The Perry Bible Fellowship
Encyclopedia
The Perry Bible Fellowship (or PBF) is a newspaper comic strip and webcomic
by Nicholas Gurewitch. It originated in the Syracuse University
newspaper The Daily Orange
. The comics are usually three or four panels long, and are generally characterized by the juxtaposition
of whimsical childlike imagery or fantasy with morbid, sudden or unexpected surreal humor. Common subjects include irony, religion, sexuality, war, science fiction, suicide, violence, and death.
The comic received its title, taken from the name of a church in Maine, in its Daily Orange incarnation.
and Robert Crumb
, made evident by marginal notes such as "(Apologies, R. Crumb)." Gurewitch is also known for including Easter eggs
in various strips.
.
" title. According to the official website, it appeared in 21 newspapers, five magazines and five school papers. These included the Baltimore City Paper Philadelphia City Paper
, New York Press
, The Chicago Reader
, the Metro Times
, The Guardian
, The Portland Mercury
, City Newspaper
(in Rochester, NY), the Ottawa Xpress, Buffalo Beast and Black & White. PBF also appeared in Maxim
and ION Magazine. It appeared sporadically in The South End
in 2005.
On August 1, 2006, after several months on a temporary site managed by Cheston Gasik, the comic moved to its permanent Internet home at pbfcomics.com.
On February 18, 2008, Nicholas Gurewitch announced he was cutting back on the production of the comic strip, saying "I feel I owe it to myself and the Perry Bible Fellowship not to turn a joyful diversion into a long career." Previously a weekly strip, it went on an indefinite hiatus and was infrequently updated. Prior to September 27, 2010, the last update to the strip was July 22, 2008, in a strip that Gurewitch said offered "an overt message perhaps. That sometimes Life can pigeonhole a person. That's something I personally believe is a danger."
, and is currently based in Rochester, New York
. He attended Syracuse University
, where he studied film and where his comic strip was first published in The Daily Orange
. Besides PBF, he worked on developing a program called Daisy Garden Story Time with Comedy Central
, though the program was not produced.
's Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists
in July 2006.
A book collection, The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, is currently available for purchase. Even before its release, preorders alone made the book one of the fastest-selling graphic novels on Amazon.com
, causing publisher Dark Horse Comics
to increase its first print run to 36,000, and print the book domestically to hasten distribution; it has since gone into three printings. Dark Horse Comics also noted the comic's popularity in the UK, as Diamond UK
put in the largest order Dark Horse has ever seen from them.
The second book, The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack, is a 256-page hardcover compilation, featuring more comics (including the ones from the previous book) and previously unreleased material including unused strips, an interview with David Malki
and a foreword by Diablo Cody
. The book was released on February 18, 2009, again from Dark Horse Comics.
The comic strip portrays two people bearing shirts "pro-skub" and "anti-skub" who ultimately fight due to each others' stance on this product, with the final panel bearing an image of a container of Skub. Skub itself is portrayed as a container of cream similar to hair wax. The insignificance of Skub is the basis of the comic's joke, which arises from the fact that people become aggressively oppositional for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Skub has become an internet meme
seen on numerous websites and chat forums such as YTMND
.
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....
by Nicholas Gurewitch. It originated in the Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
newspaper The Daily Orange
The Daily Orange
The Daily Orange is an independent student newspaper published in Syracuse, New York. It is free, and published daily during the Syracuse University academic year.It was one of the first college papers to become fully independent from its parent college...
. The comics are usually three or four panels long, and are generally characterized by the juxtaposition
Random juxtaposition
Random juxtaposition refers to the stimulation of creativity in problem solving, design or other creative pursuit by confronting two unrelated concepts or objects, usually the goal or problem to be solved on the one hand and a randomly selected object or concept on the other. Similar to an oxymoron....
of whimsical childlike imagery or fantasy with morbid, sudden or unexpected surreal humor. Common subjects include irony, religion, sexuality, war, science fiction, suicide, violence, and death.
The comic received its title, taken from the name of a church in Maine, in its Daily Orange incarnation.
Art
The art in PBF varies constantly. While some comics feature simplistic human figures with little more than a mouth and eyes for a face, other strips are extensively colored and meticulously detailed. Sometimes, the artistic style changes within the strip itself. A recurring feature of the strip are simplistically-drawn human figures exhibiting little detail or realism, and heads reminiscent of smiley faces. Some strips emulate the styles of famous illustrators such as Shel SilversteinShel Silverstein
Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein , was an American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children's books...
and Robert Crumb
Robert Crumb
Robert Dennis Crumb —known as Robert Crumb and R. Crumb—is an American artist, illustrator, and musician recognized for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream.Crumb was a founder of the underground comix movement and is regarded...
, made evident by marginal notes such as "(Apologies, R. Crumb)." Gurewitch is also known for including Easter eggs
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
in various strips.
Awards
Gurewitch has received multiple major awards for The Perry Bible Fellowship, such as the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Online Comic in 2005 and 2006. The Perry Bible Fellowship has also won the Web Cartoonist's Choice Award for outstanding comic in 2006 and 2007. In total, PBF has received eight Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards in various categories. Most recently, Gurewitch won the 2007 Harvey Award for "Best Online Comics Work." In July 2008, Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories won an Eisner AwardEisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
.
Publishing
PBF was once updated weekly on Sundays to correspond with its "BiblicalBible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
" title. According to the official website, it appeared in 21 newspapers, five magazines and five school papers. These included the Baltimore City Paper Philadelphia City Paper
Philadelphia City Paper
Philadelphia City Paper is a free alternative news weekly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was established in November 1981 as a spin-off of the now defunct WXPN Express newsletter. New issues are released every Thursday....
