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Problem Sleuth #1
Compensation, Adequate
This is what being a hard boiled problem sleuth is all about. It's about being a strong, silent type, oozing with confidence, charisma, and other fine qualities such as not being trapped in your own office. It's about having a working phone. A real desk. Not one, but two steak dinners. And some hysterical broad on the line, yackin' about some fella she's got troubles with. It's always the same thing with dames. You comfort yourself in your sublime fantasy by now and then saying things into the phone such as, "Now calm down a second, toots..." and "Hey, take it easy, sweetheart. I can barely understand a word you're sayin'..." Being a hard boiled problem sleuth is what this book is all about.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
5 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Hussie
87 books431 followersAndrew Hussie is the creator of MS Paint Adventures, a collection of webcomics that includes Homestuck, as well as of several other webcomics, books, and videos.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 31, 2010
You're better off just reading it on the web at http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4 -- the animations aren't present in the book, obviously, and I wasn't into the footnotes and found them to distract from the main panels. This was really just one of my "I like what this person is giving away for free and want to reward them for it" purchases.
February 26, 2018
I'm not a huge fan of Homestuck, especially where it went in the later years, but Problem Sleuth is an absolute masterpiece and I will always love it. I really enjoyed the commentary too. I really gotta get around to buying the sequels here...
June 12, 2023
"This is what being a hard boiled problem sleuth is all about. It's about being a strong, silent type, oozing with confidence, charisma, and other fine qualities such as not being trapped in your own office. It's about having a working phone. A real desk. Not one, but two steak dinners. You comfort yourself in your sublime fantasy.”
Before his magnum opus, Homestuck, Andrew Hussie created his most grandiose and intricate webcomic yet. Problem Sleuth is about 3 hard-boiled Prohibition-era detectives trying to escape their boss' workplace after he locked them inside a labyrinth-like workspace filled to the brim with puzzles and challenges. Parodying both text-based games and role-playing games, Problem Sleuth shares a lot of similar aspects to Homestuck. From simple one-off jokes, to the art style getting better and better as the webcomic progresses, random pop culture references, whole buildings and characters, and the genuine chaos that is the lore and complicated power systems among other things, enjoyers of Homestuck would also enjoy Problem Sleuth to some degree. However, as it is a product of the early Internet, some jokes and word choices haven't aged well at all (not that they were acceptable in the first place). Despite that flaw, Problem Sleuth is still a pretty enjoyable story where literally anything can happen and all the characters will accept it as the nature of the world. It is quite the adventure to behold.
Before his magnum opus, Homestuck, Andrew Hussie created his most grandiose and intricate webcomic yet. Problem Sleuth is about 3 hard-boiled Prohibition-era detectives trying to escape their boss' workplace after he locked them inside a labyrinth-like workspace filled to the brim with puzzles and challenges. Parodying both text-based games and role-playing games, Problem Sleuth shares a lot of similar aspects to Homestuck. From simple one-off jokes, to the art style getting better and better as the webcomic progresses, random pop culture references, whole buildings and characters, and the genuine chaos that is the lore and complicated power systems among other things, enjoyers of Homestuck would also enjoy Problem Sleuth to some degree. However, as it is a product of the early Internet, some jokes and word choices haven't aged well at all (not that they were acceptable in the first place). Despite that flaw, Problem Sleuth is still a pretty enjoyable story where literally anything can happen and all the characters will accept it as the nature of the world. It is quite the adventure to behold.
November 28, 2018
The quintessential collaborative internet story, that first shows just what kind of plainly bizarre shenanigans you could get into with the new medium. It's a lot of fun throughout, and in comparison to the author's next work, downright bite-sized and never falling apart under its own weight.
If you've heard of Homestuck, but balk in the face of its length and weird plot and the massive eldritch fandom, start out with Problem Sleuth. It's a far easier introduction to the whole mess, and will give you a fairly good general idea on what you're into, not to mention being pretty great read in its own right.
If you've heard of Homestuck, but balk in the face of its length and weird plot and the massive eldritch fandom, start out with Problem Sleuth. It's a far easier introduction to the whole mess, and will give you a fairly good general idea on what you're into, not to mention being pretty great read in its own right.
November 22, 2019
Basically a masterpiece of the modern era, no other literary work can even hope to compare itself to this.
