Joe and Monkey
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| Joe and Monkey | |
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| Author(s) | Zach Miller |
| Website | http://www.joeandmonkey.com/ |
| Update schedule | Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday |
| Launch date | July 27, 2004 |
| Genre | Humor |
Joe and Monkey is a webcomic written and illustrated by Zach Miller. It debuted on July 27, 2004. New comic strips are currently posted every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Usually presented in black-and-white with occasional color strips, the strip follows the horizontal newspaper 4-panel format.
The comic regularly features Joe Banks, a delivery truck driver for the fictitious Red Fox Delivery Company, Monkey, Joe's talking simian companion, and Kleptobot, a slightly evil kleptomaniac robot. Joe and Monkey spend much of their time discussing a wide range of relevant and irrelevant topics mostly from current events in pop culture and politics, typically interjected with Joe's slightly off-kilter view of reality. Kleptobot, as per his name, spends most — if not all — of his time stealing things.
Joe and Monkey is a member of a Boxcar Comics, a webcomic collective.
Guest artists have included Mitch Clem, Brian Carroll and Joe Dunn.
Contents |
[edit] Characters
[edit] Major characters
- Joe: The aforementioned 22 year old truck driver for Red Fox. First appeared in Miller's previous comic, 'No Pants Tuesday'. He claims to belong to the "Jewish religion," but to him this may have more to do with the fact that he wears pants than anything else[1]. Joe has had to make adjustments since his family moved in with him after his parents' house burned down while they were away on vacation. For some reason, he has an abnormal fear of ducks[2] that may or may not be related to a cursed Argentine treasure [3]. Joe was once sued by the RIAA for illegally downloading MP3's[4] but was eventually acquitted by majority vote.[5] He also has a knack for remembering the plots of Tom Hanks movies wrong. The reason as to why Joe and Monkey are responsible for stopping Kleptobot has never been elucidated. Joe was fired from Red Truck delivery for glueing his face to the table during a $5 bet[6]; he would get his job back a month later due to a phone call[7]. Joe is the lead singer of 'The Negative Adjectives,' his band with Blake and Fletcher of the webcomic Nothing Nice to Say. On stage, he wears an eyepatch that makes him look like Bazooka Joe.[8]
- Monkey: simian companion of Joe. In No Pants Tuesday, he was shown to be a demon from Hell with his own agenda — which was pretty much playing video games, talking, and "being awesome." In this continuity, Monkey joined Joe after a botched bra delivery from South America. Monkey has had a massive redesign from his original appearance in 'No Pants Tuesday' (which can be seen in the "prequel" story Joe vs. the Volcano), most notably in his hair and coloration. Interestingly, Monkey shares Joe's fear of ducks.
- Kleptobot: the evil robot thief who serves as the primary foil in the comic. Items he has stolen include Joe's delivery truck, money, suits from the 1950s, other peoples' ideas, signs, and Monkey. To quote Miller directly, "I created the design of Kleptobot, roughly referencing Futurama's Bender, Diesel Sweeties' Red Robot, and Black Hole's Maximillian." His creation was apparently the impetus for Miller to create JaM as a separate comic in collaboration with Mitch Clem. Despite his villain role, he seems to have developed a friendship-like relationship with Joe's sister Megan: while he helps her with her bully problem[9], he ultimately ends up cutting away her hair[10].During the abduction story arc, Kleptobot was initially a suspect in the kidnapping of Megan, Joe's sister[11], in retaliation for her kicking sand in his face when he asked for help[12]. However, it was Kleptobot who found and saved Joe's sister Megan from her child-murdering abductor[13], though it was Monkey who took the final revenge[14][15].
[edit] Supporting Cast
- Megan: Joe's 7 year old younger sister [16]. Joe once thought of trying to use her to appear more responsible in order to pick up girls by pretending she was his daughter. He allowed her to skip out on the first day of school because she didn't feel like going. Megan displays defiant tendencies, such as spray-painting "Joe Sucks" on his garage door when he told her to paint the garage[17]. In a remarkable display of continuity, the tag still remains later - though obviously altered by Joe[18].Megan was abducted by a child-murderer in a Summer 2006 plot arc.[19]. She was ultimately saved by Kleptobot.
- Joe's Parents: first appeared after Megan reminded Joe to pick them up at the airport, albeit 4 weeks late. [20]. Joe's Dad shares his talent in respect to Tom Hanks movies. He also feels that insurance is a gamble, and failed to cover his house for that reason. His mom hasn't really said much yet.
- Josh: Joe's former coworker and friend at Red Fox delivery. Since their firing, Josh now works for the Devil at the coffeeshop[21], which notably does not serve leprechauns.
- Leprechaun: first appeared on 9/13/04[22]. Since then, has been delineated as a con-man who seems to have become Monkey's mortal enemy. [23][24] Whether this is because they are roughly the same size is unknown.
- Uncle Hank: "Crazy" Uncle Hank has yet to actually appear in the comic, and may be a permanent off-screen character. He visited Joe et al. on Christmas 2005; in the build-up he was mentioned to have sold all his belongings and hid in a bomb shelter in 1999, afraid of an attack by the Millennium Bug (a giant alien spider) and previously released all the birds from the Zoo, which took 5 weeks for the zookeepers to recover from.
- The Devil: shares a similar countenance as his appearance as a character in No Pants Tuesday, but appears only rarely in cameo roles.[25]. The Devil may be a barrista at the Starbucks equivalent in the Joe and Monkey world. He would rather watch Dharma and Greg reruns than start Armageddon[26].
- Pandora's Bucket: A bucket hanging from a string. Joe has consistently failed to discover what it contains, despite his best efforts to do so.
- Kurt Russell: Kurt Russell occasionally appears to assist Joe and Monkey in the defeat of Kleptobot's evil schemes. Joe and Monkey's relationship to Kurt Russell is unknown, as is why an actor is fighting a robot. Or, for that matter, why a delivery boy and a monkey are fighting a robot.
- Blake and Fletcher: The stars of Nothing Nice to Say and bandmates of Joe. Their band, the Negative Adjectives, has appeared in both comics, and minor characters from each generally make up their audience.
[edit] Other Robots
- Kriticbot: a blue-green palate-swapped version of Kleptobot with a TV on his chest. Indicated by his name, instead of stealing things, he critiques television programming. [27][28]
- Kryptobot: another robot of the Kleptobot design that speaks in cryptograms. [29]
- Giant Monkey Robot: a replica of Monkey created by Joe, who realizes that Monkey will not always be there for him. [30]
- A slew of other robots that are variants of Kleptobot's design were shown at the Krimson Robotics wherehouse[31].
[edit] Awards
Totally Boned: A Joe and Monkey Collection is the 2006 Lulu Blooker Prize winner in Comics. [32]
