About Calamities of Nature

Welcome to Calamities of Nature. This is my little webcomic about the friends Aaron, Alp, Ferdinand, and Harold and their wacky adventures. You can read more about these characters below. Some of the stories are fairly silly, for example I don't know what the heck this one is about. But often I try to include some social commentary, for example this strip on people's hypocracy or this one on the falling price of the American dollar. I‘ve known Alp, Aaron, Harold, and Ferdinand longer than I’ve known most people. Although that’s probably a good indicator that I need to get out more, I’m still proud that these characters have been with me since I was 10 years old. Over this time they have grown with me as I have aged (and hopefully) matured. And they have gone through many incarnations as my world view and artistic priorities have changed. As other hobbies come and go, I always come back to these guys and the stories they compel me to tell. From time to time I'll scan and post some of the older comics in the gallery. It's interesting to follow the evolution as these characters change over the years. This latest incarnation was sparked when I realized what a wonderful opportunity the internet is for sharing comics. It’s amazing to think that today a fourteen year old can draw, scan, and post a comic online, and within minutes, his or her singular artistic vision can be seen by to thousands of people. Needless to say, if this had been available to me at this age I might have never made it past tenth grade. But I think the important point is that there is so much artistic potential here that we are really on the dawn of a seminal age in the history of comics. Calamities of Nature is my modest attempt to tap into this a little bit.

Cast

Aaron He is the cynic of the group, although he likes to think of himself as a realist. And with the way the world is these days, who can blame him? Don't even get him started on all the crazy people driving on the street. Aaron feels his role is to keep the others grounded, which can be a formidable task for this group of friends.

Alp No one knows what he is, where he came from, or where he's going. All they know is that he's a pretty strange guy. Alp enjoys creating new inventions, such as his subliminal message machine or his remote control locator These inventions often work, but rarely are very useful.

Ferdinand He has never been accused of lacking enthusiasm for his friends or their crazy adventures. Ferdinand, or Ferd as he's often called by his friends, has a tendency to be a little overzealous about things, which typically leaves Aaron and Harold shaking their heads. For example, there was the time when Aaron criticized Ferd's affinity for brand-name clothing, or the time when Ferd became the first groundhog to take performance enhancing steroids.

Harold He's proof that nice guys do indeed finish last. Harold always been a loyal friend, but with friends like these guys that can backfire often. He often longs for quiet nights, curled up with a good book by a warm fire. What he usually gets is stuck in the middle of Ferdinand or Alp's hair-brained schemes. Like the time he took his friends advice on spending his tax rebate. If only he could find the right women for him, to sweep him away from all this madness. But his dating experiences leave a little to be desired.