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Odd-Fish Review
By Master Flare | May 3, 2008
I’m not exactly sure how I stumbled across Odd-Fish. Regardless, it has stuck in my mind for quite a while, probably from a combination of it’s atrocious puns and well done black and white art. I’m glad I have finally gotten to the point where I can review it, even if it has taken a while.
As previously mentioned, one of the many things that stands out to me about Odd-Fish is the black and white art. I’m not sure if the comic is done with pencils and ink or just has it’s levels adjusted in Photoshop, but the details in the comic is where the artwork really shines. The sheer amount of crosshatching and shading that is hand drawn on each character and piece of scenery is staggering, and these details are almost never muddled or unclear. There has been an evolution in the art over time, as the artist gets more settled into what style he wants for the strip, but even the beginning art looks professional. Another note about the art is how the artist makes the strange sea-going creatures not too horrible freaky. They are still identifiable and quite naturally complex looking (such as in the case of all a prawn’s thin and intricate legs), but yet they are not scary like many ocean critters look. For example, while the manta ray always has it’s huge filtering mouth open, you never get disturbed by the fact that you are looking halfway down his throat. Also going back to the prawn example, he manages to make the prawns look distinctly male and female, such as making the female prawn have a smaller, cuter face and giving the male prawn… I don’t know, antennular flagellum (?) that look like a mustache. While I might not be able to describe it properly, it works remarkably well.
The characters and plot in this strip are a bit lacking, but considering this is a gag-a-day comic, that doesn’t bother me terribly. The most frequent characters we see in the comic are Lovecraft, an octopus, and Howard, a pufferfish. Lovecraft is rather out there in what he does, so Howard works as a straightman. In some ways both characters seem a bit innocent, like young teenagers just starting to get into trouble, but I believe they are actually older than that. It might be nice to have a little background on their work situation or relatives, considering we have seen little Howards and Lovecrafts in some earlier strips.
One of the areas that stands out to me about Odd Fish is the writing and humor. Perhaps other reviews at CSB do not like puns, but I appreciate them. Puns are where I believe the creator does the best, as those jokes are the most accessible. The puns are usually new, although some are supposedly old, like “whale weigh station” instead of “railway station.” I believe I like the more original ones better, as the mentioned oldie took me about two days to get. The name of the comic itself is a pun, with “Odd fish” being more British slang for an eccentric person, and the comic is very much about a pair of quite peculiar fish, with the octopus Lovecraft being a prime example of that. Even the name “Lovecraft” itself is a joke of sort, referencing H.P. Lovecraft and his horror creation Cthulhu and possibly the octopus’ frequent engagements the more sexual realm.
Apart from the puns, I think the humor in Odd-Fish can get a bit hit or miss. Some jokes reach into the absurd or surreal, then others are so obscure you need you need help from other readers to figure out what you even need to Google to understand the joke. If you can figure out Raving Mad and what the images might have to with a rave, you get a hundred internet points. Seriously. The narrowness of who the jokes are supposed to appeal to affected my enjoyment of the comic after a certain point.
If there are any problems that I have with Odd-Fish, it is that I don’t know what audience the creator is trying to reach. At some points the story and jokes are very childish, such as Howard needing to believe Manta Claus and falling in love with a naval mine. But then you literally go to the next page, and there is whole strip centered about prawnography. While said comic is certainly my favorite of the bunch so far, and certainly highlights the character of the strip for (I can relate to how moronic pr0n is, it has two terrible and amusing double en trades, and it plays on the chatspeak word pr0n0gr4phy), it just seems like an odd juxtaposition of ideas. First we are talking about something presented in a kid-friendly way like Manta Claus and peace on Earth, and then we jump into an extremely adult joke. For me, it gets in the way. I don’t really want kids jokes in my adult humor, and I certainly don’t want “male enhancement” references in anything I would show the kids in my house. Fortunately, the jokes have been getting both more mature, defined, and subtle as the strip continues on, but I still find that the more innocent comics ruin things by comparison to the well crafted gags.
I feel terribly torn on my opinion of Odd-Fish. On the one hand, I like the humor and the amount of effort that goes into the strip. On the other, I dislike the obscurity and incongruence of the characters acting both ‘adult’ and childish at the same time. At this point, I am going to have to give Odd-Fish a 6 out of 10. There is definite improvement, but the awkwardness needs to be cleared up before I can enjoy it fully.
P.S. One minor gripe: the layout is generally good, although possibly a bit image heavy for people with slower internet access. But my bigger concern is that the archive page is hard to find. It isn’t in the top page navigation bar, it isn’t with the comic navigation bar, and instead in a tiny box on the right-hand side. This made it difficult to find the comic I wanted for my links in this article.
Topics: Review | 5 Comments »
May 9th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Thanks for the review, guys. I hear what you’re saying about the gags and the target audience and I’ll certainly take it on board.
With regard to your gripe about the layout, I’ve added an archive link to the top page navigation now.
Thanks again!
May 11th, 2008 at 9:52 am
100 Internet points please.
May 12th, 2008 at 10:31 am
hi, i love the strip, but agree some of the jokes are hit a miss, but so is dilbert, garfield, peanut…
regarding the “raving mad” strip, it refers to a dance move for clubbing, that you make out with you hands it goes “big fish” (hands out wide a meter apart)”little fish” (hands together a few inches apart) “cardboard box” (square the little fish by moving you hands to create a top and bottom), you do all these in sequence to really impress the ladies lol
in the cartoon, the puffer fish is the “little fish”, the fish who arrives at the door is the “big fish” and the octopus climbs in the box to be the “cardboard box”
together they can go clubbing as “big fish, little fish, cardboard box…”
May 12th, 2008 at 10:34 am
sorry ted got there first and i think a vid is far easier to understand than my ramblings
June 9th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I just finished reading up to the latest odd fish, and I couldn’t agree with your review more. Odd Fish has some really good art, but the jokes and puns frequently rely on gimmicks that aren’t particularly great.
Still, it’s improved a good bit since it’s started, so it still has a chance to live up to it’s potential.