Kris Straub
2008-2010
Updates regularly
Chainsawsuit falls into one of those categories of “Pointless but funny” and yet pulls it off. The art is simplistic and the stories strange, but it is done in a good way, not simply a lazy one. Although there is no coherency to the flow of the comics, recurring characters such as the chefs, Cthulhu, etc. are present.
I do enjoy when authors do this, whether it serves as a distraction from the main plot (See CAD‘s Players 1-4 or QC’s Sweet Tits/Yelling Bird), or serves as a way to tie what would be nothing more than utter randomness together (such as Joe Love Crappy Movie’s secret agent or Grimace). Utter randomness is very hard to pull off correctly, and few do it. I should rephrase that: few do it *well*.
Some of the humor is kind of boring, a step up from puns at a time. Most of it revolve around the “normal situation turns fantastical in a violent/silly” way, and it usually works. The whole “bait and switch” might not keep you for hours, but it’ll hold you for a while with saying “one more page”. One of the best ways to see if a comic is any good is to read a few, then a few more, and a few more, then before you know it you hit the main page. Chainsawsuit is one of the good ones in that you can read it front to back without thinking “Hmm, I could be doing something else, but I guess I’ll do this instead”. Its always just one more… just one more…you get the point. However, the humor quickly fades the second time around, so don’t expect it to be a classic favorite.
Straub does delve into popular culture every once in a while, mostly into video games and movie, but they typically are mainstream enough that you can get the joke just by watching commercials. So many commercials…they haunt me…
Overall: 3/5
At any rate, I’d say that Chainsawsuit is worth checking out, at least for one run through. Like I said, it won’t be a huge, lasting impression, but if you are bored and have a hour to burn, it’s worth crawling though.
Archive Crawl 