There’s no One Ring, or any sort of rings involved in The Perry Bible Fellowship, nor are there any elves, Hobbits, orcs, wizards or tree-monsters for that matter. Originally printed in Syracuse University’s newspaper and named after a church, it does have some fantasy elements, but don’t don’t look for any epic quests here- this is purely a gag strip.
What we do get is plenty of dark humor in the tradition of Red Meat and The Far Side, wickedly funny violence, and a hammer person fighting with a screwdriver. I kid you not, creator Nicholas Gurewitch was blessed with the creativity required to create this:
Behold, the Pink Floyd cover that should have been but sadly never was.
One thing that makes Perry Bible so compelling is how versatile it is visually. Gurewitch is able to change his art style from strip to strip depending on the subject or whatever he’s chosen to parody. The strip sometimes goes from simplistic chalk-white figures to detailed fine art and/or realism, then sometimes into a Golden Age-styled noir setting, or often storybook influenced worlds. And in almost every instance I can think of, it hits the mark. Like I think we’ve got an art deco/Bauhaus mashup going on here:
PBF’s humor seems to push jokes that would be funny enough on their own towards another logical (or illogical, depending on whatever’s funnier) end. In a number of strips the weirdness of the scenarios just escalates and escalates, something that’s not easy to pull off in a simple 1-4 panel format.
Another cool thing about Perry Bible is that the sick stuff usually has a point. I never felt like weird things were just being thrown at the wall to discover what would stick, most of the freakier material (emphasis on “most of it”. There was one underwater themed strip that made me kinda nauseous, long time readers will probably know the one) makes sense in context.
Overall, I’d definitely give Perry Bible Fellowship a look at this link, it won multiple Web Cartoonists’ Choice Awards for a good reason. Its satire and wit are biting, but not what I’d call hostile. Gurewitch’s sense of humor is very mischievous, if such a term could ever be applied to a comic strip.