Little Gamers is a webcomic made by Christian Fundin and Pontus Madsen. It began on December 1, 2000. The cartoon series revolves around Christian, Pontus and a friend of theirs called Marcus; their friends, girlfriends, life events, and mostly, video games. Special strips are sometimes released during certain news events, etc. On occasion, a small storyline is introduced, mostly using fictional characters. Also, there are some occasions where the cartoons are drawn by other webcomic artists. There was also a short-lived Little Gamers Macguardians Edition with a Mac-Theme. The characters are drawn, as described in their , to be "bastard children of Hello Kitty and Bomberman." Arguably, Little Gamers, together with Megatokyo and other webcomics, helped immensely in popularizing the use of leet speak. This comic and its authors poke fun at people who poke fun at them. About the comic and its storylines, Pontus Madsen says: "I personally don't see LG as a webcomic, since we have no '2 months ahead of schedule in comics and storylines'.. I see it more as a blog, about what happens in our lives, and exaggerated to be a bit more fun than cnn. I don't see Penny Arcade as a comic anymore either, I see that as a 'blog' too, which unlike LG has something drawn to illustrate the posts - LG is the otherway around."
List of characters
Mr. Madsen is the main protagonist of the strip together with Christian. He is known for his usage of leet speak and his obsession with a huge collection of pr0n. He's part Danish. He's 27, likes pr0n and Final Fantasy, and dislikes Christian.
Christian, An incarnation of the creator, hates the word wench. He's 25, loves playing Tekken Tag Tournament, Caroline, and of course Final Fantasy. Dislikes having too little time and too many ideas.
Marcus loves inflatable dolls. It seems like Marcus will never have a real girlfriend in the comic, mainly because he's the one who gets all the action in real life. The inflatable dolls are some sort of running gag in the comic. Quoting Christian, He's 26, likes skateboarding, thinking about girls and playing Final Fantasy. Dislikes getting his ass kicked in Soulcalibur.
Joel, one of the creator's friends, he's from San Diego. Loves cooking, listening to music and talking. Currently single. He's 25, and likes all joy-giving things.
MC Browneye, a gentle man who likes long walks on the beach and watch the sunset. He's in his late 20s.
The Cute Ninjas are some stageworking ninjas that appear occasionally. Deadly, but, as their name implies, cute. No one really knows where they come from.
, the guy's girlfriends. is Christian's girlfriend, and is Mr. Madsen's girlfriend. They seem to have a . They're friends.
, a politically interested character who debates with Mr. Madsen. These are drawn by Pontus Madsen in a different style. Represents Matt Boyd, co-creator of Mac Hall.
Collections
In 2005, Little Gamers published its first collection of comics in book form. As of February 2008, four collections of comics have been published.
Little Gamers book #1
Released in 2005, this was the first Little Gamers book. It contains comics one to three hundred. Like books Two and Three it is printed in Sweden. So far the book has been printed in two editions and is one hundred and twenty-four pages.
Forewords
Book One features five forewords by
Naku - frequent contributor to the Little Gamers blog.
Barry T. Smith - writer of
Tim Buckley - creator of the webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del
Weebl & Bob - two main characters from the flash cartoon series of the same name written by Jonti Picking and Chris Vick.
Two page end special
Each Little Gamers book features two pages at the end of the book following the album like thanks page. Book one's two-page special features a collage of all the characters, as well as several key props such as an Apple Macbook, from the comic at varying sizes.
Little Gamers book #2
Released in 2006, this is the second Little Gamers book. It contains comics three hundred to six hundred. Like books One and Three it is printed in Sweden. It is one hundred and twenty-four pages, like Book One.
Forewords
Book Two contains four forewords by
Fred Gallagher - co-creator of the webcomic Megatokyo.
The first features a collage of photos of entitled "Little Gamers History 2000–2005", mainly made up of pictures from the creators trip to the USA in 2005.
The second features a collection of seventeen haikus written by Little Gamers' readers as the creators wished to involve their audience in the production of their second book.
Little Gamers book #3
Released in February 2007, this is the third Little Gamers book. It contains comics six hundred to nine hundred. This is the first Little Gamers book with all the comics in colour. Pontus Madsen redrew most of the comics for colour.
Forewords
Book Three features forewords by
Duke Ferris - publisher for the gaming website Game Revolution.
Unlike the two previous Little Gamers books, this features two end specials. The first of these is two issues of hand drawn comics produced in response to an issue arising at the Comixpedia as to why Pontus Madsen and Christian Fundin made Little Gamers. The second two-page special is a collection of Little Gamers readers' mugshots organised by continent.
Dictionary
Book Three features, unlike previous Little Gamers books a small one page dictionary at the end of the book to define vocabulary feature in the book. The included words are predominantly internet slang, including words such as "lol", "stfu" and "omg".
Reception
As described by 1UP.com, Little Gamers is "critically lambasted but rabidly popular comics," comparable to "million-selling, mass-market games that no one actually seems to like."
