Hsu and Chan

"Hsu and Chan" is a comic created by Jeremy "Norm" Scott that appeared in the video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly until the September 2008 issue, and will continue to appear at 1UP.com. It follows the misadventures of the brothers Hsu and Chan Tanaka, who own and operate a company called "Tanaka Bros. Game Development" (which specializes in knock-offs of popular titles such as Gran Turismo, in "Hsu and Chan in: Chan Turismo!")

After three years with EGM, Norm contacted Slave Labor Graphics about making a standalone, full-length Hsu and Chan comic book. Slave Labor agreed, and seven issues of the comic, as of 2005, have been published. A collection of these first five (along with extra bonus material) was released in 2004 and is titled "Hsu and Chan: Too Much Adventure".

Tanaka Bros. Game Development has other, less seen employees, including Arnie, a ground squirrel bearing a striking resemblance to Sonic the Hedgehog, Gila Mobster, the brutish Charmander parody who can be seen wearing a black Fedora with a lighter grasped in the end of his tail, and Chernobyl, the radioactive chipmunk who is a take on Pikachu.

EGM strip vs. Slave Labor comics

Since the EGM strips are typically one page long, they are self-contained stories that parody a specific video game (usually the game on that month's cover of EGM). The Slave Labor comics, on the other hand, are considerably longer and more reliant on plot. The Slave Labor comics are also less video game-centric and feature Hsu and Chan battling supernatural foes and their arch-rivals at the competing video game company, Yamamoto Games, Inc.

It should also be noted that Norm's naturally wordy dialogue seems to be slightly toned down for the EGM strip (a necessary compromise given the single page nature of the strip). In the Slave Labor comic, the characters are much more verbose.

Despite the separate focuses of the two different strips, they exist within the same universe. That is to say, if someone in the Slave Labor comics were to lose a limb, that limb would also be missing in the EGM strip (such is the case with Hsu's right hand).

pin-offs

The first comic to spin-off from Hsu and Chan was Game Critter Super-Squad!, which ran in EGM's now-defunct sister magazine, GameNOW.

Running Gags

* The name Dirk appears freequently as a replacement for an random name (Ledger of Zelda) or for anagrams and codenames (Pocket Morons: Platinum, Sonic Boobs)
* Many comics make references to cheez-its, usually with characters noticing crumbs (This was also done in The Otters: The Survivors).
* Many references are made to the Tomb Raider series, usually referring to the newer games as crimes againse humanity.

Video game parodies

The following games have been featured in the Hsu and Chan EGM strips:

*Driven - (Drivel)
*Final Fantasy - (Final Fantasize)
*Kingdom Hearts - (Hearts o' Darkness)
*Grand Theft Auto -(Hsu Crime Stories)
*"Tom Clancy" series - (Pandora Yo Momma)
*"007" series - (Thunderblarg)
*Resident Evil - (Zombierama)
*The Lord of the Rings - (Lords of the Bling, Hoard of the Things)
*Gran Turismo - (Chan Turismo)
*Metal Gear -( Secret Agent Chan)
*Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney - (Jerk Simpkins, Ace Attorney [Under Fire] )
*Super Mario Bros. - (Down the Drain)
*Pokémon - (Pocket Morons, Pocket Morons Platinum)
*Sonic the Hedgehog - (Sonic Boobs, Sonic Weirdos)
*Castlevania - (Symphony of the Nut)
*The Legend of Zelda - (The Ledger of Zelda)
* - (Combat: Involved!)
*Soul Calibur - (Low Calibur)
*Halo 3 - (Halo How Are You?)
*Super Smash Bros. Brawl - (Brawlin')
* - (So Conned)

Other works

Norm has also made other comics, such as "The Otters" and "Violence Man!", both of which can be found on his website.

References

Scott, Norm. (2004). "Hsu and Chan: Too Much Adventure". SLG Publishing.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.spookingtons.com/ Norm Scott's official website, Hsu and Chan at Spookingtons]
* [http://store.slavelabor.com/hsuchan.shtml The official Hsu and Chan store at Slave Labor Graphics]