Surviving the World was a daily, gag-a-day Photo Comic by Dante Shepherd (the creative pseudonym of Dr. Lucas Landherr), covering topics ranging from all over the map including life, romance, politics, science, etc. The comic is structured as a college class, and had the working title of 101. Each comic (termed a 'lesson') takes the form of Dante standing in front of a blackboard, with the day's lesson written upon it. The lessons cover a wide range of topics, from social issues to practical advice to literary references (notably to Lewis Carroll).
It ran for 10 years and 1 day, from May 31, 2008 to June 1, 2018, and totaled 3634 comics, comprising:
- 3548 lessons (including 100 separately-numbered recitations and 17 recitations included in the official numbering
- 43 guest lectures
- 28 student presentations
- 25 miscellaneous other comics and posts
Dante also occasionally hosted live streams of the making of the comic, and for a while included a monthly crossword by Justin Smith.
A book featuring 300 of the best comics was funded on Kickstarter during the final month of uploads, and is due to be released to backers in December 2018.
Tropes used by this webcomic:
- Bolt of Divine Retribution: Discussed by the footnote of Lesson 142, Sports VS Religion, "Today's picture was taken under a giant piece of sheet metal to provide extra protection from lightning strikes." The picture itself includes the author looking up nervously with his fingers crossed.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: He acknowledges drawbacks but advises you learn it anyway.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Blackboard the comic appears on changed often until Dante bought his own. Also the hat that he switches to possibly may be this or a Mid-Season Upgrade.
- Long Runner: It ran for 10 years and 1 day, with over 3600 comics. (That one day is very important, as it allows Landherr to say it ran for 'over ten years'.) In that time, only 20 days' break were taken.
- Mad Scientist: As good a theory as any as to why they exist [1] and in some pictures he certainly looks like one, especially with his default Badass Labcoat.
- Never Bare Headed: In every picture he has on a redsox ball cap. He's gone on record saying he wants his kids to think the hat is his normal hair.
- Not That Kind of Doctor: Dante himself as well as this strip on getting a doctorate.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Dante's wife, theSwede, and his daughter, Cannonball. theSwede is also The Ghost, but he's held his infant daughter on-panel in one comic.
- Punny Name:
- Dante's Dog (and occasional guest lecturer) is named German (do as many pet owners do and apply the owner's last name to the pet).
- German is not, however, a German Shepherd. He's a large Beag-no, a Treeing Walker Coonhound.
- That Poor Cat: According to Dante, cats make the best erasers.
- Writer on Board: Dante is very concerned about climate change, and he's insistent on beating us over the head with that concern.