Title: Happle Tea
Author: Scott Maynard
Start Date: 2005 (went online in 2009)
Genre: Fantasy, comedy
Update Schedule: Tuesdays, Fridays
Website: http://www.happletea.com
Synopsis:
Happle Tea is a gag-a-day webcomic that makes fun of all forms of mythology, from the early days of Greek literature to the Middle Ages of Shakespearean plays to modern day lore such as Bigfoot.
The main character is K, an avatar of the author who causes mischief with these iconic characters. He has a sasquatch for a roommate and regularly interacts with God (who has many forms, but mostly prefers being a cat).
Recommended Age Group: 12 and up, mainly due to language.
Strengths:
The art style is simplistic, yet very effective. It’s a very pretty comic to look at, and it improves drastically after just two years.
It also deserves credit for its original idea. While a majority of webcomics might focus on popular topics like, for example, video games (which is very overused and I’ll probably get into sometime in the future), it’s nice to see authors take roads that are less traveled.
Weaknesses:
As I stated in my intro, I’ll try to point out any possible weaknesses in the comics I like, but for my first review, it’s hard to find any problems with this one without sounding like a nitpick.
I guess one problem I can find is Allev. He’s supposedly K’s best friend and is advertised on the page’s "About" button and the FAQ page, but he rarely shows up in the comic, and when he does appear, he’s pretty bland. He’s mainly just there to help build up the punchline that K would eventually finish. Maynard could use any other character and I don’t think it would make a difference.
Again, this is only a minor gripe that has little effect on the comic whatsoever, so it doesn’t really hurt the overall quality.
Verdict:
I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. If you want to show this to your kids, they might need at least an understanding of mythology and classic literature before diving in, and even if you or they missed some of the jokes, the author provides helpful commentary to better help you understand what he’s parodying in each strip.