A typical Fluble strip

Fluble (rhymes with "bubble") is a comic strip drawn by Christopher Mastrangelo and made available on the web as a webcomic. Fluble appeared in the Brown Daily Herald five times a week, when Mastrangelo was a student at Brown University. It ran on the web from October 23, 1997 to May 15, 2001. Download high resolution version (855x347, 172 KB)A sample Fluble comic from http://fluble. ... Download high resolution version (855x347, 172 KB)A sample Fluble comic from http://fluble. ... This article is about the comic strip, the sequential art form as published in newspapers and on the Internet. ... Webcomics, also known as online comics and web comics, are comics that are available on the World Wide Web. ... The Brown Daily Herald, the student newspaper of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, is the fifth-oldest college daily newspaper in the United States. ... Brown University is an Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island. ... October 23 is the 296th day of the year (297th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 69 days remaining. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... 2001 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Fluble tells the story of Fluble Marshell, a genetically re-engineered frog, living with a variety of strange roommates and neighbors in Syracuse, New York. Fluble is at times a re-casting of the Job story, at times a meditation on depression and insanity, and often simply an aggregation of (loosely) popular cultural references, concept humor, and endless asides. Pobblebonk, Australia Frogs are amphibians in the Order Anura, which includes frogs and toads. ... Clinton Square in Downtown Syracuse Syracuse is an American city in Central New York. ... The Book of Job (איוב, Standard Hebrew Iyyov, Tiberian Hebrew ʾIyyôḇ; Arabic أيّوب ʾAyyūb) is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, and is also one of the books of the Christian Old Testament. ...

Fluble art could be described as a very 'busy', and within the confines of the small panels text is often squashed, and any blank space is usually filled with other characters, textures, or amusing objects in the background. Since much of the comic's humor comes from its dialogue some readers felt it had "too many words."

"Getting" Fluble

As mentioned on his website, Mastrangelo offered the advice that Fluble is an absurdist comic and its humor is for humor's sake. Attempting to find allegory or metaphor in the strip is at best boring and at worst insulting. The comic itself also took a few good natured jabs at Brown's leftist community.

Characters

Fluble Prometheus Marshell

A genetically engineered frog-like thing, he is the protagonist of our strip, he is depressive, lazy, and quasi-amoral. He is perennially unemployed. His romantic life consists of pining for, and occasionally making clumsy advances towards, Clown.

Following the "cosmic belch of wrath" from a space god named Woobie, Fluble became involved in a time-warp that resulted in him becoming the "Fünderlord" of dystopian Fünderland, carved from the aftermath Woobie's failed apocalypse. However, Fluble then became involved in a struggle with himself and the rebels for control of future-history.

Burble Hadrogobodoz

Burble and Occam track down the meaning of Burble's existence

A "Tomato-like being" who was once a godlike entity, but was demoted for incompetence. Burble has at times advocated the use of both morphine and amphetamines, among other potentially dangerous activities. However, his creator explains he is "hypersane" and simply reflects the inherent absurdity of the universe. This may explain why Burble seems non-pulsed to bizarre events, remaining largely good-natured and perpetually cheerful. Image File history File links Burble -- character pic for Fluble. ... Morphine (INN), the principal active agent in opium, is a powerful opioid analgesic drug. ... Amphetamine is a synthetic drug originally developed (and still used) as an appetite suppressant. ... Sanity is a legal term denoting that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. ...

There is some suggestion in the secret history story "Burblequest" [1] that he may be tied to an original pantheon of gods led by Fishman. At any rate, at some point in his deep past he wore funny horns and served a "Fish-lord." Later he was more of a knight-errant, and razed most of Central Europe with Attila the Hun.[2] He also collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge on "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and worked for Scotland Yard sometime in mid-century.[3] Or thinks he did. A secret history (or shadow history) is a version of history that is at odds with commonly accepted historical events and which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed or forgotten. ... Historical lands and provinces in Central Europe Central Europe is the region of Europe between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. ... The Huns, led by Attila (right, foreground), ride into Italy. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet, 1795 Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher and, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and as one of the Lake Poets. ... New Scotland Yard, London New Scotland Yard, often referred to as simply Scotland Yard or The Yard, is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service, responsible for policing Greater London (although not the City of London itself). ...

