Irritability (webcomic)
Encyclopedia
Irritability is an irregularly updated webcomic
by Mike E. Woodson. Originally appearing in The Daily Texan
(the University of Texas at Austin
student newspaper), it now appears on his website. It has run since 1998.
Irritability is primarily about the fantastic interacting with modern day life, most notably elements from roleplaying games and anime
. For example, a man is saved from a rockslide because his HMO required he wear an earth-elemental damage ring. Magical creatures and mecha
abound, and most of the main characters have supernatural
powers. Irritability started out as a text story which is available on the site, but which Woodson doesn't recommend to anyone. It was then a college strip, and so became a comic about college, but gradually evolved and now goes pretty much wherever it pleases.
Irritability is rife with satire
and includes parodies
of superhero
es, anime (such as Fushigi Yūgi
), and common elements of roleplaying games, such as status ailments and characters who are obsessed with treasure. Many of the strips end on complete non-sequiturs and the characters seem resigned to the often nonsensical nature of the world they live in. Other common threads in the comic are the fictional country of Vedica, which many of the characters with supernatural powers hail from, mad science
, and fantasy
-style adventuring being a common hobby to the point of having its own magazines.
Overall, despite the often surreal nature of the strip, Irritability gives the impression of having a consistent setting, which sets it apart from many strips that rely upon the strange-meets-mundane comedy formula.
Every so often Mike does a 24-hour comic
, a comic project thought up by Scott McCloud
in which the goal is to do a 24-page comic in 24 hours. The 24-hour comics are separate from the strips, but fit into the Irritability continuity, an example being when Exoth was so lazy that he spent around a year sitting on a couch in the main comic strips and only got up and started doing things again in a 24-hour comic, after which he was seen being active in the main strips again.
In between the main irritability strips Mike draws 'Bad comics', quicker strips made in groups often with even more absurdist punch lines than normal.
The Banana family
Exoth's minions
Exoth, Ourorya and Enne are masters of the "Ieszen Gedre" martial art, which gives them many mystical abilities. Known abilities include: Telekinetic Power; Superhuman skills at ski-ball, minigolf, and bowling; Surviving a gunshot to the face (by only uses 0.5% of one's neurons to think); Superhuman strength.
Tatanya's Classmates
Other characters
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 Mike E. Woodson. Originally appearing in The Daily Texan
The Daily Texan
The Daily Texan is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is entirely student-run and independent from the university. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States with a daily circulation of roughly 30,000 during the fall and spring semesters and bills...
(the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
student newspaper), it now appears on his website. It has run since 1998.
Irritability is primarily about the fantastic interacting with modern day life, most notably elements from roleplaying games and 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....
. For example, a man is saved from a rockslide because his HMO required he wear an earth-elemental damage ring. Magical creatures and mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
abound, and most of the main characters have supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
powers. Irritability started out as a text story which is available on the site, but which Woodson doesn't recommend to anyone. It was then a college strip, and so became a comic about college, but gradually evolved and now goes pretty much wherever it pleases.
Irritability is rife with satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
and includes parodies
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
es, anime (such as Fushigi Yūgi
Fushigi Yūgi
, also known as Curious Play, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yu Watase. Shogakukan published Fushigi Yûgi in Shōjo Comic in its original serialized form from May 1992 through June 1996. Viz Media released the manga series in English in North America starting in 1999...
), and common elements of roleplaying games, such as status ailments and characters who are obsessed with treasure. Many of the strips end on complete non-sequiturs and the characters seem resigned to the often nonsensical nature of the world they live in. Other common threads in the comic are the fictional country of Vedica, which many of the characters with supernatural powers hail from, mad science
Mad Science
The Mad Science Group is a franchise company that specializes in educational and entertaining programing for children that presents science in a visual and interactive manner which sparks their imaginative curiosity...
, and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
-style adventuring being a common hobby to the point of having its own magazines.
Overall, despite the often surreal nature of the strip, Irritability gives the impression of having a consistent setting, which sets it apart from many strips that rely upon the strange-meets-mundane comedy formula.
Every so often Mike does a 24-hour comic
24-hour comic
A 24-hour comic is a 24-page comic book written, drawn, and completed in 24 hours. Scott McCloud originally came up with the challenge for himself and Steve Bissette as a creative exercise...
, a comic project thought up by Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
in which the goal is to do a 24-page comic in 24 hours. The 24-hour comics are separate from the strips, but fit into the Irritability continuity, an example being when Exoth was so lazy that he spent around a year sitting on a couch in the main comic strips and only got up and started doing things again in a 24-hour comic, after which he was seen being active in the main strips again.
In between the main irritability strips Mike draws 'Bad comics', quicker strips made in groups often with even more absurdist punch lines than normal.
Characters
None of the main characters could really be called heroes, in fact, most of them display a blatant disregard for the well-being of others or even themselves. (Beireia: "Don't you even have a self-preservation instinct?" Exoth: "I suppress it.")- Chappy Chappy - A super-strong idiot with pyrokinesis. Chappy finds thinking inconvenient, and would much rather stab and/or burn things. He has lived in the Banana House ever since his roommate kicked him out for turning him into a zombie head on a cart. His weakness is oranges. Prince of Vedica.
- Special powers: Pyrokinesis; Echolocation; Incredible strength; Can make his sword Vaurmauv appear at will.
- Exoth - An immortal nihilistic evil genius. Exoth has been known to become extremely lazy at times, make terrible puns, and invent absurd things. He's histrionic and narcissistic. He also will throw himself into harm's way to damage his opponent, and it is not uncommon for him to blow up the entire universe. His creations usually turn against him, but his army of Jumbo Crows have thus far remained loyal.
