Cheer Up, Emo Kid is a webcomic centered around life, love, and loss; whose mission is to bring to light the rarely acknowledged humor found in the most terrible of situations — be it heartbreak, depression, social awkwardkness, loneliness, or anything in between; and something to keep you company when no one else will.
Cheer Up, Emo Kid contains violence, nudity, strong language, lowbrow humor, and suggestive themes including but not limited to revenge, sex, drugs, depression, suicide, racism, cannibalism, beastiality, and the constant, relentless ridicule of fat people. It is not suitable for anyone.
Cheer Up, Emo Kid is currently not being updated regularly.
Quick update on Thursday’s ‘strip’: It’s going to be late, and I apologize, because I wanted it to be fully animated but last night during the time I usually get my shit done, I got caught up in a personal emergency. It will most likely be up tonight, or tomorrow morning at the latest. Sorry 
. In the meantime I hope to distract you with some eye candy as well as something I’d like to discuss.
I have a question about the phrase “CHEER UP, EMO KID”. Why is this so offensive? So far I have had the privilege of meeting three distinct people who have taken offense to the phrase. Two of them were on WoW back in the day when my named my guild “Cheer Up, Emo Kid”. I was bitched at for being “insensitive”, “a bully”, and “a jerk”, among other things. The third instance is a girl commenting on the Facebook Artwork Album (you may have to trackback a bit if you want to read through it).
Apparently, “Emo kids” don’t need cheering up. Or something like that.
How can anyone take offense to this phrase? Yes, it is implying and reinforcing the stereotype that “Emos” are unhappy or depressed — but the word “Emo” itself stems from “emotional”. So by in fact defining yourself as an “Emo kid” you are admitting to that you are emotional, am I correct?
Stereotypes are stereotypes because they’re true. I’m not going to lie about that. I’m Asian and in all cases I am a terrible driver. I’m a Filipino and I switch my F’s & P’s and my B’s & V’s sometimes. The big (and only) white guys in my high school were jocks. I have a close Jewish friend and he’s pretty fucking stingy with his money. I have a Japanese friend and he is, by all accounts, insane. The same goes with “Emos” — they’re naturally associated with depression, cutting, suicide, whiny music, distinct hairdos, and black clothing (among other things) because IT’S FUCKING TRUE, RIGHT?
Please, stop me if I’m wrong.
I always thought that this webcomic would be a guide of sorts, in order to either prevent people from making the same mistakes I have, or humor those with similar experiences. As far as I see it, “Emo” isn’t a fashion trend or a type of music. Emo is a MINDSET. Anyone who defines themselves as “Emo” solely by the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, and the cuts on their arms, are attention whores. I say this because I used to be EXACTLY like this. I used to be “Emo”. I dressed up the hair, wore the clothes, cut the arms, blasted the music, cried the tears. Sure, MAYBE you’re genuinely depressed, MAYBE you genuinely have a problem, but when I look back at my own personal experience I realize it was all a bid for attention.
If you’re depressed, or sad, don’t dress it up. Get help. Talk to a friend, talk to your parents, talk to SOMEBODY. And don’t tell me “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND” because I’ve been there, believe me. Please don’t be an attention whore.
So, again, my question: Why are “Emo kids” so offended when they’re told to “cheer up”?
Okay, so this is another animation that is going to be the “finale” to the TRAPdoor story arc. I AM COMPLETELY AWARE I SPELLED TATTOOS WRONG.
Jade explodes Frank’s biplane. This has nothing to do with the story whatsoever!
I noticed while going through the demographics of all the visitors to CUEK that 52% of all the visitors from the US were female. This was quite intriguing to me!
Mainly because I’ve always felt that, in the majority of the strips — especially the ones before the introduction of Jade (yes, that’s Purple’s real name) in #46 — the females were either the butt of the intended joke, the object of ridicule, or depicted as a bitch or a liar or a slut or something along those lines. Not that I hate women or feel a need for them to be constantly ridiculed (in truth, it’s just one or two specific women, but that’s not the point). I just, you know, thought that I was always relating to a more male audience since that’s my personal perspective.
