Odd Fish Review

Bad Puns... Check! And we love 'em!

Bad puns… you know that somewhere deep down in even the coldest, darkest, humorless heart there’s an appreciation for bad puns. Ok, maybe not. Still, Odd Fish, a cute, fun little webcomic by Phillip Blackman, has them in spades. And there-in lies the charm of Odd Fish.

The webcomic primarily follows the undersea antics of an Octopus named Lovecraft and a puffer fish named Howard. A majority of the humor deals with puns involving the names of other undersea animals. Most of the time they work, but occasionally, they can be predictable or simply fall flat. To help those who don’t know as much about marine life as others, each comic has commentary by the author, in which he usually takes some time to explain the joke. Though you know what they say about having to explain a joke…

What appealed to me first about this webcomic was the art style. Apparently, according to the author’s comments when posting his comics, he can occasionally be a little late putting up the comics on more than one occasion. You can understand why, as each comic looks like it was drawn with meticulous detail. It’s easy to see why they may take longer to finish than planned.

The characters, Lovecraft and Howard are adorably designed, as well as their recurring and non-recurring guests.

It’s always pleasant when a project has reached the point where they have the option of bringing back characters for some continuity and running gags. Odd-fish has reached that point, and when you see someone like Hugh Manatee, you get any idea of what’s coming in the comic.

Overall, you’ll like this comic if you’re amused by puns and cute artwork. In a comment I left on the site, after first viewing Odd Fish, I called it 'delightfully surprising.' I think you might as well.