Characters in Pondus

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The cartoon strip Pondus by Frode Øverli has a number of major and minor recurring characters.

Contents 1 Pondus 2 Beate 3 Kevin 4 Frida 5 Bjarne 6 Jokke 7 Camilla 8 Gordon 9 Else 10 Günther 11 Jacobsen 12 Turid-Laila 13 Kjakan 14 Harold & Selma 15 Hugo & Ivar 16 Ponny-Petra 17 Reidar 18 Roger 19 Dr. Zimmerkraben 20 Zlatan 21 Sources

Pondus' family

[edit] Pondus

Pondus (real name Patrick) is a living football encyclopedia in his mid thirties (once quoted to be 35), and an avid fan of Liverpool F.C. and AC/DC (he claims his favorite song is Shoot to thrill). He is married to Beate, and father to their two children, Påsan and Sneipen. He actively plays football at "old-boys" level, giving him opportunity to play hard and occasionally perform like the player he dreams he is. He has both seriously injured others, and been been seriously injured himself. When it comes to knowledge about British football, he has nearly idiot savant expertise, about teams and players down to the obscure lower-leagues.

He worked for several years as a bus driver, but did at one point get too much exposure of "the freaks that use public transportation", and as pub-owner Turid-Laila was leaving for a transglobal sailing trip, Pondus quit his old job bought her pub. This was an establishment he and his best friend Jokke were already spending a great deal of time at.

[edit] Beate

Beate (English: Linda) is Pondus' reasonably wise wife and mother of Påsan and Sneipen. She works as a nurse at the local hospital. Some of the characters at the hospital are characters from a previous comic that Øverli did, Riskhospitalet (The Risk Hospital, a pun on Rikshospitalet, National Hospital).

She has been with Pondus since they were teenagers, but is a far more conventionally normal person than he is. She does not share his love for football, but much prefers to watch soap operas on TV. Her taste in music is offensive to Pondus, as she likes to listen to Michael Bolton, Modern Talking, Ricky Martin etc.

Her best friend is Selma.

[edit] Kevin

Kevin (English: Junior) usually called Påsan, is the pubescent son of the Pondus household. He has, since the start of the series, grown from being a typical child in elementary school, to a puberty-stricken teenager. He has inherited his father's love for football and rock music. He plays football for a local club in a manner that reflects his father's style of playing.

He also plays guitar with a group of friends in a band named Fotsopp (English: Athlete's foot), a twist on the name of the Norwegian band Röyksopp. His best friend is Kjakan. Recently it has been revalded that Kevin had stopped playing guitar and is now more a hip-hop fan.

[edit] Frida

Frida was over several years called Sneipen (English: Rugrat), but her proper name was revealed in the May issue of 2007. She is a girl toddler who has yet to develop into a speaking character, although her thoughts are apparent to the reader. Her vocabulary is limited to very few words, one of which is Dommerjævel (English: bastard referee), which doesn't please her mother but gives her father some satisfaction.

Frida attends kindergarten, (Soppen barnehage - The Mushroom Kindergarten) and has during the strip's run grown to look a bit older. She is sometimes shown praying to God before going to bed, for instance asking God to make Liverpool FC play better, as that would make her father happy. She is also capable of impressive drawings for her age.

[edit] Bjarne

Bjarne is the Pondus household family dog, of unnamed breed, and most likely a mutt blend of several indeterminable races, but at the very least "thought to be dog breeds." At a veterinarian checkup it was revealed that he had 26 more teeth than normal dogs, of which all seemed to have been thrown into his mouth at great distance. Many of Bjarne's appearances revolve around the tasks of bathing and toenail-clipping, both of which are events Bjarne dreads, and dangerous to the person attempting the task.

All appearances of this dog confirm the idea that Bjarne is exceptionally unintelligent. There is only one known exception, in a comic strip where Pondus wonders about what Bjarne is thinking. At the end of the strip, you see Bjarne thinking: "E=mc²". In a later strip, he is seen walking right into a tree during a stroll.

