Todd and Penguin

Infobox webcomic|
title = Todd and Penguin


caption =
author = David Wright
url = http://www.toddandpenguin.com/
status = On hiatus as of 29 January 2007, with a planned return of May 2007 [http://idrawcomics.blogspot.com/2007/01/announcement.html]
began = April 3 2001 [http://www.toddandpenguin.com/d/20010403.html]
ended =
genre =
ratings =

Todd and Penguin is a webcomic by David Wright. The strip's characters include Todd, a rather depressive man for whom everything seems to go wrong, and Penguin, a childlike and naive talking penguin, and a number of secondary characters. The sharp contrast between the various characters is a major source of the strip’s humor. It is most easily classified as a “slice-of-life” comic strip, with an occasional surreal storyline. Initially it used a gag-a-day format, with few extended storylines, but as the comic evolved it began to take on more detailed storylines with new characters.

Originally appearing on Keenspace (and later on Universal Comics' Sherpa service, as well as being posted on its own site and on two blogs), it moved to Keenspot in March 2005.

Cast

Main characters:
* Todd and Penguin, the title characters
* Holly, Todd's wife
* Oscar, Todd's cat

Secondary characters:
* Sally, a little girl, Penguin's friend. Replaced by Jessika.
* Todd's parents
* The ducks in the park, who occasionally converse with Penguin
* Jessika, a girl who originally appeared in "Taking Up Space", another comic by David Wright

Themes and character interactions

The humour within the strip is primarily based around the interactions of the various characters. Todd perpetually tries to view life on the positive side, despite things often going wrong; while Penguin is extremely naïve and sees the positive side to everything. The relationship between Todd & Holly, which culminated in marriage in May 2005, provides another source of humour as well as a means to drive the story along; while Oscar’s cynicism and Jessika’s anger at the world are in stark contrast to Penguin’s world view.

Evolution

In April 2004, the strip altered drastically, when Wright decided to attempt a very different comic. He converted Todd’s character to a young child, meeting Penguin for the first time, and reintroduced Jessika as his sister and brought in Quano from "Taking Up Space" as Todd’s friend, thus reinstating many of the characters of the other comic in a similar situation. This met with a mixed reaction from the strip’s readers, with some preferring the new strip while others maintained that the earlier was superior. In June 2004, Wright began to experiment with the comic further, drifting into a more surreal writing style, which culminated in the storyline which has polarized his readers far more than anything else has ever done: "Into The Void". Amongst long-time readers of "Todd & Penguin", this storyline is well-known and the arguments amongst fans were more intense than at any other point in the strip’s history. Many hated it, and Wright often has to reassure readers when the comic takes a darker turn that the storyline is not about to become another of these; while others still loved it and to some, it still ranks as their favorite storyline.

Following this story, which restored the adult characters, Wright began to experiment further with his writing style, leading into some more extended storylines and giving the strip greater continuity. While drifting away from the gag-a-day format, he does try to work a joke into most of the comics, and it has moved from being humor-based to a combination of story and humor. Another month-long surreal aside took place in March 2005, giving Wright the opportunity to draw other comics and attempt something different, but the focus of the main storyline remains with the four main characters in the comic and the bittersweetness of their lives. From April 2004, Wright’s popularity has grown rapidly, which led to his syndication with Keenspot in March 2005 and his participation in the Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge until he dropped out of the competition on February 1, 2006. He has also begun to post comics elsewhere with a more political and personal slant, while politics (with the exception of Jessika’s rants) remains very much a no-go area for "Todd & Penguin".

External links

* [http://www.toddandpenguin.com/ Todd and Penguin, the comic strip]