A Chipmunk and a Lizard

A Chipmunk and a Lizard is a webcomic by John Thayer and Howard August, started on April 1, 2002.

Plot

The comics feature conversations between two animals, a chipmunk and a lizard, being later joined by a bird, a bat, sometimes a duck and a more currently, a frog. Each panel features two of the characters (rarely three, once the whole four and sometimes one single character talking to itself) sitting in a rock, back to back, talking about their lives and the world - revealing that they clearly don't know very much, but a bit more than you would imagine of wild animals.

Like the yellow skin and the blue hairs present in The Simpsons, the four main characters (Chipmunk, Lizard, Bird and Bat) wear mysterious masks that never reveal their actual faces. When the character Frog first appeared, mask-less, she asked them "What's with the masks?", and neither Bird nor Chipmunk knew what she was talking about. Lizard, however, told her that the other three wear masks because they're in "some stupid 'Masked Animal Society'" or because they're just ugly; Lizard wears it because it's "kind of punk rock". Frog then got a mask of a bunny she now wears all the time, gaining the others' sympathy.

Another running gag is that many acorns fall on the characters' heads, making them fall out of sight. The first strip features both Lizard and Chipmunk getting hit in the head by acorns.

Characters

* Chipmunk: a sympathetic chipmunk, he's the character that appears the most. He tries to be nice to the characters, but they often sigh at his points of view and answer him sarcastic commentaries, which makes him get angry sometimes (when Lizard says him he looks fat, he sarcastically questions himself if reptiles have brains). Others often seem to think he's fat. He lives in a burrow, which he complains it's small, and he apparently owns a TV (something that only Chipmunk and Bird have). He works for Costumer Service, although he doesn't like that people keep complaining about stuff they bought. He wears a skull-shaped mask.
* Lizard: the only reptile in the comics, he is the most brutal of the characters, and makes clear to his friends that he's a carnivore that likes to eat any animal smaller then him. He had apparently have a rough youth, and he says he one time his mother sang to him was to help to crack the egg open. He apparently went to school, where the kids made fun of him because he's a lizard - this may be why he is often depicted as the smartest of the group, going even to having to tell Chipmunk why he lives under the ground. Lizard often shows his tongue when he's disgusted, and it's seen that he has got a long, blue tongue. He works at a Home Wrecker. He wears a clown mask.
* Bird: a blue-feathered bird, the only female along with Frog. In her first appearance, she had travelled from Paris, and she likes to grab, gossip, and she thinks she's better then everyone else, especially Chipmunk. She represents a snob teenage cheerleader. She wears a Carnival mask.
* Bat: A purple-colored bat that only features in strips going on at night. He likes the fact he's a mammal, and he was the room-mate of Frog (he seems to think she's a rabbit because of her mask). He wears a sleeping mask.
* Frog: a female frog that recently moved into the neighbourhood and may still be nervous with her new life. She first appeared without a mask, but when she noticed everyone wears one, she bought a bunny mask she now always wears. In her earlier months she was Bat's roommate. She now lives in a condo.
* Duck: a mysterious duck sometimes drops by as a tourist, and Lizard explains that he's a migrator. He is often seen by the other characters as an intruder, and they won't talk to each other until he leaves. He's the only character that never talks and has never wore a mask.

External links

* [http://www.achipmunkandalizard.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.comixpedia.org/index.php?title=A_Chipmunk_and_a_Lizard At Comixepedia]