That’s Right, it’s “Bug Martini” Now
Starting next week I’ll be changing the title of my comic from “Bug” to Bug Martini.” The website’s url (bugcomic.com) will redirect to bugmartini.com by next week as well.
Okay, why am I doing this?
As cute and succinct as “Bug” is, it’s just not a great title; it’s not very unique, a lot of people called my comic “Bugcomic,” you can’t Google “Bug” and easily find my comic, and (most importantly) it isn’t very safe trademark-wise.
Believe it or not, this is a change that I’ve been working on since 2010 – I’m nothing if not indecisive. I’ve been racking my brains, trying to think of a title that still incorporated the word “bug” that sounded good, but wasn’t already being used – easier said than done. But eventually I came up with “Bug Martini” and immediately felt something click. I dunno, it just sounded right.
Now, if you like my comic (and I don’t know why you’re here if you don’t) this name change is a good thing. If I was going to quit comic in the next few years, I wouldn’t concern myself with changing the title. This change shows that I’m in it for the long haul. I plan to draw this comic right up until I croak. And even then, they might have to temporarily resurrect my corpse and make me fix a few last typos before I enter the ever-after.
This is also good news if you’ve been waiting for me to release book collections because this was the main roadblock. I couldn’t make a book if I wasn’t sure what the hell I was gonna call my comic.
So, now that this whole name change is outta the way, I’m finally ready to get to work!
[Edit] – Some of you have asked about the RSS feed. I asked the guy who’s handling the url change and he said:
Do you know if this will affect the RSS feeds or will we have to resubscribe?
Hmm. Not sure. I’ll have to look into that.
Just make a permanent redirection (htaccess code 301) so bugcomic.com RSS address goes right to where bugmartini.com RSS address is.
Adam could do a setup where the Bug Martini RSS is forwarded to the old RSS address, which I would advise him to do, since some people won’t bother switching over.
Still, it’s probably best to just switch to the new address to be on the safe side.
At least keep the old RSS for a while, so that we don’t miss a thing. Then a big ALERT when your lease on bugcomic.com is about to expire.
Said by someone who follows you thru feed://www.bugcomic.com/feed/
I assume then that we’re going to have to resubscribe to a new RSS feed. Might want to attach a message to the last strip on the old feed to remind people of that.
WOOOHOO !! The book is finally on the way !
It’s always tough changing a name without feeling like you’re altering the identity. I think you’ll pull it off nicely, though!
I don’t like change…but I understand, and expect it to grow on me.
What will happen to the RSS feeds? Should we get new ones?
My first thought: “But the comic doesn’t have anything to do with martinis.”
Second thought: “Like that matters? Non sequitur is a great tool in comedy, and a name doesn’t always HAVE to be relevant.”
My third thought: “I’m starting to get drunk off of this comic.”
My fourth thought: “Banana.”
Gin and Bug Juice = Bug Martini.
Fess up, you were desperately trying to come up with a name and you looked down at the table and there it was, your martini. We should all be thankful you stopped there rather than calling the comic “Bug Martini with a Cigarette Butt in It. Who Ate My Olive?”
Exciting news Adam – can’t wait to see the new logo you come up with to go with the name!
I can see a great opportunity for a ‘Bug Martini’ 007 pinup too 😉
I would’ve thought it would be harder to trademark something with a brand name in it
To be honest, I think the generic “Bug comic” is going to give you very good in marketing advance. It’s simple and easy to remember, generic enough to make people come randomly(like me, I found this comic when I was searching for bug identification sites) and once you got the trademark, you can game the trademark system and prevent people from using the term “bug” in other comics’ title.
Anyway, are you still going to keep the bugcomic.com url? Hate to see it being use as a random advert site since it has likely been gathering fame and idiotic advertisers will register it to get the last juice from its past glories.
I’ll never get rid of bugcomic.com. It’ll always redirect to the new url.
cool
Ah, a shame. I’ve always loved the wonderful simplicity of the title myself.
Many thanks for continuing the comic though, whatever it’s called. It’s the internet highlight of my day!
Bug Martini? Why not Bug Screwdriver? Or Bug Jagerbomb?
Why not: Bug Nukem, Bugs of Steel and so on?
I used to read many webcomics on a daily basis. As I get older that number has dropped significantly. So significantly, in fact, that this is the only comic I still feel compelled to check every Monday to Friday. Your outlook on life is so hilarious that I will continue to check each and every day (cause sometimes I forget and check on weekends) until you either stop writing, or I die.
