A few of the characters you'll meet at The Site With Everything, plus some from discontinued comics.
"I love entertaining others with this stuff. And I'm always trying to make it better based on their feedback and what they tell me. People need to sit down to whatever you draw for a living, and know—just know—that they're going to have a good time. I don't care if I particularly liked a certain story. What really matters to me is if YOU liked it."
- Peter Paltridge, in response to the FAQ "What's the ultimate advice an amateur cartoonist can get?"
The self-proclaimed "Site with EVERYTHING!", Platypus Comix is home to five webcomics, not to mention countless one-offs, all courtesy of one Peter Paltridge. Each is updated one whole story (or at least several pages) at a time, instead of strip-by-strip like most webcomics.As if that weren't enough, the site is also home to slapdash humor and nostalgia, including TV Guide ad archives, trivia on the Warner Bros.. Silver Age cartoons, and Strip Archives for Bloom County and U.S. Acres. Basically, it's just about anything and everything Mr. Paltridge likes, recapped in a slightly cynical, constantly entertaining fashion.
All There in the Manual: Paltridge has written short bios in order to properly introduce new readers to the main characters of the flagship series. Also, sometimes Paltridge shares details about characters on his deviantARTpage before putting them into the comics.
Alliterative Name: Peter Paltridge, Keiki Kikilaka, Marie Magnolia (also from Keiki), Aerynn Arlia (from Electric Wonderland), and Lululu Lopez (also from Electric Wonderland).
The Bechdel Test: Paltridge's comics often pass this test with flying colors, since four of the five flagship comics have main character rosters where the females outnumber males.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Several characters have demonstrated this ability. The main characters of Mulberry and Scrambled Eggs in particular act as Animated Actors.
Paltridge made at least one every year until 2008, and now seems to do so on a sporadic basis. Most of them are archived in Kristmas Klassics.
Also, he has a special section for reviews of the good, the bad and the obscure of animated Christmas specials, dubbed "The Island of Misfit Christmas Specials."
Cliffhanger: Most of the comics are released in at least two parts, then the parts are merged together in the archive (unless the parts come from different seasons, such as the chapters of "Keiki's Huge Christmas Epic").
Conspicuous CG: The backgrounds of some comics. Lampshaded in the Scrambled Eggs comic "Wack Friday" when the store sells "Extremely Fake Trees".
Everything's Better With Platypi: Word Of God says the name "Platypus Comix" was just something Paltridge thought would make a funny name for a comic company, and might have been inspired by a song one of his cousins sang.
Limited Wardrobe: The majority of recurring characters from each comic.
Milestone Celebration: In honor of Platypus Comix's 10th anniversary, accessing the site during the week of February 7, 2011 brought up a page which resembles the homepage used in 2001, and links to old comics and articles through the Wayback Machine.
"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Some articles and comics have such disclaimers in their respective threads of the Platypus Comix forum.
Reality Subtext: Numerous examples, such as the Mulberry comic "Murphy's Lawn" (built up on Brittany Murphy's death) and the Keiki comic "Beefer in the Time of Cholera" (set during the economic recession of the late 2000s). Paltridge also traditionally makes comics about Dan Blather covering the Olympic Games and Mulberry trying to influence the Presidential Election.
Refuge in Audacity: Usually by making the comics go over the top in terms of wackiness.
Skintone Sclerae: Paltridge explained that adding white portions to his characters' eyes often takes too much time, and doesn't look good to him unless he manages to shape it into a perfect circle. (Although, characters drawn fairly recently sometimes have eyes with white or off-white portions, such as the stars of Electric Wonderland and Princess Pi.)
Strip Archive: Most of the comics are archived in a pseudo-book form. The site also contains several archives of un-reprinted Bloom County strips and a large number of U.S. Acres strips.
Stupid Boss: A recurring character: The Head Executive of Platypus Comix.
"Raiders Of The Lost Arc"
Peter Paltridge called "Raiders of the Lost Arc", a comic from a discontinued series titled, Guava Guava, his favorite Platypus Comix story. His website only includes the portion written in the year 2001. A recap summarizing the parts written in 1998 explains that Joan of Arc had become a Fish Out of Temporal Water, risen from the dead, and fought Osama bin Laden. As this part begins, Joan's period away from battle has led people to doubt her accomplishments and complain that she's not really as tough as they thought. She decides to prove them wrong by confronting Bin Laden again, who had just recently performed his infamous September 11 attacks.
