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The Appeal of the Un-comic

May 22, 2013
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It’s a thin divide that separates an actual comic strip from something that merely resembles one. Those that lie outside the classic definition are what I call “un-comics.”  They function like standard comic strips and work toward the same end, but are unmistakably different for any number of reasons.  I’m not often sure what they are saying, but here are some un-comics that stand out in a small crowd.

A Softer World - The collaboration of  Joey Comeau and Emily Horne, A Softer World, upon first glance, is merely a series of snapshots with typed script glued on top.  Visually, it is no more than that, but the careful reader will notice a finely structured work of art.  Whether dark (“Waking up is nice / for those first few moments / before you remember who and what you are.”), slapstick (“If something seems too good to be true / quick! put it in your mouth.”), or sweetly poetic (“We talk in the dark as we fall asleep / and are objects in the night sky / outside of time.”); each layout is unique and multi-layered.

Meszcomics - Mescomics makes unreadable messy comics – their words, not mine.  Let me see if I can sum up the work in a single sentence: These are the semi-coherent adventures of the homosexual Sin-Cat and his pals, who find themselves in obscure instances and explore (sometimes in Spanish, French, German or Cockney)   their own unreality.  Or as they may say in Meszcomiceese: It runs along underside to the place that lives, where happy dances and sadness sings. And children are goat-monkeys.

Comics for the Blind – Using an array of devices to make its point, Comics for the Blind is dedicated to poking fun at scores of popular comic strip titles. No one is safe and nothing is sacred. It may be a diatribe about The Lockhorns, a word-only description of Hagar the Horrible, Luann with deleted text, or a Family Circus simply thrown to the wolves that are reader comments.  Most notable is the popular “Improving Garfield,” which is simply Garfield with altered or removed word balloons.

Garfield Minus Garfield  - Garfield must be an easy target because Garfield Minus Garfield is, well, just that.  The stated motive is to reveal the existential angst of the still single and middle-aged Jon Arbuckle after almost 35 years in circulation.  I have to admit, it really does cast Jon in a new, sometimes sad and disturbing light. In case you were curious about how something like this goes over with Garfield creator Jim Davis, he calls G-G “an inspired thing to do.”

Another Tower  - Unfortunately, Another Tower recently went down for reconstruction. I wish I could offer a brief explanation about the content, but I don’t know. I really don’t. You’ll have to wait and judge for yourself.

Storyline Generator

March 28, 2013
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You remember these from grade school.  Pick three numbers between 1 and 25 (yes, they can repeat.) Take the corresponding phrase from each of the three lists below. You will be left with a storyline that flows like this: “The story of (list 1) who (list 2) and his (list 3)“.  There are over 15,000 combinations.  It’s either a great brainstorming tool or a fantastic way to waste time.  Maybe it’s both.

LIST 1: “The story of. . .”                                  

1.) a dislexic pastry chef

2.) five idiot brothers

3.) an angry princess turned mercenary

4.) a toad and his fly concubine

5.) a small mountain village forgotten by time

6.) the only gay Transformer

7.) a 30-something mutant samurai armadillo

8.) a hateful DNA strand

9.) a space duck

10.) a religious zealot and two atheists

11.) a midget with two heads and five arms

12.) a group of disgruntled orthodontists

13.) four rabid chipmunks

14.) a VW Beetle that speaks Olde English and his hypochondriac Japanese driver

15.) a Titanic “survivor” trapped on the ocean floor

16.) a drunk and abusive donkey

17.) a giant locust with bright pink graffiti

18.) four teens with hopeless acne

19.) a mob boss with a bedeviled teddy bear

20.) a band of high-performance garbage collectors

21.) a super-intelligent radioactive bean burrito

22.) a manic-depressive talking tree

23.) a “Girl’s Gone Wild” alumnus

24.) a super tricked-out rental van

25.) an elite force of living G.I. Joe action figures

LIST 2: “Who/that. . .”

