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The Jar was a webcomic by Tom Swan and "Kittyhawk", a brother and sister pair, that premiered August 8, 1999 on Montrose Academy, a collective between the authors and a few of their online acquaintances. Its protagonists were Makoto Talent, Zach Mecha, and Trent Arms. While far from a premiere webcomic, The Jar had a rather insane plotline and a rabid following. Kittyhawk ended the series May 2002 to start her new comic, Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki, and removed the Jar archives from the Internet.
The Jar's slogan was "Three guys, two beatniks, and a Jar."
Art Style
Kittyhawk began with a sketchy style reminiscent of CLAMP's work, but soon switched over to an inked and gray-scale shaded method. Every now and then there would be a full-color comic. Other times, simple dashes of color were added in an otherwise completely black-and-white comic.Characters
- Makoto Talent: A skilled martial artist and possibly the most normal of the three leading men. Makoto is a middle child with two brothers, and for some reason his parents never acknowledge him or even realize they have a middle child. He likes to perform simplistic attacks that have long, drawn-out names, and can jump 20 feet in the air. He attends Montrose with the hope that his parents will miss his existence (unlikely).
- Trent Arms: A weapons-nut who came to Montrose Academy to "get his destruction on". Appears to be a danger to humanity; otherwise, his past is unknown.
- Zach Mecha: The androgynous, bubbly roommate of Makoto and Trent. Zach builds and pilots mechs in his free time, and is always accompanied by his favorite creation, Bunny-Mech. His proficiency in his trade is surprising, since he comes off as a total airhead.
- Bunny-Mech: A pink bunny robot belonging to Zach. Has multiple useful tools and gadgets for Zach to use, including a tazer and a flame thrower. Bunny-Mech once turned into a strawberry daiquiri. Is a constant target for destruction, often by Trent, but luckily Zach is always able to rebuild him.
- Harmony Flowers: A talkative new-wave hippie who believes in peace through violence. Like Trent, she adores weapons.
- The Beatniks: Tom_Swan and Kittyhawk's in-comic representations; they usually provide commentary for the events in the comics. Other times they interact directly with the characters, usually to make their lives miserable.
- Principal Oracle: The principal of Montrose Academy. She looks like a secretary, and can only say the word "puu". The beatniks often translate for her.
- The Jar: A mysterious jar filled with a strange blue liquid. Supposedly, no one has ever learned the true nature of the Jar without going insane, and one must be either brave or stupid to desire such information.
The comic also featured cameo appearances of characters from Kittyhawk's other projects at the time.
- Jessica Halo: Also known as Blue Angel Jessie.
- Joe Logan: Makoto's cousin, who bears a striking resemblance to Makoto. Very laid-back, Joe is almost the exact opposite of Makoto, and pushes coffee at a local coffee house.
Montrose Academy Ho! Week
Ho! Week was a week in early 2002 in which the Jar temporarily provided non-stop fanservice to fans, hoping to boost the comic's popularity. The fanservice included lots of catgirls, Bunny-Mech exploding nine times during a sing-along, and a special comic about Makoto and Zach tagged as yaoi. While not sexually explicit, the yaoi comic was very suggestive, and was given its own page apart from the Jar's archive, in case of wary readers.
A special "Montrose Academy Ho! Week" t-shirt was also sold during the promotion. The comic authors themselves poked fun at their temporary "selling-out".
External links
- Internet Archive version of The Jar's archive
- Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki (Kittyhawk's current project)
1990s webcomics | 2000s webcomics | Webcomics | Concluded webcomics
"The Jar"