43: Red Spiders 2

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Red Spiders 2

Title text: This was actually drawn years before Red Spiders

Explanation

This is the second-published comic in the red spiders story arc, published just over 2 months after the first one. Like its predecessor, it is more of a sketch than a comic. The titular spiders appear to be ascending —or possibly building— a structure.

According to the title text, it was drawn years before the previous Red Spiders.

The full series of Red spiders:

• 8: Red spiders: the first one.
• 43: Red Spiders 2: this one.
• 47: Counter-Red Spiders: in which we see the beginnings of a counter-offensive against the attack.
• 126: Red Spiders Cometh: in which we see the red spiders attacking a city.
• 427: Bad Timing: in which the red spiders pounce on an unfortunate couple having a conversation about their relationship mid-hot air balloon ride, in a more typical xkcd style.

Transcript

[Nine red spiders, with round appendages at the end of each of their six legs, are seen navigating an environment of blocks and other geometric constructions. One spider appears to be holding a block down for another spider to climb onto to help it up, or they might be lifting the block together. One is almost outside the frame at the top.]

Trivia

• This was the 40th comic originally posted to LiveJournal.
  • The previous was 38: Apple Jacks.
  • The next was 39: Bowl.
• Original title: "Friday's Drawing - Red Spiders 2"
• Original Randall quote: "And lo, they still have six legs. "
  • In the comments on LiveJournal, he made the following remark. "This is the original that inspired the other one. It's my favorite of the two."
  • This latter comment is reflected in the title text the comic received when posted on xkcd.
  • It shows that the original comment did not really make sense, since it was really the spiders in the first, 8: Red spiders, which still had six legs.
• This comic was posted on xkcd when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
  • It was posted along with all 41 comics posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
  • The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
• One of the original drawings drawn on checkered paper.

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Discussion

Do we have sources for the quotes from Randal? gijobarts (talk) 03:28, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes we do, and I added them a decade later --FaviFake (talk) 20:10, 18 August 2023 (UTC)