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IT'S OVER! Latest Strip: 600 - One Final Song Created in 2008 by Matthew Taranto, Brawl in the Family began as a series of gag strips posted on IGN message boards with Kirby as the main character. Nothing gravely insulting, but nothing really remarkable either. Fast-forward to 2014, where it's now considered one of the best video game webcomics on the internet.  Why You Should Be Reading This Brawl in the Family is a video game webcomic squarely focused on Nintendo and its characters, with most of the cast derived from the playable roster of Super Smash Bros. Brawl (along with other recurring characters like Adeleine from Kirby 64). At it's core, it's a fun and light-hearted romp based on silly situations or how the different Nintendo characters interact with each other. Taranto also takes the time and planning to draw up some story arcs in between the gag strips, the best of which include A Mushroom Kingdom Carol and Cocoon Academy. Even better than that, though, are the songs and video comics he's made with the help of his friends and family! Songs have been a part of the strip since the second part of How The King Stole Christmas, and he's made more as the comic goes on, most of them being Christmas songs like A Simple Request. His video comics also lend themselves well to making really unique and memorable strips, like If It Takes a Lifetime and The History of Nintendo Not only is this a comic filled with humor and fun, but it also has its fair share of heartwarming moments as well. Strips such as Exercise and Nintendo Power showcase a wonderfully endearing side of Brawl in the Family and demonstrates Taranto's great ability to mix comedy and fun with touching scenes that pull at your heartstrings. The result is a webcomic that's an absolute joy to read, always finding a way to make you smile with every strip.  What Else Should I Know? While it's a fantastic webcomic and loads of fun to read, Brawl in the Family is prone to taking breaks several times a year, most of which occur during the holidays or when Taranto completes a particularly big milestone comic. Last year, however, Taranto was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, forcing him to take the month of March off in order to get it treated. He's now taking medicine to keep it under control, but it's anyone's guess when the disease will flare up again. If you're wishing for a way you can own this series in physical form, then you're in luck! In addition to the stuff that happened to him last year, Taranto ran a very successful Kickstarter for the first ever Brawl in the Family book, and now it's available for ordering! You can order a paperback or hardcover copy from the BitF store; the paperback edition costs $30, while the hardcover will run you $50. The store also has other things you can buy like T-shirts and playing cards. You can also buy Dededolls. They are very adorable.  Brawl in the Family is a video game comic that's brimming with heart, written and drawn by a man with a sincere love for Nintendo and a drive for perfectly capturing the spirit of the company and its characters. If you ever find yourself wanting a great video game webcomic to read, give this one a shot; I can guarantee you'll find something worth following. Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Oct 3, 2014 |
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Apr 16, 2013 18:11
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My favourite BITF
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Apr 17, 2013 05:30
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I really like Brawl in the Family. I glad it's popular enough to warrant a thread. I think my favorite mini-story so far is Cocoon Academy. It's when young Dedede goes to school. It's the longest story so far, but that's still only 12 pages and totally worth the read.
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Apr 17, 2013 20:10
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Goodness, I haven't read Brawl in the Family in a long time. I've always really liked his sense of humor, but I remember he had a bad tendency to explain the joke wholesale in the author's comments. I dunno if he still does that, though. Maybe I should reread all of it, thank you for reminding me this existed.
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Apr 17, 2013 22:10
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I think what bothers me most about BitF is that when writing Kirby, he has a terrible habit of having him explain the joke as it happens.
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Apr 18, 2013 05:45
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I think the joke stuff just adds to Brawls charm. It's just such a nice comic.
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Apr 18, 2013 12:44
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I know it'll never happen in a million years but I wish BitF's Waluigi could become the canonical Waluigi.
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Apr 18, 2013 13:35
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I recently discovered through reading Brawl in the Family again that the Kirby 64 painter is a girl :-[ I never really got the whole "he explains his jokes too much" vibe from the comic, I guess because I never really read the commentary in full detail (which is how I overlooked Adeleine being referred to as a "she" until now). I really do love this comic, for the same reason I love Rare Candy Treatment so much: such clever observational humour. It can be really corny sometimes, but in such a charmingly wonderful way. It's great to see a topic for it.
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Apr 20, 2013 05:31
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The Waluigi comics alone are worth reading this for.
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Apr 20, 2013 07:55
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I haven't looked at this in quite a long time. My favorite is still Face-Off.
