Comics for All Ages: Cyanide & Happiness

Click on the links below to find the books in one of the RiverShare libraries!

Wilson, Kris, Rob DenBleyker, and Dave McElfatrick. “Cyanide & Happiness.” Explosm.net – Home of Cyanide& Happiness. <http://explosm.net>.

Cyanide & Happiness is a daily webcomic that started running in 2005. The majority of the comics within this series revolve around stick figures portrayed in both animations and comics that die in somewhat graphic ways. The comics still have this theme, but have shifted towards more controversial humor that cover a wider variety of controversial topics like suicide, AIDS, murder, rape, and abortion. The comics feature reoccurring characters, but to tell the characters apart, readers really have to watch the color of their shirts.

Visual and textual style: word play, sketch, single page, stereotypical characters, can break the fourth wall and break traditional panel conventions

Potential readers/appeal factors: satire, humor, dark comedy

Awards

• According to the Newgrounds Wikia, Cyanide & Happiness has won a total of 24 awards. These include nine Daily Features, five Weekly Users’ Choice Awards, four Review Crew Picks and a Tank Awards nomination for “Waiting for the Bus”. These are all awards handed out by Newgrounds.

Other pertinent information

• Visit their website, http://explosm.net/, for information about what expos and ComicCons they are going to be at and also check out their new comics and animated shorts. You can follow the creators on various social media platforms as well.
• Three books have been released about Cyanide & Happiness. Their titles are Cyanide & Happiness, Ice Cream & Sadness: More Comics from Cyanide & Happiness, and Punching Zoo.
• Various merchandise is available on their website. Explosm even released a Cyanide & Happiness app available for mobile devices.