Webcomic / Nerd & Jock

The best of friends.

Nerd & Jock is a webcomic written and illustrated by Finnish comic artist Marko Raassina.

The story follows the aforementioned protagonists, Nerd and Jock, two close friends who live together in the same house. Despite embodying the stereotypes that come with being... well, a nerd and a jock, they manage to form a close friendship that plays off of each other's respective strengths and flaws: Nerd assists Jock with his intelligence, while Jock motivates Nerd to become stronger.

The webcomic can be read here, Tapas and on Webtoon. The comic strip also has a Patreon. The Patreon also hosts Goth and Tiger, a spinoff comic about Olga and Tiger.

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Nerd & Jock contains examples of:

• Amusing Injuries: Jock has accidentally subjected Nerd to a couple of these painlessly, such as flattening him with a massage or stretching his arms so he can reach the high bar.
• Bait-and-Switch: The staple of the humor for the series in the early years is that it plays off of Nerd and Jocks' odd friendship. The setup was always that Jock would act threatening or otherwise make a stereotypically masculine move towards Nerd, but the reveal would be that the Jock would actually need Nerds' help in some way. This was phased out completely once their characters were fully established as best friends and more recent strips play with expectations in different ways instead (Nerd getting a miniature rock as a Halloween treat, and out pops a miniature Dwayne Johnson, Zenetreus The Eternal being summoned by Stalker Girl for fashion advice despite initially being mad about the call, or Nerd attempting to cook Jock and Olga a meal while at a restaurant, and the owner is okay with it as he doesn't have to pay him).
• The Big Damn Kiss:
  • Jock kissing Olga in Episode 133.
  • Tiger kisses Nerd in Episode 185.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Jock is a tall, muscular Top-Heavy Guy; Nerd comes up to his belly and can wear outfits meant for cats.
• Bigger Than Jesus: In episode 123, Olga claims Jock and Nerd's unboxing channel will be this soon enough. Jock replies that he already is this, assuming this was referencing physical size, followed by a cutaway to Jesus working out in Heaven, saying "Not for long, my child."
• Black Bead Eyes: The cast has this for their eyes, the exception being Nerd who has Eye Glasses instead. The exception is when anyone is shocked, in which case the eyes become more traditionally filled in, such as when Nerd plays some "Black Metal" on a guitar at an Italian restaurant and Olga and Jock are initially surprised by it.
• Blind Without 'Em: Nerd tries taking off his glasses to "unleash his true power", but all that happens is he can't see.
• Book Dumb: Jock struggles with school, but is an insightful and surprisingly philosophical person when the situation calls for it. He's at his most insightful when it comes to working out.
• Brick Joke: In 109, it's revealed that Jock is afraid of Ghosts because they're the only monster you can't drop kick. A few pages later in 111, Jock gets spooked by Nerd and Olga in their Halloween costumes - his first instinct being to dropkick Nerd (dressed as Pinhead) while he just about has a heart attack from seeing Olga dressed as Sadako.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Jock and Tiger have the same "babbling in shock" behaviour when looking at Olga and Nerd respectively, and an entire arc is formed around Tiger trying to confess her love for Nerd, but failing due to her reputation preceding her (having a scary name, being a bully).
• Chick Magnet: Nerd becomes one when Jock gives him a makeover.
• Clothing Damage: In Episode 69, Nerd flexes and his shirt explodes, showing how much he's progressed with exercise. Jock warns against doing this too often, so as not to ruin all his shirts.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Jock finds Stalker Girl about to sacrifice Nerd to an eldritch being, the first thing he notices is the Stalker Shrine full of photos of him (and he doesn't even realize it's a stalker shrine).
• Dumb Muscle: Subverted with Jock, who appears as a simple-minded bodybuilder when next to the intelligent Nerd, but is capable of introspective and thoughtful moments that imply a deeper personality. He's even aware of the trope, too, and wishes he was smart as Nerd since physical strength can only get someone so far.