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Apr 20, 2013 08:55
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Vanderdeath posted:I know it'll never happen in a million years but I wish BitF's Waluigi could become the canonical Waluigi. As far as I'm concerned he is.
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Apr 20, 2013 10:55
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BlueDestiny posted:The Waluigi comics alone are worth reading this for. For those who haven't read them: http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/comic151.html http://brawlinthefamily.keenspot.com/2009/09/29/191-triloigi/ Waluigi deserves his own game. Mario's the least interesting character in any of his games, and Luigi and Wario have pretty well-defined personalities, but Waluigi is still a mystery. He didn't even get included in Mario Kart 7. 
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Apr 20, 2013 12:10
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We used to always play Waluigi in Strikers Charged, because he was the smuggest rear end in a top hat in there when winning and the sorest loser when not. He also had the best cheer from the crowds. The others were all boring like 'MA-RI-OHHHHHH' or 'BOW! SER!', but he got 'WA! WA! WA-LU-IGI!'. Also he would literally pound his hands around his crotch and shout WA-LU-IGI-YEAH-YEAH-YEAH whilst thrusting his hips. And if he lost badly enough he'd punch the camera and break it. Man, that game was awesome. MikeJF fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Apr 20, 2013 |
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Apr 20, 2013 12:28
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Brawl in the Family is one of the few comics I always check the RSS for. It's consistently cute and clever and somehow does it without insulting anyone. It's a true rarity on the internet.
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Apr 20, 2013 18:07
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Waterhaul posted:I think the joke stuff just adds to Brawls charm. What makes it work is how sincere Taranto is. When he reiterates a joke, it's not because he's talking down to the audience or trying to wring two laughs from one joke, he's just like a guy you know telling you about something funny he thought of and kind of rambling. Same when he goes for the horrible pun -- he just goes all-in, no ironic deconstruction or self-deprecating shield. That's pretty rare for the Internet. Besides Waluigi, some of the better comics are the ones where, as he put it once, he figured out that leaving the exclamation point off of the last panel made the punchline funnier. For example.
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Apr 20, 2013 21:51
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Don't know exactly why, but "PURPLE IS A COLOR" slays me every time. I love Waluigi.
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Apr 21, 2013 00:38
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I love this comic, and the Waluigi strips especially (Waluigi is my favorite Mario character, so...). My favorite strip is the one where it's Waluigi's birthday and no one shows up and Daisy calls to apologize for not going- the art style is a wonderful change of pace, and it gives Waluigi a bit more character.
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Apr 21, 2013 03:20
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MikeJF posted:[...] 'WA! WA! WA-LU-IGI!'. Outside this comic, Waluigi is fantastic because he has absolutely nothing riding on his image. Nintendo's very particular about the portrayal of their characters (look at interviews with the makers of the movie Wreck-it Ralph for some good examples), so there's a limit to what they can do with him, but Waluigi is a completely unfettered soul, a Freudian expression of pure mania, leading to such wonderful things as the above-quoted. Of course, BitF just capitalizes on this brilliantly. Never before has a portrayal, grotesque even beyond the already-dubious "canon", been so lovable. Something I wonder, though, on the subject of Nintendo and their particularity when it comes to their IPs: How is it that BitF can do merchandise like this, and the printed books? Does it fall under parody even though it uses the characters' copyrighted names without restraint? Or, dare we hope, Nintendo just hasn't bothered stopping them because they actually like it? Mazed fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Apr 21, 2013 |
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Apr 21, 2013 07:02
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Nintendo has always been very lenient about fan works. I don't think they see comics as anything but free advertising even if they're made commercially, and this kind of merchandise doesn't compete with anything they're already doing. I think they certainly could make a case against this sort of work, but there'd be no profit in it.
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Apr 21, 2013 07:10
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I happened on this comic last year by chance, and I've been following ever since due to its charm. Nice is a really good way to describe it. 
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Apr 21, 2013 12:30
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The existence of this thread has prompted me to go on an archive binge of the whole drat thing. It's a great way to wind down for the day, at that. 
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Apr 21, 2013 16:37
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Waterhaul posted:It's just such a nice comic. I think that's my favorite part of it. You just feel good reading it and in an age where all video game related jokes are made by man-children pointing their fingers at violence or boobs and proclaiming it to be hilarious, or whining about how something isn't exactly the way they want it, here's Matt with something that just makes me smile. The guy's also one of the big players behind the fantastic Phoenix Wright Musical Project, which everyone should check out if you're a fan of the series.
