Sam and Fuzzy

Infobox webcomic|
title = Sam and Fuzzy


caption = Fuzzy finds beauty in the mundane: a single panel from a comic dated August 10, 2005.
author = Sam Logan
url = http://www.samandfuzzy.com/
status = Updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays
began = 2002
ended =
genre = Humour/Slice-of-Life
ratings =

"Sam and Fuzzy" is a surrealist webcomic authored by Sam Logan. With over 900 strips since it began in May 2002, "Sam and Fuzzy" is drawn by hand with a rough yet consistent, heavily contrasting black and white style. Although the comic was originally presented in a four-panel joke-a-strip format, it has since deviated from this routine and taken on an epic storyline, with numerous long-running story arcs.

The story is driven by the bizarre dynamic between the main characters; Sam, an insecure young adult trying to find a direction in life, and his friend Fuzzy, a mischievous bear-like creature with a bow-tie; and the absurd consequences that it has on Sam's everyday life. The 'everyday' nature of these everyday situations, however, is most certainly not assured - as "Sam and Fuzzy" adopts a certain surrealist element in its plot construction. Sam's benign relationships with friends and co-workers frequently intermingle with such surreal elements as the elusive and dangerous 'Ninja Mafia', the ambitions of a demonic refrigerator, time travel, shark wrestling, and Fuzzy's mother coming to visit. Yet despite the humorous absurdity, the comic occasionally touches on profound and serious notes.

The author

The comic is written and drawn by Sam Logan, a Canadian hailing from Victoria, British Columbia. Sam is [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=320 infrequently] [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=18 self-referenced in the comic] . In addition to his work in comics and freelance illustration, Sam is the graphic designer for [http://www.yesmag.ca/ YES Mag] and [http://www.knowmag.ca KNOW] , Canadian science magazines for kids from 9 to 14 and 6 to 9 years in age, respectively.

Sam Logan is currently the chairman of the Dayfree Press, which includes other popular webcomics such as "Girly", "Able and Baker", "Questionable Content" and "White Ninja Comics". Although "Sam and Fuzzy" is less well known than some other online comics, it has a very loyal and loving following, and has been linked to by prominent webcomics such as "Scary Go Round", "Penny Arcade" and "Ctrl+Alt+Del".

The evolution of Logan's signature black and white style can be seen throughout the course of the comic. At first he stuck strictly to the 4-panel format, but now is more varied in his layouts and is more daring in his composition and character construction.

The characters

Sam is an idealistic but severely unconfident and indecisive 24-year-old. After dropping out of college, Sam spent the next seven years working as a taxicab driver for X-Per-S Taxi Service. Sam eventually lost both his taxi and his job, after botching a dangerous mission originally intended for the world-famous (yet always unseen) Carlyle. For a time, he worked as a cashier at a bookstore called Bunton's Books in order to pay back the damages to X-Per-S Taxi's owner, Mr. Ackerman. However, Sam has since become a target of the Ninja Mafia, and abandoned this job and boarded the first bus out of town [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=548] . For several months Sam's whereabouts and activities were unknown. Logan led the audience to believe that Sam was traveling under the pseudonym of " [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=650 Aaron] ", as a roadie for Noosehead, but Aaron was later [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=668 unmasked as Jackson] , a former Mafia Ninja who fled with Sam, Ox, and Fuzzy after the death of the Ninja Mafia high council. Soon afterwards Sam was revealed to be 'Crush', another roadie.

Sam's hair and facial design is similar to Sonic the Hedgehog, of whom Sam Logan is a self-confessed fan.

Fuzzy is Sam's roommate, a short bear-like creature, apparently [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=778 some years over 20.] Fuzzy is known for his ambition, ego, propensity for seemingly random violence, and ability to readily flip between extremist political movements/ideologies, namely communism and capitalism. Fuzzy also frequently embarks on get-rich-quick schemes, with consistently dubious results. Some may speculate that he has antisocial tendencies. Fuzzy is [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=101 very, very sensitive about his eyebrows] and [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=573 very strong for his size] . He is currently working as a roadie for the fictional metal band, Noosehead.

Fuzzy appears very similar to the cartoon character Invader Zim due to his antennae-like eyebrows and short stature (as well as egotistical and murderous nature).

Butcher the Cat is a stray cat that was taken in by Sam, and first appeared near the [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=12 very beginning] of the comic's run. Butcher, despite appearing to be in a permanent vegetative state, appears to have delusions of kitty grandeur and [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=32 spatulas] . Although previously thought by many to be male, Butcher had given birth to several kittens, including one that resembles a dinosaur when hairless.

