Boredom Tastes Like Chocolate is a webcomic, a world removed from the likes of Sluggy Freelance, User Friendly et al. Its allegedly anime-inspired, but this comes across only in the most vague stylistic elements, and the generally incomprehensible plot.

As a comic series, to be quite brutally honest, there's very little to redeem it, but for those of us that thrive on ambiguity, and emotionally charged nonsense , it's a small treasure. Reasons to love/hate it include:

  • A simple drawing style, almost childish most of the time, though occasionally more studied and careful. Generally rough and ready, with dialogue captions edited in with Photoshop in a simple terminal font, and self-deprecating comments about the artist's ('Kendra') lack of skill often pencilled on the original. In particular, she seems to have an almost complete inability to draw hands.
  • All the characters are cut from the same mould. They all share the same facial structure, and are differentiated only by their hairstyle and relative heights; this is marvellously confusing.
  • Several characters are entirely androgynous, and few are entirely human. This more-or-less speaks for itself.
  • The strip never seems to work out what tone it wants to take. Is it aiming for humour? Is it trying to make some meaningful point about the nature of life and existence? Its ambiguity in this respect in particular is actually the most intriguing; the indecision and self-doubt of the writer/artist is quite tangible behind the storyline, such as it is.

Without giving too much away, the cast of characters includes, but is not limited to:

  • Braeden Caedelpse: the main character, and clinically dead, but for reasons which are largely left unexplained.
  • Colin: Braeden's flat-mate and best friend. Typical Playstation-playing, green-haired nu-metal punk kid, but with a penchant for Puzzle Fighter and Ant Racing (I think that last one's fictitious though).
  • Rubicund: Initially portrayed as a nurse who attends Braeden while in hospital (though he's clinically dead), she's soon revealed as an agent of some dark, sinister force,.. a force that turns out to be...
  • Doyle: a somewhat atypical evil villan, Doyle plans to take over the world by controlling its supplies of porn and cheese. Believes his hair to be the root source of all evil.
  • Flax: apparently a young girl, at various points in the plot, she's depicted as Rubicund's sister, cousin, or an animated, posessed doll. Initially determined to kill Braeden, which is of course impossible since he's already dead.
  • Anhedonia: One of time's physical manifestations; an androgynous character who turns up occasionally to give Braeden hints of explanation for his predicaments, and to deliver the odd punchline.
  • Lurid: another one of Time's androgynous physical manifestations.
  • Gilolael: Like Rubicund and Flax, is in the employ of Doyle. A fairly inconspicuous character. Constantly wracked with self-doubt, but weilds a somewhat cool diamond sword.

Most of the notable comic hilights of the strip are fairly early on in the continuity; particularly a supermarket scene featuring the bitingly ironic line "Ha! I am invulnerable to your lunchmeat onslaught! Ph33r my 1337 spatula skillz!". Also the very first strip, a monologue from Braeden: "So I've been lying here, in a puddle of my own congealing blood, for a full hour. At times like these I am reminded of life's many mysteries. And all the questions I have come back to me... 'Why the fuck am I not dead yet?' springs readily to mind."

Boredom Tastes Like Chocolate can be read in its entirity at
http://refrigeratedcake.com/comics/chocolate