In emergencies, Burble can transform into gigantic death-robot Burbletron. Burble is the "Sacred Patron Saint of Pork" [4]. He's capable of consuming four bags of "cheez doodles" in 30 seconds. [5] . His favorite color is 12 1/2.[6] His only fear is his arch-nemesis, Sandwhich Man. [7] He is also known as Burble of Syracuse; Gamlin the Red, Master of the Obtuse; The Maddened Fez; Loophole Bungowick; Dr. Xavier Q. Rodriguez; and Vulcanized Tire Man. At one point (during the full-color "Woonsocket" storyline), he used false identification in the name of "Dr. Horatio Q. Vanderplast." Clinton Square in Downtown Syracuse Syracuse is an American city in Central New York. ... Vulcanization is the process of cross-linking elastomer molecules to make the bulk material harder, less soluble and more durable. ... Firestone tire A tire (U.S. spelling) or tyre (UK spelling) is a roughly toroidal piece of (usually) rubber placed on a wheel to cushion it. ...

In 2000, Burble briefly "took control" of the strip (re-dubbed for the duration "I Like Bunnies") [8], the result being even more nonsensical than usual, and featuring several spoofs of other comics. The "Epilogue" to "I Like Bunnies" features a mock commentary on the "final" panel, in which a cupcake explodes, from a professor of Modern Culture and Media (Brown's postmodernism department). 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Post-modernist architecture rejects the rigid geometricity of modernist design in favour of radical, often asymmetrical, forms Postmodernism is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or...

Dr. Balt Baltmer

Balt attempts to solve society's ills

Balt hails from the planet Coreezbic, where nerds are cultural icons, much as sports heroes are on earth. He arrived on earth after having his spaceship shot down by rogue Space Fratboys, and is stranded here, much to his ire. He is the sole proponent of rationality on Fluble, dubbed "the tortured realist" by Mastrangelo. He keeps up his work as a scientist, pursuing investigations into biology, computer science, and studies in the controversial field of funk power. (see above) More sensible than the other characters, his occasional silliness tends to be overshadowed by his more deranged peers. Image File history File links Character pic for Fluble, with authors permission. ...

Schrafka

Schrafka is a conspiracy theorist radical socialist cat who occasionally harangues and/or spends time with the Fluble gang, often providing something vaguely like comic relief--or at least, bemusing tangents that break away from the current plotline.Schrafka is occasionally a good-natured barb aimed at members of Brown's chapter of the International Socialist Organization or other high-energy leftist student groups. The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... This article is about the International Socialist Organization in the United States. ...

Mac The

Mac The (his full name) is a whale, who can occasionally be called upon to fly, beat people up, or provide relationship advice. He occasionally operates a donuts-and-prostitutes stand ("International House of Ho's and Doughnuts" [9]), and is also a known cannibal. He is reasonably intelligent but often indifferent to the misery of others.

Clown Marie Coinean

Clown introduces herself to her neighbors

"Some sort of curvy man thing," Clown is Fluble's love interest and the comic's token female. She's a sad person, at least partially because all her pets die. A disconcerting exception is the aptly named Uglyfish, a well-intended gift from Fluble. Clown works as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Associate Director's Associate Assistant Director Director for the firm of Wolf, Haberman, Imposing Monolith, and Wolf. Clown has the ability to melt brains with her saccharine affection. Back in the day, they called her "Iron Wanda." [10] Image File history File links Character pic for Fluble. ... Token can mean one of several things: In computer science, specifically lexical analysis, a token is an atomic element within a string. ... One or more images would improve this articles quality. ...

Sorcel

Sorcel is Fluble and Clown's imaginary son, conceived, as it were, during "A Momentary Lapse of Reason." He appears at various junctures in Clown's or Fluble's mind, but like Occam, he can also manipulate physical objects, to the confusion of Balt. He likes radishes, and when not being hallucinated he lives in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where "all lost dreams go," and where there are very large radishes. [11] Woonsocket is a city located in Providence County, Rhode Island. ...

Zangoth

Zangoth is an Archdemon of Hell who appears in various situations serving various purposes. Early on, he leads Belgium to victory over a Fluble-commanded Luxembourg. Later, he and Clown date.