• Easily Forgiven: Both Jock and Nerd forgive Stalker Girl for trying to sacrifice Nerd to an eldritch being so she could have Jock all to herself.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Olga does this frequently to Jock during a beach visit.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Olga the Stalker Girl. She has a creepy demeanor, her skin is paler than Jock and Nerds' skin, and she has black hair longer than she is tall, with a few stray strands sticking out for extra eerieness.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Subverted. Jock is telling Nerd the story of why he's afraid of cats, but it turns out what traumatized him was the cat farting on him, not clawing him. He just wanted to show off his scar.
• Eye Pop:
  • Nerd does this when Jock gives him a Smack on the Back for luck. Jock does the same when he sees Stalker Girl putting on a spiked glove to slap his back.
  • Happens again when Nerd somehow manages to turn a grape into a butterfly.
  • The sight of Nerd's sand sculpture makes Jock and Olga's eyes bug out so hard that Olga's sunglasses shatter.
• Fiery Redhead: Tiger, introduced in Episode 172, makes it clear from her first panel that she's as fiery as they get, making her debut standing Atop A Mountain Of Beaten Up Guys, sporting an angry scowl, spiked punk clothing, and a messy mop of knee-length orange hair.
• Friend Versus Lover: Stalker Girl Olga initially was this with Nerd's presence in regards to her and Jock, (who is oblivious about this). After she becomes friends with them, she only shows occasional annoyance at worst. Subverted with Nerd, who is genuinely happy and supportive of her and Jock.
  • Later on, both Jock and Tiger get into this trope regarding Nerd.
• Frivolous Summoning: In strip 117, Olga summons a demon called Zenetreus the Eternal so he can give her fashion advice. Zenetreus is surprisingly happy about being summoned for that.
• Funny Background Event: In episode 171, the horror movie Jock and Olga are watching can be seen in the background. A cloaked, masked killer is about to stab a woman, but the woman takes off her head to reveal an identical mask underneath. The killer takes off their mask to reveal that it's the woman, then the masked woman start chasing the cloaked woman with a knife.
• Future Badass: According to Episode 52, both Nerd and Jock will become these in order to fight the M87* black hole.
• Geek Physiques: Nerd is very skinny and short next to the hulking, muscular jock, which he's trying to subvert by taking up weightlifting and exercising. Jock supports him wholeheartedly.
  • Sometimes averted as Nerd does workout with Jock and his Clark Kent Outfit simply hides his physique. See the Clothing Damage entry for example.
• Gender-Bent Alternate Universe: One of the many alternate universes Nerd and Jock witness in the multiverse room. Jock is unimpressed with his Distaff Counterpart having smaller pecs than he does.
• Genre Mashup: Nerd and Jock's band is yodeling metal.
• Given Name Reveal: Episode 81 reveals Stalker Girl's real name is Olga.
• A God Am I: When Jock gets an A+ on a test, he lets it go to his head a bit.
• I Got a Rock: Nerd gets one on Halloween. It turns out to be a miniature Dwayne Johnson, though.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Tiger, still embarrassed at kissing Nerd attempts to get out of sitting with Olga, Jock and Nerd by claiming she left the sink on.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": So far, Nerd has only been referred to as such, while Jock has an implied first and last name (Eustance being his middle name, according to Episode 121).
• Irisless Eye Mask Of Mystery: Nerdman and Jockboy's costumes have these (though the only thing they get to do is rescue a Cat Up a Tree).
• Jerk Jock: Subverted with Jock. Part of the comic's Running Gag is that whenever it looks like Jock is going to torment Nerd, it turns out he's actually doing something nice for him instead. Examples include putting a statue of Nerd in Nerd's locker, approaching him for help on a math problem, borrowing his money to get lunch for both of them, and giving him a "swirlie" (ice cream). The gag is mostly dropped later in the series as Nerd and Jock are consistently shown to be best friends.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: Jock can be childish sometimes (though in that comic Nerd is comparing him to a cat).