Comic names are one of those funny little things. They really don’t matter a whole bunch in the grand sceme of things. Take a look at “Peanuts”. Schulz hated that name for decades, and for good reason. It’s a terrible name. But I doubt it hurt that comic one bit and ultimately people called it what the wanted. Like “Charlie Brown” or in my Great Grandmother’s case, “Snoopy”.
Adam is right though. In this era of Google it is important to have a unique identifier and Bug Martini is that. PLUS it is a great name for the comic as well! It is a gentelman’s drink. A mix of the very finest of life’s elixers. Yet if you indulge yourself in too many, you’ll find yourself passed out in the floor with your pants on your head.
Exactly.
How about Bug Beer for aliteration?
Bug Martini, I love it!
Approved!
can you please remind us on friday? >.>
AAHHHHH CHANGE!!!!!
Aside from the inherent discomfort of change, I also really enjoy the simplicity of just “Bug.” It’s like “the pill.” You don’t have to actually say it, everyone just knows it because it’s so epic in itself that it is the first specific thing you think of when an entire category is presented to you.
However, I definitely understand the Google search problem with just “Bug.” And no matter the name, this is still one of my favorite comics ever! I will continue reading until your zombie corpse stops correcting typos! And hooray for finally giving us Bug books!
WHATEVER
More tits please.
Oh man, Adam, I am so glad to hear you say that you’re planning to draw this comic until you croak. I just hope you’re a lot younger than I am, because I’m planning to read it until I croak. I’m not crazy about the new name, but I understand your reasoning, and it’s a trivial change relative to my relief that you’re going to carry on being, as a friend once described herself, “simple, fun-loving, and bent out of shape.” Good cess to you!
‘Bout damn time!
On the whole “I’m finally ready to get to work!” part. You know…about coming out with a book. I’ve tried to get my non-computer-user type of relatives to read this comic, and they get too easily confused or something. Now I’ll buy ’em a book and they dang well better read it!
P.S. I think this whole week should be martini-themed. Just sayin’…ease us into the change. We like things to stay the way they are.
About time you slacker. 😉 Now get to work!
Long time reader here. I echo the concern about the RSS feed. I also think Bug Martini is a terrible name. It doesn’t communicate anything whatsoever about the comic, and for new readers, will evoke pictures of things completely unrelated to what the comic is. So it’s really no better than just Bug. Definitely worse. You should have done a poll or canvassed opinions before deciding. Off the top of my head, here are 6 (imho) better alternative titles:
1. Bug’s Life
2. Bug Off
3. Buggin’
4. Debugged
5. Bug Comic
6. Bug Me
bet∙ter (adj) “Of a more excellent or effective type or quality; more useful, suitable, or desirable.” Off the top of my head, here are 4 (imho) things you may not have considered:
1. If the best part of this website is the title, and if looking at a terrible new word embedded in it would not only negate any humor in the panels below, but also ruin your entire day, then this title change may actually affect you, personally, very much. Some people may even have to change an entire setting in their RSS readers. It’s surely a trying time for us all.
2. Most people agree that you should be able to play with your own stuff, but how would you define ownership of intellectual property? You could say that the long-time creator of this comic has put far more time and effort into Bug than any reader. It may belong to the guy who has his name on the copyright, the one wielding the pen/stylus, or just the person who could claim this as his own artistic vision. But in the most practical sense, Adam may also claim the title of Webmaster, wielder of the mighty username and password required to put alcoholic beverages anywhere he pleases. However, if you would like your digital art to appear on the screen in exactly the way you like it, consider purchasing your own URL and devoting countless hours of your life to doing it yourself.
3. You can stop reading this comic whenever you’d like. Any unrelated mental images and reminders that no one asked for your opinion would be conveniently out of sight and, as the saying goes, out of mind.
4. Looks like this particular ball is already rolling, and is already carrying any speed it may have picked up in the last 3 years. I’d let you use my time machine to set our horrible future straight, but I can’t get it to stop shorting out around trollish levels of entitlement.
Isn’t interesting how people’s opinions differ? I like the name Bug Martini and think the randomness captures the essence of this comic very well. The six alternate names, although they’re more common phrases, don’t seem to relate to the fun of this comic. And since they are more common, they would run into the same issues with “trademark-ability” and google searches.
In *my* humble opinion, Adam’s the artistic genius here… if he had decided to ask for our vote, I would’ve cast my vote for his idea.
Thanks!
Surely, you can’t change the name after all these years!
Yes – and don’t call it Shirley.
What is an RSS and what is an RSS feed and how do I know if I have a good one? I wish I could say I just came out of a coma and missed the whole RSS craze but truth is its one of those things I never bothered to learn about, like what is a kardashian and who should I care.
Not sure I like the title (I’m more of a whisky guy), but as long as Bug goes on, I’ll be more than happy.
