Sore Thumbs

Sore Thumbs by Owen Gieni and Chris Crosby is a combination political satire and gamer webcomic. The premise is based on poking equal fun at political extremes by strawmanning them in the form of the main characters.

The storyline follows Cecania, a Democrat who wants to make drive-through abortions available, her brother Fairbanks, a Republican who refuses to read the Bible lest he find something in it to question, her best friend Harmony, a ditzy and self-centered brain surgeon, and Sawyer, an ex-soldier who lost his manhood in Iraq and owns a pet talking miniature polar bear as they work in the eponymous video game store, Sore Thumbs.

You can find the comic here.


 * Art Shift: Start at the beginning, then jump to the latest. Shocking difference. It started off as an Animesque webcomic, and then got shifted to an American style.
 * And in 2009 the comic seems to have made a reboot, and the grayscale comic is changed to full color.
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Cecania saw this coming.
 * Animals Hate Him: Fairbanks gets mauled by Coleman a lot, because his head looks like a tennis ball.
 * Bleached Underpants: There's a story arc where Cecania takes a job as a hooker.
 * Butt Monkey: Jeff (free with chili dog)
 * Character Development: Cecania went from a whiny, put-upon Purity Sue to a liberal whackjob. Fairbanks went from a conservative whackjob to being a conservative ditz of epic proportions.
 * Continuity Reboot: Occurred in July 2009.
 * Deliberately Monochrome: there's a story arc where Cecania gets shipped off to Guantanamo Bay for wearing a skimpy outfit on national television. In the otherwise black and white world, Cecania's hair is pink. The guard states: "I find I enjoy the color of your hair. I was unaware that more than two colors existed." The comic has evolved to full color.
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Cecania is also the poster girl for the comic. The banner ad for the comic is "click her." No, that's not mispelled.
 * Gag Boobs: Cecania has at least DD's. They can turn a stiff Master Chief costume into fetish wear.
 * Golden Mean Fallacy: Arguably the political agenda.
 * I Have Boobs - You Must Obey!: Cecania was banned from wearing two-piece bathing suits because her half-naked form is considered a weapon of mass destruction.
 * She tried to use this on Sawyer extremely early on, but there were... problems.
 * Intercontinuity Crossover: Cecania is friends with DiDi from Ménage à 3. Furthermore, Stasia from Marry Me is famous in the world of Sore Thumbs And Parker from the same comic has stopped by, bringing the conclusion that this is the same world. Finally, when Fairbanks is adopted by a black family, his black brother's best friend is Wiley Schlub from Wicked Powered. Notably, both of those comics are written by the Crosby brothers of Keenspot.
 * Kid From the Future: Mikey Kaduck Jr.
 * Ms. Fanservice. Go ahead. Guess.
 * Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Conservative Christians are depicted as idiots. Also lampshaded, the only reason Fairbanks has such screwy ideas about God is that he never, ever read the Bible, for fear he might start questioning it.
 * Insane Troll Logic, much?
 * Out of Focus: As of the reboot, everyone but Cecania, Faibanks, and Jimmy.
 * Posthumous Narration: Lampshaded here.
 * Rapunzel Hair: Cecania, again.
 * Reality Warper: Jimmy Peterford.
 * Rich Bitch: Cecania and Fairbank's mom.
 * Rose-Haired Girl: Cecania's hair is dyed hot pink.
 * Running Gag: Super Mario = penis
 * Also, circus clowns seem to be a turn-on for several characters.
 * Spontanious devil-worship in front of fundamentally christian characters.
 * Strawman Political: Both American parties are mocked, with Cecania representing Democrats and Fairbanks the Republicans. Early on the strip was pretty much a venue to bash Republicans and conservatives. It's gotten more even-handed and less preachy (for the most part) since then.
 * Crosby claimed from the start that he wanted Sore Thumbs to become an even-handed political satire.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: "I'm not keeping a secret! And I'll never tell you what it is!"
 * Take Our Word for It: Sawyer, an otherwise incredibly hot guy, apparently had his penis lost in Iraq. This is never actually shown to us, and if it weren't for the fact that he brings it up now and then, you'd easily forget.
 * Team Pet: Coleman, a miniature polar bear.
 * X Meets Y: Ctrl+Alt+Del meets This Hour Has 22 Minutes
 * Team Pet: Coleman, a miniature polar bear.
 * X Meets Y: Ctrl+Alt+Del meets This Hour Has 22 Minutes