• "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Jock wears a "Kiss the Jock" apron when grilling in Episode 3.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: He's not quite there yet, but He's working on it.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Strip 105 has Jock make a comic on a drawing tablet about a geek and an athlete being friends, and Nerd states that it's a good idea.
• Limited Wardrobe: Nerd and Jock are almost always seen in their orange sweater and red t-shirt, respectively.
• Literal Metaphor: Episode 120 has Nerd rolling out, which is him cartwheeling away from Jock and Olga.
• Lovable Jock: Jock is one of the most lovable examples in fiction. He shares a close friendship with Nerd and is generally very supportive of him, even helping him with exercising and weightlifting.
• Loving Bully: Downplayed with Tiger. While she has a MASSIVE crush on Nerd and is infamous as the School Bully, she never directly harms him in any way; however, all of her attempts at telling Nerd about her feelings for him backfire and come off as acts of aggression from Nerd's perspective due to her massive strength, reputation, and general awkwardness.
• Meet Cute: Hilariously parodied with Tiger's introduction. She has beaten up a bunch of punks and tries to pick a fight with Jock only for Nerd to defend him, sending her stomping off. Not because Nerd was intimidating as he seems to think, but because she found him so cute that she didn't know how to deal with him.
• Mistaken for Gay: At one point, Olga says that Nerd is getting in the way of her and Jock's love. Jock gets confused, then Nerd explains to him that the comments make it obvious what she's referring to.
• Mistaken for Undead: Jock is convinced that Stalker Girl is a ghost or a vampire, or possibly even a werewolf.
• Mundane Utility: Nerd has a beastly computer that's powerful enough to run any game at 4K, 60fps, and in VR, but uses it to play Solitaire.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Attempted by Xarhuul, who tries dropping a small asteroid on Tiger after she's accepted into the friend group and gotten closer to entering a relationship with Nerd. Xarhuul missed, and Tiger just wrote it off as one of her many enemies trying to start things.
• My God, You Are Serious!: Jock claims that he wears his blue cap all the time because it's his Power Limiter for his "real power". Nerd doesn't believe him and takes off the cap, resulting in Jock revealing his true form as a Physical God.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Nerd fits into cat costumes, which has Olga and Jock take photo's of him, much to his increasing embarrassment.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Tiger seems to think this way about Nerd, loving him for how cute and absentminded he is, although he's none the wiser about how she feels about him until their Big Damn Kiss in Episode 185.
• Never Bareheaded: Jock is never seen without his blue cap, just as Nerd is never seen without his glasses (though he has good reasons not to be). This gets discussed in Episode 44, where Nerd thinks he's covering a bald spot, but Jock says the cap is his Power Limiter. Nerd doesn't believe it and takes off Jock's cap despite the latter's protests, and discovers that Jock wasn't kidding, as he becomes a godlike being when the cap's off.
• The Noseless: None of the characters have noses.
• Not a Morning Person: While Nerd wakes up at 5:30 and has a whole routine, Jock sleeps in until just before noon and wakes up still groggy.
• Older Than They Look: Nerd looks like a 10-year-old, but is shown to go to the same school as Jock goes to. One of the alternative universes they see has him look more like his age.
• Outside-Context Problem: Nerd spends much of Episodes 124 - 130 making sure Jock's date with Olga goes well... only for aliens to open a portal and invade the beach they're on.
• Pals with Jesus: Jock is on speaking terms with Christ, and apparently they have flex offs and talk about theology with one another.
• Pathetic Drooping Weapon: In Episode 205, Jock is prepared to surprise his friend Nerd in a water gun battle with a water minigun, but then Nerd shows up in a giant water gun mecha, causing both him and his gun to do an Eye Pop, followed by the minigun barrels going limp.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Thinking something will go wrong during Jock and Olga's date, Nerd poses as a waiter by putting on an apron and a mustache he ripped off from another restaurant patron. Jock falls for the disguise completely, while Olga sees right through it but thinks it's cute that Nerd cares so much, and that it's cuter that Jock is "playing along".
• Pass the Popcorn: Jock's reaction to seeing Olga wrestle his sleep paralysis demon is to tell Nerd to get popcorn.