Jokke's family

[edit] Jokke

Jokke (real name Joachim Jacobsen, English: Raymond) used to be a notorious flirt with the very ugliest women to be found, due to some internal code that no opportunity should ever be left unattempted. Very often this would lead him to get severely beaten up. He is of the same age as Pondus, and sees himself as his equal in every way, not least in terms of strength which they occasionally measure, always ending in a tie. Jokke is also Pondus' equal in terms of football fanhood, but his less fortunate destiny is supporting Leeds United, a club doomed to poor results of recent years. He also plays Old Boys football with Pondus, as goalkeeper, but he is not very good. His favourite band is KISS which also is in conflict to Pondus' AC/DC.

Until recently, Jokke had never done an honest day's work and was very proud of this. For a while he lived at home with his mother Else and his stepfather Günther, but moved out when their sexual escapades were too much to bear, to share an apartment with Turid-Laila. Recent events have however improved Jokke's life drastically. He reunited with his long-lost, ex-criminal father and opened a vintage record store with him, and he met Camilla who is several leagues above the sort of girls pursued in the past. Jokke and Camilla then moved in together, and had a baby in 2006.

[edit] Camilla

Camilla is Jokke's former girlfriend, and the mother of their child. An entirely normal and healthy girl that works as a teacher, and plays football athletically, her selection of Jokke as a partner is her only freak factor. Jokke and Camilla met during a football match in which Pondus' and Jokke's team faced off against Camilla's team. Camilla is an avid supporter of Manchester United (and hence a historic enemy of the less fortunate Leeds) which leads to some conflict. Recently it was discovered that Camilla had an affair with one of her colleagues, something that causes Jokke and Camilla to break up. It becomes clear that they get joint custody of their son Gordon, and Jokke moves out of their apartment and into a new one above his father's record store.

[edit] Gordon

Gordon was over a period simply known as "Jokke's unnamed baby son". After suggestions such as "Jokke den andre" (English: Jokke the second) it was decided upon Gordon, a compromise between Jokke and Camilla, in honour of Gordon Strachan who played for both Manchester United and Leeds.

[edit] Else

Else (English: Elsa) is Jokke's mother and married to Günther. Together they share some unusual sexual interests, including German porn, bondage and costumes. While Günther fantasizes about Dolly Parton, Else dreams of Derrick.

Else also runs a massage parlor out of her own home, and sometimes causes serious injury to her clients. Inexplicably, she is frequently mistaken for a prostitute. She also has an eternal relationship with her bathroom scale, and as a quite overweight woman, these have a tendency to break. Sometimes, all she has to do is cast a shadow.

She has started taking driving lessons, and revealed herself as an exceedingly poor driving student, and a hazard in traffic. The strips featuring these events indicate she will never improve. In a 2006 strip, she was shown taking the drivers test for the 250th time.

[edit] Günther

Günther, Jokke's bald, German midget stepfather. Most of his time is spent at home with his wife, sitting in an easy chair while wearing a fez and silk pajamas, sipping a brandy, and making sure he doesn't insult his wife's weight. If he unfortunately does, he is thrown into the bathroom sink, in which he snugly fits.

Günther also has a secret identity - Güntherman. As Güntherman, Günther sets out to fight crime. His attempts at stopping crime are usually unsuccessful, although he has recently been inducted, after a painful initiation process, into a brotherhood of dubious superheroes.

[edit] Jacobsen

Jacobsen, Jokke's father, used to be a bank robber and jailbird during Jokke's youth, and has therefore been long-time absent. This suddenly changed when Jokke decided to contact his father, which eventually shed some light on the reasons behind Jokke's notorious taste in women and repertoire of one-liners.

Together they have opened up an Antiques&Vinyl shop, consisting mostly of items acquired by Jokke's father during his long life of crime, sold for irationally high prices due to fake statements and facts, such as a cheap little cabinet bought at Ikea a few years back was sold as anitique. The reunion of two have apparently improved lives a great deal.

Other characters

[edit] Turid-Laila

Turid-Laila (English: Tammy-Sue) is a desirable blonde who works as a bartender at the local pub, which Pondus and Jokke have frequented since the beginning of the strip. Her manner of dealing with slobbering drunks and gawking creeps is quite impressive. She is also a source of calculated punchlines, affirming that she is no dumb blonde.

