Gronk is a webcomic by Katie Cook. It can be found here
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The titular Gronk is a monster; she is of indeterminate age, but is probably somewhere in the vicinity of "pretty young." Among all of the monsters, she is the most horrible...ly cute. And she is unhealthily fond of cats for a monster. After her beloved plush kitty is torn in a fight with another monster, she decides to leave the monster woods forever. Soon afterwards, she meets Dale, an affable shut-in who agrees to fix her kitty plushie. The two bond, and Dale agrees to teach Gronk about the human world.
What follows is a Slice of Life comic about a girl and her adopted monster child, in which Gronk attempts to cope with the human world after getting all her information from the Internet and TV. It's cute, it's full of geeky references, it's cute, it has a style of humor similar to Yotsuba&!, and... did we mention it was cute?
Not to be confused with the cute aliens from Strontium Dog. Definitely not to be confused with Gonk or Gronkh.
See also Nothing Special. Katie's next original series that came after this one.
A book collecting the first year's worth of strips was published by Action Lab Comics.
Has nothing to do with Rob Gronkowski.
This webcomic contains examples of:
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: Harli is somehow capable of winning at Risk.
- Author Avatar: Dale looks a lot like the author, Katie, only with longer hair.
- Big Eater: Harli the dog has actually gobbled Gronk up into her mouth a few times.
- Big Friendly Dog: Harli is about half as big as Dale, and at least twice the size of Gronk. She's also picked up Gronk in her mouth a few times. But she wouldn't hurt a fly, honest.
- Bindle Stick: Gronk packed one with her belongings when she left the monster world.
- Black Bead Eyes: This is the standard design for all the characters in the comic.
- Canada, Eh?: Dale is Canadian, though it only really comes up in a few strips, such as when the author lampshades (in The Rant) that Dale and Gronk shouldn't be celebrating Thanksgiving when the Americans do.
- Children Raise You: There's a definite vibe of this with Dale's adoption of Gronk.
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Cool Loser: Dale. Although in her case, it's not so much that she lacks social skills as she lives way out in the sticks.
- Expressive Accessory: Dale's books change when they're being thrown. And then there's her pumpkin after seeing what Gronk does to hers...
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Eyes! Eyes everywhere! (For bonus amusement, there's an alternate ending panel in The Rant where Gronk is given Crazy Eyes.)
- Gasshole: Roofus the pug, who's got a "poot!" near him in almost every panel he appears in.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: A Hellboy comic actually appears as "Heckboy" at one point. Then again, it's also funny.
- Happily Adopted: Gronk herself, natch. She much prefers the human side of life.
- Hulk Speak: Gronk spoke like this in the third strip. She spoke normally from then on.
- Hurricane of Puns: Dale indulges her Pungeon Master side here. Gronk is not amused.
- Iconic Item: Kitteh, Gronk's plush kitty. It apparently used to be Dale's, but she lost it on a camping trip.
- Innocent Swearing: While Dale was on the phone, no less...
- The Internet Is for Cats: Demontsrated in this comic, when Dale introduces Gronk to Youtube cat videos.
- Interspecies Romance: Gronk gets a crush on Dale's brother's pug, whom she believes to be a monster.
- The Man in the Moon: In this comic, Gronk tries saying "goodnight" to the moon. The moon sticks its tongue out at her.
- Made of Explodium: Dale's bathtub... somehow. Mr Wizard is probably to blame in some fashion
- Message in a Bottle: Gronk writes one up and sends it in this strip.
- Mr. Imagination: Gronk, especially evident when she finds Kitty playing in a box. She imagines all sorts of creative scenarios while in the box; Kitty imagines being in a box.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Done intentionally by Gronk. "Buy me an iPad, and the drawings stop."
- One-Hour Work Week: Dale seems to have nothing better to do with her time than hang out at home with her pets and Gronk, but it gives her enough cash to support them all and her nerdy habits. However, reading the characters page actually does reveal her job: She's a composer who makes music for commercials and TV, which she can conveniently do from home.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: It doesn't, but it's worth addressing that a number of people believed it did. Many people believed the Children Raise You angle to the strip was because the author was expecting a child of her own when the strip began, but she then explained that she'd had the comic idea for well over six years.
- Scrabble Babble: "Smar." According to Gronk, it means "Not quite smart to a 'T.'"
- Thanksgiving Episode: This one. Also this one.
- Vague Age: Gronk seems to have lived by herself among the monsters, but she has the personality of a small child. It's hard to say. One comic finally reveals that she's 109. But she's NOT a baby! She has one of her adult teeth!
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Gronk on the roof in a Batman costume, with an umbrella. "You tell me how this could possibly be a bad idea and then we'll come down!"
