Earthworm Jim and Ghostopolis creator Doug TenNapel returns to "the dorky hero genre" with webcomic Ratfist, the absurd tale of a non-powered superhero who finds himself suddenly mutating. Oh, and he dresses like a rat.
TenNapel explains that he wanted to return to the genre of Earthworm Jim and to hand-drawn comics after creating three digitally drawn graphic novels. He was also fascinated by the immediacy of webcomics as a medium, the way that readers provide instant feedback and commenters become part of the experience of reading the comic. Thus, Ratfist was born.
What's interesting about the introductory pages of Ratfist is that it takes the role of a superhero origin story, but it's more of a superhero transition story. Ratfist is, after all, already a superhero, but he's about to see some big changes in his life. For one thing, he's about to propose to his musophobic girlfriend and consequently dump his put-upon rat sidekick. For another, there's something happening that will have a more direct effect on his crimefighting career, something that has to do with this:
One of the things I really love about webcomics is that they give creators the ability to annotate on the fly, to give us some insight into their process. TenNapel is taking full advantage of that here, explaining his inspirations, picking at his own jokes (including the jokes he decided not to put in his comic), and teasing what's to come.
[Ratfist]