Ink Pen - TV Tropes

Ink Pen is an American comic strip created by Phil Dunlap. A cross between Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Pearls Before Swine, the strip is set in a world where cartoon characters are Animated Actors who must audition for their roles. The strip centers around a temp agency for cartoon characters and stars a group of such cartoon characters who work in the acting industry, with two of the characters (Fritz and Bisby) working as their agents. The strip is quite savvy, often poking fun at cliches and tropes found in cartoons and comic books as well as broad culture itself.

The strip was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and ran in newspapers from 2005 to 2012. In October 2012, Dunlap stated that he was retiring the strip, but that he intended to continue publishing new strips on GoComics (Universal Press Syndicate's online archive of newspaper comics). According to this article, his plan was to put the strip into reruns on GoComics and return after a brief hiatus, upon which new strips and old strips would be published concurrently. However, he never returned to the comic, and the strip continues to be on reruns as of 2024.

The characters include:

• Fritz: A dog who founded and is currently the head of Ink Pen, a temp agency for cartoon actors. Fritz is a fair boss and talented agent, but his workaholism and neat freak tendencies often put him at odds with both his clients and his main employee, Bixby.
• Bixby: A rat who works at Ink Pen to employ the various cartoon characters. Bixby is rude, lazy, and spends much of his time sitting in the trash can. He's also a Former Child Star who outgrew the role and is understandably bitter about it. He and Fritz have an Odd Couple relationship where Fritz tries to make Bixby work and Bixby comes up with creative ways to not do his work, with mixed results on both ends.
• Hamhock: A pig actor who is frequently cast as food. While generally serving as The Ditz, he's not above bouts of cynicism, and will happily sell out to become famous.
• Ralston Rabbit: The resident Only Sane Man, a down-on-his luck actor with class and charm (often too much class and charm) who frequently gets cast as a mascot for laughably unhealthy children's food products. His high moral values often clash with those of his lowbrow friends.
• Captain Victorious: A squared-jawed superhero who's lazy, arrogant, dimwitted, and a proud Jerk Jock. His name comes from the fact that he always wins.
• Scrappy Lad: Captain Victorious's Reckless Sidekick. A wide-eyed idealist who worships the ground Captain Victorious walks on, he cheerfully ignores the fact that Captain Victorious hates him and goes through much abuse at the hands of everyone around him. He has a crush on Moxie Gumpton, who can't stand him.
• Dr. Negato: A supervillain with purple skin and a goatee. He acts as Captain Victorious's bitter rival, though later strips reveal that he's more of a Card-Carrying Villain who has a semi-amicable relationship with Captain Victorious. Despite his name, he doesn't actually have a degree in anything.
• Tyr: The Norse god of war who came down from Asgard to recruit more believers. Essentially a walking Viking stereotype, Tyr is a Boisterous Bruiser who loves nothing more than drinking, getting into fights, and complaining about the other Norse god who got his own comic book.
• Jenn Erica: The self-entitled "All-Purpose Female Character". She makes her money getting hired for generic "woman" roles in comic strips (mothers, sisters, girlfriends, etc.) and is often frustrated by how female characters are treated in comics. Her name is a pun on the word "generic."
• Moxie Gumpton: A young Street Urchin who was raised in a cannery. A hard-edged parody of Little Orphan Annie, Moxie is feisty and tough, frequently getting into fights and eschewing her "sweet little girl" image, though she's been seen to have a soft side as well. She has a huge crush on Ralston Rabbit, and considers Scrappy Lad an Abhorrent Admirer.
• Dynaman: A more traditional type of superhero and frequent foil for Captain Victorious. Vain and narcissistic, a running gag is that he spends lots of time and energy working on his perfectly coiffed hair.
• Ms. Amazement: A curvy superheroine with a similar origin to Wonder Woman. She uses her super strength fight crime and frequently has lampshade-laden conversations about comic book tropes with Captain Victorious or Dynaman.

---

Tropes Include:

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Scrappy Lad spends a week trying go bad to win over Moxie. He and Hammock discuss the trope

  Scrappy Lad: Now that I'm a bad boy, Moxie will like me!

  Hamhock: Except, y'know, Moxie likes Ralston.

  Scrappy Lad: [But] he's not a bad boy!

  Hamhock: I think you're confusing "bad" and "dumb"...

• Art Evolution: The characters were initially drawn thinner and in a roughhewn style. As the comic progressed, the characters became more cartoony, with shorter proportions and more refined outlines. Compare Ralston and Captain Victorious in this 2006 strip to them in this 2008 strip.
• Comes Great Responsibility: Ralston uses this phrase against Captain Victorious in this strip.

  Ralston: Cap, is it true that with great power comes great responsibility?

  Captain Victorious: Oh, absolutely!

  [beat]

  Captain Victorious: Fine, I'll go move my car out of the handicapped space...

• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Most of the cartoon animal characters are either half-dressed (Ralson wears gloves and a bowtie) or outright nude (Hamhock and Bixby). Fritz notably subverts this by wearing a full set of work clothes.
• Invincible Hero: Captain Victorious doesn't lose, hence the name. When Ralston Rabbit challenges him to a game of chess to see what happens if he does lose, he still wins despite never playing a game of chess before.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Characters will frequently have conversations with a famous cartoon or comic character who are just out of frame.
• Love Triangle: Between Moxie, Ralston and Scrappy Lad. Scrappy Lad is in love with Moxie, who can't stand him; meanwhile Moxie is in love with Ralston, who has no interest in Moxie.
• Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Mad Scientist "Mr. Negato" admits he was denied his degree due to taking the PHD thesis board hostage during his thesis.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Lampshaded in this strip by Ms. Amazement, who rattles off her various origin stories when Tyr asks her about her past.

  Tyr: Geez, isn't it annoying to have so many origins?

  Ms. Amazement: Not when you go back to being 23 every time you get a new one!

• Pluto Is Expendable: Referenced in this 2009 strip when Captain Victorious claims he threw a planet (Pluto) at a supervillain once, only for Ralston to helpfully point out that a year prior, Pluto had been reclassified as a dwarf planet.
• Primary-Color Champion: Captain Victorious has a costume that's mostly comprised of red and blue with yellow accents.
• Really 700 Years Old: Moxie Gumpton. Despite looking like a twelve-year-old girl, she's actually in her seventies.
• Shown Their Work: Phil Dunlap did his research on Norse mythology for Tyr. The strip references real elements of Norse mythology, such as Thor's magically resurrecting goats (referenced in this strip) and the Norse gods intermarrying with Frost Giants.
• Shout-Out: Due to the nature of the strip, there are oodles of comic book references. When street names are needed, Dunlap will use the names of influential comic book writers or artists, e.g. "Siegel Street" or "Morrison Street." Additionally, the local bar hangout is called "McSparky's Saloon".
• Strong Family Resemblance: In one Mother's Day Strip, the main characters bring their mothers to a Mother's Day party. Naturally, all of their mothers look like themselves in old lady drag.
• Underwear of Power: Captain Victorious and Scrappy Lad wear black swimming trunks as part of their costumes.

---