• Physical God: Arguably, Jock's true form. Nerd discovers that if his blue cap is off, he transforms into a muscular, godlike being with a Third Eye on his forehead, radiating arcs of power from his mere presence.
• Poor Communication Kills: A running gag in the storyline where Tiger falls in love with Nerd and attempts to confess her feelings to him is that all of the hints of her being in love with Nerd are misinterpreted by the others as her hating him due to their reputation.
• Product Placement: Episode 63 and Episode 105 are sponsored by Huion, and both feature the boys using a Huion tablet to draw.
• Please Subscribe to Our Channel: Used at the end of Episode 115 to distract from the literal pandora's box they just opened.
• Puff of Logic: Nerd's glasses stay on unconsciously due to the comic's lack of visible ears. If he thinks about how they stay on, they fall off. Jock uses some chewing gum to act as a workaround for that.
• Schmuck Bait: A door that says "Do not enter" and "Do not touch anything".
• Skewed Priorities: Episode 124 has Olga upset annoyed at Jock thinking about "Dinosaurs but they're linebackers".
• Secret Handshake: Nerd and Jock have quite an intricate and elaborate one, seen in Episode 97. With a friendship like theirs, a normal fist bump isn't epic enough.
• Self-Parody: Jock's comic "Ned and Jack", about a geek and an athlete.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: When Olga shows up for her date, Jock promptly turns into a gibbering mess.
• Shipper on Deck: Olga, the second she sees Tiger kiss Nerd, is fully on board trying to get them together. Both Jock and Olga a few comic strips later try to unsubtly hang around while they talk about what happened.
• Shout-Out:
  • In Episode 4, Nerd has an Attack on Titan poster in his room. He also has a Sailor Moon figure, along with one of Saitama and Tracer.
  • In Episode 17, Jock has just finished reading The Egyptian and wants to discuss it with Nerd.
  • The song Nerd and Jock sing while cleaning up their house in Episode 35 is "Wannabe".
  • In Episode 36, Nerd says he's watching The Walking Dead, but his screen shows The Simpsons.
  • In Episode 39, when both of them are sick, the TV is playing the theme song for Sailor Moon.
  • In Episode 41, one of the multiverses shows their alternate universe equivalents as Rick and Morty (though surprisingly Jock is Rick). Nerd says "I guess only people with superior intelligence can understand these fellows." Another universe shows them as the Millennium Falcon and an X-Wing.
  • In Episode 55, when Nerd discovers Stalker Girl's Stalker Shrine, he says "Holy dramatic sound effect playing in my head!"
  • Olga has done the Sorting Hat quiz a dozen times and was only sorted into Slytherin 2/3 of the time.
  • In Episode 70, Jock and Nerd dress as Thor and Loki, respectively.
  • Jock plays Thomas the Tank Engine in their D&D game.
  • Jock's Imagine Spot of "Jockhalla" evokes Doom.
  • Jason shows up to Jock and Nerd's campfire in Episode 99.
  • In Episode 111, Nerd dresses as Pinhead for Halloween, while Stalker Girl goes as Sadako.
  • In Episode 122, the Luigi's Pizza parlour sign Olga and Jock walk under has a subtitle text of "not the plumber" in brackets.
• Sleep Paralysis Creature: Jock has a female sleep paralysis demon who plays a role in an arc from Episodes 163 to 168. She resembles a shriveled up corpse and only communicates in hissing sounds. Olga attacks her, both to protect Jock and because she's not sharing her man. After being kicked out, Nerd offers her to be his sleep paralysis demon for the night.
• Smack on the Back: Episodes 80 and 81 focus on this trope. Episode 80, Jock gives a big one to Nerd to get his spirits up for the test, and Nerd tries to reciprocate but isn't strong enough to make a back-slap with any real impact. Nerd gets an A+, but Jock gets an F. Episode 81, to encourage Jock on the re-test, Nerd hires Olga the Stalker Girl to perform the slap, as she's the slapping champion of the school, probably due to her slapping with a spiked glove.
