Bengo

Bengo is a webcomic creator and furry who has a rare combination of intelligence and stupidity:

Clearly, such exceptional artwork proves Bengo's comics are worth more money than all the other webcomics in the world combined!

• He's smart enough to call a spade black person and realize Scott Kurtz is a dick.
• He's also dumb enough to actually call Scott Kurtz a dick to his face.

Bengo keeps up a webcomics news blog, The Floating Lightbulb, which is where he cultivates the majority of his webcomic drama by claiming that everyone who currently enjoys any financial success in webcomics is either scamming people out of their money or lying about how successful they actually are, how Twitter will never survive (three years after Twitter started, of course, which means it's already lasted longer than most webcomics), and when all else fails, pointing out how all the other people trolling him are even less successful webcomic artists than he is.

He also had two webcomics:

• Lil' Nyet, an unfunny comic about a devil communist cat.
• Scratchin' Post, an even unfunnier comic that Bengo has supposedly worked several years out into the future on, which makes sense because the drawings are so shitty they must have taken no time at all to draw.

Of course, like most webcomics, Bengo has now up and quit, after realizing Nobody Cares.

Everything You've Read About Webcomics is a Lie!

Bengo spends most of his time telling everyone who'll listen to him about how all the books and resources about webcomics, especially the book How to Make Webcomics (co-written by, of course, Scott Kurtz), is written on a shaky business model that overestimates how many people will actually want to buy stupid shit just because it's made by a webcomic. (In other words, you shouldn't read the book because it will give you the idea that your shitty art is actually worth something).

Working off the success of this fundamental truth, he then goes on to expose all the "successful" webcomics artists and demonstrate how they either became successful by lying, cheating, and sleeping their way to the top, or if he can't find any evidence of the latter, he will accuse them of lying about their success and using their trust funds to hide this. Never mind that he can't even produce screencaps to prove any of his statements....

	“	I was exposed to some web coverage of an event involving Meredith Gran a while back. She flew to a con on the west coast and her luggage was lost. Fortunately, they found it quickly and she was able to get what she needed: her OP books. Now, I've had lost luggage and all that, and I sympathize, but there was no math I could figure that would pay for air fare, food, lodging (presumed free) and con fees by selling her book.	„
	—Bengo, having no concept of how business gets done

Even when presented with evidence from the creators themselves, Bengo refuses to believe any of their statistics if he doesn't like those particular creators, insisting on evidence from Google or Alexa (which is often delayed and only available to the most popular comics in the first place)

	“	For all [of Kurtz's] self-promotion, he can't even match the readership of Sheldon, and I don't believe Sheldon's circulation claims. (They may be true, I'm just saying based on the available evidence, I find them hard to believe.)	„
	—Bengo

And of course, when all else fails...

	“	M. Gran is known for crashing on floors, sneaking into cons, "borrowing" space on someone else's table, etc. and I'm sure she didn't invent it.	„
	—Bengo, Ragging on Octopus Pie some more

And of course, his own sense on what actually passes for webcomics advice is skewed, as he originally thought this article of webcomics advice was serious business, before being told by several people it was actually a spoof.

BAWWW I'm Leaving Webcomics 4-Ever!

Because one webcomics troll deserves another.

	“	Speaking personally, to me, “webcomics” is “the scene”: juvenile, mediocre, micro-celebrity-driven, where leading people claim to be making a living from their work but rely on scams and hustles to get by, all while letting gullible fanboys kiss their ring.	„
	—Bengo, [1]

Bengo, for all his love of stirring up drama, has tried to "leave the webcomics scene" several times, without of course realizing that the sheer level of drama he causes makes him one of its premier attractions.

To say the least, this lasted all of a day before he went on another Scott Kurtz Tirade, and he hasn't shut up yet.

	“	I could understand it if he was genuinely a hugely talented cartoonist and his work was completely ignored by the community despite being better than anything else out there... but it's not. His work is average at best. Maybe if he had taken the time to foster a caring community of readers around it, he could have made it more of a success. But as it was, he lashed out at those who criticised him and attacked everyone who he deemed [an] undeserved success.	„
	— Gregori

Fluffy Causes ALL My Misfortune!

This article needs moar screencaps of Fluffy telling Bengo the truth. You can help by adding moar screencaps of Fluffy telling Bengo the truth.

Curiously, Bengo leaves all the "trolling" comments from Fluffy intact, but not Fluffy's actual comments. Hmm...

Recently, Bengo has begun to realize the true secret of webcomics success, which is to shit on other webcomic creators of even lower quality than his own shit. To this end, he has begun blaming Fluffy for being the sole person responsible for creating dozens of identities of various nationalities in order to slander Bengo and be the source of all the comments on his blog that are not kissing his ass.

