Able and Baker
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- This article is about a webcomic. For the first animals to survive space flight, see Animals in space.
| Able and Baker | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Jim Burgess |
| Website | http://www.jimburgessdesign.com/comics/ |
| Update schedule | Updates weekdays |
| Launch date | date unknown |
Able and Baker is a webcomic by Jim Burgess. It centres around two lab animals for "the space program", namely Able, a monkey, and Baker, a sheep. Able and Baker is part of the Dayfree Press network.
Able and Baker are named after the first two animals (monkeys) to be launched into and to return to earth from space alive. The historic flight took place on May 28, 1959.
The comics are mostly four panelled. Burgess adds a fact under every comic he creates. They used to be space-related ("if you could drive your car straight up, you would arrive in space in just over an hour.") until comic 69, where the facts began to cover more general topics. The comics are divided into seasons, each season being 100 strips.
Able and Baker's ages are not clear, but on one occasion the scientist did comment that they were probably around 20 years of age.
[edit] Characters
- Able - Able is self-obsessed and narcissistic, and takes a liking to insulting Baker. Able has self-professed that he is "pretty good at recognizing Baker's shortcomings". Able seems to enjoy using bombastic words, often making malapropisms in the process, and strange metaphors, believing it makes him appear more intelligent, the irony being that Baker outsmarts him almost all the time, or gets too frustrated to bother. Able occasionally creates "art pieces", his preferred media is paint, though he has come up with other bizarre objects like "the smoking twinkie". In early strips, Able used to be addicted to coffee, now he smokes. Apparently, Able used to be married. He boasts of having coined the phrase "Look out for that roast beef sandwich!".
- Baker - Baker is Able's foil, wry and cynical of Able's ways and often berates him for being stupid or doing stupid things (like one instance of Able bringing a margarita machine on board the space shuttle). Baker has a voracious appetite, and on one occasion was put on a diet by the scientist. To help out, Able invites Harold the rabbit from marketing to "inspire" Baker. Able likes to hide stuff in Baker's wool.
- The Scientist(s)
- Harold - A smart-talking rabbit from marketing, the mascot for the space programme.
- Susan - The scientist's daughter on internship at the lab. Able often annoys Susan with his quips, and Susan seems to have taken a fondness to tipping the furniture on Able when he does so.
- Nanners - Able's giraffe plush (who is a she).
- Snuggle J. Bear - Baker's bear plush
- Aargvark - A pirate anteater, protagonist of an untitled novel that Able is writing. The other characters in the novel are Baraplegic, a limbless bear and Lambeard, the mutinous sheep.
- Masher - A donkey, which is supposed to be part of the research team. Masher is first mentioned in strip 114. Able has a fear of Masher, whom he calls the "3rd floor donkey", who was seen hiding behind a vending machine. Masher has kicked potatoes at Able before
- Baker's uncle Bowen - In strip 9 Baker reveals he has an Uncle Bowen who is unfortunately dead.
- Evil Baker - Evil Baker appears in strip 302, and says only one line. He is Baker's hallucination and wears glasses. He returns in 385, 386, and 389.
- Quincy - Quincy is the lab's life coach and first appears in strip 417. He is extremely positive, sharing excellent words of wisdom and advice, but is also bipolar 421.