Chompy is a horribly deformed cat that was first mistaken for a dinosaur. He has since been adopted by unbalanced artist Rikk Estoban. He is very cute (at least without the hair). His birth and first days of his life were depicted in the "Tiny Miracles" series, which ran from May 16, 2005 to June 10, 2005.

Alphonso - Butcher's mate and father to Chompy and his siblings. While he's not in many strips, Alphonso is a favourite among fans. He claims to be royalty and aristocracy, and because of this is unable to marry Butcher. Still he is fiercely protective of her and their children. He has a very flamboyant personality.

The Fridge - After Sam's [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=44 electricity was cut off] , his fridge-full of spoiled food was possessed by demonic forces. For a time, "Fridge" was a regular (and extremely vocal) fixture in Sam's kitchen, insulting him at every opportunity and claiming to be Satan himself. Later, Fridge occupied the body of a Ninja Mafia member and eventually placed himself at the head of the Ninja Mafia high council. In his most recent appearance, Fridge was apparently killed by Candice, to avenge the death of her father, DJ Positive.

Mr. Ackerman - Previously the owner of the X-per-S taxi firm, Mr. Ackerman may be in the early stages of senile dementia. At times, he has seemed perfectly coherent and collected. At other times, he has insisted that he is not from planet Earth. He has also [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=329 re-enacted Sam and Fuzzy's adventures using sock-puppets] . Mr. Ackerman recently retired, handing the position of head of X-per-S to Lance.

Lance - Sam's ex-workmate at X-per-S. Lance is hard-working, singularly focused, somewhat self-obsessed and relatively insensitive to other people's problems or perspectives. When Sam worked at X-Per-S, Lance appeared to resent Sam because of his whining and his indecisive behaviour. Lance has recently become the head of X-per-S. Lance is currently married to Alexa and the two of them are expecting a child.

Carlyle - An always unseen employee of X-per-S. He is always called upon to take the most dangerous and important jobs, and has twice given Sam some deep advice about life, though Sam has never known it was him. He usually appears as a cabdriver (or a bus driver); in response to the passenger's request he says ambiguously, "I can take you where you need to go." Strips in which Carlyle appears are [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/results.php?chars%5B%5D=carlyle&searchtype=characters&s_val=one listed here] .

Future Fuzzy - Fuzzy has shown a limited capability for time travel, and always appears with an onomatopoetic "FWOOSH!!!" wearing a sombrero. He first showed this skill in comic [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=138 138] .

Alexa is one of Sam's ex-girlfriends, who for a while worked in the same bookstore as he did. They broke up because of Fuzzy's disruptive influence. After Sam left town, she became the head of Bunton's books. Alexa is currently married to Lance and pregnant with his child.

Andrea works in the bookstore with Alexa. A cheerful lady who Fuzzy gets along with quite well. Andrea is also the only person that is not insulted or offended by Fuzzy, as is shown by [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=292 this comic] . She is also a big Noosehead fan.

Candice is Sam's former girlfriend, who works/worked as a delivery girl. Her shadowy past and an apparent relationship with Rikk Estoban lead to Sam dump her. Recent revelations include that Sexxica is, in fact, Candice, and that she has been researching demonic possession in an attempt to combat Fridge's infiltration and takeover of the Ninja Mafia, therefore explaining her reasons for involving herself with Estoban. As previously noted, she killed Fridge to avenge the death of DJ Positive, her father. She seems to have sacrificed herself in doing this, but her fate has not been 100% confirmed. However, most believe that Candice is in fact dead thanks to the new progressing story and some remarks that Sam Logan has made himself on his forums.

Rikk Estoban - One of Fuzzy's infamous friends, Rikk is an "artist" who is only interested in death, gore, and Skull Panda. Rikk was originally [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=351 hired] by Fuzzy to draw his comic "Skull Panda", and has had a recurring role since. Rikk has provided a [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=194 guest comic] for Questionable Content, and comics [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=370 370] and [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=389 389] for "Sam and Fuzzy". Rikk also hosted a Guest comic week during the week of July 17, 2005. During the week Rikk [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=477 experimented] [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=478 with] [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=479 several] [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=480 different] [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=481 artistic] [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=482 styles] , and denounced daily the allegations that he was not the actual artist drawing the strips. Sam Logan has hinted that he's a real person, but the character seems to parody comic book artist Jhonen Vasquez. Rikk now has a fork stuck in his brain following an altercation with Sam.

