My Little Funny

Ratings

2 of 5 stars
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Along with Ruben Bolling’s Tom the Dancing Bug, I think my favorite running comic strip is Kaz’s Underworld, a sublimely disturbing series of riffs on classic cartoon tropes (strangely humanoid rodents, diminutive and bizarre sidekicks, and tough guys with balloon-like forearms, all engaged in short, almost banal slapstick gags) that makes you want to cry a little even while you’re laughing. Now Kaz has teamed up with The Comic Book Factory to produce a series of animated versions of his strips. There are eight of them so far and they’re entertaining enough to be worth a viewing (they’re each very brief). I have to admit though, as special as I think Underworld is, the effect of these is still a little like seeing most any other comic strip in animated form — it looks like the original, but it’s somehow less funny.

Watch all eight cartoons at mylittlefunny.com.

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  1. Bernardo Souza

    I’m also a big fan of Kaz’s work, and I agree, the animated versions don’t seem as funny. But it’s probably because he’s just adapting comic strips to animations. In my opinion for it to really work, he would have to create specifically for animation. A good example of his capabilities is the pilot he did for cartoon network called “Zoot Rumpus,” which was based on an underworld character. Although it’s more targeted at children, I think it’s very good.

  2. Khoi Vinh

    Bernardo: Agreed. That’s pretty much the key to making any content work in a new medium; you’ve got to adapt it to suit the strengths and weaknesses of that medium. These animated cartoons are nice, but they’re not really taking advantage of what the form can do, which is why they’re coming across slightly flat.

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