The Perry Bible Fellowship
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2017) |
| The Perry Bible Fellowship | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Nicholas Gurewitch |
| Website | pbfcomics |
| Current status/schedule | Running; last updated May 2018 |
| Launch date | 2001 |
| Genre(s) | Surreal humor, dark humor |
The Perry Bible Fellowship (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.[citation needed]
The comic received its title, taken from the name of a church in Perry, Maine, in its Daily Orange incarnation.[1]
Art
The art in PBF varies from strip to strip. 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 Silverstein, Edward Gorey, and Robert Crumb, made evident by marginal notes such as "(Apologies, R. Crumb)".[2][3] Gurewitch is also known for including Easter eggs in various strips.[4]
Awards
Gurewitch has received multiple major awards for The Perry Bible Fellowship, such as the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Online Comic in 2005[5] and 2006.[6] 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.[7] 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 Award.[8]
Publishing
The comic first appeared in 2002 in The Daily Orange of Syracuse, New York, while Gurewitch was art director at Syracuse University, and by 2007 was also being printed in Maxim, The Guardian, the Boston Weekly Dig, The Baltimore City Paper, and The Chicago Reader.[9] According to the official website, the comic also appeared in several other publications, including the New York Press.[10]
On August 1, 2006, after several months on a temporary site managed by Cheston Gasik, the comic moved to its permanent web site at pbfcomics.com.[citation needed]
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."[11] Previously a weekly strip, it is now infrequently updated.[10]
Author
Nicholas Gurewitch was born March 9, 1982, in Canandaigua, New York,[12] 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.[13] Nicholas is the cousin of former CollegeHumor writer and comedian Dan Gurewitch.[citation needed]
Books
Perry Bible Fellowship comics and an interview with Gurewitch were included in Ted Rall's Attitude 3: The New Subversive Online Cartoonists in July 2005.[citation needed]
In 2007, a book collection, The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, was published. 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.[14] 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.[15]
The second book, The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack, a 256-page hardcover compilation, features 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.[16] The book was released on February 18, 2009,[17] again from Dark Horse Comics.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Interview: Nicholas Gurewitch Pt. 1 (of 2)" Daily Crosshatch, February 27, 2007.
- ^ Reynolds, Whitney (2 February 2016). "10 Wicked Awesome Webcomics". PC Magazine. p. 8.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ "Keep on Truckin'". Perry Bible Fellowship. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "Secrets of the Perry Bible Fellowship". 10 Zen Monkeys. 4 September 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ "2005 Ignatz Award Recipients". Small Press Expo. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ^ "2006 Ignatz Award Recipients". Small Press Expo. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- ^ "Web Cartoonist Choice Awards". Ccawards.com. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
- ^ 2008 Eisner Award Winners Archived August 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Reiser, Evan (7 March 2010). "Q&A with Nicholas Gurewitch". The Daily Orange. Syracuse, New York. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ a b "About". The Perry Bible Fellowship. Nicholas Gurewitch. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ Cassel, David (19 February 2008). "Gurewitch announces semi-retirement". Blorgable. Wollstonecraft, New South Wales: Total Image Publishing. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ http://pbfcomics.com/ Nick will be at The Inn on the Lake in Canandaigua, NY (town of birth!) on Sunday, October 18, 2009, 11am-5pm. For Canandiagua-Con.
- ^ Heater, Brian; “Interview: Nicholas Gurewitch Pt. 1 (of 2)”, Daily Crosshatch, February 27, 2007.
- ^ "Records broken by the Perry Bible Fellowship". Retrieved 20 February 2008.
- ^ MacDonald, Heidi (9 October 2007). "Perry Bible Fellowship Collection a Pre-order Hit". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack on the PBF Website Archived January 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "''The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack'' on". Betterworld.com. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
