# Ryan North on Reddit (u/qwantz)

Part of Creators on Reddit, researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-07. Interactive version: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/creators-on-reddit/ryan-north

Ryan North: Cartoonist and writer, Dinosaur Comics and Squirrel Girl.

- Reddit account: [u/qwantz](https://www.reddit.com/user/qwantz/) (Personal account)
- How we know it's theirs: [Their 2012 r/IAmA AMA, posted from this account](https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/14dqo4/im_ryan_north_i_write_dinosaur_comics_the/)
- Where they post, in the records we retrieved: r/IAmA (1756), r/comics (332), r/adventuretime (84), r/DCcomics (81), r/qwantzparty (65), r/toronto (53)
- Known activity in the posts we found: 2009 to 2026
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_North

## Moments

### u/qwantz in r/IAmA, Dec 6, 2012 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> what does "qwantz" mean?

> If you follow the letters on a QWERTY keyboard it draws a T-Rex, constellation-style.
>
> But beyond that it has the same secret semantics as "xkcd"!

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/14dqo4/comment/c7c6gep/ · 61 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/qwantz in r/IAmA, Aug 8, 2018 · Behind the scenes

Replying to a redditor:

> When I started reading Dinosaur Comics one of the first ones I saw had everyone talking about radio formats or something with T-Rex stating in the last panel "this comic will only appear once" or something along those lines. I was then unable to return to the page after leaving…

> THIS IS A REAL THING I DID AND ONCE YOU SEE THE COMIC ONCE I STORE THE IP AND NEVER SHOW IT AGAIN, INSTEAD SILENTLY REPLACING IT WITH A DIFFERENT COMIC
>
> YOU ARE NOT INSANE
>
> BUT YOU HAVE BEEN... *SELECTED*

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/95lskt/comment/e3tujf4/ · 594 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/qwantz in r/IAmA, Nov 24, 2009 · Cut idea

In the thread "I'm the guy who does Dinosaur 
Comics.  AMA".

> My original idea was that every month, I'd switch up the template.  At the end of the first month I was going to switch to Astronaut Comics, but the astronaut clip art I had totally sucked and I believe I had to travel that weekend anyway, so I said "OH WELL" and continued on with the images I already had.

Context: a redditor asked if he'd ever thought about a new template (https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/a7nc5/)
Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/a7nc5/comment/c0g81t6/ · 46 points as of Nov 7, 2026

### u/qwantz in r/IAmA, Mar 8, 2022 · Own mistake

Replying to a redditor:

> I just pictured Velociraptor coming up behind Trex to make sure he heard that laugh

> FUN FACT: I had this idea early on that "Hah hah hah" would be the SINCERE laugh in the comic, and if they said "Ha ha ha" that was supposed to be an insincere, forced laugh.  But then I never went back to make sure that was consistent so I don't think I can point to all 20 years of comics and say that it holds for all of them.  But it does hold for some of them!

Full thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/t9jyl9/comment/hzvb6t2/ · 14 points as of Nov 7, 2026