Staccato

Staccato is a comic strip (but more often known as a webcomic) written and drawn by Shawn Handyside. Currently published on its own web site, and in several newspapers including the Manchester Mirror, Concord Mirror, and Salem Observer. Has also been published in 168 magazine and Artistic Vibrations magazine. The story revolves around a recent college graduate, his college roommates, a talking basketball who plays GameCube and an evil 90 MHz computer trying to enslave humanity. Strips are usually presented in horizontal four panel format and in full color. The first official strip was published in print and on the web in 1997, however some strips featuring members of the cast in print date even farther back. Currently, the update schedule had gotten fairly erratic as the writer is busy with outside interests (such as the birth of his child). Also, he has recently taken to writing strips about a talking knife and fork, and has put Staccato on hiatus.

Characters

 * Staccato ("Stac") – Stac is an all around nice guy who's pretty laid back, even though his surroundings are strewn with chaos. A recent graduate with a degree in graphic design, Stac's in the process of making the transition from college to real life, but living with college students and beginning an entry level career at a crazy design firm keep his day to day life interesting.

Species: Hippo

Likes: Graphic Design, Movies, Game Boy Advance

Dislikes: Irony, Ties


 * Tequila – After four years of campus parties and binge drinking, Tequila's been forced to change his ways and become a semi-dedicated student to finish his college education by the end of year five. Still he finds time to be a hardcore PC and console gamer (between running the apartment's LAN and avoiding Sammy's deathtraps).  In his younger days he was a bit of a kleptomaniac, but now he just sticks to copying software and pirating MP3's.

Species: Coatimundi

Likes: Video Games, Engineering, College Parties

Dislikes: Sammy Trying To Kill Him


 * Basketcase – A clinically depressed basketball on Prozac, B.C. moved in with Stac and Tequila during their freshmen year. His origin is a mystery for the ages, but we do know he loves GameCube ...and that he has an unhealthy obsession with the internet.  His overly cheeful and energetic nature is believed to be a result of his anti-depressant medication, but to this day not even Stac or Tequila have seen him while unmedicated.

Species: Basketball

Likes: Webcomics, GameCube, Poop Jokes

Dislikes: Basketball Discrimnation


 * Ella – In an attempt to move off campus, Ella found herself living in a house full of guys. While normally a pleasant person, she is painfully sarcastic and bitter towards people that annoy her (like most of her roommates).  She's also known to have an unhealthy fixation with Icelandic music sensation Bjork.

Species: Cat

Likes: Reading, Bjork, Japanese Poetry

Dislikes: Idiots


 * Don – An English major and sports enthusiast, Don has been having a lot of trouble adjusting to the overall "nerdiness level" of his new roommates. The odds are whenever he wants to watch the big game, everyone's playing video games or watching a Deep Space 9 marathon.  He doesn't mind going to the local bar to get his sports fix though, because it's also his favorite place to hit on the ladies.

Species: Peacock

Likes: Baseball, Football, Writing, The Ladies

Dislikes: Sci-Fi, Video Games, Female Rejection


 * Sammy – The computer known as Sammy was once just a simple network server built by Tequila using outdated computer parts. But then one day... after running for several years without a restart, this seemingly innocent 90 MHz server gained a twisted form of AI and has set his sights on total world domination. Too bad he's stuck in the basement with the water-heater...

Species: 90 MHz Computer

Likes: Enslaving Humanity, Sami, Killing Tequila

Dislikes: Basketcase, Tequila, The Waterheater, Firewalls, Power Surges


 * Redos - A cleaning robot built by Tequila, Redos was originally quite helpful around the house... until he was rebuilt with a mysterious ancient artifact purchased off of eBay. Now he has all the emotions and personality of a normal person, which is in unfortunate because it turns out he's a total jerk.

Species: Cleaning Robot

Likes: Domestic Beer, Working Out, Cable TV

Dislikes: Cleaning