The Official Archives of Red Ring of Death, the most influential gaming webcomic of 2006, written and created by Shawn Tuckley.
A delightful little sendup of one of the most popular gaming franchises circa 2006, Guitar Hero! According to Shawn, he received multiple emails from developer Harmonix asking him to take the strip down, as they worried some customers might believe this parody game to be an official release. Red Ring fans thought this was a… Continue reading #18: Guitar Zero
And here we have the first appearance of Shawn Tuckley himself, the author of Red Ring of Death, in his own comic. This is completely separate from the character of Shawn Tuckley, the protagonist in the fictional world of Red Ring of Death – please do not get these two confused, they are wholly distinct… Continue reading #20: Eye of the Be-Scolder
An absolutely brutal takedown of so-called gaming “critics,” Shawn delivering one of his most incisive and powerful punchlines here. This strip was released shortly after Gamespot released its controversial 8.8/10 review for The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, a score that infuriated many dedicated Zelda fans, including Shawn. “Twilight Princess was a 15 out of… Continue reading #21: Zero Out of Ten
Posted during a serious upheaval in Shawn’s personal life at the time, this strip would mark the beginning of what Red Ring fans refer to as “The Dark Ages” of Red Ring’s lifespan, from around 2014-2016. It is hard not to see why. I don’t want to go into too many of the details regarding… Continue reading #2,497: My Sacrifice
The laughs just keep on coming! I know a lot of folks are going to be asking about the glut of “full Switchy” fan art that resulted from this strip, which some could argue became borderline fetishistic. While that could be the case (and Shawn certainly thought so, considering he would ban anyone who posted… Continue reading #24: Happy Barf-Day
The hilarious conclusion to this storyline! Some fans were a little confused as to why Switchy, the one character who actually ate Shawn’s cake, was let off the hook, while Graham and Dinah were harshly punished and threatened with murder. For one I think it’s obvious that Switchy should NOT be held to the standards… Continue reading #25: It’s-A Birthday!
And here, we have possibly the single most controversial strip in Red Ring’s decade-long run – and that’s really saying something. For anyone unaware, the Ouya was a Kickstarter-funded game console announced in 2012 that was intended to shake up the market by providing each of its games with a free-to-play preview before purchase. While… Continue reading #1,412: Resetting An Entire Industry
Circa 2013. Perhaps even more controversial than his last Ouya strip, this comic reignited the Ouya forum thread after it had finally started to die down. This would be Switchy’s last appearance until the Ouya was discontinued in 2015.
Red Ring of Death #26, “A Family Dinner,” circa 2006. From what I can tell, this is the first appearance of notorious anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson, who would be a constant target of Shawn’s ire over the next decade.