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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 5th, 2002 and is written and drawn by Tom Brazelton. In 2003, Theater Hopper became a member of the Dayfree Press Webcomics Network, but in 2005, moved to the Boxcar Comics collective. Two book collections have been released, Theater Hopper: Year One and Theater Hopper: Year Two.
[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 usually ensured a strip is up every one of these days, although occasionally with guest comics from comic creator peers such as Mitch Clem, Ryan Sias, Joe Dunn and others.
Starting on April 23, 2007, Brazelton announced that the site would go through a major change. Comics would only be updated on Wednesdays, with sketches rounding out the remaining schedule days. His life, job, and new family were the reasons for the change. He also planned to round out the changes with movie reviews, until his son grows a little older.
However, as of late, not only has Brazelton been fulfilling his Monday, Wednesday, and Friday webcomic updates, but he has also been posting occasional movie reviews in addition to the standard three comics a week.
[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 [1], to Starsky & Hutch [2], to Spider-Man [3]) and, if left unchecked, has been known to ramble for hours about the merits of seemingly small points in films [4]. He's gone as far as to perform voodoo rituals on certain stars [5] and take things he's seen in movies out into the real world with him [6], and even to hand out Oscars to family and friends when the time comes [7]. His yearly tradition of taking his bounty of gifted DVDs into the basement for a near never-ending marathon is frightening his loved ones [8]. |
| 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 [9]. Her fandom of Julia Roberts is a sticking point in the relationship [10][11][12][13]. She was also, apparently, the Midwest Chapter Praetor in the Cult of Sandler [14], and even though she has since parted ways with the flock she seems to have retained the ability to levitate and throw fireballs when under extreme duress [15]. |
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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 [16] [17] [18] [19]. Though Jared has recently made his peace with Affleck after he directed the critically-acclaimed Gone Baby Gone [20]. Jared has since moved on to terrorizing Shia LaBeouf [21] after seeing a picture of him from the new Indiana Jones movie where he's on a motorcycle with Indy in the "bitch seat" [22]. Jared's alter-ego, Goth Jared, thought dead since the The Crow sequel was a huge flop [23], is a semi-recurring character. |
| 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. Jimmy has a certain naiveté about him, though he has been known to exhibit sarcastic tendencies from time to time. He was also the subject of Theater Hopper's first long story arc, running from September 6 to October 8 2004, wherein he was fired from the theater [24] and lived with Tom briefly [25] before being rehired [26]. 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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[edit] Charlie
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Charlie is also a construct of Mr. Brazelton's imagination. When they were in high school Charlie and Cami were bitter rivals, competing at everything they could with Charlie most often coming out on top [27]. 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 TH's longest (almost two months) spanning story arc it was revealed that Charlie left Hollywood due to her failed romance with Ben Affleck. Their relationship ended (rather badly) when she clocked him in the jaw with the "Best Screenplay" Oscar he won for Good Will Hunting after Affleck insulted her and broke up with her when she refused to support his dream of becoming a professional poker player [28]. |
[edit] Victor
| Victor was first introduced on November 30 2005, and is the floor manager of the local cinema. We are told that he is from the Ukraine. He takes his job at the theater to the extreme at first, going so far as to lock up Tom & Cami in the theater's secret holding cell after Tom suggests out loud that they go "theater hopping" [29]. He always seems to have a scowl on his face, the utter picture of authority. However, it has become more and more apparent that he is gay and in love with Tom [30] [31] [32] [33]; he even erected a shrine to Tom [34](though this was done in a guest comic so it may not be considered canon). |
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[edit] Truman
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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. Truman has however been shown to be fiercely loyal to Tom and Cami. There was never a better example of this than when Truman (in an airplane) shot down Dewey, the chimp Tom and Cami owned very briefly (he only appeared in six strips), after he kidnapped Cami and took her to the top of a building. [35] Dewey had become enraged after seeing the King Kong remake in the theater. |
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