April 24, 2020
Pretty decent book,although read in the website is more fun
January 24, 2022
haha funny book wheee hee hee funny one this is a good one 0/10
June 2, 2017
I finished reading all of the current Homestuck acts a couple of weeks ago, and haven't been able to shake myself from the resulting book hangover. Problem Sleuth was my attempt to move on.
(After Jailbreak - I decided to go back to the beginning. I jumped right over Bardquest though. That's probably going to be my next move, as I wait for April 13th.)
I love parodies of noir, so I was already sold on the premise. But watching Hussie's humor and style evolve over the course of several series was also incredibly enjoyable to watch. I like his sense of humor, and you can see how small mechanics from Jailbreak were taken and improved upon in Problem Sleuth.
Having read Jailbreak between the major series, it was fun catching the various references Problem Sleuth makes to that story. (Although the references weren't nearly as pronounced in the first few chapters as they were in later ones. Dear, sweet lord, that Life segment!)
The use of imagination and box forts were fun and silly, although after a while it just sort of stopped really being a driving force of the story. They were great while they lasted, though, even if they were just a plot device used to get the main characters out of their offices.
(After Jailbreak - I decided to go back to the beginning. I jumped right over Bardquest though. That's probably going to be my next move, as I wait for April 13th.)
I love parodies of noir, so I was already sold on the premise. But watching Hussie's humor and style evolve over the course of several series was also incredibly enjoyable to watch. I like his sense of humor, and you can see how small mechanics from Jailbreak were taken and improved upon in Problem Sleuth.
Having read Jailbreak between the major series, it was fun catching the various references Problem Sleuth makes to that story. (Although the references weren't nearly as pronounced in the first few chapters as they were in later ones. Dear, sweet lord, that Life segment!)
The use of imagination and box forts were fun and silly, although after a while it just sort of stopped really being a driving force of the story. They were great while they lasted, though, even if they were just a plot device used to get the main characters out of their offices.
August 16, 2015
I just got this for my birthday and rushed through it. Of course, this is better to read online for the occasional animations (not as many in this first part of the story as later), but I think most of the best stuff in Problem Sleuth is right here in the beginning. There is some commentary, but there's not as much insight there as I'd hoped.
Normally, I reserve recommending MSPaintAdventures to some people because in order to truly appreciate the ridiculous intricacy of the plot, you really need to pay attention and get super involved with the world. But this early part of the story succeeds on a different level. The sheer inventiveness and counter-intuitiveness of the bizarre gamelike world in which Problem Sleuth exists is at its best right at the beginning, when the depth of the insanity isn't quite clear yet. So I can easily recommend this part of the story to just about anyone who can appreciate silliness.
If, in addition to being willing to giggle at a hard-boiled detective who uses candy corn to make vampire teeth, you're also the sort of person who was excited because the movie Primer finally got time travel right, then read it all the way through to the end, and I'll talk to you in a few months when you're done.
Normally, I reserve recommending MSPaintAdventures to some people because in order to truly appreciate the ridiculous intricacy of the plot, you really need to pay attention and get super involved with the world. But this early part of the story succeeds on a different level. The sheer inventiveness and counter-intuitiveness of the bizarre gamelike world in which Problem Sleuth exists is at its best right at the beginning, when the depth of the insanity isn't quite clear yet. So I can easily recommend this part of the story to just about anyone who can appreciate silliness.
If, in addition to being willing to giggle at a hard-boiled detective who uses candy corn to make vampire teeth, you're also the sort of person who was excited because the movie Primer finally got time travel right, then read it all the way through to the end, and I'll talk to you in a few months when you're done.
September 2, 2023
One book down! I'm really enjoying revisiting this series in it's physical release format. I started as preparation for a Halloween costume I'm working on but I forgot what made me like it enough to want to base a Halloween costume on it in the first place. Truly nothing like it, excited to reread the rest of this nonsense.
September 9, 2014
for sure i laughed a couple times or at least giggled but this wasn't like life-changing? it is probably a huge mistake but I am slowly working up to homestuck. someone stop me.
January 1, 2015
(Review is for entire webcomic, available at http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=4) An enjoyable diversion, if not a masterwork of prose. Silly and quotable.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews