When
Shredded Moose first appeared, it actually managed to get some praise.
Mostly for the art. After those initial pats on the back, people apparently saw
the way the comic was headed and jumped ship, leaving only one avid fan – its
author.
John
Solomon’s classic webcomic blog Your Webcomic is Bad and You Should Feel Bad was
one of the first to really tear Shredded Moose apart, by publishing Lilith
Ester’s scathing review (quoted in the first post). This also marked the first time
Chris “Brew” Hall entered a forum to defend his comic.
Or not as
much “defend” as claim that Shredded Moose did not represent his opinions. In
fact, the comic was apparently supposed to be mocking misogynists.
Firstly, that eloquent rebuttal would be entirely in its place - if it had anything to do with the actual series we’re talking about here. But Shredded Moose didn’t parody “sexist, hateful pricks” – it pandered to them. It reads like a fetish comic for people who get off on demeaning women.
The late
inclusion of the “Monique” character didn’t help: her feminism is treated as
some sort of psychological condition that has its roots in being molested by
(sigh) Brew’s vampire dad as a child. No, really. You can’t make that kind of
shit up.
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Female character inclusion: You’re doing it
wrong.
|
That’s the
last panel of a strip, by the way. What you are reading is a punchline. The
setup for this “joke” is a story about how Monique was kidnapped by rapists as
a child. If you find that punchline funny, seek professional mental help.
Secondly, Hall
was apparently completely oblivious to how grotesque the actions of his self-insert character really were.
 |
Man punching a woman in the vagina
= “Hip, cool badass doing goofy stuff in conflict with social etiquette”. |
Thirdly, if
you read what Hall was posting on his own blog at the time, you’ll see that the guy sorta comes off as, well… a sexist, hateful prick.
 |
| This post is titled “Extremists of any sort annoy the hell out of me.” That is not supposed to be self-referential. |
“Brew” also began haunting other forums [1, 2] around the same time, trying to “defend” his comic in much the same way as he did on Your Webcomic Is Bad. Failing miserably every time. It almost makes you feel bad for the guy.
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| But only almost. |
