About Calamities of Nature

Welcome to Calamities of Nature. This is my little webcomic that I write and draw as a hobby. The stories are about the friends Aaron, Alp, Ferdinand, and Harold and their wacky adventures. You can read more about each of these characters below. Some of the stories are fairly silly, for example "A Hairy Situation" is about Alp's invention of a chest hair tonic. But often I try to include some social commentary as well. I originally invented these characters when I was 10 years old, and have been drawing them on and off ever since. The two most concentrated periods being around 1989, when I first started drawing comics, and 2000, when I had the itch to do some comics again (and was debating whether to submit comics to my school newspaper). From time to time I'll scan and post some of these older comics in the Gallery. It's interesting to follow the evolution as these characters change over the years. This latest itch was instigated by my brother-in-law, who hooked me up with photoshop and a writing tablet. This has allowed me to realize my characters in full color, the excitement of which has inspired me to begin drawing comics after almost a 7 year break. Furthermore, the webcomic explosion allows an artist the possibility of reaching a wide audience. This is especially exciting for the field of comics, which has traditionally been a very isolating form of art. Cartoonists used to spend months writing and drawing with little or no feedback, but these days the feedback can be almost immediate! And now that cartoonists don't have to worry about actually printing the comics, the cost can be significantly reduced, especially once the main tools (computer, scanner, software) have been purchased.

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? Aaron feels his role is to keep the others grounded, which for this group of friends can be a formidable task. In retaliation his friends often torture him, for example, with Christian rock.

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. In fact, Harold was literally involved in a hair-brained scheme when he was convinced to use a chest hair tonic to boost his confidence.