The Perry Bible Fellowship
The Perry Bible Fellowship is a newspaper and web comic strip by Nicholas Gurewitch. It's notable for its black, surrealist humour, specializing in juxtaposing whimsical settings with morbid subject matter. It's kind of like The Far Side, except with cutesier art and more murder.
Most of the tropes it encounters, it subverts. Art Shifts are frequent; it goes for either a very intricate or very simplistic art style, depending on the joke. Has a habit of Crossing the Line Twice, and sometimes three or four times. At some point, it will probably ruin your childhood. Maybe your adulthood, too.
Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, a reprint of the original web comic and additional artwork, won the 2008 Eisner Comic Book Industry Award for Best Humor Publication. The comic was on indefinite hiatus, but has resumed updating on an irregular basis, at its regular domain.
Compare Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
Tropes used in The Perry Bible Fellowship include:
- Art Shift
- Be Careful What You Wish For: a frequent punchline
- Bedroom Adultery Scene: A funny one where couple are two Anatole lizards, and the interloper sneaking out is a Chameleon.
- Black Comedy
- Bloody Hilarious
- Crap Saccharine World
- Cut and Paste Comic: For the more elaborate art.
- Dead Baby Comedy
- Deconstruction: Almost every joke is based on this.
- Earthshattering Kaboom
- Mood Dissonance
- Mood Whiplash
- Non-Standard Character Design
- Pretty in Mink
- Recycled in Space: An adults-only version of The Far Side.
- Refuge in Audacity
- Rule of Funny
- Word Salad Title: Let's say it's not something likely to be found on a church's bulletin board.
- Yonkoma: It's perhaps a stretch to call it this, but many strips have exactly four panels, and all are titled.
Specific strips contain examples (usually subversions) of:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Automatic Business
- All Your Powers Combined: Features a Deconstruction of this, in this comic.
- After the End: Post Apocalyptic
- Animal Nemesis: Mocked.
- Badass Preacher: Preach Skate
- Blind Idiot Translation: You guys sock.
- But What About the Astronauts?: Space Disaster.
- But You Screw One Goat!: Subverted.
- Captain Ersatz: In this parody of Punch-Out!!
- Carnivore Confusion: See me after class, Pete.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: The Golden Ticket (note the Art Shift to Quentin Blake)
- Combining Mecha: Guntron--fire!
- The Computer Is Your Friend: Truancy bot, though not very apt.
- Cool Uncle: Crazy Uncle Duncan.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Durab Inc.
- Cosmetic Catastrophe: "The other girls can see vhat ze hell zhey are doing!"
- Creator Breakdown: "Catch Phrase" seems to have been an example of one -- it was the last strip uploaded, and when updates resumed it was removed.
- Creepy Souvenir: Or Memorabilia...
- Cruel Twist Ending: Gone from bad to worse.
- Deface of the Moon: The Schlorbians Strike Again
- Depraved Kids' Show Host: "Catch Phrase" (The host committed suicide after being dogged by his silly Catch Phrase -- which was then engraved on his tombstone.)
- Egg MacGuffin: Baby.
- Everythings Precious With Puppies: Happy Birthday, Miggs.
- Eye Beams: Fun Bot is screwed.
- The Face of the Sun: Here
- Fantastic Racism: Here
- Finger in the Mail: After Colonel Sweeto discovers a chocolate spy, he sends the Chocolate Kingdom a box containing the spy's "nut".
- Food Fight: Here.
- Future Imperfect: Now Showing
- Gag Penis: Sell your soul for one!
- Gallows Humor: Literal example.
- Hollywood History: Now Showing
- Homage: We wish it didn't, but there's ones to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Family Circus, The Mario Brothers, Edward Gorey, and The Giving Tree (The Unforgiving Tree, now removed from the main site).
- Horrible Judge of Character: Kinder Interview
- Inevitable Waterfall: Raft Friends
- Inkblot Test: Psychoanalyst
- Interspecies Romance: Bacon Egg and Not Today Little One
- It Got Worse: Poor Martha's orphanage
- Jumping Out of a Cake: Here.
- Lilliputian Warriors: Intruders approach! Release the Agronox!
- Lolicon: Disgusting Ted
- Make a Wish: The Wishing Well
- Medium Blending: Keep on Truckin'...
- Mental Picture Projector: The Dreamcatcher 3000
- Merit Badges for Everything: Boy Scouts
- Mind Screw: Seriously! What the heck did just happened?
- Mood Whiplash: The comic itself, but "Carolyn" has zero humor.
- Moon Rabbit: That must be one big rabbit
- Not in Front of the Parrot: Boss
- Or Was It a Dream?: In which you are falling.
- Paedo Hunt: Lampshaded to hilariously depressing effect.
- Panty Shot: Stiff Breeze
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Unicorn
- Passing the Torch: Passed On!
- Perspective Flip: Mean Old Farmer Brown!
- Police Lineup: In one of the gangster strips.
- Poor Communication Kills: Bee
- Porn Stash: Passed On
- Portal Book: Book World.
- Power Perversion Potential: Doll Change
- The Power of Love: In Bunny Pit
- Precision F-Strike: "Barry. Shut the fuck up...seriously."
- Puppy Dog Eyes: Sometimes works, sometimes not.
- Reset Button: Literally.
- Robotic Reveal: Casting Call
- Say My Name: NUUÑÑÑEZZZ!!!
- Serious Business: Car seats are.
- As is SKUB.
- Shapeshifting Squick: In the comic "Eden", God takes the form of Adam and engages in sex with Eve, who does not know that she is not doing it with Adam. Adam calls out "Honey?" upon seeing what is happening.
- She's All Grown Up: b
- Skewed Priorities: Super League knows what's really important.
- Snow Means Love (and Death too): Hey Goat, I love this girl!
- Space X: Zarflax
- Splash of Color: Gamblin Man
- Sugar Apocalypse: Ho, I nearly forgot!
- Sugar Bowl: Suicide Train
- Suicidal Gotcha: Played with here
- Symbol Swearing: Eggnancy
- The Tetris Effect: How it can affect your organization.
- That Cloud Looks Like...: Not today, little one
- Things That Go Bump in the Night: Bed Monster
- Timmy in a Well: Or a burning building, rather.
- Train Station Goodbye: Goodbye, Stanley.
- Transforming Mecha: Refridgeron and Magnimus (another strip featuring the two here)
- Trapped in TV Land: Not the best idea to explore a messed up fictional world.
- Vagina Dentata: Funny, but NSFW.
- Virginity Flag: This strip.
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?:
- When Trees Attack: The Unforgiving Tree.