(and I’ll be waiting for those books, too!)
Bug Martini is a horrible name, right up there with Bug Pencil and Bug Scooter, it just doesn’t do anything. If it’s just for easier recognition why not call it Bugcomic since that’s what everyone else is calling it already?
Then again, if Bug Martini makes you all giddy with excitement go for it.
Bug Martini. I’ll drink to that!
What’s wrong with “Bug Comic”? Bug Martini does sound a bit odd to me, and I feel like searches for that would just turn up strange drinks from strange countries.
Oh well, I’ll read it every day anyway.
I guess you gotta roll with the punches.
You’ll probably need a signature mark like a martini glass.
Just don’t put a tooth-pick skewered bug in it.
That “click” you had with the name was actually a mini-stroke. See a doctor. Now. 😛
(Well, it’s the only reason I can think of that really makes sense. Every other reason you listed doesn’t really hold water for me – unless you received a cease and desist you aren’t mentioning or you were offered a bug-tonne of money to fork the link over in the not-so-distant future. See, it’s an evil conspiracy by the white ants…..)
The Adventures of Bug Martini
Salud!
When I served guava juice to my friend’s toddler, I called it “bug juice” because on the ingredients it says “carmine.” I looked up what that was and it explained that it is the red color derived from grinding up the carapace of certain beetles.
I’m with Nikko and Deen; I absolutely LOVE this comic, and we are privileged that Adam chooses to share it with us. I actually quite like the name change, but if I didn’t I would NEVER presume to tell Adam this, as it is none of my concern.
There are things in life you just have to roll with folks. Thats why coins are made of metal — because change is hard. It took the man three years to make this decision, do you think that was easy? Shame on all of you who nitpick over something like that.
Cheers!
Thanks!
The way I see it: the change doesn’t really affect you guys because it’s still going to be the same old comic strip. No one comes here to look at my title.
Working in the computer industry, I can tell you that having a textualy distinct name has become very important in the age of Google.
E.g. Apple called it’s spreadsheet program “Numbers”, it’s page layout app “Pages” and it’s presentation “Keynote.” Good luck finding specific information on the names just with their names. Likewise, the scripting language “Ruby” and associated tech uses gem names by convention meaning that when learning the language, you learn a lot about gemmology, pornstars etc because of all the overlap.
“Bug” has got to fade into the noise. I think it better to have a completely made up gibberish name than a common one.
Man alive! Bug Martini is fine! The comic is fantastic, name it whatever you want!
Complaints about this don’t even qualify as 1st world problems. These people are nuts.
I remember when a comic called “Suburban Torture” rebranded itself as “The Dinette Set” in order to, I think, make for wider syndication appeal.
A rose by any other name AFAIAC…
Your comic is great fun. Rock on with your new name! I predict buggy success.
This, young sir, is a great comic, no matter what you call it. And all of your reasons for changing the name are sensible and wise. Cheers! -v
I don’t get the fuss over the name change. It’s Adam’s comic, and if he likes Bug Martini, good for him. It’s his vision, not ours. I can think of countless famous (and well loved and received) comics, movies, songs, etc. that have titles that have little – or nothing – to do with their actual content. And most importantly, if you truly love the comic, then the title is hardly the end all. I love the comic, it’s funny, witty and has a fantastic blend of reality and utter nonsense. He could call it Unicorn Trashcan and I’d still be back everyday to read it.
Hmm…Unicorntrashcan.com IS available…
You should probably snatch that up just because! Who knows…it may spark new ideas! 🙂
Kinda like they say about writing vs art.. a good name won’t save a bad comic, but a good comic can have any damn name it wants. If it’s funny and keeps people coming back, that’s what ultimately matters.
I so rarely have time to keep up with my favorite webcomics, but Bug, Martini or not, is on my shortlist of those worth my time to play archive catch-up.
By changing the name you have also doubled your character base. When a bug with a fedora or a Captain Amercan sheild won’t cut it.. You can bring in the martini glass carrying Thors hammer! 🙂
Great strip Adam, keep on makin us laugh
Bug a Martini.
I have been an avid reader now for a couple years and always come back due to the fact you are consistant in your updates and most importantly the humor is always spot on.
I for one am glad of the name change, it can only be a good thing,. It’ll bring in more readers and create more of a recognizable brand.
If and when your books come out, I will be buying.
Thanks Adam for the lols, literally in the coffee shop sometimes and let out a hugely embarrassing gafaw.
I propose a toast…. everyone raise your BugMartinis…. to the future!
I think “BugTini” is a great name (and a great cocktail)
Good for you Adam. Damn the naysayers, full speed ahead.