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Webcomic: Cyanide & Happiness
Cyanide & Happiness is a daily webcomic strip at
explosm.net It was begun by Kris Wilson originally, but after showing his work to some members on the sticksuicide.com forum several others joined in the fun: Matt Melvin, Rob DenBleyker and Dave McElfatrick. They have no shame in exploiting extreme
Black Comedy ,
Literal-Minded -ness and affinities for the most hilariously controversially awkward situations known to webcomickind. Their comics involve the exploitation of simply-drawn
stick figures for all they're worth.
Dark, cynical, offensive, irreverent... and we're just getting started.
In 2013, the creators announced that they want to make this comic and series of shorts into a web series with 24-minute-long episodes, preferrably to be picked up by an online channel. Years prior, they pitched to 3 television networks, but none lasted, and they eventually realized that TV won't allow them to create the kind of show they want. They started a Kickstarter campaign for the series, which is currently their highest grossing campaign for an animated project ever.
This webcomic offers examples of:
Accidental Athlete : The "Waiting for a bus " short. This being Cyanide & Happiness , the trope is Deconstructed . Actually Pretty Funny : "For the sake of that joke, I'm kinda glad it happened now." A Date with Rosie Palms : This comic , while not featuring the act itself, takes it to extremely awkward levels. And I Must Scream : Played as straight as possible. Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking : Inverted . Art Evolution : Yes, in a stick figure comic. Compare Wilson's first comic with this more recent one . Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence : Implied in this strip . Ate His Gun : Literally . Badass Mustache : Musclestache! Balloon Belly : Literally. Beat Panel : Kris seems to love using these. Better to Die than Be Killed : This guy. Black Comedy : Pretty much every other strip deals with this. Literal "Dead Baby" jokes can be found in strip 2325 , strip 55 , strip 138 ,strip 271 , strip 322 , strip 1034 , strip 1968 , strip 2097 , strip 2237 , strip 2273 , strip 2316 , strip 2165 , The sign part 2 . Blessed with Suck : One of the resident superheroes, Seizure Man Body Horror : I'm giving birth to piranhas! Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs : Implied here , with plenty of Squick. Brick Joke : A lot, but their short Waiting for the Bus is probably their best example. Bungled Suicide : Because he was too tall. Butter Face : This comic is pretty much a straight demonstration of the trope. But Wait, There's More! : At about 0:55 in the video The Book . The Cameo : The most brief of ones. In Barbershop Quartet Hits On Girl From Taxi , pay very close attention at the 6 second mark - a bus goes by, and the 50 MPH man is running beside it (he's on the far side, but if you pause at exactly the right time, you can see the top of his head). Captain Ersatz : On this strip, which is a direct follow up to this one . Captain Obvious : Literally. Chirping Crickets : Exploited by one guy who wants to kill those crickets.First Guy : Hey Naked Guy With A Shotgun! What're you doing?
Naked Guy With A Shotgun : Hunting crickets.
First Guy : Isn't that a bit much?
Naked Guy With A Shotgun : Nah, they only come out during awkward silences. Now, grab my ass!
