I have finally emerged from my hole of obsessively reading every single comic by Øyvind Thorsby and here is my guide to them. They are all worth reading and are quite different from each other. They're all very funny farces with incredible creativity, stellar writing, amazing creature design; and the ugliest fucking art you've ever seen. Think Norwegian Douglas Adams with a special interest in evolutionary biology and with more lesbian socialists. A genius writer.
This is the second shortest one. It's pure farce with no science fiction or fantasy elements. A man is cheating on his wife and trying to hide it by lying to everyone about who everyone else is at a dinner party. It's way funnier than you think from that description.
A long string of farces around people trying to ensure or prevent prophecies from being fulfilled in order to benefit from them. A lesbian with a sword kills monsters along the way. You will learn incredible details about how these monsters evolved to best survive their specific fantasy ecosystems. Lots of hopping between worlds.
Journey to different planets and meet bizarre cultures and societies that evolved very different from our own. This one has the least character writing and action; and the most lengthy evolutionary biology exposition. Mostly focused on exploring things like "how would plants and animals evolve if there was a zone that turned it invisible if you were in it" or "how would plants and animals evolve if there was a zone with inverted gravity." Very concerned with how evolved instinct shapes society but reason and science can help us overcome those instincts.
No creatures or farces, pure science fiction. What would happen if you became simultaneously aware of every single possible timeline you exist in at once. Goes very dark and bizarre places. Reminiscent of Ted Chiang. Mostly about how much Christianity sucks.
The Evolutions of Homosexuality and Suicide
A very short nonfiction comic about how Thorsby doesn't believe in a gay gene, but rather a gene that turns your offspring gay regardless of if they carry the gene. For math reasons it makes more sense.
Trixie Slaughteraxe for President
This one has it all. It's got farces, creative magic, fascinating animals and monsters that evolve in weird ways, and lots of socialist lesbians. It's about how no matter how separate you think your well being is from the collective, you're wrong, because universal healthcare is the only way to prevent a global pandemic, and fascism will kill us all. This is from before COVID-19 btw. It's also about a Black lesbian funding her socialist presidential campaign through hunting for magical treasures. This one has the best character writing in that it has actually very compelling character writing that actually got me invested and emotional.
Anyway they're all good in their own ways and you should read them and get hooked like I did. It's all very funny and good.
