There are a lot of comics with talking animals. This one takes the idea one step further. Picture today’s world, except that humans left the planet and the animals have taken advantage of our absence. One of the crucial things to know is that the natural predator and prey relationship still exists

Kevin is the six foot tall rabbit and Kell is his wife, a wolf. No, not everyone approves of this taboo marriage but they make it work. And there are a number of other immediate characters including a rabbit-wolf hybrid, a wolf boy and the hedgehog who was raised as a porcupine. You’ll be tickled to know that these are just Kevin and Kell’s children. There are also clones, wolves in sheep’s clothing and even some who have gone through “predator to prey reassignment surgery.” You’ll excuse me if I don’t go into specifics due to the sheer amount of history and interaction these characters have had. Invariably, I would have missed something that should have been metioned and I doubt I could condense the well written About page down to anything less. For those who might enjoy background information about the comic and how it is made, you can also read the unofficial faq.

What I will tell you is that there is a nice mix of topics including family strife, daily living and societal mores. I found all of it well done and interesting to follow. It’s all done in bite sized chunks so despite there being a large archive it was fun to read. I was pretty impatient waiting for each comic to load up, actually.

I am especially fond of comics that follow their own world-rules to their logical conclusions. If, for example, we were divided into predator and prey groups: we would have social rules about who is considered food and what they can do about it. You might expect this to have an obvious solution but it is not quite as simple as that. Interestingly, they all feel it’s cheating to use weapons like guns - that’s why they have fangs or camoflage ability, after all. But then that leads to how society defines crimes like murder? Is a wolf eating deer murder? Sometimes when we switch out the details of real life with other elements we find that our personal views on things need further examination. I find that sort of thing interesting.

But I digress from the overall lighthearted tone of Kevin & Kell. Most strips revolve around the different approaches that animals would take as opposed to humans. If everything in the garden is edible, then the weeds could be likened to snacks or special treats. Then there is also the (unofficially titled) Great Bird Conspiracy, Carnivore University, the Herd Thinning corporation and other animal-twists that I found very amusing as well.

The art has great lines with very dynamic qualities. You really get the sense of movement when a character jumps or drops something. Even the little carnivorous bunny always seems to be chewing on a bone, not just holding it in her mouth. The color adds a lot of visual and emotional depth to the comic as well.

Overall, Kevin & Kell is a well done and very entertaining.

Rating:

Kevin & Kell
http://www.kevinandkell.com
by Bill Holbrook
review by Delos
(No Ratings Yet)

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