A comic for you to enjoy

November 25, 2008 3:25 PM

The Abominable Charles Christopher. Please enjoy this comic. I think it is delightful in every way.
posted by boo_radley (61 comments total)

I just recently discovered this comic, and instantly fell in love. I recommend starting from the beginning as opposed to going backwards, as there are some good story arcs.

http://www.abominable.cc/2007/06/20/episode-1/
posted by sir_rubixalot at 3:29 PM on November 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I think it is delightful in every way.

And in so thinking you are correct, sir. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
posted by fleetmouse at 3:36 PM on November 25, 2008

Looks super cool, but I think we already burned the db down.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:38 PM on November 25, 2008

Hmm. Been reading that for a couple of months now. I have to adjust my sense of what to post here and be more liberal (heh).
posted by yiftach at 3:38 PM on November 25, 2008

EVERYTHING at Transmission-X is brilliant. "Sin Titulo" is one of my favourite comics of all time, anywhere, period.
posted by Shepherd at 3:39 PM on November 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Oh, and take sir_rubixalot's advice: start from the beginning.
posted by boo_radley at 3:41 PM on November 25, 2008

I think we may have broken it.
posted by piratebowling at 3:49 PM on November 25, 2008

Wait, no, just spotty.
posted by piratebowling at 3:49 PM on November 25, 2008

It's kind of intermittent, yeah..
posted by boo_radley at 3:49 PM on November 25, 2008

I love this comic. Every week I jitter in anticipation for Wednesday. Go Moonbear!
posted by Malla at 3:52 PM on November 25, 2008

If ever a webcomic deserved to be called awesome, it's The Abominable Charles Christopher. I look forward to every Wednesday and seeing what Karl Kerschl has done.
posted by tommasz at 3:55 PM on November 25, 2008

Struggling under the weight, yeah. But it's wonderful.
posted by cortex at 4:08 PM on November 25, 2008

I have this little compulsion problem. I always have to go from the start of a comic, to see the build-up and evaluate it from the original premise with very few other interruptions (work happens, sleep doesn't).

Spottiness of connectivity be damned, I'll be reading every single one of these as quickly as I can without damaging the story and my ability to grasp every shade and inflection.

The one with Charles Christopher sitting on the bear trap holding the bunny while enjoying his pacifier did this weird thing to my heart. I think it grew or something.
posted by batmonkey at 4:09 PM on November 25, 2008 [4 favorites]

I've been reading this amazing comic for several months now, and my only complaint is the once-a-week update cycle. More, please :)
posted by retronic at 4:21 PM on November 25, 2008

Wow, I just discovered this yesterday.
posted by billypilgrim at 4:40 PM on November 25, 2008

Might try the coral cache, see if that works any better.
posted by puke & cry at 4:42 PM on November 25, 2008

I hate the Internet.

(Thanks for pointing this out, boo_radley, it's incredible)
posted by Rhaomi at 4:46 PM on November 25, 2008 [3 favorites]

This is really good. I love the art. I like that even after more than a year, the plot's moving forward only slowly. There's really quite a lot of heart in this story of an Abominable Snowperson.
posted by MythMaker at 5:08 PM on November 25, 2008

That is simply brilliant. Thank you.
posted by [user was fined for this post] at 5:09 PM on November 25, 2008

For some reason I find reading the title to myself in a Max von Sydow voice very amusing. Probably because I first saw the comic when it was recently linked from Anders Loves Maria.
posted by Gnatcho at 5:10 PM on November 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Kukuburi is also amazing, but way too slow in updating.
posted by Caduceus at 5:19 PM on November 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I remember finding this and skipping it because yonder abominable fellow reminded me a bit too much of Sasquatch from Darkstalkers, but I'm over that now and I think I'm a better person for it. This is good stuff!
posted by lumensimus at 5:21 PM on November 25, 2008

wow - i just read the series from the beginning & dang, this is some wonderful work... like, really wonderful - brilliant even

thank you for posting this
posted by jammy at 5:23 PM on November 25, 2008

This is good. Really, really good.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 5:24 PM on November 25, 2008

"Service Temporarily Unavailable" makes abominable snowpeople cry.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:28 PM on November 25, 2008

I like it too! thanks!
posted by ElmerFishpaw at 6:00 PM on November 25, 2008

I read far too many webcomics and cannot even remember most of them without the help of artificial aids like Piperka. But few are in the same league as this. Off the top of my head, only Lackadaisy comes remotely close in terms of the level of artwork, and the writing is up there with the best of them. For me it is several measures beyond delightful and into the realm of compulsory.
posted by motty at 6:14 PM on November 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Why do all the greatest webstrips have artists with such a deliberate pace of production. It makes me sad.
posted by BrotherCaine at 7:00 PM on November 25, 2008

This is a pretty good comic. The whole shebang at Transmission X is pretty good. I second Sin Titulo, though I can't for the life of me see where it's going.
Some others worth checking out would be
Rice Boy
and
We the Robots