Rubble

Rubble is Fluble's evil twin, created when their creators dumped their leftover evil all over him because there's, "No point wasting decent evil." [12] He possesses a British accent and an insatiable thirst for evil. His name rhymes with Fluble's because their "creators were fantastically unimaginative." [13] He suffers from a typical younger-sibling inferiority complex. [14] Rubble has all of Fluble's vices and negative points, but is generally more capable to carry out his plans and goals.

Zooper

Zooper is the smartest "thing-that-isn't-a-mailbox". He has shapeshifting abilities and is usually called in for information and exposition to forward multi-strip plots.

Moosh

Moosh is the land-dwelling octopus in the comic.

Fluble's cosmology and meta-cosmology

Good, evil, and the creation and condition of the universe are represented frequently and conflictingly in Fluble. There are roughly two groups of storylines and depictions, which might be identified as the cosmology and the meta-cosmology. The cosmological group is developed primarily through encounters with various figures like God and Bob, Lord of Hell, and in them the creation of the world is set forth, along with the histories of heaven and hell. The meta-cosmology of Fluble is suggested mainly in a handful of singleton (i.e., non-storyling, non-continuity) strips showing certain figures which, in the normal course of events, are not metaphysically significant but who in these contexts appear to take on metaphysical significance.

God

God in Fluble is a loud voice that emanates from above along with big "twinkle" signs. He retired at least once, but returned at the end of "The Curse of Hesferestheroth" to turn Number One into a can of pringles. God likes yak heads. [15] The term God (capitalized in English language as a proper noun) is often used to refer vaguely to a Supreme Being. ... Three Pringles cans Pringles Can (Original Flavor) Pringles is a brand of potato chip snack produced by Proctor & Gamble. ...

Gorgoroth

Gorgoroth was a Demon-God and the original ruler of hell. He originally created the evil penguins. Later, he was accidentally turned into a ski resort.[16]

Number One

Number One is the prime evil of several Fluble plotlines. He's in charge of the Evil Penguins, and at various junctures has taken over running the universe from either God or God's opposite.

Woobie

Woobie is an "exiled monster space god" created from the excess chaos siphoned by Number One from the Evil Penguins. This makes Number One his father in a sense; only, Number One was a neglectful father, and Woobie has some serious abandonment issues, which he returns to inflict on the world in "The Wrath of Woobie"

Beast

Beast is Number One's gigantic, steam-powered computer, located on the planet Vobos, home of the Evil Penguins. "Beast is happy beast."

Bob, Lord of Hell

Bob is the incompetent, unfortunate successor to the throne of hell. Also, Fluble's landlord. His one weakness is airline peanuts. [17]

Archangel Hal

Archangel Hal is Bob's counterpart in heaven. Archangel can mean several things: 1. ...

Meta-Cosmology

The Meta-cosmology is revealed partly in singleton depictions implying that the ultimate controlling factors of the flaublian world are other than those suggested in the cosmological storylines. Two in particular stand out: In the first, the earth is represented as a billiard ball on a pool table where the "Congress of the Gods", including Fishman and Occam, is playing a game. [18] In the second, in fact in the thus-far final Fluble strip, the world is shown as a snow globe in the mouth of an octopus being poked by Fishman while Occam looks on and offers critique. Families 14 in two suborders, see text. ...

Fishman

Fishman rides what might be an ornithopter across the sky

Fishman is somewhat omnipresent in Fluble, not as a point of doctrine, but simply by appearing in the background of many, many strips--on posters, in crowds, and, frequently, flying a bicycle-like contraption which may be a pedal-powered ornithopter. [19] across the sky. Fishman usually (thought not always) has no (apparent) effect on what goes on around him. However, the meta-cosmological strips suggest that Fishman is the ultimate, more-or-less benevolent controlling factor in Fluble's universe. [20] It is unclear whether Fishman has anything to do with "God" as depicted elsewhere in Fluble. Image File history File links Fluble character pic, used with authors permission. ... An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by wing-flapping. ...