, New York Press
New York Press
New York Press was a free alternative weekly in New York City, that was published from 1988 to 2011. During its lifetime, it was the main competitor to the Village Voice...
, The Chicago Reader
The Chicago Reader
The Chicago Reader is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded in 1971 by a group of friends from Carleton College...
, the Metro Times
Metro Times
The Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The Portland Mercury
The Portland Mercury
The Portland Mercury is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon. It serves to chronicle the ever-changing Portland music scene, and generally includes interviews, commentaries, reviews, and concert dates...
, City Newspaper
City Newspaper
City Newspaper is the alternative weekly newspaper of Rochester, New York. It has been published since 1972 and its current circulation makes it the second-largest newspaper in the greater Rochester region....
(in Rochester, NY), the Ottawa Xpress, Buffalo Beast and Black & White. PBF also appeared in Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
and ION Magazine. It appeared sporadically in The South End
The South End
----The South End is the official student newspaper of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, published in print and online. It was founded in 1967, and its publication is funded partly from university funds and partly from advertising revenues, and is distributed free of charge.The paper is...
in 2005.
On August 1, 2006, after several months on a temporary site managed by Cheston Gasik, the comic moved to its permanent Internet home at pbfcomics.com.
On February 18, 2008, Nicholas Gurewitch announced he was cutting back on the production of the comic strip, saying "I feel I owe it to myself and the Perry Bible Fellowship not to turn a joyful diversion into a long career." Previously a weekly strip, it went on an indefinite hiatus and was infrequently updated. Prior to September 27, 2010, the last update to the strip was July 22, 2008, in a strip that Gurewitch said offered "an overt message perhaps. That sometimes Life can pigeonhole a person. That's something I personally believe is a danger."
Author
Nicholas Gurewitch was born March 9, 1982, in Canandaigua, New YorkCanandaigua (town), New York
Canandaigua is a town in Ontario County, New York, USA. The population was 7,649 at the 2000 census. The name is a native word for "the chosen spot" or "the chosen place."...
, and is currently based in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. He attended Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, where he studied film and where his comic strip was first published in The Daily Orange
The Daily Orange
The Daily Orange is an independent student newspaper published in Syracuse, New York. It is free, and published daily during the Syracuse University academic year.It was one of the first college papers to become fully independent from its parent college...
. Besides PBF, he worked on developing a program called Daisy Garden Story Time with Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
, though the program was not produced.
Books
Perry Bible Fellowship comics and an interview with Gurewitch were included in Ted RallTed Rall
Ted Rall is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and editorial-cartoon conventions. The cartoons appear in approximately 100 newspapers around the United States...
's Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists
Attitude: The New Subversive Cartoonists
The Attitude series of books is a series of anthologies of alternative comics, photos and artists' interviews edited by Universal Press Syndicate editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. The books were designed by J. P. Trostle, news editor of EditorialCartoonists.com. Two sequels and three spin-off titles...
in July 2006.
A book collection, The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, is currently available for purchase. Even before its release, preorders alone made the book one of the fastest-selling graphic novels on Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
, causing publisher Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
to increase its first print run to 36,000, and print the book domestically to hasten distribution; it has since gone into three printings. Dark Horse Comics also noted the comic's popularity in the UK, as Diamond UK
Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. is the largest comic book distributor serving North America. They transport comic books from both big and small comic book publishers, or suppliers, to the retailers. Diamond dominates the direct market in the United States, and has exclusive arrangements with most...
put in the largest order Dark Horse has ever seen from them.
The second book, The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack, is a 256-page hardcover compilation, featuring more comics (including the ones from the previous book) and previously unreleased material including unused strips, an interview with David Malki
Wondermark
Wondermark is a webcomic created by David Malki which was syndicated to Flak Magazine and appeared in The Onion's print edition through 2008. It features 19th-century illustrations that have been recontextualized to create humorous juxtapositions. It takes the horizontal four-panel shape of a...
and a foreword by Diablo Cody
Diablo Cody
Brook Busey , better known by the pen name Diablo Cody, is an American screenwriter, writer, blogger, journalist, and author. She was first known for her candid chronicling of her year as a stripper in her Pussy Ranch blog and her 2006 memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper...
. The book was released on February 18, 2009, again from Dark Horse Comics.
Skub
"Skub" is a fictional product based on a PBF comic strip.The comic strip portrays two people bearing shirts "pro-skub" and "anti-skub" who ultimately fight due to each others' stance on this product, with the final panel bearing an image of a container of Skub. Skub itself is portrayed as a container of cream similar to hair wax. The insignificance of Skub is the basis of the comic's joke, which arises from the fact that people become aggressively oppositional for seemingly arbitrary reasons. Skub has become an internet meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
seen on numerous websites and chat forums such as YTMND
YTMND
YTMND, an initialism for "You're the Man Now, Dog", is an online community centered on the creation of hosted web pages featuring a juxtaposition of an image centered or tiled along with optional large zooming text and a looping sound file...
.
External links
- Official site
- Cue & Ehh? at Shuffle, April 3, 2006
- Unpublished artwork September 4, 2007
Nicholas Gurewitch
- http://losangeles.broowaha.com/article.php?id=565Interview in BrooWahaBroowahaBrooWaha is an online citizen newspaper with a focus on local news. The articles published on the website are written exclusively by its users....
] - The Flux interview
- Guardian interview
- Interview by Brian M. Palmer
- http://mathewsmith.blogspot.com/2006/08/interview-perry-bible-fellowship.htmlInterview in York VisionYork VisionYork Vision is one of two student newspapers at the University of York. It is a registered society of, and funded by the University of York Students' Union...
] - Nicholas Gurewitch on Studentfilms.com
- Interviews with Interesting People Podcast Interview by Scott Vrable
- The end of the Perry Bible Fellowship