Kukuburi is also good, as is the Port, and Papercut.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:18 PM on November 25, 2008 [2 favorites]

Professional grade artwork with what appears to be Achewood-class writing. Very, very high hopes for this one. Thanks a ton for pointing it out.
posted by Ryvar at 7:20 PM on November 25, 2008

What an incredibly thought-out and beautiful world. Thanks.
posted by shadytrees at 7:21 PM on November 25, 2008

Wow, I love this! Thanks for posting.
posted by Heretic at 8:13 PM on November 25, 2008

Beautiful! I too weep at his ability to keep up the schedule. It would take me a week of agonising to produce one of these frames.
posted by AzzaMcKazza at 8:19 PM on November 25, 2008

Wow. I've never heard of this before, and it's fantastic. Thank you so much. I love it.
posted by louche mustachio at 8:26 PM on November 25, 2008

i tried to enjoy it. really, i did. but i thought it was stupid. really, i did.
posted by kitchenrat at 8:48 PM on November 25, 2008

I wanted to be underwhelmed by it, but damned if I didn't thoroughly enjoy it. Cash poor though I am, I will attempt to send this artist some dough at my earliest opportunity. Thanks for the heads-up, boo_radley!
posted by lord_wolf at 9:22 PM on November 25, 2008

I really enjoyed this as well. It took up way too much time that I should have spent studying Civ Pro, but that's very much a good thing right now. Thanks for the pick me up.
posted by friendlyjuan at 9:32 PM on November 25, 2008

So sweet and gentle and perfect and...troubling. I'll keep following. Thank you so much. I found myself wishing several times I'd known about this long ago.
posted by batmonkey at 9:41 PM on November 25, 2008

well, this is good.
posted by joelf at 10:44 PM on November 25, 2008

Wow, motty, Lackadaisy is fantastic even with it being cats and all. Roza is another one with top-notch art.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 10:56 PM on November 25, 2008

I thought this was great. Loved the artwork and the dialogue.

But such realistically drawn anthropomorphic animal stories bug me when there's lots of interspecies communication. How can the predators and the herbivores get along? I cannot let go of the cognitive dissonance this causes and it ruins my willing suspension of disbelief.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:32 PM on November 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

I wish I had found this year from now so there would be 52 more strips to read.
posted by Jilder at 12:23 AM on November 26, 2008 [2 favorites]

I'm with i_am_joe's_spleen on questioning how all the animals get along with each other, but it seems they've worked something out, with how the bees agreed to provide honey to specific creatures and the skunks are actively advertising small mammals.

I'm also not sure about how, so far, humans are being effectively demonized. It is true, there are lots of humans who are horrible concerning their views on animals, but there are nicer ones as well. Every time I see something go on about how evil mankind is (especially in anime, gah), I just want to interrupt and add "but only some of us."

On the other hand, we've not gotten a good look at any human beings anywhere throughout the series so far, and the lion seems convinced that it's just a city and its king that are causing the problems. This causes me suspect either a very different world from ours, or a major plot twist in the offing....
posted by JHarris at 1:40 AM on November 26, 2008

My first thought on going to the linked comic was, 'meh.' And then I read it from the beginning. And now I am happy. Great stuff, thanks for the link.
posted by MrMustard at 1:44 AM on November 26, 2008

On the other hand, JHarris, if the comic is told from the animals point of view, or with the animals as the protagonists, why wouldn't humans be the bad folk? From an animal, a wild animal's point of view, do we do anything they would recognize as good for them? I mean, sure, your cat or dog recognizes you as given of food, and feels something positive towards you, perhaps, but what about, say, Bambi? What positive feeling could Bambi have about humans?

I'm not saying all of us are bad, but given that the main contact wild animals have with humans tends to be a) in hunting season, or b) on our car bumpers, how could we expect humans to be presented in an honest, positive light in a story concerned solely with the lives (however anthropormophosized [must learn spelling]) of animals in the forest.

I'd say more, but there would be awful, awful spoilers.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:07 AM on November 26, 2008

Wow, absolutely wonderful in every way. I'll be following this one.
posted by tomcooke at 5:13 AM on November 26, 2008

Great drawing. Can't wait to read the whole thing. Thanks.
posted by RussHy at 6:38 AM on November 26, 2008

I hate the Internet.

Days? A week? You whippersnappers have it easy! We used to wait a month between comics.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:24 AM on November 26, 2008

and the more you anticipate the next issue of a comic the higher the chance it will be delayed and you'll get a filler issue by a writer or artist you dont like.
posted by damn dirty ape at 7:25 AM on November 26, 2008

Reminds me of Princess Mononoke meets Gurgi from Prydain. Super sweet.