1.) can see 38 seconds in to the future

2.) remain(s) alive only by eating kittens

3.) become(s) trapped in a 16th century witch trial

4.) can transform into any non-speaking Disney character

5.) must alter its own temperature 15 degrees every hour or explode

6.) sell(s) unicorns on an intergalactic black market

7.) travel(s) 7,000 years into the future

8.) is/are obsessed with playing dominos in space

9.) traded everything for two “magic” beans that were really just beans.

10.) bio-engineered a new race of angry mini monkeys

11.) live(s) on a New York City garbage barge

12.) accidentally stole the U.S. nuclear launch codes

13.) remain(s) in a walking hibernative state all but three days a year

14.) is/are elected chancellor of an unpopulated island

15.) unknowingly ingested a colony of micro scientists

16.) fight(s) city hall even when they agree

17.) hire(s) out a break dancing monkey for extra cash

18.) can sing the secret lyrics to “Chopsticks” in any language

19.) trip(s) the life fantastic

20.) lack(s) depth perception, hearing, faith and common sense

21.) can breathe fire, strong wind and severe garlic

22.) is/are determined to suppress goose migration

23.) is/are mistakenly awarded two advanced Ivy League degrees

24.) has/have not been exposed to society since 1933.

25.) has/have only 4 hours to live

LIST 3: “and his/her/its/their. . .”

1.) quest to find a better meat pie

2.) ridiculous attire in every situation

3.) constant difficulties reaching an operator

4.) search to find a cure for the common cold

5.) passion to revitalize the local chess club

6.) passive-aggressive, bed-wetting mother-in-law.

7.) mission to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

8.) search for more Cheese Whiz

9.) ambition to join a high school pom pom team.

10.) hope to reunite the Doors.

11.) ambitious desire to populate the North Pole.

12.) magic harpsicord

13.) adventure into a vacuum nozzle

14.) desire for more soft serve ice cream machines

15.) trek across space for better nachos

16.) deep sea adventures

17.) adventures in a low security prison

18.) last chance to visit New Mexico.

19.) search for a chasm. Any old chasm.

20.) traveling carnival of outcast fleas and field mice

21.) arrogant opinions on quantum theory.

22.) experiments in search of meaning.

23.) feuding family members.

24.) holiday on an extremely fragile 1920s dirigible.

25.) experimental roadside fireworks demonstrations.

 

You may also like:  Cartoon Generator

 

A Review: Red Meat

March 21, 2013
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If you’ve ever skimmed through your local alternative newsweekly, odds are good you encountered Red Meat (www.redmeat.com), the original standard-bearer for off-color, irreverent humor.  For almost 25 years this three-panel weekly strip has towed the line, getting laughs instead of chuckles with its blend of clever weirdness.  While some Red Meat peers spout insults and political incorrectness for its own sake, Red Meat pushes the envelope without forcing an issue.

Red Meat is devoted to the twisted and has carved out it’s own genre: madness.  It pays certain homage to the cruel milkman, thelackluster father and the oddball sociopath.  The more outlandish the situation the better.  Murder, incest, drug use and hate crime share time with dead clowns and the recently widowed.  There is no devotion to a character or storyline, but to the defunct.

The characters are the same year after year.  And when I say same, I mean that author Max Cannon has used the same clip art for every character since the strips’ inception in 1989.  Milkman Dan. Papa Moai. Don and Ted Johnson. Bug-eyed Earl. All unchanged for decades, each facing the same direction with the same expression panel after panel.

It may sound like a recipe for blandness, but don’t let repetitive images deter you from reading. They are quite incidental to a dialogue that is anything but cut-and-paste; it could and does go anywhere.  The characters are both versatile and deadpan – any one of them is as likely to slaughter a nest of bunnies as to drop LSD at the grocery store.

Red Meat holds a special place in my heart.  It is the first comic strip I read that ventured into the twisted humor that now seems so common.  And I read it religiously because of that.  Still, when I laugh at some of the jokes, I can’t help but wonder if I even do have a heart.