Enemy Mine: Joan's companions in her fight against Bin Laden came from England, the country Joan saved France from.
Gone HorriblyRight: Joan's defeat of Bin Laden proves so effective, all the terrorists cease their attacks, and the US Army dissolves.
It Got Worse: As the media tries to expose Joan as a fraud, Ivy assures her, "Things will be a lot better in the morning!" The next day, Osama Bin Laden attacks the World Trade Center.
Let's Get Dangerous: Bin Laden tries to exploit the fear of fire Joan developed after persecution by shoving her into a burning room. She makes it out alive, and proceeds to beat up several terrorists.
That Was Not A Dream: Buzz expresses hope that the attacks on the World Trade Center turn out to be personal nightmares.
Victory Is Boring: The comic ends with Joan unable to find any more terrorists to fight, and thus using her newfound free time to crochet doilies and organize her socks.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Joan has such moments when having to escape a burning room, and later, a burning building.
"True Believers"
Peter Paltridge called 2008's "True Believers" his second favorite Platypus Comix story. The characters from the flagship comics have gone on strike, so the Head Executive tries to tide readers over with a Spider-Man comic, hoping he could get away with featuring characters he doesn't own when the characters he does own won't cooperate. The resulting story became Platypus Comix's Take That against Marvel Comics' reviled One More Day comic, which had concluded two weeks earlier. In a 48-page, two-month-long, Roger Rabbit-ish storyline, Spidey and Mary Jane Watson fight to save their marriage from being wiped out by their own editor, Joe Quesadilla — a vicious Quesadacaricature.
This comic provides examples of:
Cerebus Syndrome: Peter Paltridge said that "True Believers" started out as a less dramatic story for the fourth week of the Character Strike. He first published the early chapters under the title, "Peter Paltridge, The Amazing Spider-Hack."
Chekhov's Gun: After turning down the offer to become Jackpot, Mary Jane carries a stamp out of Quesadilla's office. During the climax of the comic, she presses the stamp against Quesadilla's forehead and Retcons his existence.
Death Is Cheap: Comic book characters "always come back", as Mary Jane explains after a revitalization.
Despair Event Horizon: After Spidey discovers that Quesadilla erased everything that happened in the last 30 years, he asks Dr. Octopus to kill him. He gets better, "five miniseries, three crossovers, and one apocalyptic battle later."
The Final Temptation: During the climax, Quesadilla offers Peter the revivals of Uncle Ben, Richard and Mary Parker, and/or Gwen Stacy if he lets him erase the marriage. He nearly accepts, but after deciding he wants MJ to be happy, he asks her what to do, then follows her request to decline the temptation.
In a Shout Out to Dallas, Spidey wakes up in bed, walks into the bathroom, and finds Venom in his shower.
Some panels of the surprise party various comic characters hold at the end in honor of Peter's and MJ's anniversary closely resemble the party held at the end of One More Day.
Precision F-Strike: After Peter tears up the paper Joe Quesadilla used to brainwash MJ, she tells Peter to, "Kick his ass."
Ret Gone: Joe Quesadilla and (unintentionally) Ben Reilly, after Mary Jane performs a retcon with the stolen stamp.
Roger Rabbit Effect: The story portrays comic-book characters as real people, and editors as their gods.
Suspiciously Apropos Music: As Peter dances with MJ the Friday evening after Quesadilla announces plans to erase their marriage, he points out the irony of the song's lyrics describing the "last dance with Mary Jane," but she informs him the song's actually about pot.
A Wizard Did It: After Quesadilla's retcon drastically improves "the real world's continuity" and the comic book industry, Peter remarks that he can't believe the afforementioned Chekhov's Gun could cause such a great effect. MJ reminds him, "It's magic, Tiger," so Peter exclaims, "Yeah, it's magic! We don't have to explain it!"
Clip Show: The Head Executive of Platypus Comix showed one during the first week of the "2008 Character Strike". This evolves into a BLAM Episode as the "clips" gradually give way to pictures from random sources outside the website.
Crisis Crossover: "Riot Act #2" features characters from various Platypus Comix series, although several of these series have since been removed from the website.
