Eric Alfred Burns (born January 27, 1968) is a critic, writer, poet, columnist and Role Playing Game developer who lives in New Hampshire. He is best known as the creator and one of the principal writers of the popular culture and webcomic commentary website Websnark and as the writer of the webcomic Gossamer Commons. January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... State nickname: The Granite State Other U.S. States Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Governor John Lynch (D) Official languages English Area 24,239 km² (46th)  - Land 23,249 km²  - Water 814 km² (3. ... Websnark refers to the website Websnark. ... Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that are available on the Internet. ...

Burns was born and raised in Fort Kent, Maine. He attended college at Boston University for two years before leaving school and moving to Ithaca, New York, where he worked as a professional actor and as a temporary worker for Manpower Inc. At one point, he lived on the top floor of a high rise directly on the Ithaca Commons. Burns later set Gossamer Commons in Ithaca, loosely based on his time living on the Commons. He returned to school, attending the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, Cum Laude. It was Burns's education and training in literary criticism that informed his eventual move into webcomics criticism. Burns was one of the most prolific Superguy writers during this time, eventually contributing just shy of a million words to the creative writing project. Burns also became a published poet during these years, most notably in the Black Fly Review. Fort Kent is the name of a CDP in Maine: Fort Kent (CDP), Maine Fort Kent is also the name of a town in Maine: Fort Kent (town), Maine This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... State nickname: The Pine Tree State Other U.S. States Capital Augusta Largest city Portland Governor John Baldacci (D) Official languages None Area 86,542 km² (39th)  - Land 80,005 km²  - Water 11,724 km² (13. ... Boston University is a non-sectarian private university located in Boston, Massachusetts. ... It has been suggested that Ithaca Commons be merged into this article or section. ... Manpower, Inc. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Ithaca, New York. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B., from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, or literature composed in English by writers who are not necessarily from England; Joseph Conrad was Polish, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Edgar Allan Poe was American, Salman Rushdie is Indian. ... Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. ... Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. ... This article lacks information on the importance of the subject matter. ...

Superguy ultimately led Burns to his first short fiction publication credits, for the short lived Mythic Heroes magazine.

After graduation, Burns returned to Ithaca for a time, including a stint as an actor for the Sterling Renaissance Festival in nearby Fair Haven, New York. After a year, he moved to Seattle, Washington, before moving back to Maine and ultimately to New Hampshire. During this period, Burns became involved with the In Nomine Role Playing Game published by Steve Jackson Games, ultimately writing both for the game and for Pyramid Magazine. Burns became one of the principal writers of Sidewinder Wild West Adventures, a d20 role playing game published by Citizen Games that was nominated for an ENnie Award. Burns is listed as a contributing author on Sidewinder: Recoiled, a d20 Modern based sequel produced by Dog House Rules which won the 2004 ENnie Gold award for Best Electronic Product. However, Burns claims little to no involvement with the second work. Burns has also worked for Decipher. Fair Haven is a village located in Cayuga County, New York. ... Downtown Seattle skyline City nickname: The Emerald City Location Location of Seattle in King County and Washington Government County King Mayor Greg Nickels NP/Democrat ¹ Physical characteristics Area      Land      Water 369. ... In Nomine is a role-playing game designed by Derek Pearcy and published in 1997 by Steve Jackson Games, based on the French game In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas. ... Steve Jackson Games (SJG) is a game company that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games. ... Pyramid is a gaming magazine, publishing articles primarily on role-playing games, but including board games, card games, and other sorts of games. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... The d20 Modern Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook d20 Modern is a role-playing game designed by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan. ... Decipher, Inc. ...

