[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oc_logov3.png]]
->''"OVERCOMPENSATING: The Journal Comic With a Seething Disdain for Reality."''
-->-- Page Title

-> '''Hey.''' My name is Jeffrey Rowland and I am an '''actual dude'''. I used to live in Oklahoma but now I live in Northampton, Massachusetts. I got problems like everybody does. I got a few stories to tell you.

''[[http://overcompensating.com/ Overcompensating]]'' is the sometimes fiction other times auto-bio web-comic by Jeffrey Rowland. Rowland is also the creator of other web comics ''Webcomic/WhenIGrowUp'' and ''Webcomic/WiguAdventures'' as well as the founder of [[http://topatoco.com/hey/ TopatoCo]], a t-shirt company specializing in selling web-comic based merchandise.

The strips feature a collection of characters, some fictitious, some based on people Rowland knows in real life (quite a few are real web-comic creators), with the main character being an AuthorAvatar. The subject matter of a strip generally falls into the below subjects:
* What happened last night?
* A humorous take on [[RippedFromTheHeadlines whatever is in the news now]].
* Some horrible fad that can't ''possibly'' be real, but is.
* Some horrible reality that all humans have to face despite the fact that it's so soul-crushingly horrible it's a wonder we all get out of bed each morning.

If you came here for the ''other'' type of overcompensating, the page you want is CompensatingForSomething.
----
!!This comic provides examples of:

* AdorableAbomination: Joanna, a green undead cat, who is probably some sort of eldritch horror, but appears as a green kitty with a silly look on its face.
* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Invoked in modified form by Weedmaster P in [[http://overcompensating.com/posts/20130226.html this]] strip.
%%* AltText
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: The [=G0D=] of Internet, a giant four-armed catwoman who speaks in [=L33T=].
* ArtEvolution: In the comic itself, also can be compared to WhenIGrowUp to REALLY see how far Rowland has progressed.
%%* AuthorAvatar
* AuthorTract: Frequently, and without shame.
* BadassNative: Being half Cherokee, Jeffrey desperately WANTS to be this, but in reality is little more than a drunken redneck.
* CatchPhrase: "Dickass", started by Weedmaster P, later copied by everyone else.
%%* ConRecap.
* EldritchAbomination: Joanna is this. When Jeffrey rigs up a small camera to see what she gets up to while everyone is out, the following recording is little more than a terrifying sequence of reality breaking down around her. Jeffrey proceeds to go to South America to find a witch doctor to dispose of the camera by means of an active volcano.
** She also at one point gave birth to an egg that hatched into one of these. You never see it on panel, but its tentacles can be seen slithering away.
* FromBadToWorse: [[http://overcompensating.com/posts/20041022.html This strip]], done on purpose with [[strike: hilarious]] horrible results.
%%* GuestStrip
* {{God}}: Makes frequent appearances as well as his son.
* GodIsEvil: Sort of, God and Jesus can be dicks at times. Also they both live in a trailer park for some reason.
* GodIsFlawed: And he used to drink a lot, apparently.
* GrossUpCloseUp: [[http://www.overcompensating.com/posts/20090909.html This strip.]]
* GrotesqueCute: [[http://overcompensating.com/posts/20081201.html Butt-cats!!]]
* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: Weedmaster P's Webcomic [[http://overcompensating.com/posts/20090402.html]]
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: Jeffrey goes out of his way to tear down this trope built around UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus. Among other things, Columbus Day is celebrated by trying to keep Columbus's spirit from returning, and his massacre of the American natives is constantly brought up.
* HollywoodHacking: Whenever they need to do something computer-y, Jeffrey and team go into ''Film/{{Hackers}}''-mode, with 90s cyberpunk fashions, edgy nicknames, and hacker slogans hollered at the top of their lungs.
* HumansAreBastards: One form of Jeffrey's misanthropy.
* HumansAreStupid: One form of Jeffrey's misanthropy.
* IfIHadANickel: Parodied in [[http://www.overcompensating.com/oc/index.php?comic=97 comic 97]]. Jeffrey wishes he had a nickel for every time he'd seen a crazy lady yell at a dog in a parking lot thinking he'd be a quadrillionaire, and is visited by the Fairy Of Actual Nickels, who hands him a bag of nickels amounting to $41.65.
* LibationForTheDead: Okay, so not a straight example, but there is a Jim Beam-drinking, undead cat from Hell.
* LifeEmbellished: The real Jeffrey presumably does not have an undead cat, frequently meet God and is the secret Inside President of the U.S.
* MundaneFantastic: Topato, the flying, super-strong, made-out of poison, potatoes occasionally shows up from his home dimension to yell at Jeffrey.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Part of reality had to be deleted to prevent ALL of reality collapsing. Happens in a cross-over with ''Wigu Adventures''.
* NightmareFetishist: Joanna, originating from the Land of The Dead, has a somewhat... different idea of what is appealing.
--> '''Jeffrey''': I showed Joanna a picture of [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] and she screamed.\\
'''Weedmaster P''': Because he's scary!\\
'''Jeffrey''': No, like how girls used to [[{{Squee}} scream]] at them [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles]].
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Robot Monkey Pirate Zombie Mummy Ninja Hobo Cowboy, "the greatest cartoon character in the history of Earth."
%%* OneWordTitle:
* OurFairiesAreDifferent: In [[http://www.overcompensating.com/oc/index.php?comic=97 comic 97]]:
** The Fairy of Actual Nickels is shown.
** The Fairy of Illegal Street Brawling is mentioned as the boyfriend of The Fairy of Actual Nickels.
* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: After the 2008 election, Jeffrey is elected as the secret "Inside President", the official who is in charge of actually coming up with new policies, a position that doesn't pay anything and is considered a civic duty. Obama is still elected as the face of the Presidency.
* {{Portmantitle}}: "Over" + "Compensating"
%%* RampJump
* RefugeInAudacity
%%* RunForTheBorder: Choices are in short supply with almost any situation involving [[https://web.archive.org/web/20080610172304/http://overcompensating.com/posts/20041018.html five gallons of ticks]].
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In a recent strip, Jeffrey finds a caterpillar in his teeth and promptly drives his truck off a cliff.
* TheStoner: Weedmaster P. Doy. He takes April 20th off, as he considers it 24 hours of Amateur Hour, and compares it to being UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli on a day when everyone thinks they can punch out dudes as good as you.
* StrawmanPolitical: Hoo ''boy''.
* TakeThat: The site frequently takes shots at society and politics, however [[http://overcompensating.com/posts/20080804.html this]] comic attacks neither but still hits Kid Rock, his fans, and [[Webcomic/CtrlAltDel Tim Buckley]] pretty hard.
* TakeThatMe: The Jeffrey seen in the comics is a far bigger loser than the real Jeffrey is, which is joked about in some strips.
* TeamPet: Joanna. She's actually an undead cat Jeffrey found during a trip to the Land of The Dead, and doesn't move much. At least when anyone is looking.
** [[Webcomic/MsPaintAdventures Andrew Hussie's]] brief appearance lightly mocked his workaholicness and his tendency for animation that doesn't particularly add anything to a panel.
* TimeTravel: Weedmaster P owns a time machine which occasionally works itself into the plot.
* PresidentEvil: During the Bush years, Bush and Cheney were portrayed as this through and through.
* WithFriendsLikeThese: Weedmaster P.
* [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes Why Did It Have to Be Spiders?]]: Understandable, as Jeffrey, both comic and the real one, got necrotis on his leg after getting bit by a brown recluse spider.
----