Fourth Wall Mail Slot: The fifth and final installment of the 2008 Character Strike featured the Head Executive replying to emails readers sent Peter Paltridge.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: The title character of "Awesome Blossom" exclaims "Heart Power!" every time she tries to solve a problem. It proves effective, but the second time she uses it angers others. In a possible subversion, her adversaries use "Liver Power!" and "Pancreas Power!" to get what they want.
Hostile Show Takeover: For April Fools' Day 2006, Paltridge faked the site's absorption by CNet and created a comic in which CNet representatives interfered with attempts to read the newest Mulberry comic by hawking the benefits of donation.
Ludd Was Right: The Retraux, Fifties-influenced "Vess MacMeal Starring in: The More You Know!" introduces a new gadget called the "Kimwon" to the people of Shiny Valley. Gradually, this North Korean product develops so many features, it takes over all of the duties Americans previously served themselves, granting world domination to Dirty Communist Kim Jong-Il.
Mood Whiplash: The Cruel Twist Ending of "Vess MacMeal Starring in: The More You Know!" is immediately followed by the Title Drop, which comes in a simple picture of the logo seen in 2000s PSAs using the phrase.
Panda-ing To The Audience: "Rice Cub" stars a talking panda with a personality similar to that of Mary Lynn Rajskub, who played Chloe O'Brian in 24.
Product Placement: The first issue of Paltridge's publication, BANG! The Entertainment Paper, appeared in "Schoolhouse Bootleg" at least six months before it became available in stores.
Real Life Writes the Plot: After Paltridge learned of the existence of a website called "Platypus Comics," he wrote about his characters' reactions to the similarly named work and its debatably enjoyable content in "Riot Act # 2."
Hostile Show Takeover: The week Princess Pi's first comic came out, the banner contained a picture of her using green paint to change the Platypus Comix logo to read, "Pi Comix◊".
The week of Platypus Comix's 10th anniversary brought the banner providing the current page image.
Paltridge displayed this◊ a few days after Joan of Arc's 600th birthday.
Missing Episode: Several of the oldest banners got deleted to save space.
Take That: Sometimes the banner at the top contains one.
Mulberry offering a code◊ for 100 free Disney Movie Rewards points and explaining, "I, myself, will never buy enough teenybopper garbage and Hannah Montana pantyhose to earn the one worthwhile item offered in this program, the DuckTales movie DVD."
Some of the banners displayed in Fall and Winter of 2010 have the number pi◊ displayed◊ for reasons that didn't seem very clear until New Year's Day 2011, when Paltridge released the first Princess Pi comic.
During the week of April 15-21, 2012, the banner featured a working countdown to midnight April 23 ET, at which time Peter Paltridge would make "the most important announcement in Platypus Comix history." Paltridge extended the countdown◊, then shortened it◊, then◊ revealed that he plans to collect stories and comics for an independent publication: BANG! The Entertainment Paper.
The review of For Better Or For Worse: The Bestest Present dismisses most of the special as sappy and predictable, but praises some of Mike's snappy remarks.
Beary Funny: Averted in a 2008 installment of "The Island of Misfit Christmas Specials." Paltridge deemed The Great Bear Scare "the King Moonraiser (sic) of the misfits" due to its very cheap animation and nonsensical story elements. (The networks that syndicated it didn't even air it during the proper holiday, as it was originally intended for Halloween!)
Forced Meme: Errors in Corporate Judgement included several failed attempts for entertainment materials to appear relevant to late '80s-early '90s children. Among them, a Magic Eye puzzle using "Froggy" as a synonym for "awesome." Paltridge subsequently decided to close the article by declaring "Froggy" official slang for his website.
"Funny Aneurysm" Moment: invoked Lampshaded in "Walt Disney: One Man's Nightmare." The TV special Paltridge reviewed in that article came out in 1981, and had Michael Landon as a host. In one of the segments promoting Epcot, concept art for an airplane capable of space travel appears, and Landon says, "Hope I'm still around," unaware he would die only 10 years later.
One of the pictures in Volume 3 of "The Lost Art of TV Guide Advertising" promotes a Love Boat episode, in which several Miss America winners gather to honor the then-newest Miss America, Vanessa Williams. Peter Paltridge subsequently asks, "Why do I get the feeling this episode was going to live in infamy for a while?"*
Williams would later lose her title after nude pictures of her turned up in Penthouse magazine.