- Special powers: Ieszen Gedre techniques (see below). Rising Lightning style Vedican martial arts. Can plant a severed arm in the ground and grow a new body; Has an extremely poisonous body; Can survive being cut to pieces, then put himself back together. Immune to dehydration.
- Beireia - An irritable young woman who hates both Chappy and Exoth but regularly deals with them regardless. She lives in the Banana House ever since Exoth blew up her apartment, and works in the Forest of Peril as well as being an active adventurer. One of the most level-headed and sane of the group.
- Special Powers: Wields a spear that is a form-shifting insect, superhuman strength and toughness.
The Banana family
- Victor Banana - The father (and Chappy's old friend) who usually occupies the role of straight man but is sometimes affected by the weirdness of the strip, and a former adventurer.
- Special Powers: Banana Beam.
- Ionil Banana - The mother who comforts Victor and tries to keep her house in order despite the efforts of the other characters. She has a horrible memory and often ends up making up stories when asked about things that happened. The third member of Victor and Chappy's old adventuring group.
- Special Powers: Healing magic
- Tatanya Positronic Banana - The daughter who idolizes Chappy, Exoth, and Beireia and slowly becomes more like them: violent and obsessed with treasure. Mentored by Beireia and likes Robot.
- Special Powers: Banana Beam, developing superhuman strength
Exoth's minions
- Robot, his assistant, a young punk who is not a robot, who, like Tatanya, is becoming influenced by the weird people he hangs around with, though less so than Tatanya. He is stuck working for Exoth because Exoth saved his life when he was ill and forces him into it. Often has to take care of his lazy mother. Likes Tatanya.
- Special Powers: Treasure sense. Collapsible crowbar
- Ourorya - Exoth's first student and an assassin. He has telekinetic power and is one of the few minions with a driver's licence. He his bones reinforced with steel needles by Exoth when he was Robot's age, and habitually buries weapons for later use. In charge of treasure collection.
- Special Powers: Invisible gun, molecular knife; Ieszen Gedre techniques (see below).
- Enne - Exoth's second student. Loves chocolate. Uses her telekinesis to control people's bodies to win arguments. Took Tatanya's rival Adrianna under her wing to adventure through vicariously, as well as to use on missions. In charge of spying and assassination. Also the author of the "Unicorn Princess" series of books.
- Special Powers: Ieszen Gedre techniques (see below).
- Pendenne - A woman from the future (the year 2033) who never fails to point out how superior the future is to the present.
- Special Powers: Shrinks instead of starving when she doesn't eat; Hollitzer field sword that can cut anything; Time agent training.
- Head-Leg - A failed experiment of Exoth, who uses him in further experiments, often resulting in Head-Leg's death. There have been many Head-Legs over time, as Exoth must re-clone him every time he dies. Nobody likes Head-Leg, and Exoth in particular seems to enjoy torturing him and depriving him of any joy.
- Special 'Powers': Retains all memories of past lives and deaths.
Exoth, Ourorya and Enne are masters of the "Ieszen Gedre" martial art, which gives them many mystical abilities. Known abilities include: Telekinetic Power; Superhuman skills at ski-ball, minigolf, and bowling; Surviving a gunshot to the face (by only uses 0.5% of one's neurons to think); Superhuman strength.
Tatanya's Classmates
- Gasoline Girl - A classmate of Tatanya's who often gets caught up in Tatanya's adventures.
- Xcilla - A classmate of Tatanya's who less often gets caught up in Tatanya's adventures. Her parents were mathematicians who couldn't quite agree on her name, so it contains a variableVariable (mathematics)In mathematics, a variable is a value that may change within the scope of a given problem or set of operations. In contrast, a constant is a value that remains unchanged, though often unknown or undetermined. The concepts of constants and variables are fundamental to many areas of mathematics and...
.
Other characters
- Officer Death - A cyborgCyborgA cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
police officer who attempts to arrest Chappy. Vulnerable to puns. - Scary Larry - A vampireVampireVampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
Exoth met at night school. - Robot's Mom - Robot's mother, whose name has not been revealed. She and Robot live in a trailer which is parked in Exoth's garage. Very lazy and slovenly, often drunk.
- Ninja Professor - Biology teacher at the college the characters sometimes attend who relies heavily on 'natural selection' teaching methods. His real name is Ricky Boat.
- Shoko Togakushi - A reporter.
- Sheriff Amoeba - A floating amoeba with a sheriff's star. He usually mocks the rest of the characters.
- Exoth's Rival - A fellow mad scientist. He has a robotic assistant named H.U.M.A.N. which looks just like Robot.
- Polly - Bereia's co-worker at the Office of Peril and Xcilla's sister.
- Miss Abinger - Tatanya's teacher and possibly an ex-adventurer. She strongly resembles Emeraldas (from Queen EmeraldasQueen Emeraldasis a four-episode Japanese anime OVA that continues the Harlock franchise created by Leiji Matsumoto. The anime was adapted from Matsumoto's 1978 manga of the same name. Queen Emeraldas is the story of the pirate spaceship, Queen Emeraldas, which is captained by the mysterious and beautiful...
). - Velel - Chappy's niece and Exoth's boss. Velel is royalty and currently in charge of Vedica. Velel has pyrokinesis that goes away when she eats icecream. Hates flying. Rarely appears except to criticize the strip's other characters.
- Adrianna Gest - Tatanya Banana's rival and student of Enne. Often sent on morally questionable and occasionally fatal missions by Enne, occasionally resurrected in Exoth's lab, much to the trauma of her mental state. Often works with Robot.
- Alex - A necromancer and employee at the dungeon Chappy runs.