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Theater Hopper (or simply TH) is a webcomic based on a movie fan (Tom), his wife (Cami), and their friends. It debuted August 5, 2002 and is written and drawn by Tom Brazelton (known as Speedy to his fans). In 2003, Theater Hopper became a member of the Dayfree Press Webcomics Network, but in 2005, moved to the Boxcar Comics collective.
[edit] Humor Style
The majority of Theater Hopper strips lean towards the gag-a-day style of joke telling, usually either focusing on a specific movie or set of upcoming releases or making an all out parody of a classic film. During the slow release times however, the strip has been known to shift gears and allow a longer more involved story to unfold, such as the introduction of the character Charlie or the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Jimmy losing his job.
[edit] Schedule
The schedule of Theater Hopper is the common webcomic schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. Since its creation, Brazelton has rigidly ensured a strip up every one of these days, although occasionally with guest comics from comic creator peers such as Ryan Sias, Joe Dunn and others.
[edit] Characters
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Tom is the main character and driving force of the strip. Based on the creator and writer, Tom Brazelton, comic Tom is a bit movie obsessed. Frequently dressing in elaborate character costumes for the openings of movies he's excited about (from Star Wars to Starsky & Hutch) and, if left unchecked, has been known to ramble for hours about the merits of seemingly small points in films. He's gone as far as to perform voodoo rituals on certain "stars" and take things he's seen in movies out into the real world with him, and even to hand out Oscars to family and friends when the time comes. His yearly tradition of taking his bounty of gifted DVDs into the basement for a near-neverending marathon is beginning to scare his loved ones. |
| Cami is Tom's wife, both in real life and in the comic. Though her taste in movies tends to be more towards the Romantic Comedy section of the video store, she still has all of the passion of Tom, though her inexpierence in going the full 10 yards showed mightily when she accidentally stabbed Tom when dressed as Elektra. Her fandom of Julia Roberts is a mighty sticking point in the relationship, with comic results. She was also, pre-comic, apparently the Midwest Chapter Praetor in the Cult Of Sandler, and even though she has since parted ways with the flock seems to have retained the ability to levitate and throw fireballs when under extreme duress. |
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Jared is Tom's best friend, enabler, co-conspirator and probable victim. If ever Tom needs someone to fully geek out with a movie to, Jared is his go-to guy. He may be the only person in the universe who not only understands Toms passion for movies, but almost rivals it. His serious problems with "actor" Ben Affleck are well documented throughout the history of the strip with the two of them getting into more than a few physical altercations. Jareds alter-ego, Goth Jared, thought dead since the sequel to The Crow was such a Dismal Flop is a semi-recurring character, known to pop up if a movie dark enough looms on the horizon. |
| Jimmy is the first cast member of Theater Hopper to not be based on a real person. Jimmy is an employee at the local movie theater the rest of the cast is known to frequent and thus has become quite chummy with them. He was also the subject of Theater Hoppers first long story arc, running from September 6 to October 8, 2004 we got to know Jimmy quite intimately and he has fast become one of the most popular characters in the small cast. |
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Charlie is also a construct of Mr. Brazelton's imagination. When they were younger Charlie and Cami were bitter rivals, competing at everything they could and often coming in #1 & #2. Charlie eventually followed her dream and moved out to Hollywood to become an actress, until almost out of nowhere she moved back to Iowa. In THs longest (almost two months) spanning story arc it was revelead that Charlie had a romance with Ben Affleck, which ended badly when she crushed his skull with the Oscar he won for Good Will Hunting. |
| Victor was first introduced on November 30, 2005, and is the floor manager of the local cinema. In this strip, we are told that he is from the Ukraine. He takes his job at the theater to the extreme, and always seems to have a scowl on his face, the utter picture of authority. However, rumor has it that he secretly is in love with Tom. |
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Truman is the comic counterpart of Tom and Cami's real life beagle. While he has yet to play any major role in the comic, he's still very popular among fans and just really cute. He has in fact gotten his own strip dedicated to him once when he fell ill. |
Tom Brazelton's art style has evolved quite a bit in the time since he's been doing his comic. Originally utilizing thick lines and at times odd positioning the comic now has a more uniform, pleasing style.
[edit] Bonus Features
Jared Brinkmeyer and Derek Rose have lent their talents to producing flash games for the comic. This can be found within the Bonus Materials section of the webpage. Though there will potentially be more, the games available include Solitaire, Memory, and a dress-up game.
[edit] THorum
Being that it was the first movies-based webcomic and, in particular, the first to achieve 500 strips, Theater Hopper has developed a cult-like following which has manifested itself in the form of a rather popular forum known as the 'THorum' (Theater Hopper forum, also a play on words being Brazelton's love of comic books, which includes Thor).
[edit] Webcam Portal
An offshoot of the THorum, the TH Webcam Portal, is a place where members post (self) images for the world to see.
[edit] External links
