The Oatmeal
The Oatmeal is a webcomic and humor website created in 2009 by cartoonist Matthew Inman. It offers original comics, quizzes, and occasional articles. Inman has produced a series of Oatmeal books with content from the webcomic and previously unpublished material, related board games, and other merchandise.
The Oatmeal logo | |
Type of site | Comics, blog |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Created by | Matthew Inman |
| URL | TheOatmeal.com |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | No |
| Launched | July 6, 2009 |
| Current status | Active |
In 2010, Inman said The Oatmeal received more than four million unique visitors per month. In 2012, he said The Oatmeal's annual revenue was around US$500,000, of which three-quarters came from merchandising and the rest from advertising. The website won the Eisner Award for Best Digital/Webcomic in 2014.
In 2019, Inman announced plans to step back from The Oatmeal for a while to concentrate on other work.
Website
Creation
Inman created The Oatmeal website in 2009.[1] Early comics regularly made the front page of Digg, driving traffic to the site.[2]
Inman said that when he started the comic, he felt that drawing was a chore.[2] In a 2010 interview, he said that when thinking of a subject to write about, he simply picks something he is interested in. He usually worked at home, but as he finds it difficult to go long periods without social contact, he often goes to a coffee shop to work. Inman said that he found it is much easier to gain exposure for his work through the internet than it would have been two decades earlier. He added that he enjoys making people laugh, and although he can't actually see the reaction of others to his work, he still appreciates seeing the high number of page views that his website receives.[3]
Content
The format of The Oatmeal has been described as "storytelling-meets-infographics"[2] and as "a quirky and often crudely-drawn comic".[4] The comics cover an eclectic range of topics: a 2010 article describes comics on being chained to a bunk bed with a velociraptor, evil scheming kittens, people being sodomized by Bigfoot, and babies that taste like nachos.[1] Other themes are zombies, horse care, English grammar,[5] dolphin brutality, and sexual congress between koalas and goats.[4]
His first viral comic was "How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You",[2] and other comics have titles such as "How to Use a Semicolon",[2] "What it's Like to Own an Apple Product", "How the Male Angler Fish Gets Completely Screwed", "15-ish Things Worth Knowing About Coffee" and "How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell."[6]
One comic, "Why Nikola Tesla Was the Greatest Geek Who Ever Lived", was heavily critiqued by a writer for Forbes.[7] In response Inman made a second post going through the Forbes article, acknowledging some good points but picking apart others, including calling multiple sections "bullshit" and defending his work as "a comedian [who speaks] in hyperbole."[8][4]
In reaction to Tumblr's regular downtimes, Inman created the TumbleBeasts in 2010 as a parody of the Twitter Fail Whale, and urged Tumblr to use them. Tumblr added the artwork to their 404 page for some time, renaming them Tumbeasts.[9][10]
Hiatus
In June 2019, just after the release of The Secret Life of Pets 2 – a feature animated film in which Inman was credited as creative consultant – Inman told the Washington Post that he "won’t be regularly creating the Oatmeal much longer" and was planning a hiatus of around two years. Inman said that he loved The Oatmeal but "I’m just tired and it’s been a decade of writing comics for strangers from my basement, and I want to try something different for a while."[2][11] Around the same time, Inman signed a deal to develop an animated feature for Illumination Entertainment, though at that time the film did not appear to have been greenlit and no details were announced.[12]
Success
The Oatmeal received 300,000 visitors in its first month and within 10 months had received 4.5 million visitors.[1] Inman said in 2010 that The Oatmeal received more than 20 million page views per month;[13] as of 2012 the site received 4 million visitors a month.[14]
Inman said in 2012 that The Oatmeal had a revenue of $500,000 a year. The Guardian considered the claim and found it reasonable given the site's visitor numbers.[4] Fast Company described Inman in 2012 as a "millionaire".[14]
Campaigns for related products have also been successful. A fundraiser to develop and produce a card game called Exploding Kittens raised $8.8 million,[15] and a game company co-founded by Inman received a $30 million investment in 2019.[16][17][18]
Inman appeared on an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly in 2010 and mentioned his web site.[3][1]
