Manly Guys Doing Manly Things: By Kelly Turnbull

Read if you like

• Video game jokes
• Macho men doing very manly things
• Kratos

Duke Nukem, Kratos, and a time traveling space marine from the future walk into a temp agency. The start to a joke? Technically, you could say yes, but those of use who have stumbled upon this wonderfully humorous webcomic by Kelly Turnbull would also recognize it as a half-way decent plot summary of one of the best videogame humor webcomics out there.

The Good

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things thrives on a simple yet wonderfully ridiculous premise: what happens when all those ultra-macho dragon slayers and space marines have to reintegrate back into normal society? The answer is a temp agency run by the fabulously masculine Commander Badass, a divorced and retired time-traveling space marine, with help from his distinctly un-macho intern Jared, a failed Pokemon trainer. The idea is insane, and so is the comic’s plot as the core cast cross paths with all sorts of macho maniacs.

All in all, it’s hard to understate just how flipping good this comic is. The art is top notch, able to perfectly capture the likenesses of all sorts of characters while at the same time having its own distinct style, and the writing is laugh-out-loud funny. This is a comic by a video-game geek for video-game geeks, and while it never misses a chance to lampoon just how nuts or over the top some characters can be, it does so from a place of absolute love. Be it Kratos being… well Kratos, or Duke Nukem secretly being a massive geek, the comic pokes fun at everyone with the glee of genuine affection.

The format is also pretty good. Most of the comic consists of one-page stand-alone shorts, focusing on humorous scenarios, but occasionally the comic also veers into longer form stories focused on the comic’s original characters. Both types are excellent in their own way. The one-page jokes are well paced and varied while the longer stories can be engrossing, be it Commander Badass going back to the future to meet up with his fellow vat-grown super soldiers or the cast struggling with a sudden outbreak of the ‘pretty boy virus.’ And while all of the comics are unfailingly funny, they can also hit a variety of other emotional notes, from uplifting to a bit sad. There’s an excellent sense of timing and emotion to the comic no matter the format.

But the best part of it all has to be the characters. Turnbull is able to nail the essential pieces of her borrowed cast while at the same time putting her own subtle twist on them. Her original characters are even better in some ways. Commander Badass is a tough-as-nails macho marine, but he’s also smart, kind, and surprisingly wise. Jared is the butt of many jokes, but as the Commander points out, this odd-ball man-child has something truly innocent and pure to him that never makes him come off as pitiable or cringey. But, speaking as a proud Canadian, my favorite character has to be Canadian Guy, a literal palette swap of the Commander who arrives on the scene to annoy Badass and stop a herd of rampaging moose, he doesn’t show up often but when he does, it’s always a treat.

All in all, there is so much good here that it’s hard to fit it all into one review. That said, there are a few negatives that come with the comic.

The Bad

This is a comic for gamers and pop culture nerds. On one hand, that’s great because there is a veritable gold mine of comedic potential in any given game out there. On the other hand, it does mean that the audience is expected to have a certain degree of knowledge about a wide variety of games. For the most part, the humor is pretty reliable even if you don’t play video games, but if you don’t know a franchise or meme very well, you might miss the best parts of a joke at times.

Then there’s the elephant in the room. The comic is the next best thing to dead. Not completed, it’s officially been on hiatus since 2018 with no updates from the author on its future, so it lacks any kind of conclusion for its characters. An official post on the last page from Turnbull lists the reason as her having burned out, and given how long the comic has been running, it’s not too surprising.

Now, on the bright side, this hiatus could be a lot worse. Most of the comic is made up of one-page jokes and the few storylines are pretty self-contained so there really isn’t anything left to tidy up. But none of the characters have gotten a satisfying send-off, and it’s not clear if they ever will. This doesn’t detract from the enjoyment I get from the comic, but it’s a bit sad to check back every once in a while and see that nothing has changed. Obviously, you can’t blame the artist. Turnbull provided eight years’ worth of laughs with her comic, but barring a change of fortunes, it looks to be the end for Manly Guys Doing Manly Things. But, anyone who reads webcomics knows how it goes. If nothing else, the comic is in a decent place to fade away. Sad for sure, but not a tragedy.

Conclusion

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things is a wonderful laugh-out-loud comic that deserves a read by any video game fan or pop culture geek. While it may not necessarily be for everyone, I would happily suggest it to anyone. Five out of five for a comic that has always been in my top ten favorites.