Scott Johnson (cartoonist)

Scott Blaine Johnson (born July 17, 1969) is a cartoonist, illustrator, designer and podcaster. He lives in South Jordan, Utah, with his wife and three children. In 2008, Johnson launched Frog Pants Studios, LLC,^[1][2] an illustration and audio production company.

Early life

Scott Johnson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he has lived most of his life. He grew up and went to high school in a suburb called Sandy City. For a couple years during his late teens and early twenties he lived in the south, specifically Mississippi and Louisiana while on a missions trip as a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). On his mission trip he served people dealing with flooding and those in poverty situations. Scott credits this as a huge contributor to making him a better husband and father. It was during this time in the south that he met his wife Kim.^[3]

Comics and illustration

Johnson began publishing the webcomic ExtraLife in June 2001.^[4] The subject matter concentrates on many of Johnson's interests such as computers, technology, video games, and movies. The strip is updated regularly (usually two or three times each week). In 2009, Scott launched Experience Points, a second web comic that draws inspiration from World of Warcraft and other MMORPG computer games. The strip was one of several web comics published by Crispy Gamer until its closure in January 2010, then it was moved to GameCulture where it is updated every Monday.^[5] Johnson is the creator of the popular "56 Geeks" poster,^[6][7][8][9] and he illustrated the cover of World of Warcraft Programming (2010).^[10]

Podcasts

Johnson is the creator and host of several podcasts.

ExtraLife Radio

Johnson's oldest podcast, ExtraLife Radio (often shortened to ELR) began in 2003 as a stand-alone downloadable MP3 file.^[4] It was a bi-monthly show that covered a wide variety of subjects, including video games, movies, comic books, and many random subjects as the hosts saw fit. It was a self-proclaimed geek show, for and by geeks.

In 2005, the delivery format was changed to a podcast.^[4] The original hosts other than Johnson were cartoonists Sergio "Obsidian" Villa-Isaza (nicknamed "O") and Brian Dunaway, and forum contributor Andrew Konietzky (who left the show in 2007). In addition to this panel the show also often featured guests and infrequent or frequent guest hosts. Mark Larson, a childhood friend of Johnson's, joined Scott in studio (whereas most other guests, as well as the three other co-hosts, used Skype to connect) every week for a period until gas prices deterred him from driving to Johnson's house for the show. Afterwards he would appear infrequently over Skype as well as frequently sending in a 3-minute Movie Reviews segment.

ExtraLife Radio won a People's Choice Podcast Award in 2008^[11] and other awards over its four-year run. On February 12, 2010, after 233 shows, Johnson announced that ELR would no longer be recording and be placed on what he called an "indefinite hiatus" in a blog post titled "All Good Things..."^[12]

On September 5, 2010 on Diary of a Cartoonist Johnson said he missed ExtraLife Radio and has considered bringing it back, but also noted that its layout would probably be different and not include consistent panel members.^[13]

The Instance

The Instance is a weekly award-winning^[11][14] World of Warcraft podcast started in 2006 by Johnson and then-ExtraLife Radio host Andrew Konietzky, both of whom noticed a lack of podcasts dedicated to the MMO. The show is dedicated to news and rumors about the game, and relies heavily on listener contribution. An early contributor, Randy "RandyDeluxe" Jordan, joined the podcast as a third seat on show 45, and eventually became second seat when Konietzky left the show in 2007. Jordan was a part of the show (becoming a regular guest on ExtraLife Radio, and a co-host on Film Sack) until a job opportunity at Blizzard Entertainment (makers of World of Warcraft) required him to retire his position. Episode #217: "Now I've Gotta Go..." was Jordan's final show, and was dedicated to him. Jordan's replacements were Mark "Turpster" Turpin (a former guest and friend of the show) and William "Dills" Gregory (a member and raider in the Instance guild, alea iacta est). In 2014, Patrick Beja (a friend of the network and former Blizzard employee) joined that podcast as a 4th seat. The podcast won a Blogger's Choice Award in 2008 for Best Podcast.^[14]

Former guests have included Veronica Belmont, Felicia Day, Tom Merritt, and retired Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling,^[15] who also co-hosted the show with Randy and Scott for several months.

AppSlappy

In June 2009, Johnson began publishing the weekly podcast AppSlappy, dedicated to reviewing Apple iPhone (and later, iPad) applications. Johnson, with co-hosts Eric Van Skyhawk and Eileen Rivera (Tom Merritt's wife), review and rate popular apps. The podcast also covers news and rumors related to the iPhone and iPad. (iTunes link) As of August 2013, AppSlappy is on hiatus.^[16]

Diary of a Cartoonist

The Diary of a Cartoonist podcast uses an introspective stream-of-consciousness format where Johnson discusses a wide variety of topics ranging from the day-to-day activities in his life to his thoughts about current events. Unlike Johnson's other podcasts, Diary of a Cartoonist does not have other co-hosts, though his family occasionally make minor appearances. Johnson often records the podcast using his iPhone while engaging in other activities such as driving or walking his dog.

FourCast

Started on July 7, 2009, Tom Merritt and co-host Johnson invite various guests and discuss the future and what it might contain in a so-called virtual fireside setting. Fourcast, not part of the Frogpants network, was produced and hosted by Merritt's main employer at the time, TWiT.tv. The podcast ended in June 2012.^[17]

Film Sack

Started on October 31, 2009, Johnson and co-hosts Brian Ibbott, Brian Dunaway, and Randy Jordan review 'forgotten gems' of movies selected from the streaming media service Netflix. Film Sack won a Podcast Connect People's Choice Podcast Award in the film category in 2011^[11] and in 2013.^[18] (iTunes link)

Current Geek

Started on November 13, 2009, Johnson again teamed up Tom Merritt for 3-times-a-week dose of the geekiest stories around the world. After some difficulties and a hiatus, this show was revived as a weekly segment on The Morning Stream. After Merritt's contract ran out with TWiT in December 2013,^[19] Current Geek was restarted as a standalone show in January 2014.^[20][21] (iTunes link).

Hypothetical Help

Started on March 29, 2010, Scott Johnson and co-host Mark Turpin a.k.a. "Turpster" tackle the world of hypothetical counseling. Listeners are invited to call and leave a recorded question, or record a sound file, to have Scott and Turpster possibly play it on the show and then give their best comedic advice to solve the world's problems. Episodes feature about 3 user calls each, and are about 30 minutes long. (iTunes link)

Final Score

Restarted on April 9, 2010, Scott Johnson and co-host Brian Dunaway tackle the field of video games. New releases, reviews, retrogaming, and game "first plays" are some of the topics covered. Johnson and Dunaway were joined by Nicole Spagnuolo (aka Nicole Spag) of the Ladies of Leet podcast and blog at episode 20. (iTunes link)

In February 2015 the show was put on hiatus.

The Creep

Started on September 9, 2010, with Johnson and co-host Brian Hough, described as "the Starcraft 2 podcast, helping you find your way in the Starcraft Universe." It is geared to be of interest to new and highly experienced players, with news, tips, and tricks. It started out in a bi-weekly format, but in episode 13 in February 2011 it was announced that due to lack of regular quality content and information release in the Starcraft universe, the podcast would be recorded whenever there was enough information to produce a show. This resulted in a 6-month hiatus. Episode 14 saw the return of The Creep in September 2011 when it was announced that shows would again be more regularly recorded than every 6–12 months. (iTunes link)

The Morning Stream

Started on January 24, 2011, with Johnson and Brian Ibbott. It is published every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning (usually) for the discussion of current entertainment, politics, live calls, and other segments. The Morning Stream won a People's Choice Podcast Award in the entertainment category in 2011,^[11][22] and two in 2013, in the People's Choice and Comedy categories.^[18]

In March 2014 Johnson and Ibbott began producing a weekly evening edition of the show, airing live on Thursday nights and published as a podcast the morning after; this version is called TMS PM, features most of the same elements as the morning show and is a one-hour long show, rather than the usual two hours, but it includes two songs each time like the other daily episodes.

AutoPilot

Started on March 10, 2012, Johnson is joined by Tom Merritt in a podcast in which the duo watch and dissect early television pilot episodes from classic and modern shows. The first full episode was published in late March 2012, about the Star Trek pilot episode "The Cage".^[23]

Community

Fans and contributors to The Instance are invited to join the show's U.S. Earthen Ring Server ^[24] guild named Alea Iacta Est (AIE),^[25] which currently has over 6,300 active members making it one of the largest guilds in World of Warcraft.^[26] Johnson's main character on AIE, a level 90 orc hunter named Gerp,^[27] is a founder and officer of the guild. Notable members have included Curt Schilling,^[28] Veronica Belmont,^[28] Leo Laporte^[29] and Tom Merritt. Johnson is well known in the Utah area^[30] both for his online work and as host of the increasingly popular Nerdtacular^[31] event, an annual gathering of fans, friends, and members of the Frogpants community.

In 2007, Johnson was targeted with a cease and desist email by disbarred attorney and American activist Jack Thompson for running a photograph parody contest on the Myextralife site.^[32]

In 2014, Johnson was attacked by a Chinese goose named mendoza that had been angered by Johnson's disturbing the other geese ^[33]

References

External links

• Extra Life web site
• Experience Points webcomic
• The Instance Podcast
• AppSlappy
• "Audio Interview with Chris Pope & Mark Eoff from Tech Barbarians". March 28, 2010.