Exploding Kittens is being made into a Netflix series by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. [19]
Awards
The website was awarded the Eisner Award in the Best Digital/Webcomic category in 2014.[20] In 2016, Inman received the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award from San Diego Comic-Con, an award given "to people in comics and the popular arts who have worked to help others."[21]
Physical products
Books
As of 2019, Inman had released ten books, which collect material from the website and feature new material.[2]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (November 2020) |
- 5 Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Mouth (And Other Useful Guides) (2011)[22]
- How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You (2012)[23]
- My Dog: The Paradox: A Lovable Discourse about Man's Best Friend (2013)[24]
- Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Underpants (2013)[25]
- The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons I Run Long Distances (2014)[26]
- 404 Not Found: A Coloring Book by The Oatmeal (2016)[27]
- If My Dogs Were a Pair of Middle-Aged Men (2017)[28]
At least one of The Oatmeal books was a New York Times Bestseller. How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You spent at least 20 weeks on the NYT bestseller list "Paperback Advice & Misc.", often at #1.[31][32]
Merchandise
Revenue from The Oatmeal includes the sale of wall posters, greeting cards, calendars, clothing, coffee cups, signed prints, stickers, magnets, and badges.[14][4]
Games
In January 2015, Inman, Elan Lee, and Shane Small launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for their project Exploding Kittens, a card-based, Russian-roulette-style game with art by Inman.[33] The campaign raised $1 million in its first seven hours, and ultimately raised $8.8 million, becoming the most-funded card game on Kickstarter.[15]
The success of the game prompted Lee and Inman to found a company in 2015, also named Exploding Kittens.[34] Since then, the company Exploding Kittens has released five more games: Bears vs. Babies (2017), You've Got Crabs (2018), Throw Throw Burrito (2019),[34], On a Scale of One to T-Rex (2019),[34][16] and the mobile game Kitty Letter (2021).[35] There is also merchandise of characters from the games.[34]
In October 2019, it was announced that Peter Chernin, American businessman and the CEO of The Chernin Group (TCG), had invested $30 million for a minority stake in Exploding Kittens. Inman said that the funds will be used to mount a live gaming convention, Burning Cat; and to hire more artists and produce three to five new games a year.[16][17][18]
Events
At the same time as announcing his fifth book, The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons I Run Long Distances, Inman announced "Beat the Blerch", an organized running race in 10 kilometer, half, and full marathon formats which was held in Carnation, Washington, on September 20 and 21, 2014.[36] All 2,000 spots originally offered for the first race day were sold out in 20 minutes, prompting Inman to open a second day for more runners to enroll.[37] The Beat the Blerch event took place every year from 2014 to 2019.[38] In 2020, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a "virtual race" was organized instead.[39]
In June 2019, Exploding Kittens Inc. announced the planning of a live gaming convention. The two-day event was to take place in May 2020 in Portland, Oregon, U.S. It was named Burning Cat in reference to the Burning Man festival, and was to conclude with the burning of a large wooden statue of a cat in homage to Burning Man's burning of a human-shaped figure. Burning Cat was to feature appearances from guest speakers alongside a series of gaming and networking activities. The event was postponed until 2021, then indefinitely, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[40][41][42][43]
Tesla Museum fundraiser
In August 2012, Inman launched a fundraising campaign on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo to support a nonprofit organization offering to purchase Wardenclyffe Tower in Shoreham on Long Island, New York. The organization, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, hoped to buy and restore the facility that was Nikola Tesla's last laboratory, preserving the site and creating a museum to Tesla. There was a sense of urgency, as apparently there was an offer from another party to buy the site for commercial use.[44] Inman, a fan of Tesla, promoted the fundraiser with a blog post on The Oatmeal calling for people and companies to donate.[45] The state of New York agreed to match donations up to $850,000.[44][46]