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Apr 21, 2013 18:54
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Mazed posted:Something I wonder, though, on the subject of Nintendo and their particularity when it comes to their IPs: How is it that BitF can do merchandise like this, and the printed books?
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Apr 21, 2013 20:23
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I read in another thread (but didn't look into it myself) that he cleared it with Nintendo's lawyers. Nintendo doesn't care.
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Apr 21, 2013 20:38
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The books have finally been prepared and will be shipped out this week! Those who have already ordered a copy, either by Kickstarter contribution or ordering in the BitF store, can expect the books to arrive within 2-4 weeks (6-8 weeks for international orders). If you ordered any additional merchandise along with the book, you'll be getting those in a separate package. I blew $55 on the signed book set so I can expect my copy to arrive with a sketch of Riki from Xenoblade Chronicles. 
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Apr 23, 2013 03:03
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Alfalfa The Roach posted:I blew $55 on the signed book set so I can expect my copy to arrive with a sketch of Riki from Xenoblade Chronicles. You had best scan and post the poo poo out of this for us, sir/ma'am. 
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Apr 23, 2013 08:49
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Will do. I'm just glad I'll be getting it when I'll be done with the semester. #481 - Luigi's Treasure 
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Apr 23, 2013 15:38
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I am left to wonder how it is I managed to miss something so wonderful on the Internet for five years. Thank you for this thread.
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Apr 24, 2013 04:07
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This is probably the only video game based webcomic I followed which, in my opinion, has consistently remained good and fun to read since I started reading it. And Matthew just seems like the nicest person on the internet in his comments.
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Apr 24, 2013 21:55
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I love this comic. It's like a really good cheesey newspaper strip, in some ways. It's just so innocent and sweet and yet still hilarious almost all the time. I wish it updated more, but it's always a nice surprise when there's a new one.
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Apr 25, 2013 09:50
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482 - Link on the Wall I love the mouseover text in this one.
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Apr 26, 2013 20:19
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Oh, gently caress me. I didn't even realize that there was mouseover text for all of these. Oh well. Time to archive-binge. 
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May 5, 2013 09:26
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The alt-text doesn't start until a couple hundred comics in, if I recall correctly. Anything before there was any is just the title of the comic. Still, nothin' wrong with archive-binging on BitF.
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May 6, 2013 11:52
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frozentreasure posted:The alt-text doesn't start until a couple hundred comics in, if I recall correctly. Anything before there was any is just the title of the comic. I just started archive-binging this, only up to about the 110s but I can't get enough silly Kirby-eats-something jokes so it's full steam ahead! why is there no  emote 
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May 6, 2013 23:34
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McSpanky posted:why is there no  I still see this as Kirby sharing a health power up like in Kirby Super Star.
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May 7, 2013 03:55
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Mouseover text doesn't appear until comic 167, but there's always a good time to archive-binge on this comic. I find myself doing it once or twice a year on average. Anyways, time to play catch-up! 483 - Mr. Game & Watch Meets Paper Mario 484 - Thwarp 485 - The Squeaky Wheel The last one I won't spoil, but it's dedicated to one of Taranto's all-time favorites.
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May 7, 2013 18:28
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Is this made by the same guy who did those flashes back in the day?
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May 7, 2013 21:00
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Alfalfa The Roach posted:485 - The Squeaky Wheel 
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May 7, 2013 21:41
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Jewel Repetition posted:Is this made by the same guy who did those flashes back in the day? "Those flashes"? Do you think you could narrow that down a bit?
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May 7, 2013 23:25
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Now that I'm home and have access to my physical copy of the Brawl in the Family book, here's that Riki sketch that I asked for: The book itself is really great and well-made, to boot! Seeing the first 200 strips in book format is a treat in itself, but the addition of a 10-page poem and a Gallery section (along with other fun little details like little drawings here and there) make it extra special cool. I'd definitely recommend picking up a copy for yourself if you're interested! Though I should probably e-mail Taranto about the digital rewards (book PDF, music, videos), since they haven't shown up in my inbox yet. e: Also I saw medibot's name in the Special Thanks section and had a good laugh. Alfalfa The Roach fucked around with this message at 23:31 on May 9, 2013 |
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May 9, 2013 14:46
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