Skull Panda was [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=322 first created] by Fuzzy, as a character designed to "appeal to alienated youths, and wannabe social outcasts". Although after this 'creation' Skull Panda appears to have become a wholly autonomous character. In his first incarnation it was firmly established that Skull Panda "loves" kitties. The only known language of the panda is constructed by the repetition of the word "Narn".

Skull Panda has also been a protagonist in the ongoing pseudo-feud between Sam Logan and Jeph Jacques (see the section "Webcomic Rivalry") - having killed the latter's main "Questionable Content" character, Marten, by implanting a broken Arcade Fire CD into his eye sockets, and [http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=194 hacking him to death] .

Sidney - The leader of the world famous heavy metal band Noosehead, he was introduced in Sam Logan's most recent [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive_story.php book] . While Sidney is famous for his edgy and angry attitude, he is introduced into the story with a very sweet personality, hugging [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=566 kittens] and singing songs about happy animals. This recent change in attitude is the result of the most recent break-up (of many) with Nicole, Sidney takes on this new personality for a chance to get her back. Later Sidney finds he prefers being happy in contrast to angry and frustrated, and continues to try and stick to the new image after he hears that Nicole is dating someone else. He still gets frustrated and angry with constant pressure from his manager to return to his old image and the fact that Nicole is dating some unknown slime ball, who Sidney does not know is actually his honest and supportive friend Crush. He is shot at the end of the [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=650 House of Cards] storyline, and the world believes him to be dead – though in fact he has been kidnapped by Sin Records and sent to an island resort/prison filled with other musicians who were thought to have died untimely deaths.

Nicole - Noosehead's backup singer, she has known Sidney for seven years, and has been dating him on and off the entire time. Fed up with Sidney's bossiness and his gloomy attitude after so much success, she dumps him without showing any signs of returning to the relationship. She starts dating Crush (Sam), who is exactly the opposite of who Sidney was at the time, and though she seems to generally care about the roadie, has been trying to turn him into Heavy Metal singer (like Sidney) since day one of their relationship. Distraught over Sidney's apparent death and wishing to prove Sam innocent of his murder, she is now a major member of the Sidney Lives movement.

Malcolm - A guitar player for Noosehead, and their resident conspiracy theorist. Though his rants seem nonsensical, they often contain startling insights. He's generally desperate for someone to listen to him. He is likely responsible for guiding Nicole into the Sidney Lives movement. It's recently been discovered that Malcolm might be able to see the [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=844 future] , though isn't always entirely sure what he is seeing, where he then links the visions together into the 'Conspiracy' to make sense of them. Recently, he along with Earl broke into the Sin Records building and were able to discover the whereabouts of Sidney. It has recently been revealed that Malcolm's bizarre hairstyle acts as a receiver to radio waves, allowing him to hear the chatter on Mr. Sin's secret transmitters. This would explain most of the strange insights he sometimes had.

Flick - Noosehead band member who plays a guitar shaped like a shark. He is best known for setting his head on fire to capture the true pain of their music. This takes a year off his life every time he does it, so he is encouraged to only light himself on fire during live performances. He enjoys candy and knitting.

Earl - Noosehead's large and mostly competent manager, Earl was appalled by Sidney's new change in image and has been trying to convert him back to heavy metal ever since. Though at first Earl seems the purely greedy and selfish type. we find out that the man does in fact have a [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=612 conscience] and doesn't really seem to want to hurt Sidney back into his angry, depressed stage. Still, Earl is in a bit of a bad [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=639 position] with his boss, and doesn't have much say lately in what happens to his lead singer. Recently, albeit reluctantly, he and Malcom discovered the Sin Records' conspiracy and Sidney's whereabouts.

Aaron/Jackson - Originally introduced as the "rebellious" member of Fuzzy's Ninja Mafia Squad, Jackson was a part of the team that helped to rescue Sam and Fuzzy when Sexxica/Candice kidnapped them to win an audience with the High Council. He and Ox ran away with Sam, and he became a roadie under the name of Aaron for the Noosehead band. During his times in the Ninja Mafia his hand was "accidentally" cut off by Sexxica after he made a pass at her, and was later replaced with a robotic hand. His robotic hand was a part of revealing his true identity as Jackson during volume 4, during which time the reader was led to believe that he was Sam.