The fundraiser raised $1,370,461 from over 33,000 backers,[47] including Joseph Sikorski, director of the Tesla film Fragments From Olympus,[48][49] and Elon Musk.[50] With the grant from New York state, the campaign totaled over $2.1 million.[51] After the fundraiser, Jane Alcron of the Tesla Science Centre said the additional funds would be used to start converting the ruins into a science center and perhaps building a replica of the original tower.[52][53]
In May 2014, Inman produced a comic on The Oatmeal titled "What it's like to own a Tesla Model S - A cartoonist's review of his magical space car",[54] and a follow-up comic titled "Part Two: Man Vs. Motor"[55] in which he talked about Nikola Tesla, and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors. After publishing the comic, he tweeted Musk, inviting Elon to donate to the Tesla Museum.[56] At 2 a.m. the following day, Elon responded by tweet: "I would be happy to help". Musk then donated $1 million for the development and construction of the museum.[57][58][59]
Inman is featured in Tower to the People, a 2015 documentary on Wardenclyffe by Joseph Sikorski.[60]
Legal disputes
FunnyJunk legal dispute
Inman alleged that FunnyJunk, a content aggregator website, repeatedly infringed The Oatmeal's original content.[61] FunnyJunk alleged that those accusations were defamation and demanded $20,000 in damages.[62] Infuriated by the demand, Inman set up a Indiegogo fundraiser to raise $20,000, but to give the money to the National Wildlife Federation and the American Cancer Society.[63][4] The campaign raised $220,024 at completion.[64] He stated he intended to take a photo of himself with the cash, then send the photograph along with a satirical illustration of FunnyJunk's[65][66] mother "seducing a Kodiak bear" to FunnyJunk.
FunnyJunk's lawyer, Charles Carreon, attempted to shut the campaign down, alleging it violated Indiegogo's terms and conditions.[67] Carreon also filed a pro se lawsuit Carreon v. Inman et al in United States District Court for the Northern District of California against Inman, Indiegogo, the American Cancer Society, and the National Wildlife Federation in response.[68][69][70] On July 3, 2012, Carreon filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in his lawsuit against all parties without prejudice.[71][72][73][74]
Oatmeal Studios trademark suit
On November 21, 2012, greeting card maker Oatmeal Studios sued Inman and Recycled Greetings for trademark infringement. Oatmeal Studios holds the trademark for their name and after The Oatmeal worked with another company to make greeting cards based on the comic, Oatmeal Studios argued that this was too similar and likely to cause confusion.[75][76] On August 28, 2013, a Stipulation of Dismissal with prejudice was filed by Excelsior Printing Company, the litigants in the lawsuit, meaning that the two parties had settled the dispute.[77]
Author
The Oatmeal was created by Matthew Inman (born 1982 or 1983).[1][2] Born in Chino, California, he moved with his family to the small, rural town of Hayden, Idaho, when he was in grade school. Hayden was an ultra-conservative environment; he rebelled against those views.[1]
Inman created websites for others from age 13, and he moved to Seattle at age 17 to work in technology. After some jobs for other companies, he created a dating website called "Mingle2", which became popular. He sold Mingle2 but stayed on with the new company, and wrote comics and quizzes to attract readers. Inman says this work was the inspiration for The Oatmeal.[1]
Inman opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). He said that while the act would have afforded him more rights, he disliked like the way that SOPA would have put the onus on sites to prove their innocence. He joined a global day of action against the legislation.[4]
Inman lives on Bainbridge Island in the Seattle area, .[2][78] He is a long-distance runner, including ultramarathons.[37]
References
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- ^ a b c d e f g h i Cavna, Michael. . The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ a b "Episode for March 31, 2010". Last Call with Carson Daly. Aired March 31, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bradbury, Danny (June 21, 2012). "The Oatmeal beat Funnyjunk, but other cartoonists aren't so lucky". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ Carter, Matt (January 19, 2010). . Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Inman, Matthew. . The Oatmeal. Archived from the original on June 26, 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Knapp, Alex. "Nikola Tesla Wasn't God And Thomas Edison Wasn't The Devil". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Inman, Matt. "I wrote a response to the Forbes article about my Tesla comic". The Oatmeal. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Jeffries, Adrianne (2011-01-25). "Tumblr Adds Suggested Tumbeast to 404 Page". Observer. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ "The State of the Web - Winter 2010 - The Oatmeal". The Oatmeal.