But my fundamental problem with plot-driven webcomics is this: I love to binge on them, and it pains me to have to wait for the story to advance a week at a time. This is why I only catch up on Gunnerkrigg Court once every six months or so. I'll add this one to my semi-annual binging list.
posted by ubermuffin at 8:17 AM on November 26, 2008

let me add one more voice to the chorus of thanks for this wonderful find -- this is a great strip. looks like the author, surprisingly, makes his living mostly illustrating superhero comics for the big two. i'm glad he's found an outlet for his own sweet, funny, and surreal narrative voice.

speaking of webcomics that are sweet, funny, and surreal, if you like The Abominable Charles Christopher you may well enjoy one of my other favorites, the now-completed watercolor weekly minus. minus doesn't have an overarching storyline like TACC, though there are a few several-strip arcs scattered throughout the run. it's a bit reminiscent of little nemo, to me, and indeed the author says this about it:

"Each minus strip is painted on a 15x20" piece of Illustration board. With this comic I am pretending I am making a comic strip for a newspaper in the early 20th century. A special newspaper that lets me use as much color as I want."
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 9:32 AM on November 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Man, i love this comic. i've been reading it since it was linked over at PVP a while ago. the only issue i have with it, and it's mostly minor, is that the story moves slower than any other comic i've ever read ever. i mean, if you read it now from the beginning it won't seem so bad, but when you've been waiting a year for even the smallest insight into vivol, moonbear or charles christopher's story and haven't gotten it, that's... frustrating. i mean, for real, all i know about vivol is that he was once a circus bear, that he met a bear there called moon bear. one strip told me that whole story, months ago.

otherwise, though, this is truly fantastic.
posted by shmegegge at 10:23 AM on November 26, 2008

It looks a lot like Bone, only on the internet, and from the POV of a rat creature.

Which is to say, it looks good.
posted by yhbc at 11:38 AM on November 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm not sure if it was the rabbit in the tree, the pitch perfect tone of the hyperactive arctic fox, or the grinning, thumbs up, skunk-vertising, but somewhere in there, this artist gained a loyal new reader.
posted by quin at 12:18 PM on November 26, 2008

I'll also read this comic faithfully. It's just that I knew it would be sad from the moment it started... really? Things all have to be said? Always? Media can't be sweet without being cruel?
posted by Squid Voltaire at 12:35 PM on November 26, 2008

slappy_pinchbottom - Thanks for pointing out minus - it's really good. Eventually you could tell he ran out of steam, but there are some really great comics in there.
posted by MythMaker at 3:54 PM on November 26, 2008

Chidorah: On the other hand, JHarris, if the comic is told from the animals point of view, or with the animals as the protagonists, why wouldn't humans be the bad folk? From an animal, a wild animal's point of view, do we do anything they would recognize as good for them? I mean, sure, your cat or dog recognizes you as given of food, and feels something positive towards you, perhaps, but what about, say, Bambi? What positive feeling could Bambi have about humans?

(Disclaimer: I really do like the comic. I'm not trying to convince anyone they shouldn't like it. As far as I'm concerned, all my objections can be explained away as whimsical storytelling details.)

These don't actually seem to be -really- wild animals though. It is a little weird just how anthropomorphized the animals are. Thankfully not like furries (shudder), but advertising? Seeing a play? Charles using a pacifier? (Wonderful) artwork aside, the animals don't seem to be very much animal-like. Except maybe for Vovol.

These are the kinds of antics that animals get themselves up to when they're trying to be human (which, of course, could be the point). While all the negative attributes of humanity are getting attributed to the setters of those traps, and the bear tamer in that circus. And note that Charles hallucinates one of those steel leg traps when he sees the lion for the first time. This could be significant.

I know, plate of beans. But I get the feeling that the creator is inviting it, in any case.
posted by JHarris at 5:13 PM on November 26, 2008

i_am_joe's_spleen wrote "But such realistically drawn anthropomorphic animal stories bug me when there's lots of interspecies communication. How can the predators and the herbivores get along? I cannot let go of the cognitive dissonance this causes and it ruins my willing suspension of disbelief."

I think I may be able to help you reconcile this: there are quite a few similarities between these anthropomorphised creature strips and those "serious" Calvin and Hobbes strips that start out in pen-and-ink life drawings and end in cartoony explosion. Especially with Kerschl's birds.

The balance Mr. Kerschl is able to strike between the realism of his drawings and his sense of humor is a rare treat. This is an excellent series; I'd love to see it in print for the sole reason that I want to be able to physically share it with other people.
posted by Graygorey at 10:55 PM on November 26, 2008

I was reading Kukuburi and Abominable CC from the first few weeks they were live and added them to my feed reader along with Erfworld. I now wait for a few week's worth of strips to have built up to binge on them all at once, otherwise the wait is intollerable.

Abominable CC puts me in mind of Gaiman writing Disney. Erfworld has grown into something almost epic that pushes plenty of geek gamer buttons
posted by Molesome at 3:17 AM on November 27, 2008 [2 favorites]

This is just brilliant. I just put a reminder in my calendar to check it again in six months - as others have said, once a week updates would be torture.
posted by jack_mo at 3:04 PM on November 29, 2008

I AM VERY WORRIED ABOUT THE CUTE PUPPYDOG RIGHT NOW.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 2:11 AM on December 9, 2008