29 November 2005
A Goon. And i mean that in the Nicest way...
Jennie Breeden dropped me a line about my earlier post about her online comic The Devil's Panties, and i wrote back, mentioning another of my favourite on-line comics. I included this description of the latest strip posted:
[I have a link to this strip on my regular web page (or maybe i'm just planning one in the redesign that's stalled at the moment -- i'm so confused!), and the button i picked from his site shows one of the characters wishing "I wish I could find a comic as weird as me!"]
In the very first strip, we meet Tedd and Elliot, and Elliot feels it's necessary to explain that Tedd is not a girl. [Well, not at that very moment]
That was three years ago. Along the way, Tedd creates living Goo in chem class, we learn that Elliot is a black belt in Anime-style Martial Arts and Grace, a sort of a were-squirrel, comes to live with Tedd and his father.
Then things get weird.
Tedd turns Elliot into a girl, but his transformation gun breaks down before he can change her back to him, who will be stuck as a girl for thirty days...
Anyway, stuff happens -- and a part of the stuff winds up creating Ellen, who is just like Elliot but female.
And we meet Grace's brothers.
And eventually, we get to the birthday party described above.
You should click on the strip above and start from the beginning.
Prepare to give up a whole Saturday or something starting in 2002 and getting up to date...
¶ 4:47 AM
It's a very odd strip that started out with a strong anime/manga influence (it's still there but not so much in the foreground); i'd rate it at a PG13 for content, since much of its content revolves around gender-swapping and/or gender-confusion among the characters.If my meagre powers of description haven't failed me, anyone who's encountered the strip before ought to recognise the fine maniacal touch of Dan Shive in his ongoing wacko opus, El Goonish Shive.
In the current strip (11/25/2005 - he's one strip late), all of the main characters are gathered at a birthday party for one of the girls. As things have progressed, so far, three of the six girls are normally guys, and both of the guys are normally girls, the cat has spines like an echidna, a satanic duck is not succeeding at his assigned task of distracting people ["Look! -- Is that a demonic duck?!?" [Run like hell while everyone else stares...], one girl is having cold feet about being gender-swapped, and one girl is actually a genetic super-weapon mutant squirrel...
[I have a link to this strip on my regular web page (or maybe i'm just planning one in the redesign that's stalled at the moment -- i'm so confused!), and the button i picked from his site shows one of the characters wishing "I wish I could find a comic as weird as me!"]
In the very first strip, we meet Tedd and Elliot, and Elliot feels it's necessary to explain that Tedd is not a girl. [Well, not at that very moment]
copyright © dan shive, 2002, 2005
Within the first week, we are introduced to Sarah (who will be established as Elliot's girlfriend), who refuses to appear in a skimpy bikini to build initial readership, and pulls out a big anime-style hammer when they try to raise money to bribe her, leading to the introduction of a stereotypical German Professor ("Guten tag. I am a stereotypical Germsn Professor..."), who explains the manga/anime concept of "hammerspace". Well, actually, he doesn't, but sets up the gag for the next strip.That was three years ago. Along the way, Tedd creates living Goo in chem class, we learn that Elliot is a black belt in Anime-style Martial Arts and Grace, a sort of a were-squirrel, comes to live with Tedd and his father.
Then things get weird.
Tedd turns Elliot into a girl, but his transformation gun breaks down before he can change her back to him, who will be stuck as a girl for thirty days...
Anyway, stuff happens -- and a part of the stuff winds up creating Ellen, who is just like Elliot but female.
And we meet Grace's brothers.
And eventually, we get to the birthday party described above.
You should click on the strip above and start from the beginning.
Prepare to give up a whole Saturday or something starting in 2002 and getting up to date...
¶ 4:47 AM