- ^ "Cartoonist Matthew Inman To Step Back From 'The Oatmeal'". Multiversity Comics. 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ "'The Oatmeal' Creator Matthew Inman Is Developing An Animated Film For Illumination". Cartoon Brew. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (February 26, 2010). "The State of the Oatmeal". The Oatmeal. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- ^ a b c "How Two Of The Internet's Top Comics Names Turn Creativity To Cash". Fast Company. 24 January 2012.
- ^ a b Lee, Elan. "Exploding Kittens Updates". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ^ a b c Spangler, Todd (2019-10-10). "Exploding Kittens Raises $30 Million From Peter Chernin's TCG Capital". Variety. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ a b "Exploding Kittens Laps Up $30 Million Investment | Los Angeles Business Journal". labusinessjournal.com. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ a b Chen, Connie. "Exploding Kittens is the most-backed project on Kickstarter to date — here's how a $20 card game became an internet phenomenon". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ Fahy, Olivia (April 20, 2022). "Exploding Kittens to Get Netflix Series With Lucifer Star". Geek Ireland. Ireland. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ "Eisner Award Recipients 2010–Present". Comic-Con.org. San Diego: Comic-Con International. 2 December 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ "Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award". Comic-Con International: San Diego. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2011). 5 very good reasons to punch a dolphin in the mouth : (and other useful guides). Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-0116-0. OCLC 699530584.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2012). How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you. Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-1024-7. OCLC 805987064.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2013). My dog : the paradox, a lovable discourse about man's best friend. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-3752-7. OCLC 837684449.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2013). Why grizzly bears should wear underpants. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-2770-2. OCLC 855200171.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2014). The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-5995-6. OCLC 871192552.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2016). 404 not found : a coloring book by The Oatmeal. Kansas CIty, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-8047-9. OCLC 945357045.
{{cite book}}: Cite uses generic title (help) - ^ Inman, Matthew (2017). If my dogs were a pair of middle-age men. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-3352-9. OCLC 1004664206.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2017). How to be perfectly unhappy. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrew McNeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4494-3353-6. OCLC 978287000.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (2019). Why my cat is more impressive than your baby. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5248-5062-3. OCLC 1078552495.
- ^ "Paperback Advice & Misc. Books - Best Sellers - Oct. 28, 2012 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ "Paperback Advice & Misc. Books - Best Sellers - March 31, 2013 - The New York Times". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Lee, Elan (January 20, 2015). "Exploding Kittens". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
- ^ a b c d "L.A.-based tabletop game company Exploding Kittens wants you to throw (foam) burritos at your friends and family". Daily News. 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ Vonau, Manuel (February 10, 2021). "Kitty Letter is a cat-themed 'words with enemies' game by the creator of The Oatmeal". Android Police. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- ^ "Beat the Blerch 10k/half/full marathon". Retrieved September 21, 2014.
- ^ a b Mills, Heidi (June 10, 2014). "How to Beat the Blerch". Outside Online. Mariah Media Network. Retrieved January 23, 2015.
- ^ "Run Signup - Beat the Blerch". Run Signup. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ "Beat The Blerch - 2020 Virtual Race". Beat The Blerch. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ "The Creators of NSFW Card Game Exploding Kittens Are Bringing a Gaming Convention to Portland—And It's Weird As Hell". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ "Exploding Kittens to host live gaming convention Burning Cat". Blooloop. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- ^ . BurningCat.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Burning Cat". BurningCat.com. from the original on 2020-10-11.
