Tails From the Mynarski Forest
Tails From the Mynarski Forest | |
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Author(s) | Richard T. Matheson |
Website | |
Update schedule | Hiatus |
Launch date | May 20, 1997 |
Genre | Humor |
Rating(s) |
Tails From the Mynarski Forest is a webcomic written by Richard T. Matheson. It debuted on May 20, 1997 and is updated weekly. Its older strips, which went by the name Skippy and Liska, were also mirrored on Yerf. The strip's fictitious location, from which the title is taken, is supposedly located in central Alberta, Canada and named after the Canadian World War II fighter pilot Andrew Charles Mynarski.
The strip centers around Skippy, a twitchy but good-natured cottontail rabbit, and his sociopathic red vixen denmate Liska. Liska's character was originally inspired by the character Liska Bystrouska (Czech for "Vixen Sharp-ears") from Rudolph Tesnohlidek's novel which Leos Janacek adapted into his play The Cunning Little Vixen[1]. Much like her Czech counterpart, the Liska of the comic is crude, brutish, and often tactless. She is also a terrible hunter and has learned to subsist on roadkill and discarded human food, her favorite food being gophers.
Other characters include Heywood, a delusional swift fox expatriated from Colorado; Finch, a raccoon who waxes philosophical; Boofer, an insanely territorial squirrel with a deadeye aim; Clarence, Liska's bumbling, sensitive and excessively naive arch-nemesis; and Mitties, a cat from the nearby farmhouse. The critters' main adversary is Hunter Hank, a semi-competent hunter whose face is never seen. Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has made a couple of guest appearances as well.
A recurring gag in the strip is Heywood's overactive imagination. Like Orson the pig from U.S. Acres, Heywood has the unexplained ability to make his fantasies ("delusions" in his case) come to life and affect those around him.
Matheson also had a gallery on Yerf featuring his Mynarski Forest characters.
In a series in 2003, Skippy and Liska have been inexplicably transformed into humans. In an attempt to get money to buy food, Liska knocks out a passerby (who turns out to be the cartoonist himself). They are both arrested for this. In their defense, they admit to being animals trapped in human bodies. When the deputy asks the arresting officer if he thinks they're "faking for an insanity plea," the chief replies, "No, no! I've read about these crazy furry fans in Vanity Fair!" This is the only known webcomic to directly reference furries in the media. (The relevant strip is here.)
On September 14, 2009, the strip was placed on hiatus, during which reruns of older strips were posted. Originally planned to last six months, the hiatus has continued due to R.T's full-time security guard job. The forums have been also "lost".
References[edit]
- ↑ Origins of Species Retrieved December 2, 2008