PENCILMATION

A comedic variety show bursting with gags and unpredictable left turns, based on a popular YouTube series.

Readers need not be familiar with Pencilmation before diving into this comic, but fans will find more of the accessible, silly, and sometimes gross humor here. The Everyman protagonist of many of the comic’s vignettes, Pencilmate, faces a wide range of predicaments. Sometimes he exaggerates a benign situation, such as sneezing aggressively in search of a “bless you!” Small frustrations, like untangling an earbud cord or pumping a round number’s worth of gas at the pump, each get their own quick episode of fraught emotions and amplified facial expressions. A narrator often provides context and sometimes a pun or fourth-wall break. With skin the white of the page, the stick-figure people who populate these stories are deceptively simple at first, right down to the ever present ruled-paper backgrounds that might suggest a disposable whimsy. However, where else will readers find such delightful ideas as professional thumb wrestling, cutout clothing for pencils, or an advertisement for the Fart Academy? The ideas and punchlines are so frequent and manic that at least a few will earn a laugh from readers.

The most expressive stick-figure people you will find without using an internet connection.