Jokke was for a while room-mates with Turid-Laila, and several times sabotaged her romantic life, until he got together with Camilla and moved in with her.

Turid-Laila recently acquired a girlfriend named Mai-Linn, whom she met on Ibiza during the summer. She stated that this relationship probably was "the real thing", leading to the decision to go on a transglobal sailing journey with her, and selling her pub to Pondus. The love did not last very long, however, and she returned. She again works at the pub, but now with Pondus as her boss.

[edit] Kjakan

Kjakan (real name Kjell-Kristian, English: Scooter) is Påsan's best friend. Has a problem with acne outbreaks and obesity, and is far from the most popular boy in school. Many times he has been the victim of severe intimidation by girls from the class. Kjakan is the drummer in Påsan's band Fotsopp.

[edit] Harold & Selma

Harold and Selma are long-time friends of Beate, and depicted as a dull old couple. Selma makes most decisions in their house, and Harold is lucky if he's allowed to go outside. Harold has an obsession with his aquarium fish, and is also shown as a whisky-drinker who buys good quality brands, but blends with cola (prompting Pondus to steal the bottle from him, reasoning that the only decent action is to adopt it). Selma does not approve of her husband's drinking, though, and it is also implied that Harold has a very low tolerance. On a rare night out with Pondus and Jokke (he comments that the last time he set foot in a bar, Ronald Reagan was U.S. president) he becomes intoxicated after one sip of whisky.

[edit] Hugo & Ivar

Hugo and Ivar are two of Pondus' (now former) colleagues from public transportation. Both are eternal bachelors who share the strange obsession of collecting bottle-caps. In recent strips, the duo have replaced Jokke's former role as pathetic pursuers of the world's ugliest women.

[edit] Ponny-Petra

Ponny-Petra is perhaps the most notorious and long-lasting of Jokke's acquaintances. She has a strong fascination with country music and horses, hence her name. She used to terrorise Jokke, believing herself to be his girlfriend, but fell into a coma after listening to Jokke's music (which he claimed was banned in 108 countries with the volume set to 'hairdryer'). She is an extremely strong woman, as demonstrated when she punches Jokke so hard, a space shuttle spots his hat and some of his teeth in space.

[edit] Reidar

Reidar is the local car mechanic, who has virtually no sense of ethics. He would cheat his own grandmother with absolutely no remorse (the punchline of a strip), and creatively charge for opening the hood of the car and then relaxing for a while, billing it as motor-airing. For the most of the time, he charges for replacement of fictional car parts, exploiting people who knows little about cars. However, a bottle of Jack Daniels might force him to tell the truth.

Only on one occasion has he been unable to find any fault in a car to exploit for profit, namely a Fiat 509 belonging to Gaston Lagaffe who made a silhouetted cameo in a strip, Reidar conceding defeat while thinking, "They just don't make them like that anymore..".

[edit] Roger

Roger is a creator of comics and cartoon strips of the poorest sort. Everything he produces is rejected by an editor in awe of the level of awful quality. Of unbreakable resolve, Roger is confident success will come to him eventually. His work has often led him to experiment with highly original variations of the superhero concepts, but more recently he has taken to copy already successful characters and place them together. He shows his strips to Pondus at the bar, but never takes any discouragement from his surly comments.

Examples of Roger's series are: Tanga Trond, Kaptein Kølle, Roy the boy toy, Sergeant Shitface, Dirty Duck, Nicky Buttface, Karaoke Kid, and Mikke Snus og Kjøttbein.

[edit] Dr. Zimmerkraben

Dr. Zimmerknaben is Jokke's psychiatrist. Zimmerknaben often resorts to pills when seeing patients, no less when listening to Jokke's horrible dating experiences. In one strip, it reached the point of Zimmerknaben and Jokke's roles being reversed. After Jokke met Camilla Zimmerkraben has been less used.

[edit] Zlatan

Zlatan is a pale, skinny black metal-guy that is employed at Jokke's store, having been a customer for a long while. Despite his intimidating appearance, snaggletoothed and corpse-like, he has quite a gentle and innocent personality. He suffers from lack of vitamins, which caused him to be knocked over by a friendly pat on the shoulders.

[edit] Sources