The Neil Goldschmidt quote in one of the TV special ads included in Volume 6 of "The Lost Art of TV Guide Advertising" mentions giving teens "special attention." Below the ad, Paltridge comments, "...Neil Goldschmidt really meant it when he talked about giving teens special attention."*
Goldschmidt was later revealed to have committed sexual abuse.
"Not sure what this is. Something about a cheerleader? I'm sure there's something about it in a couple places on the Internet. I think there was a 1992 film by the same name, and then the guy who wrote it didn't like how it turned out and made it as a series instead.....who knows how it'll go. Maybe the geeks will get into it?"
Irony: Two of the channels listed in "Cable Networks That Never Made It" still exist, but have undergone Network Decay since they began. MTV's inclusion was Played for Laughs ever since Paltridge first wrote the article, but he has admitted that he didn't learn about CBN's transformation into ABC Family until after the article's publication.
Mood Whiplash: Happens in the "Lost Art of TV Guide Advertising" installment about ABC Afterschool Specials, as ABC's fluffy children's specials give way to Darker and Edgier, teen-oriented stories.
MST: Every now and then, Paltridge will do a humorous summary of a So Bad, It's Good or completely awful movie. Also played to the letter in his review of St. Helens.
Unfortunately, after [a Lost promo] the tape ran out and I didn't get the last quarter of the program. And it's a real shame...If I had been able to give you the full scoop on that one pilot about the midget private eye in Las Vegas, that would have pushed this page into "Greatest Page On The Entire Site" territory.
A chance exists that this trope doesn't apply 100%; he says these qualities of streaming media could bring people back to the "primitive lifestyle" of VHS.
Shaggy Dog Story: One of the entries in "Big Fat History Of The Arcade: Volume One" details Paltridge's struggles to find a home copy of Roadblasters after a local pizzeria replaced their arcade cabinet with a different game. Finally, his stepfather ordered him the game from Yahoo, but the pizzeria brought back their Roadblasters game the following week.
The Stinger: Most of the articles hosted at Platypus Comix itself end with two links: one that leads back to the home page, and one that varies on each article, leading to a page that has either an adequate or nonexistent relation to the article's subject. Articles written on Paltridge's Toon Zone blog bear neither links.
Stylistic Suck: Like several of the amateurish articles RetroJunk features, "Retrojunk's Greatest Article Ever" contains plenty of bad spelling and grammar. Also, its attempts at Fetish Fuel fail since many of the "Top Ten Hottest Cartoon Women Ever" have inadequate pictures, the top two choices are male, and the # 1 choice is not a cartoon character.
Oh, and if you want to know the names of everyone in that picture:Back Row: The Head Executive (from various comics), Nester (from "Nester and Wii-ner"), Rice Cub (from "Rice Cub"), and Lyman (from Garfield, not Platypus Comix).Second Row: Jennifer (from Henry and Jennifer), Henry (from Henry and Jennifer), Lillian Muck/Ivy (from Guava Guava), Buzz (from Guava Guava), Lana Ying (from Guava Guava), and Dan Blather (from various comics).Third Row: NJ (from Electric Wonderland), Princess Pi (from Princess Pi), Mary Jane Watson (from "True Believers"), Shroomy (from Electric Wonderland), and Beefer (from Keiki).Front Row: Joan of Arc (sitting, from "Raiders of the Lost Arc"), Aerynn Arlia (from Electric Wonderland), Quint (from Scrambled Eggs), Tiff (from Mulberry), Tuan Nuaghen (from Scrambled Eggs), and Mulberry Sharona (from Mulberry).
is home to five webcomics, not to mention countless one-offs, all courtesy of one Peter Paltridge. Each is updated one whole story (or at least several pages) at a time, instead of strip-by-strip like most webcomics.As if that weren't enough, the site is also home to slapdash humor and nostalgia, including TV Guide ad archives, trivia on the Warner Bros.. Silver Age cartoons, and Strip Archives for Bloom County and U.S. Acres. Basically, it's just about anything and everything Mr. Paltridge likes, recapped in a slightly cynical, constantly entertaining fashion.
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