic and I do think that's an accurate representation.
[LAN] You have an amazing knack for imitating the styles of others, using it to parody them writing your comic. When did you discover this ability, and have you gotten responses from any of the artists?

I first noticed it years ago when I created my own Mega Man villains. I've gotten some positive responses from the artists I've parodied. Woody Hearn of GU Comics even recreated my comic how he would have drawn it to show how far I was off. That was awesome.

GU Comics Version

[LAN] Do you see Dueling Analogs as something you are in for the long haul or more of a stepping stone to other careers?

 

I'll be creating Dueling Analogs for a very long time. But animation is where my true passion lies. Still, there's no reason I can't do both. Right?

[LAN] Your jokes are very deeply entrenched in gaming culture, do you often get confused people that are not quite following you?

 

Less than you might think. I have news posts below the comics that explain details for people who might not know the premise of the joke.

[LAN] Here at LANgaming.net we are all about multiplayer gaming, what is Steve Napierski's favorite multiplayer game and why?

 

StarCraft. Because it friggin' StarCraft. I think I wet myself when Blizzard finally announced they were making a sequel. My life for Auir!

 

We here at LANgaming.net would really like to thank Steve for his time, and wish him all the best with Dueling Analogs. For us that means that we will continue to get a lot of great entertainment. If you have not yet given Dueling Analogs a chance please do, you do not know what you are missing.