Confession:I have never ever ever ever liked Chef Brian. Random gibberish is not humor. A moment of chaos can be surreal and exciting - a full page of inserting whatever words and images come to mind is pointless.
Twisp and Catsby, while surreal, has a distinct method to their madness, and that is what lets it work. Yes, it started out as a random gag, but Penny Arcade can pull it off well, because they treat it as carefully as the rest of the strip.
Chef Brian is pure inanity and nothing more, and that doesn't just not work for me - it actively rubs me the wrong way.
Which is why I have to give credit where it is due - last Friday's Ctrl+Alt+Del actually had a moment where I appreciated Chef Brian. That panel, off to the side?
Left me in stitches.
It actually has meaning. It isn't just a throwaway of garbled words - it is zany and surreal, but you can still fit it into context.
Now, the rest of the strip unfortunately reverted to form. But I'm a forgiving sort, so I'll overlook it this once, and give props to Mr. Buckley on a job well done.
1 comment:
RE: "Shouldn't the sound effect be something like "Released!"? Or "Ka-Released!"? Isn't that all the rage these days?"
Sometimes it's fun to put obvious sound effects. Other times, we feel like sticking to tried-and-true sounds like "sproing."
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