The Snail Factory
The Snail Factory is a surreal Web Comic about demented beings and their daily life in an unusual work environment; a facility dedicated to "the manufacture of snails, slugs, limpets, nautili, taffy and other gastropods".
It features a bizarre style of workplace humor and relies heavily on dark comedy.
The comic began on August 1, 2011. It is written and drawn by creator Ari Bach and has a regular Monday and Thursday update schedule.
Tropes used in The Snail Factory include:
- Mundane Fantastic: Has an entire cast of bizarre creatures and even inanimate objects, but these are usually more or less treated as normal employees.
- Stupid Boss: Dr. Breign is an excellent example of this.
- No OSHA Compliance: In one episode it's even revealed that the factory saves money by not having guardrails around an open vat and allowing workers to fall in, thus increasing "the protein levels".
- Only Sane Employee: Elliot
- Incompetence, Inc.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Elliot, Dr. Breign's assistant, essentially does all of the work, cleans up after Breign's messes and keeps everything going.
- Sadist Show: Characters eat each other on a fairly regular basis.
- Science Cocktail: Episode #45 has a gag like this, but with a more industrial take; and chocolate.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Features a menagerie of bizarre creatures.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Nearly all of the characters are completely apathetic to the suffering and horrible maiming of others.
- Crapsack World: Nearly everyone is physically monstrous and at least somewhat psychologically deranged.
- Butt Monkey: Efengi is constantly put through various types of torment and nearly fatal disfigurement.
- Dangerous Workplace: Features an extremely hazardous work environment as it primary setting.