Stuck on "Homestuck"

"Since you are reading this, chances are you have installed this game on your computer already. If this is true, like many others, you have just participated in bringing about the end of the world."

-- Rose "tentacleTherapist" Lalonde

It all started with a trip to SAN FRANCISCO'S JAPANTOWN.
There, amid various COSPLAY participants -- kids and young adults dressed as anime/manga characters -- we saw a group of about 25 girls wandering the mall who were dressed essentially alike. Each wore a black shirt, a black wig and candy corn-colored horns.

The idea of a couple dozen girls all wearing the same cosplay costumes intrigued me, so I began scrolling through a cosplay costume database when we arrived home.
Page 18 of the database solved the mystery: I saw a girl dressed like the Japantown hordes.

It was a TROLL, one of the supporting characters in the "HOMESTUCK" episode of MS PAINT ADVENTURES, a lengthy, still-evolving webcomic by ANDREW HUSSIE about a group of kids playing a rather intense, immersive reality computer game.

I read the first act today. Created by Hussie in 2009, it provides background on two of the kids, John and Rose, and chronicles their early experiences with the game.

I find the comic to be funny, packed with some in-jokes I get (some of the pop culture jokes) and some I do not get (some of the gaming and computer programming jokes).

I'm going to keep reading, though, because I also find it interesting. (You can find it by clicking here.)

Other people find it interesting, too. Interesting enough to plant candy corn-colored horns on their wigged heads.