A blogger that I enjoy following is Jen Yates, who runs Cakewrecks and Epbot. Today on Epbot she shared this strip.
I thought it was mildly amusing, and I was really drawn to the artwork, so I clicked the link to the site it came from, a webcomic called "The Abominable Charles Christopher."
I didn't quite "Get" the title at first, until I went back and started at the beginning.
The main character seems to be a Bigfoot. An "Abominable" Snowman.
At first it didn't seem to be about much. There didn't seem to be much of a plot line, it was just this Bigfoot, Charles Christopher, and he was not having a very good day. during the first few strips, getting caught in the rain, stung by a bee. Not hilarious, but great artwork. As I read it became pretty obvious that Charles Christopher himself was completely mute, and he seemed very childlike, he even has a pacifier. Without the other animals, it would have almost be a pantomime strip.
The plot seemed a bit slow, but I did find the dialogue of the background animals to be funny. The best thing was the artwork. If the artwork hadn't been so good, I may not have read very far and moved on to something else. As I read, I noticed a background plot about a party devloping. The animals around the forest were talking about it, but Charles was oblivious. The party storyline culminated here.
The next strip took a different turn and showed that this was not going to be your ordinary "Funny" comic strip.
It was followed by this strip,
This made me think that maybe this was just a one time thing, meant as a set up for the cute scene of Charles holding the bunny. I was wrong. The more I read, the more I realized that this strip was developing a very rich mythology.
Here's a strip from a little later on.
I got sucked in completely after this strip. It went in a direction that I definitely did NOT see coming. The plot of this comic is so much more detailed than your average newspaper comic strip.
If you choose to read this for yourself, prepare to fall in love with that fox.
I spent about 4 to 5 hours tonight reading the entire archive of strips. That's about 5 years worth. Though it's not quite as much as you would think, since the author, Karl Kerschl, only releases one strip a week. He works at a comic book company, so he has another job to keep him busy. This is just his own project.
I loved it so much that I am seriously considering buying the books he has so far released. The only problem is, the first one is only available in paperback. Not that there's anything wrong with paperback, I just really love hardcovers. I doubt it will ever be available in hardcover though. The hardcover edition is sold out and he said it is way too expensive to get more made, so he chose to get paperbacks for the second printing.
The story has gone so far from these first strips. There have been so many new characters introduced, so many new plot lines started, and it has become one of my absolute favorite comics ever. It can be downright hilarious at times, but also extremely moving. I was shocked at how emotionally involved I got with this story! There has been more than one moment that was just "Punch-In-The-Gut" heartbreaking that if I had dwelt on it for too long, I'm sure the tears would have started flowing. I won't spoil anything for those of you who want to read it, but I will warn you, if you cry easily at sad movies, be prepared to cry at a COMIC STRIP.
If you have a few hours to kill, or you just want to read a few at a time, I can not recommend this strip highly enough. It is one of the best things I have read in a long time.
The website can be found HERE, but I highly recommend starting at the beginning, which you can find by clicking HERE.
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