Naked Guy With A Shotgun : AARGH! *fires shotgun several times*
Caught with Your Pants Down : Double Subverted in this strip . Chess : With added Alabama rules . Children Are Innocent : Subverted in this strip . Chocolate Baby : Inverted in this strip . Cloning Blues : An unusual take in this strip . Compensating for Something : Discussed. Comically Missing the Point : Stick-figure ignorance is how most of the other squick-related tropes come into play. This strip is a perfect example of this trope. Compliment Backfire & Digging Yourself Deeper : Taken to comically-tragic extremes on this trip . Continuity Nod : The guys in this comic are the same as the ones who found Jesus here . Crapsack World Credits Gag : Waiting for the Bus 2 has as much credits as animation. Curb-Stomp Battle : Inverted...or something in this strip . Cut and Paste Comic : Starting on this strip, there was a brief streak of comics done in this style. The humor was also a weird blend of surrealistic antics and so-unfunny-they-are-funny jokes during that period. Death By Racism : The Speed Racist animated skit. Deconstructed Trope : Child Prodigies with jobs, in the Doctor Baby series. Defiant to the End : Couple with Do Wrong, Right . Disney Creatures of the Farce : On this strip . Disproportionate Retribution : What this kid does when he doesn't get his ice cream. Divide by Zero : On this strip. Double Subversion : Many, many times. Driven to Suicide : By not being able to find Waldo . The Eeyore : Dan the Downer. Eldritch Abomination : Or whatever this thing is... Exact Words : Provides the Page Picture. Explosive Instrumentation : The stopwatch exploded in Waiting for the Bus because the 50mph man runs too fast... Extreme Omnivore : This guy . Eye Scream : The Purple-Shirted Eye Stabber's M.O. Eye Shock : There's a strip where someone did this and the other guy stared at him in shock and disgust, then the guy's eyes wouldn't go back in and he was all like 'oh God! Oh God!'. It was pretty gross (link is to another, very similar one). Watch It Stoned Precious Puppies : Uh, you be the judge of that... Evil Versus Evil : One of the funniest examples ever. "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner : Inverted. Fail O'Suckyname : Parodied. Felony Misdemeanor : This guy is really mad about his roses. Flat "What." : This comic, which also counts as a Fridge Logic moment: The "she" in "that's what she said" is really annoying in bed.
For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself : The purple shirted eye-stabber. Fourth Wall Psych : Considering how weak the fourth wall typically is, this comes at a bit of a surprise. Frame Break : Here and here. Friend to All Living Things : Subverted. Gallows Humor : "Cancer comes with a free robot!?!" Glasgow Grin : Satan, when depicted, is shown to wear one of these. Godwin's Law : Even with hi fives. Gone Horribly Right : Cloning yourself won't alleviate loneliness. Gold Digger : Subverted. She's a literal gold digger . Good Angel, Bad Angel : Invoked as they discuss the merits of cheating on a science project. Goomba Stomp : ...A darkly hilarious variation. Go Out with a Smile : See Better To Diethan Be Killed . and also One of the character's dad's death. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny . Gotta Catch 'Em All : Not what you'd expect, though... Groin Attack : "Congratulations, it's a girl!" Gross-Up Close-Up : Betcha didn't think the characters are as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside. Grotesque Cute : The stick figures drawn by Kris and Dave are somewhat adorable. Sadly, the cuteness probably won't stay. Hands On Approach : Parodied here. Hey, It's That Voice! : Egoraptor appears in quite a few shorts. Hipster : Mocked a few times, like here , here , here , and here . Historical In-Joke : Apparently, Edvard Munch used a live model as reference for "The Scream". Hitler Ate Sugar : This comic . Hoist by His Own Petard : Wordplay on the phrase, not an actual example. I Always Wanted to Say That : Parodied or deconstructed, depending on how you look at it. Impossible Thief : "The greatest thief I've ever met!" It Always Rains at Funerals : Even cellphones aren't exempt. It Came from the Fridge : "Oh! There it is". Incredibly Lame Pun : People are already pointing out that this is the longest C&H comic ever. Kick the Dog : Literally. Lame Pun Reaction : Characters reacting badly to silly puns is the basis of a few strips, like this one . Lampshade Hanging : Did someone say ''hat off?'' Late to the Punchline : Hey, wait a minute! Literal-Minded : Where plenty of the gags come from. The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday : Put to Mind Screw -y use in this strip. Logic Bomb : The fate of Attorney-Tron. The Long List : Of diseases. Made of Plasticine : Ice cream cones are dangerous . Magic Feather : Can I have my money back? Mexican Standoff : Another literal case... * ...Ultimately subverted.
Minor Injury Overreaction & Major Injury Underreaction : Used at the same time! * By the way, the thing that was bothering the character wasn't even an injury.
