| George | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | John R. Norton |
| Website | http://www.georgecomics.com/ |
| Current status / schedule | Updates on M,W,F |
| Launch date | 2005 January 31 [1] |
| Genre(s) | geek, comedy |
George is a webcomic written and illustrated by John R. Norton. The strip has been in existence for several years, making its first appearance on the web as early as 1999.[1] As of December 4, 2009, there have been 529 full-color comics published. The current George website [2] was established in January 2005, using a strip from the old site to make its debut. Since then, however, all content has been entirely new. New comic strips were originally posted every Monday and Thursday before going to a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. In early 2006, the strip went on hiatus for most of the year, but returned with regular, though unscheduled, updates in January 2007. Currently, new comics are once again posted on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Contents |
The strip is centered around a fairly normal freelance cartoonist, George, and his circle of friends. The strip often deals with computers, technology, and generally "geeky" things like World of Warcraft and Star Wars, though a myriad of light-hearted subjects are commonly explored. The strip takes place in the fairly small, fictional town of Perkton, located in the heart of California, presumably somewhere near Fresno. It is not particularly close to well-known California cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is not in line with the stereotypical view of California. Most of the strip's characters are between 26 and 30 years of age, with a few exceptions, such as Chain-Link Jefferson and Coach Demurson, who are much older, and Megan Beauxmont, who is much younger.
The main character of the strip, George was employed as a radio DJ before the strip's inception and now works as a freelance cartoonist, although the nature of his employment rarely surfaces in the strip. He owns his own house, which is often a gathering point of sorts for his friends. George is typically the most "normal" of his friends, though he often receives the ridicule of Greg and Rob for not being techno-savvy and for not owning any video games that came out in the last decade.
Amanda is George's girlfriend. They've been dating since early college. Amanda works at a marketing company where she interned during college. She did not actually live with George until recently, when she sold her house to her sister, Debbie, and moved in with George.
Nobody is exactly sure of Dave's last name, at least, not anymore. The same goes for his age. George believes that Dave's birth certificate is somewhere in his garage, but he hasn't seen it in at least a couple years. It is known that Dave is George's cousin, though probably not a very close one. Dave lived in George's spare bedroom ever since George bought his house. It is unclear whether Dave lived with George prior. Dave is unemployed and makes money by occasionally selling his inventions, one of which was an automatic tie-tyer. In April 2008, George asked Dave to move out to make room for Amanda, who he asked to move in with him. Dave has since taken up residence with Sirloin, but he still spends copious amounts of time at George's house.
Greg was a computer programmer at a small company--so small, in fact, that he was their lone programmer. He was fired for taking an extended leave of absence when he, Rob, Sirloin, and Dave formed the band "RSS Feedwagon" and went in search of gigs to play. He became an amateur freelance photographer, but was eventually hired again as a programmer in the same IT department as Colleen. He is possibly the strip's biggest technogeek, spending virtually all of his day on the computer or possibly playing video games on the couch.
Rob is a relative newcomer to George's circle of friends, having moved in next door to George in early February 2005. He found a place with George and his friends, especially Greg, fairly easily. Rob is an independent website developer who recently opened his own computer supply store. As such, he has much in common with Greg, and the two hang out regularly.
Colleen is a coworker and friend of Amanda's. She works in the IT department of the marketing company she and Amanda work at. As much of a computer geek as Greg and Rob are, she is much more mature about her technological interest and doesn't call attention to it very much. Still, she is the object of Greg and Rob's desire, even if she doesn't necessarily return the sentiment.
Chain-link spends all day at the park on a bench with his guitar, playing and singing the blues. Born and raised in Alabama, he moved to Chicago in the 60s to take advantage of the city's burgeoning blues scene. Unable to secure a worthwhile record deal, he moved to California in 1976 and has been playing the blues in Perkton ever since. He sometimes tells George and his friends stories or imparts wisdom upon them.
"Sirloin" is almost certainly not his real name, but nobody knows what else to call him. He was on Perkton's community softball team before George and his friends joined, and used to be in a heavy metal band. Nobody's terribly sure of his profession or background. His closest friend in the strip is Dave, as he has more in common with him than anyone else. In early 2008, after being prodded by George, Sirloin revealed that he used to be in a heavy metal band called Flatulator. Dave convinced Sirloin to take up his guitar (named Guitaron) again, and upon doing so, Sirloin again grew a full head of hair. So far, Sirloin has kept the long hair.
Better known as "Coach Demurson," he is characterized by his constant presence of old-school Oakley Blade sunglasses. He is the coach for seemingly every community sports league in Perkton, but prefers softball the most. A former minor-league baseball player in the late 80s, he's not really part of George's group of friends; he usually only appears as the coach of Perkton's sports teams.
"The Paul" has never made his last name known, and has never been referred to without the word "The" before his first name. The Paul became wrapped up in George's life ever since his softball team lost to George's team in 2005. Since then, The Paul has harbored a grudge towards George in particular, and spends much of his free time thinking of ways to make life miserable for him.
Denise made her debut on September 10, 2007. She is Amanda's cousin, but the two had been enemies for several years due to Denise's jealousy of Amanda. They have finally made up, and Amanda went so far as to help Denise get a job at the marketing agency where Amanda works.
Debbie is Amanda's sister. For several years, she lived on the eastern coast of the United States, approximately 3,000 miles away from George and Amanda. In March 2008, however, Debbie visited California for the first time in almost four years. It was soon disclosed that the real reason she and her family were in California was her husband, Jeff, had lost his high-paying job on the east coast. Amanda offered to help Debbie and her family get back on their feet in California. Debbie's daughter, Megan, likes to spend time with George, although he doesn't always return the sentiment.
Crystal is a smoking-hot dark-haired vixen who recently started dating Rob. She was unclear as to why she was attracted by him, as Rob is usually not the kind of guy who attracts women like Crystal. They met at the Perkton Mall when Rob's computer broke down and he was forced to actually go outside and interact with humanity.
Amanda's dog, which is a chihuahua--fittingly named Chiwawa. George doesn't like Chiwawa, and once tried to sell him at a yard sale for ten dollars and a leather vest.
Badabing, George's cat, was originally found in a shed in George's back yard when he was a kitten. George took care of Badabing and decided to keep him. Unfortunately for Chiwawa, Badabing doesn't exactly play nice with small dogs.
Occasionally, George features special guest characters. These have included David Letterman, Ed McMahon, Willie Nelson, and Sammy Hagar.