Polymer City Chronicles
Encyclopedia
The Polymer City Chronicles (aka PCC) is a webcomic
written and drawn by Chris Morrison. PCC began publishing online in March 1995 as the first video gaming web comic on the World Wide Web
, although the strip has been in print since 1992.
Artistically, PCC's most distinctive trait is its collection of large (often termed "amazon
sized"), well-proportioned females (many of which sport oversized bosoms coupled with detailed musculature development).
The strip started out as a video game gag comic, but quickly changed focus into a strongly plot driven comic due to "running out of video game material". The artist has often said that he's trying to create an animated film appearance, and has noted that the primary story arc is a part of a script he is developing for a feature-length film
. Often weaving in subtexts of real-world events and issues such as religion
and politics
into the frequently text-heavy stories, PCC continues to have a strong fanbase on the web.
In February 2007, Morrison announced that he intended for the strip "to evolve again in a way that's a bit more drastic than before," "ceasing the webcomic format altogether in favor of illustrated fiction, wherein the story will be delivered in small chapters, each with an accompanying illustration." However, he reversed this decision in May, citing financial problems, the continuity of the present storyline, and reader concerns, and plans a return to the twice-a-week strip format.
No strips have been posted since 31 October 2007 however in the only update since that time, a one line blog entry on 4 January 2009, Morrison infers that PCC may return.
"Dr.Otto is pretty much a scientific everyman; he was originally conceived as a satire of Egon Spengler (Ghostbusters
) only with a hair-trigger. Andrah was loosely based on an ex-girlfriend of mine from years ago who was an amateur female bodybuilder; she was around 6 ft 2 in and 200 lb (91 kg) or so, and Andrah carries a lot of her personality. Mistress Laura was initially a Lady Death parody, but when I introduced her shadowdrake sidekicks Flint and Locke, she really developed into her own character. Lynn Deanna Jones is an obvious Lara Croft
satire, but I'm also one of the world's biggest Indiana Jones
fans, so I yoinked some elements from him as well. Sheeri I created mostly out of a need to exploit anime
fandom
... it seems you can't have a cool online comic these days without some anime or Japan
ese influences, and she's a blatantly deliberate self-mocking attempt to capitalize on that aspect. Grey is the most recent addition to the roster, and it's just cuz aliens
are cool. Most of the cast is alien, and that's intentional since I'm trying to put extraordinary individuals into ordinary situations."
Webcomic
Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
written and drawn by Chris Morrison. PCC began publishing online in March 1995 as the first video gaming web comic on the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
, although the strip has been in print since 1992.
Artistically, PCC's most distinctive trait is its collection of large (often termed "amazon
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
sized"), well-proportioned females (many of which sport oversized bosoms coupled with detailed musculature development).
The strip started out as a video game gag comic, but quickly changed focus into a strongly plot driven comic due to "running out of video game material". The artist has often said that he's trying to create an animated film appearance, and has noted that the primary story arc is a part of a script he is developing for a feature-length film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. Often weaving in subtexts of real-world events and issues such as religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
and politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
into the frequently text-heavy stories, PCC continues to have a strong fanbase on the web.
In February 2007, Morrison announced that he intended for the strip "to evolve again in a way that's a bit more drastic than before," "ceasing the webcomic format altogether in favor of illustrated fiction, wherein the story will be delivered in small chapters, each with an accompanying illustration." However, he reversed this decision in May, citing financial problems, the continuity of the present storyline, and reader concerns, and plans a return to the twice-a-week strip format.
No strips have been posted since 31 October 2007 however in the only update since that time, a one line blog entry on 4 January 2009, Morrison infers that PCC may return.