Mundane Made Awesome : The Man Who Could Sit Anywhere Must Not Die A Virgin : "Um... That line only works if I'm about to die." My Eyes Are Up Here : But this guy knows what he's looking at... Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot : Vampire Zombie Werewolf, actually. And herpes. No Fourth Wall "No. Just... No" Reaction : The common reaction to puns. Nonstandard Character Design : It has been used from time to time. For example... "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer : "This conversation actually happened." N-Word Privileges : Played with on this strip. Offscreen Moment of Awesome : It sure would be nice to know how those guys got chopped in half and decapitated. Onion Tears : Subverted or something . Or Are You Just Happy to See Me? : Double Subverted here . Our Werewolves Are Different : And whenwolves, whywolves, and whowolves. Overly Long Gag : So long it needs a scroll bar . If you scroll rightwards at just the right speed, it's like a flipbook. Plucky Comic Relief : Done super-straight . Raging Stiffie : Inverted here . Rambling Old Man Monologue : Can come in handy on occasion. Reality Ensues : In this strip. That's actually a fairly accurate depiction of how real boomerangs (fail to) work! Red Herring : A lesson on how to use it . * (or was it "how NOT to use it"?)
Refuge in Audacity : Exemplified by this comic . Rule of Three : The third time the same joke is used, it's typically curveballed. Case in point. Running Gag : Tons. The Purple-shirted Eye Stabber is one of note, though he has since deceased fighting huge aliens. Godspeed, Purple-shirted Eye Stabber - godspeed. There's also the old man who becomes a seagull by flapping his hair like wings and detatching his head. *squeeze* Every depressing comic week contains something getting killed by a car. "Did someone say [X]-off?" Followed by two characters trying to outdo each other at whatever [X] is. Inevitably led up to this . Random superheroes with unusually specific powers/themes. Screw This, I'm Outta Here : With a big dose of Squick inducing it... Self-Deprecation : Also counts as Hypocritical Humor in this strip Shaggy Dog Story : "...I wish the guys were here." Which is a straight retelling of a classic joke. Shaped Like Itself : THOSE MEAN THE SAME DAMN THING!! Shout Out : To the infamous "horse's head in a bed" scene of The Godfather . Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon : Played for Squickness. Slasher Smile : "I do it for the ol' fashioned joy of killing." Stable Time Loop : HELLO! Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism - One moment the strip is Black Comedy, the next it's standard, and there are times where it gets innocently silly. Something's Different About You Now : Played with somehow... Stick Figure Comic Strange Minds Think Alike : See the first strip , among others. Straw Feminist : Defied here . Take That : Take That, Us : You call this art?! Throwing Off The Disability : Parodied. Inspiring comic day! Title Drop : Here: 04.15.2005 Unishment : A father, annoyed at his children's repeated "Are We There Yet? ", turns around back to Disneyland . Unsettling Gender Reveal : Viewers Are Geniuses : People who don't know that C4 is a plastic explosive will never get this one. This comic will require a bit of web browser knowledge to get. Visual Pun : In this comic , a guy laments the lack of beer with "Aw man". In the next panel, a superhero with 'AW' emblazoned on his chest touches down... White Dude, Black Dude : Parodied. Who You Gonna Call? : Not exactly. Wingding Eyes : Doesn't stop at his eyes, though. World Of Pun : Half the point of the comic are the absolutely horrendous puns. Worth It : Yaoi Fan : Then give him butt resuscitation! Your Head A Splode : Somewhat common. Usually caused by a Logic Bomb , although there have been exceptions. You Wanna Get Sued? : "Blast!! Copyright-Infringement-Man!"
It was begun by Kris Wilson originally, but after showing his work to some members on the sticksuicide.com forum several others joined in the fun: Matt Melvin, Rob DenBleyker and Dave McElfatrick. They have no shame in exploiting extreme Black Comedy, Literal-Minded-ness and affinities for the most hilariously controversially awkward situations known to webcomickind. Their comics involve the exploitation of simply-drawn stick figures for all they're worth.Dark, cynical, offensive, irreverent... and we're just getting started.In 2013, the creators announced that they want to make this comic and series of shorts into a web series with 24-minute-long episodes, preferrably to be picked up by an online channel. Years prior, they pitched to 3 television networks, but none lasted, and they eventually realized that TV won't allow them to create the kind of show they want. They started a Kickstarter campaign for the series, which is currently their highest grossing campaign for an animated project ever.
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