The point seemed to sink in and he began to discuss another one of his comics, titled 'Grownups,' which seemed all too familiar to his audience. Instead, Munroe suggested, 'Things happen and you take small steps to make them better. But I want to tell you all that it's useless to walk around worrying.' As a student, Munroe pulled a few tricks that caught the attention of many, including the university's president, Paul Trible.īut in the midst of the jokes came a serious message that arose from time with his wife, who is battling breast cancer: 'When I was in college, I had a fear of cancer. Students and residents within a 6-mile radius of CNU, saw a comic strip which expressed Munroe's fear that he was actually being invited back to have his degree revoked. Munroe expressed delight in hearing and watching the conversations online from confused readers who took some time to realize they were seeing different comics. For example, students at Virginia Tech saw a comic poking fun at students at the University of Virginia. That was the case then as a student, and now.įor April Fools, his comics were programmatically driven by specific geographic locations and website activity. He had been a student, just like the ones who sat before him, not sure of what the future would hold.Ī steady theme of his talk was his ability to find, or create, humor in each day. Munroe had seen his 'accidental' career begin to reveal itself at CNU when, in 2005, he began to scan his drawings and upload them to his website. Most of his audience was comprised of students from CNU. They had traveled from as far as Philadelphia and New York to hear him speak. Still, he takes time to revisit his past.Īs Munroe walked to a spotlit podium set up on the ample stage of Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center for the Arts, the people in the packed auditorium roared. Most recently, Munroe was nominated for the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Fan Artist. xkcd is translated into several languages and has been recognized for several awards. He chose the latter and moved to Boston with his assistant and continued to create comics and update his website for a growing fan base, which has since become international. 'I had to pick one,' Munroe said of NASA and xkcd. But as Christmas of 2006 approached, Munroe found himself packing up comic-based t-shirts sold from his website, for 16 hours.

In the middle of that progression, after receiving his physics degree from CNU, Munroe worked at NASA's Langley Research Center as a programmer and roboticist. Before starting xkcd, Randall Munroe worked on robots at NASA's Langley Research Center. Randall Munroe returned to the Hampton Roads Peninsula to speak at Christopher Newport University's Ferguson Center for the Arts.

Xkcd by Randall Munroe