Summary
The strip presents the (mis)adventures of Dr. Otto and his space-alien wife Andrah (a favorite among fans of female muscle growth themed artwork). In an interview in 2001 with former online magazine "The Mushroom", the author provided a description which is still relevant today:"Dr.Otto is pretty much a scientific everyman; he was originally conceived as a satire of Egon Spengler (Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
) only with a hair-trigger. Andrah was loosely based on an ex-girlfriend of mine from years ago who was an amateur female bodybuilder; she was around 6 ft 2 in and 200 lb (91 kg) or so, and Andrah carries a lot of her personality. Mistress Laura was initially a Lady Death parody, but when I introduced her shadowdrake sidekicks Flint and Locke, she really developed into her own character. Lynn Deanna Jones is an obvious Lara Croft
Lara Croft
Lara Croft is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Square Enix video game series Tomb Raider. She is presented as a beautiful, intelligent, and athletic British archaeologist-adventurer who ventures into ancient, hazardous tombs and ruins around the world...
satire, but I'm also one of the world's biggest Indiana Jones
Indiana Jones
Colonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
fans, so I yoinked some elements from him as well. Sheeri I created mostly out of a need to exploit anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
fandom
Fandom
Fandom is a term used to refer to a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest...
... it seems you can't have a cool online comic these days without some anime or Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese influences, and she's a blatantly deliberate self-mocking attempt to capitalize on that aspect. Grey is the most recent addition to the roster, and it's just cuz aliens
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
are cool. Most of the cast is alien, and that's intentional since I'm trying to put extraordinary individuals into ordinary situations."
Additional Characters
- Pierce - A gothGoth subcultureThe goth subculture is a contemporary subculture found in many countries. It began in England during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, an offshoot of the post-punk genre. The goth subculture has survived much longer than others of the same era, and has continued to diversify...
who speaks with a fake CockneyCockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
accent. She's a crew member aboard Lynn's ship. - Six - From the same alien race as Andrah, but only about six inches tall.
- Buaa - An eggplant alien, who, in one comic, falls in love with a real eggplant.
- Mistress Laura - A stripperStripteaseA striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner...
while alive, she's become a ruler over the land of the dead. She's accompanied by her shadow dragons, Flint and Locke (named as a punPunThe pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
on the word flintlockFlintlockFlintlock is the general term for any firearm based on the flintlock mechanism. The term may also apply to the mechanism itself. Introduced at the beginning of the 17th century, the flintlock rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the doglock, matchlock and wheellock...
). - Vhaldis - A Urusai necromancer who is currently working to regain his full power. A typical "take over the world, laugh like a maniac" sort of guy.
- Ded, Dedd, n Deddy - Ghostly parodies of Ed, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n Eddy is an original animated television series created by Danny Antonucci and produced by Canadian-based a.k.a. Cartoon. It premiered on Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999. Ed, Edd n Eddy was one of Cartoon Network's longest running and most successful franchises and the longest-running...
who served Mistress Laura. - Gangster Pikachu - Clearly making fun of PikachuPikachuis one of the species of Pokémon creatures from the Pokémon media franchise—a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards, and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri. As do all Pokémon, Pikachu fight other Pokémon in battles central to the anime, manga, and games of the series...
of PokémonPokémonis a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
fame, this leader of the "Pokemob" showed up more often in the earlier, humor-based strips. The mobster mouse frequently tries to see to it that NintendoNintendois a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
isn't made fun of too much in the strip, even if he has to make the PCC crew an offer that they can't refuse...
Basic Chronology
- 1992 to 1994 as "Behind the Screens with Dr. Otto": Published in print as a b/wBlack-and-whiteBlack-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
one-panel strip for Game Zero magazineGame Zero magazineGame Zero Magazine was a U.S. based video game magazine published from 1992 to 1998 . Initially starting out as a photo-copy based zine with a print circulation of 500. By the start of 1994 the publication had become a two-color magazine with a print circulation of 1,500, published bi-monthly...
's Comics page (published bi-monthly). A majority of the strips were later colorized in preparation of moving to the WWW at the end of 1994.
- 1995 to 1996 as "The Plastic Valley Report": Published full-color, regularly on the WWW and additionally for six months as part of Game Zero's CD-ROM newsstand edition with a print circulation of 150,000.
- 2000 to current as "The Polymer-City Chronicles": Initially re-launched in b/w on the Game Zero magazine web archive, it lived for a brief stint under the gaming website mpog.com. Next it moved to its own server under the domain polymer-city.com which was subsequently hijacked a year later. Finally the site settled down in mid-2002 at its current home. During this time the strip moved from one-shot gags over to a large story arc, and transitioned into color.
External links
- Polymer City Chronicles- The comic's main site.
- PCC Archive - Links to PCC comics from pre-2000.