George (webcomic)

Infobox webcomic|
title = George


caption = Characters from the webcomic, George.
author = John R. Norton
url = http://www.george-comics.com/
rss = http://feeds.feedburner.com/GeorgeComics
status = Updates on M,W,F
began = 2005 January 31 [http://www.george-comics.com/2005/01/31/its-probably-a-water-buffalo/]
ended =
genre = geek, comedy
ratings =

"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. [ [http://www.george-comics.com/the-george-museum/ The George Museum | George - A web comic strip by John Norton ] ] As of September 19, 2008, there have been 348 full-color comics published. The current "George" website [http://www.george-comics.com] 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.

Plot

The strip is centered around a fairly normal freelance cartoonist, George, and his circle of friends. The strip often deals with computers and technology, 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.

Though the exact ages of the strip's characters are unknown, they are all at least a couple of years past the age of college graduation, although some characters never did go to college.

Cast

George Armstrong

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 typically plays the "straight man" in the midst of his relatively odd friends.

Amanda Forsythe

Amanda is George's girlfriend. They've been dating since sometime during her freshman year of college. Though she does not actually live with George, she spends a lot of time at his house. In the summer of 2005, she started wearing her hair down after years of having it in a ponytail. Amanda works at a marketing company where she interned during college. In March 2008, George finally asked Amanda to move in with him.

Dave

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 has 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 recently asked to move in with him. Dave was last seen on a spiritual journey to Eugene, Oregon.

Greg Douglas

Greg is a computer programmer at a small company--so small, in fact, that he is their lone programmer and is often wrangled into doing tech support. 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. Greg and George have known each other since grade school, so although their respective lives have taken different paths, they remain good friends.

Rob McDougal

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 Hutchinson

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 Jefferson

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.

irloin

"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.

Randy Demurson

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

"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 Forsythe

A relatively new character, Denise made her debut appearance on September 10, 2007. She is Amanda's cousin, but the two have not been friends--in fact, they were actually enemies--for several years. 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

Debbie is Amanda's sister, though her current last name has not yet appeared in the strip. 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.

Chiwawa

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

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.

Guest Characters

Occasionally, "George" features special guest characters. These have included David Letterman, Ed McMahon, Willie Nelson, and Sammy Hagar.

Notes

*Before the current website was launched, "George" was featured in the [http://troop700.com/ Boy Scouts of America's Troop 700] online newsletter and is listed as their "spotlight comic strip" on their Links page. [http://troop700.com/links.htm]
*In 2005, "George" was regularly featured on the [http://yonkerstribune.typepad.com/ Yonkers Tribune] website, although the strip was removed when it went on hiatus in 2006.

Collected editions

*"To The Dorkmobile! The Second George Comics Book" [http://www.lulu.com/content/991844]
*"George Comics: The First Book" [http://www.lulu.com/content/162753]

External links

* [http://www.george-comics.com/ "George" Homepage]
* [http://george-comics.blogspot.com/ "George" Blog]
* [http://www.comixpedia.org/index.php?title=George "George" on] [http://www.comixpedia.org/ "Comixpedia"]

References