"It's true... no man is an island. But if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a pretty good raft."
— Bug-Eyed Earl
Red Meat is a three-panel gag-per-day comic by Max Cannon that started in 1989 before moving to the web in 1996. It specialises in crossing the line twice, starring a host of bizarre characters talking in supposedly normal situations that are turned on their heads by the punchline. Stark, motionless art and a lack of backgrounds add to the feeling of straight-faced madness.
Recurring characters:
- Milkman Dan, the most evil and depraved milkman ever. Forever in conflict with his boss, customers and his eternal foe Karen, the little girl.
- Ted, the devoted family man with some very strange hobbies.
- Bug-eyed Earl, whose viewpoint of reality is at 37.34572 degrees to the rest of us.
Main website here
. Not as active as it used to be — posts repeat or touched-up strips, but there are some new ones as well.
Tropes provided:
- Butt-Monkey: Ted's son.
- Lemonhead Johnny, a man with a lemon-shaped head, is the whipping boy of the neighborhood.
- Catchphrase: sooner or later, every character who isn't Milkman Dan will utter the magic words:I hate you Milkman Dan!
- Chew Toy: Johnny Lemonhead
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Earl is this in his more benign or plainly weird strips.
- Cut-and-Paste Comic: A deliberate choice, as Max wanted the text to stand out.
- Eldritch Abomination: A floating skull sometimes haunts Bug-Eyed Earl. Or tries to.Skull: Gaze upon me...Earl: If I didn't look while it was screamin', what makes it think I'll look now?
- For the Evulz: Milkman Dan. Dear God, Milkman Dan. There is nothing that's off-limits for him.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each comic is given a bleakly funny title that describes the general tone of Red Meat.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: An early example: Mr. T vs. Red Meat.
- King of All Cosmos: God is a jerk.
- Papa Moai sees all, knows all — but can't be bothered to help a little boy because it'd strain his back.
- Papa Moai sees all, knows all — but can't be bothered to help a little boy because it'd strain his back.
- Phrase Catcher: I hate you, Milkman Dan.
- Robot Buddy: Mr. Bix is a subversion. A vomiting, kid-microwaving subversion.
- Smug Snake: Milkman Dan tries to be one and usually succeeds. It makes getting pwned by little Karen all the funnier.
- Standard '50s Father: Ted is a very deranged parody.
- The Voice: We almost never see Ted's wife, just her speech bubbles. (She has appeared once from behind in a strip but otherwise follows this trope.) One strip implies she may be some kind of alien.