• Smash Cut: Episode 123 has Jock claim he's bigger than Jesus (for context, he's referring to his muscles' definition), and the final panel cuts to Jesus pumping iron.
• Spider-Sense: Jock can sense when Nerd is feeling down.
• Spontaneous Mustache: Played with. Jock pulls a long beard and mustache out of Nerd's face, somehow.
• Stalker with a Crush: Olga the Stalker Girl, a goth woman who is obsessed with Jock but hates Nerd. She has a Stalker Shrine too. Xarhuul, the eldritch being Olga worships, has a similar crush on Nerd.
• Stereotypical Nerd: The aforementioned Nerd is a nerd, being a very intelligent and adorable-looking kid who is also an Otaku who collects action figures and watches anime. He's also quite scrawny and physically weak, something he occasionally mulls over, which is why he took up weight-lifting.
• Strangely Specific Horoscope: Episode 121 has Nerd checking out his horoscope while he's alone due to Jock being on a date with Olga. His horoscope reads "Today something catastrophic will happen to your friend Jock!" Nerd brushes this off saying there must be plenty of Jocks in the world, only to continue reading the horoscope and it having a photo of Jock as well as his phone number, full name, blood type, shoe size and favourite farm animal. This was enough to spring Nerd into action, despite not believing in horoscopes.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Olga the Stalker Girl evokes this trope's imagery, but this trope is subverted as she is alive (though Jock isn't completely sure about that).
• Squashed Flat: Jock once accidentally flattened Nerd while giving him a massage.
• Sudden Name Change: During Jock's first date, his girlfriend was called "Stalker Girl", which wasn't unfitting in a comic where the protagonists are literally called Nerd and Jock. In Stalker Girl's later appearences after the first date, her true name is revealed to be Olga and everyone acts as if it was always her name.
• There Was a Door: Jock in Episode 103 as he senses that Nerd is putting himself down and opts to jump out of an airplane and crash into Nerds' room.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Tiger has no real experience with romance, so all her ideas come from the Shōjo romance manga she reads in private. Unfortunately her attempts at a Wall Pin of Love merely scare Nerd, and she ends up having a comical meltdown when she realizes she stole Nerd's Sacred First Kiss.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Tiger is as tough as they come and dresses and acts very masculine... but she has a soft spot for romance manga.
• Tsundere: Tiger is quickly revealed to be one for Nerd, aggressively using a punching bag while demanding to know why he’s so cute.
• Unkempt Beauty: Both Olga and Tiger don't put a great deal of effort into their appearance normally, but still look pretty attractive if Jock and Nerd's reactions are any indication.
• Use Your Head: When Nerd tells Jock to do this on a test, he takes it literally and smashes his head through the desk. Somehow this gets him an A.
• Vague Age: The main characters' ages are a bit hard to pin down. They live on their own in their respective home and yet they still go to school. It's also not helped by the fact that Nerd looks like a young kid while his friends look like late teenagers or young adults, even though they are all the same age.
• Visual Pun:
  • There's a "monster" under Jock's bed.
  • When Jock uses Nerd as practice for cutting hair, he goes too far evening it out and shaves his friend bald, after which he finds out Nerd is an actual egghead.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The things that stop Nerd from liking being a vampire are his increasingly specific, such as swimming in holy water and sunbathing.
• Wall Pin of Love: Episode 176 has Tiger try this in an attempt to flirt with Nerd, slamming the wall with enough force to leave cracks. Unfortunately, Nerd becomes distressed by the loud noise made by that slam.
• What Are Records?: Jock is unfamiliar with printed media, despite using it in school.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Jock is afraid of cats, as revealed in Episode 61, and also stereotypical-looking bedsheet ghosts as was shown in Episode 109
• Yaoi Fangirl: After Olga the Stalker Girl becomes friends with Nerd and Jock, she starts writing Nerd X Jock fanfiction. Jock is confused because he thought that she hated Nerd, but she explains that the world of fanfiction is "complicated".

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