In 1999, Burns began work on Some Days in the Life of Eric Alfred Burns, an online journal and diary that, while sharing many aspects with a more modern blog, tended less to the incidental and more to essays and commentary. While not as popular as Burns's later work with Websnark, the journal did ultimately attract about three thousand regular daily readers, particularly during a poignant run as Burns chronicled his battle with congestive heart failure induced by idiopathic cardiomyopathy, as well as a car accident in 2000. 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... A weblog (now more commonly known as a blog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order). ... Congestive heart failure (CHF) (also called congestive cardiac failure and heart failure) is the inability of the heart to pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body, or requiring elevated filling pressures in order to pump effectively. ... Idiopathic is a medical adjective that indicates that a recognized cause has not yet been established. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Though continuing to do role playing game development over the next several years, and flirting with a Livejournal that was less an outlet for essays and more a traditional personal diary, Burns didn't really return to significant essay writing or criticism until 2004 and his launching of Websnark. Originally meant to be the frivolous journal with a renewed "Some Days in the Life" acting as his serious essay blog, Websnark swiftly built an audience that ultimately reached the mid five figures daily. Utilizing a conversational style with a heavy emphasis on Webcomics, Burns was seen at least initially as a more approachable alternative to more traditional critics in outlets like Comixpedia and the Webcomics Examiner. Any potential acrimony between these different approaches was swiftly mitigated, however, and Burns became a regular Comixpedia columnist as well as a contributor to the Examiner. LiveJournal (often abbreviated LJ) is the name of a weblog site allowing Internet users to keep an online journal or diary. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Websnark refers to the website Websnark. ... Web comics are comics that are available on the web. ... Comixpedia is an online magazine that provides coverage of the new medium of webcomics. ...

Though referring to his critiques as snarks, Burns typically eschews the snide and sarcastic tone that the word implies, most typically focusing on positive examples and developments in the webcomics world. Websnark is also an outlet for commentary on philosophy and popular culture, though webcomics remains what the site is known for. Of particular interest is Burns's use of literary criticism instead of art criticism as the basis of his critiques. Burns avoids directly criticizing art, in part because of his own lack of drawing ability. (A fact clearly underscored by his first webcomic, Unfettered by Talent, which Burns drew himself.) It seems more likely, however, that Burns's background and training in literary criticism informs his technique. Burns has employed New Criticism, Myth Criticism, and Historicism at different times, clearly enjoying literary theory for its own sake. When pressed, Burns identifies himself as a New Critic, though he is not known for close reading the works he is critiquing. The word snark has a number of uses: A Snark (Lewis Carroll) is a fictional animal, the quarry for a hunting party comprising some highly unlikely characters in Lewis Carrolls The Hunting of the Snark A snark (graph theory) is a graph in which each vertex has three edges... New Criticism was the dominant trend in English and American literary criticism of the early twentieth century, from the 1920s to the early 1960s. ... Historicism has developed different and divergent, though loosely related, meanings. ... Literary theory is the theory (or the philosophy) of the interpretation of literature and literary criticism. ... New Criticism was the dominant trend in English and American literary criticism of the early twentieth century, from the 1920s to the early 1960s. ... In literary criticism, close reading describes the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text. ...

Burns also has archivist tendencies. Once a proponent of using Wikipedia itself as a tool for centralizing information about webcomics, Burns ultimately suggested the creation of The Webcomics Wiki, though others have done most of the work on the Webcomics Wiki since then.

In 2005, Burns took on Wednesday White as a partner at Websnark, and also began merchandising the site in minor ways. He also traded on the notoriety Websnark afforded him by putting out an open call for an artist to collaborate on a new webcomic (having decided against trying to draw it himself). Greg Holkan, the artist of Nemesis, came on board and the pair launched Gossamer Commons on March 21, 2005. Though slow in the beginning, the strip has hit a stride and now has a readership in the thousands. Also in 2005, Burns launched a gag-a-day photo comic called The Adventures of Brigadier General John Stark, about the hero of the Battle of Bennington. 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wednesday White is a Canadian citizen currently living in the United Kingdom. ... Greg Holkan draws the webcomics Websnark and Nemesis. ... A nemesis is a seemingly unbeatable or unconquerable enemy, often used as a foil to the protagonist, where interaction between the hero and his antagonist forms the main conflict of the story. ... The Battle of Bennington (August 16, 1777) was an important battle during the American Revolution in which British forces were defeated by American troops. ...

Eric had gastric bypass surgery in March of 2004, and has credited this with saving his life. Burns has suggested that he approached 500 pounds at his heaviest. As of August of 2005, he had lost close to two hundred pounds. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, or simply gastric bypass surgery, is a procedure almost exclusively used in surgical weight loss applications to correct morbid obesity. ...

See also

• Webcomic
• Websnark
• Gossamer Commons

Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that are available on the Internet. ... Websnark refers to the website Websnark. ...

External links

• Websnark
• Gossamer Commons
• Webcomics Wiki
• The Adventures of Brigadier General John Stark