Men in Hats

Now defunct webcomic, located here, by Aaron Farber. In his words, "Men in Hats is the gripping story of 6 guys who stand around in the desert... talking... sometimes they have breakfast."

Mysteriously stopped updating, which is partially the reason for the Hatedom who hung (and possibly still hang) around its forums. The man in a black hat of Xkcd is based on one of Men in Hat's protagonists Aram, sadist and general Jerkass.


 * Author Filibuster: More often than you'd think.
 * Bolt of Divine Retribution: Visited upon Sam.
 * Butt Monkey: None of the characters are really treated well by any of the other characters, but Jeriah definitely wins in this category.
 * Contemplate Our Navels: Parodied.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Beriah.
 * Creator Breakdown: Farber reached the point where he really didn't want to do the comic anymore. The current message explaining the strip's demise is much less detailed than the original...
 * The Ditz: Beriah, again. Subverted in one strip here
 * Driven to Suicide: Jeriah actually kills himself in one strip. Of course, given the Negative Continuity of the strip, he's fine the next time he appears.
 * The Eeyore: Jeriah.
 * Film Noir: For a single page:
 * For the Evulz: The only reason why Aram can ever be bothered to leave his TV.
 * The Fundamentalist, Holier Than Thou: Sam's a particularly brutal example of this, possesses almost no redeeming qualities, and not only does every other character hate him, it is implied many times that God hates him as well.
 * Heroic Sociopath: Aram, who's basically a prototype of the Black Hat Guy from Xkcd.
 * I Will Show You X: Played with here, with the word being "converge".
 * Jerkass: Aram.
 * Negative Continuity: Among other things, the house, which is rarely shown, is burned down or destroyed multiple times, and several characters die at least once. None of these things are mentioned in the next strip. Rarely, however the strip will have a minor storyline. But none of the details will be mentioned again once the story is over.
 * Gamal did grow a moustache that stuck around for a while before disappearing, but that's about it.
 * Only Sane Man: Gamal.
 * Permanent Elected Official: Mayor Jeb.
 * Pollyanna: Beriah.
 * Sadist Show
 * Shaggy Dog Story: this strip. Yep, Jeriah has a pretty sucky life.
 * Straight Man: Gamal.
 * Strawman Political: Sam.