Occam

In the continuity strips, Occam is a "hallucinatory gargoyle" who occasionally lives in Fluble's head and leads him to the dark side. He is a frequently occurring character who appears to have no special powers except messing with Fluble. There are, however, hints that he is a Flaublian Satan (not to be confused with Bob, Lord of Hell, Gorgoroth, Zangoth, or other lesser Flaublian evils), including his repeated self-description as "a man of wealth and taste," in reference to "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones. In the meta-cosmological strips he appears to be a force counter to Fishman, and an advocate of harsher measures taken against the mortal protagonists; thus he may be seen to resemble the Satan of the Job story, who is midway between the generic Old Testament Satan, i.e., one of a class of prosecutorial angels who messes with humans in the service of God and the later singular "rebel" angel of later Jewish, Christian, and Muslim myth, typified in Milton's Paradise Lost. Gustave Dores depiction of Satan from John Miltons Paradise Lost Satan (שָׂטָן Standard Hebrew Satan, Latin Sátanas, Tiberian Hebrew Śāṭān; Aramaic שִׂטְנָא Åšiá¹­nâ: both words mean Adversary; accuser) is an angel, demon, or minor god in many religions. ... For other uses, see Rolling Stones (disambiguation) The Rolling Stones in 1964 The Rolling Stones are a British rock and roll band who rose to prominence during the mid-1960s. ... Job is a term used to identify a means of daily work used in acquiring funds for living. ... Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. ... Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament writings of his early followers. ... Islam   listen? (Arabic: al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Milton is the name of a number of places: In the United States of America: Milton, Delaware Milton, Florida Milton, Illinois Milton, Indiana Milton, Iowa Milton, Kentucky Milton, Maine Milton, Massachusetts Milton, New Hampshire Milton (town), New York (in Saratoga County) Milton, Ulster County, New York Milton, North Carolina Milton... Cover to the first edition Paradise Lost (1667) is an epic poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton. ...

Trivia

• Most Fluble strips includes a vertically-written side-note, usually between the ultimate and penultimate panels. It occasionally has something to do with the strip, but often not. Examples: "SPOOOON!!!!!!", "Culinarily is now a word."

• In many strips there's a pull-out box in the lower-right corner or on the rightmost edge with a "Next:" message that usually has a slight relation to the current strip and none to the next.

• Fishman appears in various guises throughout the strip, including as posters saying "Fishman was here!"

Historic figures appearing in Fluble

• Winston Churchill
• Josef Stalin
• Kojak, Telly Savalas
• The Dalai Lama
• Oscar Wilde

The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG , OM , CH , FRS , PC (November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Joseph Stalin Iosif (Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 18791 – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a political leader in the Soviet Union. ... Kojak was a US detective TV series which ran between 1973 and 1978 on CBS, starring Telly Savalas as bald New York City policeman Lt. ... Telly Savalas as Theo Kojak Telly Savalas (January 21, 1924 – January 22, 1994) was a Greek-American actor. ... The 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933) In Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lamas are a sequence of leaders, since 1391, from the Gelug (dge lugs) school. ... Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. ...

Fishball

Fishball is apparently played with a mallet, a baseball glove, and a fish, and can be played in singles or doubles. [21]

Controversial Flubles

There was some concern expressed by the conservative Jewish community at Brown over Fluble's repeated use of "God" without the medial "-" ("G-d").[22] Mastrangelo replied with a comic in which Fluble and Burble, puzzled as to what "G-d" might stand for, ask God, who responds, "How the hell should I know? I'm not Jewish." [23]. The final line of the comic is Burble's happy exclamation: "Great! Let's all eat pork." Interestingly, there was no similar outcry voiced over the "Kosher Pork" storyline, in which Burble succeeds in persuading Hasidic Rabbis that pork is Kosher, and that they can say "Yahweh", to which the Rabbis reply, "Hot damn! Yahweh, Yahweh, Yahweh!". [24] The word Jew (Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Brown is a color produced by mixing small intensities of red and green, orange and blue, or yellow and purple pigment. ... Hasidic Judaism (Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... brendan is gay ... The circled U indicates that this can of tuna is certified kosher by the Union of Orthodox Congregations. ... The Tetragrammaton in Phoenician (1100 BC to 300 CE), Aramaic (10th Century BC to 0) and modern Hebrew scripts. ...

There was also some concern over the portrayal of student activism in "Annoying the Socialists." [25]

External links

Official Site