Episode Sixteen

 http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/16.html

The importance of agriculture cannot be overstated; it surely ranks as one of the greatest innovations of all time. Without it, the human race would still number in the hundreds of thousands, and the sole chance of this planet defending itself from space-borne death -- through asteroids or aliens from Zeta Reticuli -- would never come to pass. But have it we do, and for thousands of years it has served us well. Not just by teaching us to plant cereal; the countless innovations that have come about since then have improved our diet, our knowledge and our capacity to fill the Earth.

Episode Fifteen

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/15.html

Can it be true that pandas are never out of season? A worrying prospect, especially for those who've studied the classics, and remember Daffy's pronoun trouble during rabbit season. But there can be little doubt about the fact; after all, it's Pandbag himself that's telling us this.

But wait... isn't the boogeypanda a creature of myth? What, then, are we to make of Pandbag's assertion? Can we believe the word of a creature that doesn't exist? Certainly, we've grown up with an implicit trust of pandas, and none of us has any reason to doubt the word of Ndbag, but what if the two are combined? One is reminded of the clarity of phenolphthalein; when one mixes it with the equally colourless calcium hydroxide, one gets a new liquid; one of a different colour. Can it be that the combined words of a boogeyman and a panda can somehow lead us to an erroneous conclusion? Perhaps there are times of year when it isn't panda season?

The epistemological nature of this quandary is further clouded by the song that Pandbag sings; we're told that it's the season not just to shoot pandas, but to be them. Furthermore, one doesn't become a panda, but pandas. This leads to some confusion; is Ndbag warning us of the dangers of totalitarian societies in which the individual is subsumed into the whole, or is he telling us that those are the very societies least likely to fall through internecine conflict? We aren't told, and therein lies the point.

By refusing to offer us an opinion on the relative merits of different social systems, and by suggesting that it's always panda season, Ndbag is pointing out the necessity of each society to decide for itself. This refusal could well be traumatic for the countless numbers who've learned to rely on Ndbag for guidance, but we soon realise that he's telling us that his purpose is to guide, not to command. By forcing us to think for ourselves, he's giving us the opportunity to grow; as individuals, as societies, as a species.

Episode Fourteen

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/14.html

Epistemology has, over the centuries, brought many philosophers and logicians together, and driven just as many apart. To this day the world's greatest thinkers are divided over many aspects of the field, and it's taken until now for someone to come forward with a clarion call to philosophers and logicians both; a clarion call to unite against the common enemy: the statistician.

Episode Thirteen

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/13.html

There are many questions that have long plagued humanity; some of them meaningless, others unanswerable. Solutions have been offered to most of these questions, but those answers have inevitably proved to be wrong; sometimes dangerously so. Who can forget the pandemonium that resulted from the attempts to find out how many chickens it took to change a lightbulb? One question, though, has vexed humanity's greatest thinkers since ancient times more than any other: what do you get when you cross a panda with a boogeyman?

Episode Twelve

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/12.html

For decades now, science fiction writers and philosophers alike have struggled with the question "what does it mean to be human?" The question is still for the most part academic, but in the years and decades to come, the problem will become more and more pressing. We are fortunate, then, that Ndbag has chosen to address this issue now, before it's too late.

Episode Eleven

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/11.html

It's normal for philosophers to ask 'why are we here'; it takes a boogeyman to ask where 'here' is.

All things are relative, of course, so in most cases 'here' is meaningless unless some context -- implicit or explicit -- is present. We know San Diego is on the west coast of the US. However, this means different things to different people. To those of us in Europe, 'in America' would suffice. To an American, 'in California' could well be the description. To a Californian, 'over there, dude' is the most likely location. In all cases, we think of San Diego as being somewhere relative to where we are; to 'here'.

Episode Ten

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/10.html

What does the 'H' stand for? We can examine every detail of this latest chapter, but we're given no clue. As we traverse the panels we see many items that might point the way, but they all contradict each other. We face an ambiguity that leaves us utterly bemused.

