Jerkcity

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Jerkcity
L-R: Spigot, Pants, Deuce, Rands
Author(s)	Rands
Website	http://www.jerkcity.com/
Current status / schedule	Updating every day
Launch date	August 17, 1998
Genre(s)	Humor of the absurd

Jerkcity is a webcomic published daily since August 17, 1998 by creator Michael Lopp, aka "Rands", and a variety of other contributors. The strip's backgrounds and the appearance of its characters are generated with the long-defunct application Microsoft Comic Chat, which features the artwork of Jim Woodring. The spirit of the strip is summed up in its official motto, "Slurping and drooling and hurrrr." [1] Jerkcity also maintains its own schedule of holidays. [2]

Jerkcity contains almost no character development, storyline or continuity. Its primary themes include drinking, drug abuse, masturbation, misogyny, homosexual and/or homophobic activities, gluttony, dick jokes and computer programming. Dialogue is often absurd, incomprehensible, and/or obscene.

1 Content
2 Cast of characters
- 2.1 Main
- 2.2 Supporting
3 References to other comics
4 Collected editions
5 Music
6 External links

[edit] Content

The strip features a central cast of four characters — Pants, Rands, Deuce and Spigot — and a dozen or so minor ones. Sometimes the players act out scenes from an invented T.J. Hooker-like cop drama called Spigot The Bear.

Sometimes a running joke which demands some level of continuity asserts itself, such as in the Big Faggoty Dick series [3][4][5][6], a period in the autumn of 2000 in which the characters went on strike, and a series of strips not featuring Pants or Deuce due to them being "arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D." [7].

In another instance, Spigot and Deuce poke each other in the eye[8]; subsequent strips portray both with an "X" over one eye. Their eyesight was inexplicably cured some two and a half months later[9].

Once or twice a year, comics are substituted with photographs without explanation. The strip sometimes comments on mainstream news ephemera, such as the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the death of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the Terri Schiavo case, the Laci Peterson abduction, and even a woman left in a makeshift grave after the flooding of New Orleans. Strips have also included OpenBSD bug reports and corrections to this Wikipedia entry and ridicule of Wikipedia admin FCYTravis and Wikipedia in general.

The site also contains an official glossary, which helps to explain various slang used in strips, like "HUGLAGHALGHALGHAL" (the onomatopoeic representation of "dicklicking") and "T" (chat lingo meaning "Tell", followed by the person's name). Jerkcity also maintains its own schedule of holidays. [10]

In November of 2004, some cast members went to Disneyland and left contact information for Jerkcity fans to send messages while in the park. Staff replied to many of these messages with pictures taken from a cellular phone's built-in camera.

One-time characters have included John Ashcroft [11], Adolf Hitler [12], Jesus Christ [13] and Brian Peppers [14].

[edit] Cast of characters

[edit] Main

Pants — A nine-eyed "Christmas tree monster", arguably the weirdest and least tactful character.
Rands Pantalones — An alien and the most level-headed character[15], which amounts to slightly more programming talk.
Deuce — A fellow in a tiki mask, often the most aggressive. Bites and clamps.[16] He wears his mask to hide the shame. [17] It is (repeatedly) advised you do not feed him. [18] [19] [20]
Spigot — A beatnik with a beret and a goatee. Likes pancakes w/ blueberry compote. [21] [22]

[edit] Supporting

Adolf Hitler [23]
Atandt
Brian Peppers [24]
Bung
Cock Zombie [25][26][27]/Dick Zombie [28] — Mentioned repeatedly by Pants but never seen.
Dick — Often refers to fundamental tenets of Constructivist epistemology.
Effigy
Hanford — the strip's "director"
Harriet — A woman, i.e. prostitute.
Inebriated Crustacean — Introduced by Pants[29].
Jean-Charles — A bumbling French waiter, an off-screen character with no dialogue.
Net
Ozone
The Peeing Man
Renaissance Man - A caveman introduced to Jerkcity by Spigot [30]

[edit] References to other comics

[edit] Collected editions

The Big Book of Jerkcity (ISBN 0-966-33118-4) was released on April 20, 2003. Two-hundred hand-numbered paperback copies were printed. The book sold out and is out of print. The contents included strips from the first five years, an introduction by Rands and a glossary that has since been updated and added to the website [37].