Pokey the Penguin

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Pokey the Penguin
Author(s) Steve Havelka, under the pen name "The Authors"
Website http://yellow5.com/pokey
Current status Updated sporadically
Launch date February 18th, 1998
Genre(s) Surrealist

Pokey the Penguin is a non sequitur, absurdist online comic strip, which began in 1998 and continues to be updated (albeit sporadically). The individual strips have little or no apparent logic on first glance, are filled with corrections (crossed-out words, occasionally images scribbled over), and lack of evident punch lines. All the same, they exhibit the glimmerings of plots and strange interconnections. In the first strip, it is described as being an "educational comic". The art has been described as resembling "the drawings of a four-year-old with a short attention span and poor motor control"; the dialogue, by contrast, has a peculiarly knowing and subtle air about it, despite the fact that it is delivered entirely in italicized capitals with multiple (usually spaced apart) exclamation marks. The typeface is exclusively Courier, is italicized by shifting pixels of each successive horizontal row further to the left, and is never anti-aliased.

Pokey's fans persistently see it as a work of genius; in any case, "HERE ON RUM ISLAND WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN RUM!" and "IN MEAT-SPACE, EVERYONE IS YOUR FRIEND!!!" are unlikely to be the work of a four-year-old. An interesting expression introduced in the comic is "Chicago-style", a term used in the strip meaning to do something without pants [1]. The comic apparently is produced, intermittently, by web developer Steve Havelka of Portland, Oregon who, to this day, is only identified on the website as "THE AUTHORS." However, his identity became public during Pokey's regularly-updated first few years, and he participated in message boards and mailing lists dedicated to the strip (see links below). The discussions revealed that Pokey was originally intended as a parody of another MS Paint comic about a penguin and answered questions fans had about the identities of characters (Headcheese was often confused with the Little Girl, for instance).

Pokey (the main character) lives in the Arctic, unlike most penguins, who live in the Southern Hemisphere. He is accompanied by several recurring characters, of whom the "Little Girl" is the most commonly seen. His main antagonists are the Italians, whom Pokey suspects of intending to steal his Arctic Circle-Candy (which grows in the Arctic). The Italians are never seen in person, though a ship flying the Italian flag is sighted from time to time.

Pokey's main occupation is going on adventures.

Recently, two animated Pokey adventures (which originally appeared in 2002) have been released into the "Hall of Whimsy", which also suggests forthcoming availability of Pokey shirts and a book.

A typical panel in a Pokey strip, featuring the Little Girl and Pokey.
A typical panel in a Pokey strip, featuring the Little Girl and Pokey.

Contents

[edit] Characters

The characters are as innumerable as the plots are inscrutable. The mainstays are:

  • Pokey the Penguin
  • Mr. Nutty, a British capitalistic alcoholic snowman
  • A young female penguin, variously identified as "Small Child" or "Little Girl," who is apparently Pokey's sister
  • Skeptopotamus, a skeptic who is apparently not related to the race "hippopotamus"
  • Headcheese, a French Canadian female penguin, with whom Pokey has some kind of love/hate relationship
  • Gustavo, a potato chip-shaped character whose long moustaches, named "Democracy" and "Stalin", can be moved individually like arms
  • The devil (who looks like a red, horned penguin)
  • A boxing glove (purportedly possessed by the devil)
  • The Italians, who are Pokey's enemies because they want to steal his "arctic circle-candy"

[edit] Minor characters

Minor characters, who appear in only one or two comics, include:

And many more.

Most minor characters look exactly like Pokey—for example, the various "Chicken" characters are not chickens, but ordinary penguins, and the "Bear" is merely a brown penguin; the "Dinosaur" a green penguin.

[edit] Guest artists

The occasional "guest artists" are:

[edit] References

Pokey has been referenced twice in the Hitman series of video games - in Hitman: Contracts as an obscure, esoteric easter egg [3], and more directly in Hitman: Blood Money, where an overheard conversation between guards has one inviting the other to look at the comics on a computer.

[edit] External links

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