The Perry Bible Fellowship is a newspaper comic strip and webcomic by Nicholas Gurewitch. It originated in the Syracuse University newspaperThe Daily Orange. The comics are usually three or four panels long, and are generally characterized by the juxtaposition of whimsical childlike imagery or fantasy with morbid, sudden or unexpected surreal humor. Common subjects include irony, religion, sexuality, war, science fiction, suicide, violence, and death. The comic received its title, taken from the name of a church inPerry, Maine, in its Daily Orange incarnation.
Art
The art in The Perry Bible Fellowship varies from strip to strip. While some comics feature simplistic human figures with little more than a mouth and eyes for a face, other strips are extensively colored and meticulously detailed. Sometimes, the artistic style changes within the strip itself. A recurring feature of the strip is simplistically-drawn human figures exhibiting little detail or realism, and heads reminiscent of smiley faces. Some strips emulate the styles of famous illustrators such as Shel Silverstein, Edward Gorey, and Robert Crumb, made evident by marginal notes such as "". Gurewitch is also known for including Easter eggs in various strips.
The comic first appeared in 2002 in The Daily Orange of Syracuse, New York, while Gurewitch was art director at Syracuse University, and by 2007 was also being printed in Maxim, The Guardian, the Boston Weekly Dig, The Baltimore City Paper, and The Chicago Reader. According to the official website, the comic also appeared in several other publications, including the New York Press. On August 1, 2006, after several months on a temporary site managed by Cheston Gasik, the comic moved to its permanent web site at pbfcomics.com. On February 18, 2008, Nicholas Gurewitch announced he was cutting back on the production of the comic strip, saying "I feel I owe it to myself and the Perry Bible Fellowship not to turn a joyful diversion into a long career." Previously a weekly strip, it is now infrequently updated.
Author
Nicholas Gurewitch was born March 9, 1982, in Canandaigua, New York, and is currently based in Rochester, New York. He attended Syracuse University, where he studied film and where his comic strip was first published in The Daily Orange. Besides PBF, he worked on developing a program called Daisy Garden Story Time with Comedy Central, though the program was not produced. Nicholas is the cousin of former CollegeHumor writer and comedian Dan Gurewitch.
Books
Perry Bible Fellowship comics and an interview with Gurewitch were included in Ted Rall's in July 2005. In 2007, a book collection, The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories, was published. Even before its release, preorders alone made the book one of the fastest-selling graphic novels on Amazon.com, causing publisher Dark Horse Comics to increase its first print run to 36,000, and print the book domestically to hasten distribution; it has since gone into three printings. Dark Horse Comics also noted the comic's popularity in the UK, as Diamond UK put in the largest order Dark Horse has ever seen from them. The second book, The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack, a 256-page hardcover compilation, features more comics and previously unreleased material including unused strips, an interview with David Malki and a foreword by Diablo Cody. The book was released on February 18, 2009, again from Dark Horse Comics. A tenth anniversary edition of the Almanack was published on February 11, 2020.