Mr. Blank - The former leader of the elite Ninja Mafia assassins, the Blankfaces. He was introduced in a series of vignettes where he was tracking Sam across the country. Once he realizes where Sam is, he takes on the guise of Willis, Earl's mild-mannered receptionist. When he does discover Sam's identity, Mr. Blank tries to force Sam to become the new leader of the Ninja Mafia, to keep the gang from completely falling apart.

Mr. Black - Once the second highest ranked member of the Blankfaces and Mr. Blank's protégé, Black is now the leader of a mercenary syndicate made up of ex-Ninja Mafia members. Afraid that a resurrection of the Ninja Mafia will threaten his new position, Mr Black also hunts Sam, but for very different reasons. Mr. Black and his ninjas are currently in the employ of Sin Records.

Mr. R. Sin - Mr. Sin is the president of Sin Records, the company that holds Noosehead's recording contract. He seems greedy and without morals. He employs ninjas that serve him for even the most menial tasks. He also arranged to have these ninjas fake Sid's assassination when he was no longer the angry frontman required for a successful metal band. Sid was then abducted and kept on a secret island along other famous supposedly dead artists. For a still unexplained reason, most of Mr. Sin's limbs are [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=846 detachable] , or they are replacement parts that he often [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=767 forgets to put on] .

Gertrude DuPont - The offspring of a powerful Ninja Mafia family that fell on hard times after the Mafia's collapse. In a recent storyline, Gertrude is shown to have had a series of chance encounters with Sam over the years (none of which Sam remembers), in which Sam unknowingly caused some disaster in Gertrude's life or accidentally did something to thwart her ambitions of becoming Ninja Mafia Empress. In their latest encounter, Gertrude initially tries to kill Sam, but then she agrees to help protect him when he promises to hand over the Ninja Mafia throne to her as soon as he becomes Emperor.

Rebecca Morris - A police detective whose investigation of Noosehead and Sin Records puts her at odd with the Ninja Mafia. She is also Gertrude's maternal aunt, though she has not spoken to her sister (or presumably her niece) in many years.

Groups

The Ninja Mafia - A parody of a Yakuza gang, with less-than competent members. The basic structure of the ninja mafia is squads of three to six members each with a squad leader. The squad leaders of a region report to a [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=495 General] who in turn report to the National Ninja Mafia Advisory Committee, led by the Supreme Ninja Mafia Chairman. The leader revealed in the Empire storyline went by the title of Emperor, but that may have been a personality quirk of the individual. The Ninja Mafia's elite assassins are a group known as the Blankfaces, including Mr. Blank and Mr. Black.

Fuzzy was an employee, and later a leader, of a squad of ninjas without Sam's knowledge. Fuzzy's 'squad' included Scott (uptight by-the-books former leader who was replaced by Fuzzy and became a table holder), the rebellious Jackson, the strong but dumb Ox, and the ambitious Sexxica.

The Ninja Mafia are enemies with rival gang The Grrbils. They are nearly unbeatable due to their cuteness, which makes it difficult for people to hurt them. They are featured in the [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=492 Territorial] story arc.

Recently former Ninja Mafia members have developed the franchise [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=648 Ninja Burger] . This has no connection whatsoever to Ninja Burger.

Noosehead - An over-the-top heavy metal band first introduced as Fuzzy's favourite band. [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=56] Noosehead is most famous for its hit song "I Will Eat Your Family" on the album of the same name. The album has had eight hit singles and five tours. Their latest single is "Choke you with a bucketful of donkey livers"

Noosehead has thirteen members, though some have yet to be named.
*Sidney - Vocals
*Nicole - Vocals
*Malcolm (the conspiracy nut) - Lead Guitar
*Flick (the guy with his head on fire) - Rhythm Guitar
*Ali (the cat) - Bass
*Dixon (the guy with a knife through his head) - Bongos
*Limbly (the guy with no arms) - One Large Drum (hit with his head)
*Triangle (the normal-looking guy in the suit) - Triangle
*The guy with cage on his head - Turntables
*Ox/Mr. Stix (the huge guy with poofy hair who endlessly recites aphorisms) - Drum kit
*The guy with giant pointy teeth and a cape - Dancer
*The guy in the bunny suit - Feedback (he holds a microphone in front of an amp)
*The piece of looseleaf paper - "Screaming"

Archive

The Sam and Fuzzy strips are divided into volumes all of which are available from the [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive_story.php online archive] .