The truth is, of course, that almost everyone else in webcomics either hates Bengo outright, considers him a crackpot at best, or is only staying on his good side in order to obtain maximum lulz, so it's not hard to believe that all those dozens of identities of various nationalities could actually be... dozens of actual RL people who don't like Bengo!

Naturally, any and all attempts Fluffy makes to clear their name on Bengo's site get deleted, so if you happen to see Fluffy's comments on Bengo's blog... please, screencap the hell out of that shit! Fluffy deserves to be heard for the sake of the lulz!

	“	We've kept a perfect streak here on this blog: every single person who arrives with an agenda of making a nuisance of themselves is actually a webcomic artist, generally not well known. That's 4/4, and none of them were topics of criticism or even topics at all. Interesting.	„
	—Bengo, who deletes Fluffy's comments

	“	@ fluffy Your fake emails continue to accrue in the archives. Strongly recommend you consult a trusted party, tell them what you are doing and for how long, and ask them if they think anything is wrong that suggests some sort of medical evaluation might be prudent. Unlike many web comments alleging someone is crazy as a sort of smear, mine is meant seriously but compassionately. From this perspective, you are not acting right. Healthy people don't do what you're doing. Don't force my hand.	„
	—Bengo, thinking he's some sort of supervillain

Gone for Good?

	“	We began drawing comics for our mutual and family amusement. Somehow we wandered onto the web, and it became a responsibility. This would have been fine if we had received more support in terms of reader response and merchandise sales, but in the end, the silence stripped the fun out of it. It became an obligation without reward. We can only conclude the merchandise didn't appeal and that people were too busy to write in. Unfortunately, we'll never know for sure. We're not ones to beg, or hype our stuff in the public arena, or go to conventions to hustle attention. We tried to remove ourselves from the comics-on-the-web quagmire, and let our work speak for itself. We never tried to shove it on people, and it did find a decent audience. Unfortunately, that audience was mostly mute, and we could find no reason to continue on the web. Without the nourishment of reader response, we were gradually depleted of the energy required to keep a deadline and continue making our work public. If there is something on the web you enjoy for free and care about, support it. Otherwise it may vanish.	„
	—Bengo, doing a classic flounce

External Links

• The Floating Lightbulb, Bengo's main blog
• Lil' Nyet, one of Bengo's furry comics (which is unfunny)
• Scratchin' Post, Bengo's other furry comic (which is even more unfunny)
• Tilting At Lightbulbs, an ongoing analysis of Bengo's actions
• The frumph file, a catalog of Bengo's interactions with Frumph (includes many links to even more hilarity)

Bengo is part of a series on Furfaggotry Visit the Furfaggotry Portal for complete coverage.

[Boring. Move on.Read me!] Bengo is part of a series on Webcomics

Manga Ripoffs - Megatokyo • Snafu comics • Suirenoki Furry bullshit - Bengo • Exterminatus Now • Housepets! • Kevin & Kell • Lackadaisy • Sonichu • Tails Gets Trolled • The Dragon Doctors • TwoKinds Soap operas - Moon Over June • Single Asian Female • Questionable content • The Nice Guy Comic • Rain Gaming - CTRL ALT Delete • God Mode • MSPaint Adventures • Penny Arcade • Sore Thumbs • Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff Fandom - Ancient Realms • How I Became Yours • TG Comics • The Legend of Razor Weird shit - Anonymous Asexual • Apartment 18 • Assigned Male • Autobiography of an invisible monster • Billy The Heretic • Chick tracts • Cocoa The Clown • DeCadence Comic • The Dilbert Hole • DNS Comic • Dr.Choker and Pals • Drawn-chan • Electric Retard • Explosm • Hathor the Cow Goddess • Hipster Hitler • Humon • Jerkcity • Joe Mathlete explains Marmaduke • Lego Robot Comics • LOOK WHAT I BROUGHT HOME • Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls • Married to the Sea • Morning Glory • Neo-Kosmos • Rocky Dennis • Sarah's Scribbles • Space Moose • Pokey the Penguin • xkcd Providers - Ayyk92 • Anne Onymous • Bengo • Blazesonic • Carlos Latuff • Cheddar-Cheesia • Chris-chan • Comic Genesis • D.C. Simpson • Dave Cheung • Dave Hopkins • Dave Kelly • David Gonterman • Dragonfiend • DisneyFan01 • Drshnaps Productions • Eric W. Schwartz • HamletMachine • Heather Dowdee • Hayakain • Humon • Immelmann • James M. Hardiman • Jay Naylor • Jennifer Diane Reitz • John Campbell • Justflyakite • Kay Fedewa • Kurohime • Leoian • Nostrafort • Psyguy • Raulo Cáceres • RHJunior • Rodney Caston • Smackjeeves • Snapesnogger • Steve MacIsaac • StoneToss • Targ • Tim Buckley • Tim Todd • Tom Preston • Whitedog1 • Wyatt Mann • Zyklon Ben Enemies - Constructive Criticism • John Solomon • Talent