This week I make a departure from my usual fare of long complex ongoing storylines to tell you about Roy’s Boys, a series of biweekly comedy one-shots from two writers and and best friends. The strips are semi-autographical, irreverent, and feature adult humor. I’ve found myself laughing uncontrollably to the point of falling out of my chair more than once! Be warned, these are grown men discussing the things that grown men discuss amongst grown men; namely dick jokes, women, and video games. Despite being of the female variety myself, I find their jokes hilarious. Some slice of life events are touched on such as visiting home, wooing a woman, and cohabitation but it is at heart a cheerful, fun comic about two best friends. Roy, the neater and generally more put together friend is featured on Mondays and Shane, the goofier and less-composed ginger friend is featured on Thursdays.
Shane hasn’t had straight sugar in quite a while
Both authors base the characters on themselves and minor and major events in their own lives, and alternate writing and drawing for their comic avatars. There is a style difference to help differentiate between the author on sight and both are drawn in black and white with a friendly expressive newspaper look. The comic has updated with no interruptions since 2010, with multiple guest comics from friends as a special feature. Two print volumes have been published, with the first two years each in a separate volume. You can purchase them here.
The Authors and their Other Work
Roy’s Boys is written by Ron Chan and Sean Kelley, two artists based in Portland. Sean is a freelance cartoonist, illustrator and game critic. He’s an associate editor at Thunderbolt as well as Try Indie, which is devoted to indie gaming. Ron is a freelance illustrator and comic book artist, with many notable covers and contributions to series such as The Guild and Husbands. He created on my absolute favorite prints in my collection: Lucy and Lizard. I once had nightmare it was destroyed in a move. It was horrible.
Yes, there are spoons that don’t bend in ice cream.