I mean, I’m not unwelcoming to the female audience as well, it just came as a bit of a surprise!
I suppose I’m that closed-minded that I’ve never taken the time to look at relationships from a female point of view. But since I was 15 I have been in four serious “relationships” (quoted, because only two of them were “official”) and all of them ended terribly. Which doesn’t leave me much of a perspective to go on aside from the stereotypical “THAT BITCH WAS A HO” standpoint.
What’s the plural of “ho”, anyway? Hos? Ho’s? Hoes? This is going to bug me all day.
So if you’re a female, and you’ve wasted the few minutes it took to read this, tell me: Why do you read CUEK?
A “sketch” I spent way too long on that turned into what you’re looking at right now.
Okay, so I totally meant to post this at the BEGINNING of the weekend (because, of course, that would make more sense, considering there is no comic). Well, straight to it — a couple of things, I’m sure you’re all already aware of the new design and the new-ish forum, where I got bored and decided to start an MS Paint Adventure.
You are ZEKE.
If you’ve never heard of Andrew Hussie or MS Paint Adventures, you should educate yourself — granted, if you consider yourself dorky enough to enjoy/participate in such madness. Because it is quite dorky, but that’s what I love about it. It’s a game, and the player is you. The premise of an MSPA is an artist tells a story and the readers contribute commands to advance the plot, whereupon the artist continues the story however way s/he sees fit, but using the readers’ suggestions. Andrew Hussie popularized this (if not being the first person to come up with the concept) with the epic story of Problem Sleuth, which started as a simple detective story and, thanks to the readers, became an incredible, nonsensical journey.
So if you’re bored, you should definitely come join our own homegrown paint adventure, which is in part a tribute to Mr. Hussie.
Another forum user picture request.
Last thing I want to mention was to stay tuned for an animated comic strip coming soon to… the top part of the website, if Enzo doesn’t completely fail at Flash. Have a great week, people.
Or, if you want to get technical, last Saturday. Since that day, readership of this webcomic has exploded, and I’m extremely grateful for all the amazing comments and feedback I’ve received regarding the strip. While I wish I could go through and reply to every single comment I’ve received since Saturday, it wouldn’t be practical. If you really want a reply from me, hit me up on Twitter with an @bozo32, or e-mail me at enzo@nospringchicken.net. Otherwise, I just want to give a great big collective thanks to anyone who has read, enjoyed, and commented on CUEK. You guys rock.
The site’s been due for a redesign and if all goes well it’ll be up by the end of the week.
In other news, I just drank a liter of Red Bull over the last 40 minutes and my hands are twitching. Is this bad?
Animating in Flash is quite a time-consuming bitch. I know what I want to do and how to do it, but it takes up a lot of time, hence the lack of a strip today. I was attempting to do a small animated short but it ended up taking too long, and I apologize. I’ll probably have it done by the end of the week. In lieu of today’s comic, I’m going to post some artwork I don’t think many people have seen before. Hooray for me sucking.
This first image may disturb and confuse you.
This was made for my friend Rev for a Women’s Studies class assignment. The premise was basically that people in medieval times (I think? I’m not sure. Point is – a long time ago) believed that the woman’s uterus needed “feeding” (a.k.a. coitus, penetration, sex, etc.), and if it was not properly “fed” it would eventually retaliate against the body, moving up along the organs to ultimately devour its host’s heart.
Pretty crazy shit, man.
This park bench illustration was for one of my best friends, whom I never get to see anymore because she’s far, far away. I miss you.
This is an illustration of fans ProfessorKatz and doctor_desert. I like to take suggestions for drawings so if you have a request, feel free to head over to the forum and post it! I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
This is what I call a digital sketchbook, which is basically doodles and things I would do in my actual sketchbook, but inked in Flash. Technology is amazing! This is pretty old, though, about a couple of months back.
Aaaand this one, I couldn’t tell you if you asked. I have no fucking idea where this came from.
That’s all for now! I appreciate your patience 