- ^ a b Voakes, Greg (August 15, 2012). . Forbes. Archived from the original on August 16, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "Help me raise money to buy Nikola Tesla's old laboratory". The Oatmeal. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
- ^ Solon, Olivia (August 16, 2012). . Wired UK. Archived from the original on 2012-11-23. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ "Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum". Indiegogo. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Byford, Sam (August 21, 2012). "'Oatmeal' Tesla museum campaign reaches funding goal after $33,333 pledge". The Verge. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ "Tesla museum campaign exceeds fund-raising target". BBC News. August 22, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
- ^ Backers raise cash for Tesla museum honoring 'cult hero', CNN; August 21, 2012.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum". Indiegogo. p. 5. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "Let's Build a Goddamn Tesla Museum". Indiegogo. p. 1. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ "Web Cartoonist Raises $1 Million For Tesla Museum". NPR. August 24, 2012. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "What it's like to own a Tesla Model S - A cartoonist's review of his magical space car - The Oatmeal". The Oatmeal.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "Man Vs. Motor". The Oatmeal.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "The Oatmeal". Retrieved November 14, 2014 – via Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ McCormick, Rich (2014-07-11). "Elon Musk donates $1 million to Nikola Tesla museum after webcomic calls him out". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "So, I had a call with Elon Musk earlier this week ..." The Oatmeal.
- ^ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). p. 9.
- ^ "Tower to the People: Tesla's Dream at Wardenclyffe Continues (2015)". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-11-27.
- ^ Hutchinson, Lee (June 2, 2011). "The Oatmeal vs. FunnyJunk: webcomic copyright fight gets personal". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ Hutchinson, Lee (June 12, 2012). "Lawyer demands $20,000, so webcomic raises $100,000 from the Internet". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "FunnyJunk is threatening to file a federal lawsuit against me unless I pay $20,000 in damages". The Oatmeal. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ Inman, Matthew (June 11, 2012). "BearLove Good. Cancer Bad". Indiegogo. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ Inman, Matthew. "Also, just to be clear I ..." Retrieved July 9, 2012 – via Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
- ^ "Website war earns big bucks for charity". KOMO News. 13 June 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ^ Golijan, Rosa (June 2012). . Archived from the original on June 13, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
- ^ Can I Sue You People? Troll Lawyer Sues The Charities The Oatmeal Supports Retrieved:June 18, 2012
- ^ Thier, Dave (April 18, 2012). "Lawyer Charles Carreon Suing The Oatmeal, American Cancer Society and National Wildlife Federation". Forbes. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ Carreon, Charles. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2012.
- ^ Electronic Frontier Foundation (July 3, 2012). Charles Carreon Drops Bogus Lawsuit Against The Oatmeal Creator.
- ^ Lee, Timothy B. (October 4, 2009). "Carreon claims victory, drops his lawsuit against The Oatmeal et al". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Ha, Anthony (January 4, 2011). "FunnyJunk Attorney Charles Carreon Drops Lawsuit Against Oatmeal Creator". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Clay, Kelly (April 18, 2012). "Funny Junk Drops Frivolous Lawsuit Against The Oatmeal". Forbes. Retrieved July 6, 2012.
- ^ Mullin, Joe (May 17, 2012). "The Oatmeal sued over trademark by 'Oatmeal Studios'". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
- ^ "Oatmeal Studios Responds to The Oatmeal Lawsuit: 'We Are Simply Trying to Protect Our Name'". TechCrunch. November 21, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
- ^ "Excelsior Printing Company v. Inman et al Filing 33 STIPULATION of Dismissal with prejudice by Excelsior Printing Company. (Hennessey, Christopher)". August 28, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ "The Oatmeal's Matthew Inman talks about Bainbridge, his new Netflix series".
External links
- Official website
- Aboraya, Abe (September 22, 2010). "Eat Your Oatmeal: How a Fremont programmer created one of the web's top cartoons". Seattle Weekly.
- Desjardins, Jesse (March 13, 2011). "Viral Marketing with the Oatmeal". Slideshare. SXSW.
- Lee, Elan (July 2015). "Exploding Kittens". Kickstarter.
This is a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats