Rudi

Rudi is a German comic by Peter Puck. It tells about the life of Rudi and his buddy Freddy, their attempts to pick up women, parties in the scene and other hijinks.

It started out as a comic strip in various magazines. The strips have been collected in several anthology comic books.

Has a very good (German) homepage here.

Not to be confused with the Irish punk rock band of the same name.

"Vicky: "Don't like it? Sorry, but my burqa is being dry-cleaned...""
 * The Alcoholic: Heinz
 * The Big Guy: Their buddy Bully, who's a skinhead (not of the nazi kind, though).
 * Break the Motivational Speaker: Rudi's buddy also managed to do this.
 * Casanova Wannabe: One of his buddies is the most obnoxious one you can think of. Sometimes however he is successful.
 * Chez Restaurant: Rudi and Freddy try to get a free meal there by posing (badly) as obvious restaurant critics. Also has a Fauxreigner "French" waiter.
 * Children Are Innocent: VERY subverted in a scene when Rudi talks with a mother who believes in this trope, while at the same time the kids play with Adolf Hitler dolls and throw atomic Cluster F Bombs at each other.
 * Country Cousin: Rudi's cousin Alfi from the Bavarian countryside.
 * Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: Rudi's buddy whose shrink became depressed himself after analyzing him and ended up as a beggar.
 * The Cult: They end up on a Silvester party by them, and find out that collective suicide is due.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Rudi, oh so much. His sister also has this somewhat: When Rudi reprimands her for wearing a sexy Little Black Dress, so all the guys on the street are staring at her:


 * A Degree in Useless: Two strippers Freddy hired for Rudi's birthday. One of them studies humanities - and still hopes to make big money in her line of work.
 * Did the Earth Move For You, Too?: Used with a couple in a background gag who have sex when a real earthquake strikes.
 * Dirty Old Man
 * Dirty Old Woman
 * Disguised in Drag: Rudi and Freddy do this to visit a silvester party organized by a group of Straw Feminists. It doesn't end well.
 * Eat the Dog: After being badly bitten by a dog, Rudi buys a Korean cookbook and invites the owner and his dog for "dinner", while preparing everything.
 * And during the war, Rudi's grandma and her family ate the cat when nothing else was left.
 * The Eeyore: Rudi, sometimes. But especially his buddy whose dog is named Kafka.
 * Fan Disservice: Rudi and Freddy take drawing lessons because they hope, they'll have to draw a sexy nude model. Unfortunately the teacher chooses an old guy instead as a model.
 * Fan Service: Rudi isn't good at picking up sexy women, but at least the fans get something to look at. And one of the hottest is Rudi's sister Vicky, a model.
 * Foil: Freddy is more optimistic and happy than Rudi.
 * Funny Answering Machine: The Casanova Wannabe has one, where he's bringing a woman to orgasm. How the hell did he manage to make her agree with that?!
 * Furries Are Easier to Draw: This was the reason why Rudi and other characters are drawn as this. Dog snouts are easier than human noses, apparently.
 * Gentle Giant: Bully.
 * German Dialects: Alfi speaks with a thick Bavarian accent. Occasionally, other dialects also appear, mostly Swabian.
 * Good Angel, Bad Angel: Fighting whether Rudi should take up smoking again or not. (Freddy started it again, we see, because his five or so shoulder devils mashed up his shoulder angel.)
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Rudi and Freddy. Goes so far that they don't get an apartment because the landlady thinks they're really a gay couple, which she can't stand.
 * Hollywood Dateless: Rudi. Of course, it's harder to tell, since it's not a weekly TV series.
 * I Can't Feel My Legs: Rudi tries to pick up a woman at the supermarket by "accidentally" hitting her with his shopping cart. But he is nervous and uses too much power...
 * The Ingenue: Alfi is enthusiastic about "digging the scene!!!", while Rudi is as cynical as possible.
 * In Vino Veritas: Some cute song birds start sieg-heiling, picking fights and generally acting like most obnoxious drunks after drinking beer.
 * Kavorka Man: Cousin Alfi is a kind of country bumpkin, but has success with the ladies. The fact that he saves one woman, White Knight-style, from a drug dealer who wants to cut up her face probably helped.
 * Limited Social Circle: At the beginning Rudi used to meet many different friends, but later his social circle shrunk to Freddy, Bully and Heinz. And the Girl of the Week.
 * Motorcycle Dominoes
 * Nazi Gold: Subverted - when they get lost in a cavern, they find two skeletons of nazi soldiers and a huge box full of - invalid old paper money.
 * Oktoberfest: Alfi and his village, of course
 * Only One Name: His last name, if he has one at all, is never revealed. Even his doctor only calls him "Herr... er... Rudi".
 * Playful Hacker: Freddy isn't really a computer expert (he even talks about the "kilojoule" of his computer), but still manages to hack the Russian army computers.
 * Punk: Punks often appear in the comic. Heinz is the most prominent one.
 * Racist Grandma: Rudi's.
 * Reincarnation: Rudi once gets hypno-treatment (from a quack) and "remembers" that his back pain comes from an earlier life when he was crucified at the same time/place as Jesus.
 * Shout-Out: Many, mostly to other comics.
 * The Slacker: Heinz definitely; sometimes, Rudi and Freddy too.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Rather on the cynical side.
 * Soapbox Sadie / Animal Wrongs Group: Parodied with a group which protests the inhuman killing of vegetables.
 * Talking Animal: Apparently ants and slugs not only are this, but are also organized like a fascist state and actively planning to bring down human society. Especially, eat all their food. In other words, not only Humans Are the Real Monsters in this comic.
 * Think Unsexy Thoughts: Rudi does this one time at a nude beach. Problem is that everything he tries to think of only makes him more horny. ("Square root of 4761 makes... 69! Shit, maths is too perverted!") Then, when he finally manages to get his Raging Stiffie under control (by thinking about cancer) - a pissed-of wasp stings him several times in a male body part, making things even worse.
 * This Loser Is You: Probably.
 * Those Wacky Nazis: Neonazi skinheads appear several times. Also some old ones. And once Rudi made a nazi-themed party.
 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot
 * Walls of Text: The comic is (in)famous for this and sometimes lampshades it.
 * What Does This Button Do?: It moves the kickstand of a motorcycle. Cue the dominoes.
 * Write What You Know: Peter Puck wrote an academic text about punks and got a degree for it.