Knock on Wood
From the Porplemontage Studios Wiki
| Knock on Wood | |
 | |
| Creator(s) | Lucas Wagner |
| Website | |
| Update schedule | 7 days a week |
| Launch date | September 28th, 2005 (January 2nd, 2006 @ PMStudios) |
| Genre | Humour |
| Rated | WEB-14 (L) |
Knock on Wood is a webcomic about wooden polygon tiles. It is drawn and written by Lucas Wagner, and updates 7 days a week. The comic was originally hosted by Comic Genesis, and moved to Porplemontage Studios in January of 2006.
The main action revolves around a group of four polygon tiles: The Yellow Pentagon, The Green Triangle, The Blue Trapezoid, and The Orange Square. The humour from the comic is often derived from the attempts of the polygons to emulate human culture, or from tensions between the characters and their personalities.
Contents |
Characters
The Yellow Pentagon
The Yellow Pentagon (introduced in this strip) is the star of the comic, and takes the role of "president" of the polygon society. He is often egotistical and self-obsessed, and frequently ignores the consequences of his actions (often, due to his authority, there are none).
The Green Triangle
The Green Triangle (introduced in this strip) serves as a foil to the pentagon, and they are often seen as opponents. He is a communist, and flaunts that fact every chance he gets to. (The Yellow Pentagon, in contrast, is a capitalist, and hates the triangle because "he's a commie".) The Green Triangle associates himself with fellow communists (the other triangles, red in colour, which he calls his "comrades"). He has an imaginary friend, The Red Circle, who appears to him when he feels alone or enraged.
The Blue Trapezoid
The Blue Trapezoid (introduced in this strip) is the most down-to-earth of the polygons. He provides a voice of reason for both the triangle and the pentagon, and accepts the fact that he is a polygon and not a human being. In disputes between Green and Yellow, he usually takes a neutral position, and tries to make the two parties get along.
The Orange Square
The Orange Square (introduced in this strip) is the female of the group. She is very independent, and thinks of the other three (or at least the pentagon and the trapezoid) as "pigs". She moderates in election debates, and has a superhero alter-ego called The Orange Diamond (whom she becomes by rotating 45 degrees). In the Plot Story series, she is revealed to be in love with Green; however, due to the fact that Plot Story was meant to be a parody of soap operas, this should be taken with a grain of salt.
Minor Characters
- The Red Triangles are Green's communist comrades, who assist him (usually) in his schemes.
- The Red Hexagon was a foreigner who arrived to check out the "communist government" of the area: he later ran for president (as a puppet candidate controlled by Green), moving back to his homeland the day before winning the election.
Setting
The setting of Knock on Wood is a classroom, but the fact that the polygons are in a classroom setting is rarely referenced to. In previous strips, a clock and an Apple II computer have been seen (the latter of which has been used not only for games but also for contact between Blue and Green). It is either an elementary or younger-age classroom, as evidenced by Blue getting chewed on by the children.
Style and format
Knock on Wood has a very minimalist art style; the polygons are presumably created by using a polygon tool in an image editor such as Photoshop or Illustrator. After November 27, the drawing style was changed so the borders on the polygons are thinner and cleaner. The comic is normally divided into three panels (one big one, then one small one, then one big one); this has been the subject of one strip's joke. The font used in the comic is 14-point American Typewriter Bold.
The comic is one of the gag-a-day variety- barring certain exceptions, each strip is a self-contained joke. Some minor storylines have emerged, including the "Polygon Election '05", "GreenCo", "Commie War", and "Who Shot Yellow Pentagon?" plots.
Beyond the comic
Knock on Wood has two main features that go beyond the scope of the strip itself. The first is Ask Blue, where the Blue Trapezoid answers questions from readers. The feature goes beyond email to also offer talking with Blue live over MSN Messenger.
The second is the Green Triangle's blog, which is usually updated daily. It utilises the Green Triangle's writing style, and is littered with grammatical and spelling errors. The blog is purportedly updated via Blue Trapezoid's Apple II, and the entries are occasionally commented on by Blue, Yellow, and Green. Recently, a rival blog for the Yellow Pentagon has also been created.
The Awesome Opossum
On January 14, 2006, a new comic was introduced called The Awesome Opossum (and Meadowlark too). The comic appeared on the site on Saturdays, and consisted of a conversation between a clip-art opossum and a clip-art meadowlark. Each comic ended with "Meadowlark's Weekly Word to the Wise", a quote from the meadowlark that related to the strip. It was cancelled shortly after the second strip for reasons unknown.
External links
- The official Knock on Wood site
- The official Knock on Wood forum
- Search Knock on Wood, powered by Oh No Robot
- Green Triangle's Blog