Volume Zero: The Early Years - Comics dated from [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=1 May 2002] to March 2003. These comics mostly stand on their own as one-shot gags and aren't necessary to understand the plot of later comics. The characters introduced in this volume include Sam, Fuzzy, Butcher, Fridge, Lance, and Mr. Ackerman. Noosehead is also introduced, but none of the band members are featured.

Volume One: Taxi-Cab of Dreams - Comics dated from [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=99 March 2003] to December 2003. Along with the one-shot gag comics, a few longer story arcs are in this volume. The main plot points revolve around Sam's romantic relationship with Alexa and how it affects his friendship with Fuzzy. New characters introduced in this volume include Alexa, Carlyle, and Future Fuzzy.

Volume Two: Growing Pains - Comics dated from [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=230 January 2004] to November 2004. While some of this volume is still made up of stand-alone strips, there is more of an emphasis on ongoing story arcs. This volume includes Sam's first encounter with the Ninja Mafia, his change of employment from X-per-S to Bunton's Books, "Fridge" taking possession of a member of the Ninja Mafia, Fuzzy joining the Ninja Mafia, and Rikk Estoban taking over the Skull Panda franchise. New characters introduced in this volume include: Andrea, Rikk Estoban, Skull Panda, and the Ninja Mafia, featuring Scott, Jackson, Ox, and Sexxica.

Volume Three: Love and War - Comics Dated from [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=375 November 2004] to January 2006. This volume features mostly long story arcs that tie together much more tightly than previous volumes. The main plot follows Sam's relationship with Candice and her secrets, Fuzzy's adjustment to his place in the Ninja Mafia, a battle with the notorious gang of Grrbils, the aftermath of Fridge's escape from Sam's refrigerator, and Rikk's infatuation with Sam's girlfriend. These all come together in the epic [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=525 Empire] story line. In the end Sam, Fuzzy, Jackson, and Ox leave town. Another story arc within this volume involves Butcher's pregnancy and the birth of her litter, which included a very special kitten named Chompy. New characters introduced in this volume include Candice, Chompy, Alphonso, and General McMillan.

Volume Four: Noosehead - Comics from [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=566 January 2006] to present. This volume is basically a fresh start for Sam and Fuzzy. Leaving behind old settings and characters, it follows the metal band Noosehead, and their roadies on tour. It is clear that Sam is among them, but there is some question as to who he is, until the House of Cards storyline. Main plot points in this volume are Sidney's struggle to be angry, Crush's relationship with Nicole and complicated friendship with Sid, the Ninja Mafia catching up to the fugitives, and Sid's apparent assassination. In this volume, shorter story arcs, called vignettes, show Ninja Mafia assassin Mr. Blank tracking Sam. New characters introduced in this volume include Sidney, Nicole, Sandra, Earl, Flick, Malcolm, Mr. Sin, Mr. Blank, Mr. Black, Detective Morris, Cooper, and assorted Noosehead members.

Webcomic rivalry

Sam Logan often suggests that he has a fierce rivalry with "Questionable Content" author Jeph Jacques. The rivalry appears to have first been stated in this [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=310 comic] . Jacques has leveled such accusations at Sam Logan as the existence of the Hobolliseum of Doom in his basement, where Sam supposedly stages brutal hobo fighting tournaments.

The full list of "accusations", and their rebuttals can be found [http://www.samandfuzzy.com/forum_archive/viewtopic.php?t=648 here] , and a guest comic made by Jeph for Sam in December, 2005 can be found [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=552 here] .

Logan has publicly [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=489 admitted] that the rivalry is only a joke, meant to mock some of the real publicity generating insult-slinging that exists in the webcomics world. However, that has not stopped either him or Jacques from continuing to slander one another through their respective websites. A final announcement of peace can be found [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=312 here]

Print media

Print versions of select "Sam and Fuzzy" comics appear in the weekly publications of The Martlet, the student newspaper of the University of Victoria located in Sam Logan's home town of Victoria, British Columbia. The comic is also published in The Peak. Book collections of "Sam and Fuzzy" comics are also available through Logan's website. Both mini-books ("Weekly World Sam and Fuzzy" and "Noosehead") were created primarily as a gateway for new readers at ComicCon, but also contain several bonus pages which will never be reprinted in other collections or on the internet. The first complete volume of the comic is in the works, with an unplanned release date.

External links

* [http://www.samandfuzzy.com Sam and Fuzzy]
* [http://www.questionablecontent.net Questionable Content]
* [http://dayfreepress.com/ Dayfree Press]