CommitStrip - Rise of the Coders: Review

CommitStrip is a website that shares anecdotes of life as a coder through cleverly crafted idiosyncratic comic strips. A considerable fanbase inspired them to launch a physical book through a Kickstarter campaign. I backed it for 34$ (including shipping), and the project got successfully funded with an amount of €166,720 during October 2016. They completed two of their Kickstarter stretch goals, €30,000 and €100,000 respectively. Because of this, all backers who bought a book also received an original CommitStrip poster (size: A2), a thank you card, and a couple of stickers.

The book is printed in two languages, English & French. The backers got to choose the language preference right before the shipment. The comics cleverly reflects upon the lives of coders, programmers, developers and anyone involved in writing code. The Comics skillfully portray triumphs, failures, strokes of genius and the absurdities of coders with a stroke of sarcasm and humour.

Here are some of the comic strips from the book

A parody newspaper from the "CommitStrip" universe, "The Daily Coder" was also a part of my pledge and it perfectly compliments the book.

Developer Life Illustrated through a series of comics.

Although a larger audience for these comics is programmers and coders, someone with even a moderate level of tech awareness would understand most of the jokes, (with context), and sarcasm.

Interviews

The book also features interviews from some of the famous developers/CEOs and their favourite comic strips from the website.

The book features a 10-page comic story, all in black and white. It is one of my most liked features of the book and the less I speak about it, the better. (No Spoilers Here!)

Since this book lacks a bookmark, having one would have embraced its physicality. I liked the idea of not having an index / Table of contents as I wanted to be surprised every single time I turn a page. The end-papers had a beautiful collage of some of the characters from the book. These characters reminded me of my favourite comic characters, South Park and oatmeal. One thing that the team could have done with end-papers is that they could have made slight changes in both of them. A "spot the differences" game would have been a nice hidden/secret feature of the book.

Delivery, customs & duties on Kickstarter books (in India)

Once the project got funded, the CommitStrip team kept us updated on the status of printing, packaging and logistics through their Social Media Profiles and Kickstarter Updates.

We just received the books! They are really beautiful :) For 48h, you can still receive a copy before Christmas https://t.co/Li6iGQfRzR pic.twitter.com/PFImJxW5Rf

— CommitStrip (@CommitStrip) November 26, 2016

The team systematically managed all the backer information like address, phone numbers and language preferences through surveys from Backerkit. Right before the books were ready to be dispatched, all the campaign backers received an email through Backerkit requesting all the necessary information required for books to be delivered. All the backers again received an email confirming the details they had filled in right before shipment. All the backers also got an option to make an additional payment and upgrade their pledge (in case if they wanted to).

The book was published and shipped during the festive season. Unfortunately, there was a delay in delivering some of the packages, and very few of them were lost. The CommitStrip team gave a deadline of 12th January 2017 for receiving the parcels. Unfortunately, my consignment did not arrive until 17th, and I contacted the team for a replacement package to be shipped. Also, for those who had received the parcels damaged, a replacement package was arranged for them. There was an honest commitment to have the books (and goodies) delivered on time and in a proper condition.

I successfully received my books (and goodies) during Mid-February. The packaging was flawless. Like all of my International books, the customs and duties I paid were zero. India, in most of the cases, does not charge customs on educational books

Rating: 9/10

Related Links:

1. Kickstarter Campaign
2. Comic-Con: Mumbai 2016 & Campfire Graphic Novels Review
3. Backerkit Profile - Commit Strip
4. Commicon - Mumbai - 2016 (Article on this blog)
5. Update: 19th July 2019: The Authors released a sequel of the book. Here is a link to the Kickstarter campaign.

A weekend getaway at Kandala with a picturesque view & a great book! Could life get any better? @CommitStrip #digitalNormad pic.twitter.com/YBZNLedW9F

— Prashant Sani (@prashantsani) April 14, 2017

Sometimes some of the best possible solutions could be inspired during a constructive "offscreen" activity. One of such could be reading a comic book on the lives of people who share a similar carrier and lifestyle as the reader. So, I would recommend this book as a part of every developer's/coder's bookshelf/workspace. It would be one of the best ways to recharge their creative minds.