In the first panel, we see a queue for H, leading us to suppose that Ndbag is alluding to quantum holograms; but is that likely? Yes, it seems plausible at first glance, but subsequent panels belie this plausibility. And when we realise this, we realise how naïve we were to think it in the first place, as the presence of Pandaman and the unnamed beastie show quite categorically that the Q stands for Quadrotriticale.

Episode Nine

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/09.html

As the ninth chapter in the analects of Ndbag sits before one, one is struck immediately by the audacity of the author. Although superficially related to previous chapters, a close examination reveals that on this occasion, the boogeyman eschews the sciences and looks instead at the nature the metaphor and its role in society.

The metaphor is ubiquitous; it is like the air we breathe. Which means, of course, that the metaphor is also a simile.

Episode Eight

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/08.html

As he continues his exploration of humanity's relationship with technology, Ndbag takes the time to warn us of some of the dangers inherent in the untrammelled advancement of science. The method he chooses, though, is an unusual one; he does so while simultaneously relating the career of eighteenth-century painter Francisco Goya.

Episode Seven

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/07.html

And so we begin a new phase in the Commentaries of Ndbag. Heretofore we have seen him concentrate on the externalities that affect us all, from the laws of physics to the laws of friendship. With the introduction of the Comiccon to the narrative, we find ourselves examining the relationship between humans and the technology that they themselves create.

Episode Six

 http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/06.html

 Boogeymen, we are told, are not keen on clean socks. Given all that we know about B. Ndbagensis, this hardly comes as a surprise. The clean sock is only a sock-to-be; until it's been worn, it's merely a piece of green cloth that approximates the shape of the foot. Form may follow function, Ndbag tells us, but that's only half the story. When we see the Modernist movement of architecture critiqued in this way, we're forcibly reminded of the hamper and its chaotic contents. It's not the shape of the hamper that matters, we're told, nor even the amount it contains. It's the quality of the contents; if the hamper contains nothing but new socks, it might as well be a cardboard box. And if the socks are folded neatly, they might as well be in a chest of drawers.

Episode Five

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/05.html

After several lectures on the nature of the cosmos and humanity's place therein, we find Ndbag has returned to his original topic; the nature of friendship. While it may seem that the intervening lectures were a diversion, we realise on reading this strip that there was a cunning plan afoot; the discursion served not only to show us our place in the cosmos but, as we shall see, to give us some context for this and, one assumes, later commentary.

Episode Four

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/04.html

I'm not ashamed to admit, gentle reader, that a tear welled in my eye as I read this chapter in the life of our cerulean friend. A tear of pride. I like to think of myself as well read, but never in all my years have I seen the majesty of the human spirit expressed in such pithy terms.

Episode Three

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/03.html

At first glance, it seems obvious to the casual reader that when he introduces us to Pandaman, Ndbag is telling us about the changes in global political dynamics that are coming about thanks to China's accession to the WTO. Those who look more carefully, though, will realise that this is far too simplistic an explanation, and that a more in-depth examination is necessary.

Episode Two

http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/02.html

As we learned in the first episode, the sock serves as a metaphor for our own existence. In this episode that metaphor is explored further and, indeed, expanded upon.

Ndbag tells us that he really likes socks. It's tempting to take this statement at face value; we all like socks, after all. Perhaps we're simply being told that Ndbag is like us; that we are all, at heart, boogymen.

Episode One

 http://www.ndbag.com/story/comic/01.html

In episode one, we're introduced to Ndbag and his environment. One would expect that the author would start slowly with his introduction, but he subverts our expectations and launches straight into a comment on the nature of friendship in a postmodern society.

Introduction

This is a blog dedicated to analysis of the online comic strip Ndbag the Boogeyman. Herein I hope to analyse the strip, and provide some insight into the thinking behind the creation of each episode.

Of course, as I'm but a fan of the strip and not its author, I must point out that any analysis can only encompass those aspects my meagre mind can uncover, and may leave many levels unaddressed. I hope the author and you, the reader, can forgive these lapses.