Achewood: The Great Outdoor Fight

Location: Home » vampire: masquerade » General » Achewood: The Great Outdoor Fight

Similar Items:

•	The Perry Bible Fellowship: The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories
•	Watchmen
•	The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack
•	the best of Dinosaur Comics: 2003-2005 A.D.
•	Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Since 2001, cult comic favorite Achewood has built a six-figure international following. Intelligent, hilarious, and adult (but not filthy), it's the strip you'll wish you'd discovered as an underappreciated fifteen-year-old. Dark Horse presents the hardbound edition of Achewood's The Great Outdoor Fight, the story of "Three Days, Three Acres, Three Thousand Men."

Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

This is completely a thing September 3, 2008
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

There aren't many times -- at least not since childhood -- when I've unpacked a book and immediately run off to sit down and read it through end to end. But that's what I did with "The Great Outdoor Fight" and it was worth it. There's a bit of a retro thing in reading what began life as a webcomic in a print medium, but for an extended storyline like this one, a book strikes me as just the right format. It gives the reader the chance to really get into the action without having to hit "Next" every few frames, and to pick up, not only on the humor, but also what is in fact quite a good storyline.

Achewood's artwork is not as complex as that you'll find in many webcomics or graphic novels, and sure, it might be interesting to see how Frank Miller, say, would tell the story of the GOF. But Onstad is no slouch with a pen and his relatively minimalist style is a big part of setting the tone for the story. Where I think he really shines, though, is less in the art than in the characters he's created. I particularly enjoy Roast Beef's distinctive turn of phrase (describing information he's known since childhood, for example, as "Dogg it is brain tape since young times"), and the friendship between Beef and Ray that is the cornerstone of this story (and with apologies to an earlier reviewer, by the way, Beef and Ray are anthropomorphic cats, not dogs). Most other regular characters have cameo appearances, including a very entertaining few panels where Cornelius Bear, my favorite character and himself no slouch in the toughness department, having won the first annual Bad*ss Games in a walk, silently locks his trumpet in its case after Lyle makes a comment that cannot be reprinted in an Amazon review.

While Achewood fans will have seen the strips before, Chris Onstad has added a good deal of extra material, mostly relating to the history of the GOF and its champions. Published in a large, almost coffee table-size, format, "The Great Outdoor Fight" is definitely a thing -- especially worthwhile for fans, of course, but more than a book of drawings, a book with a story many readers might find worth checking out.

5 out of 5 stars

Great September 7, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I've read this story online but it plays excellently on the page and the action-packed finale to the fight seems completely different. The extras are a lot of fun, especially the recipes ("Dinosaur" Potato Chuds!). Terrific value for money.

5 out of 5 stars

Have A Good Book September 9, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful

You must know Achewood to enjoy Achewood. Many people say that about their own terrible comics, but Achewood is the exception to the rule. It is a good comic that takes getting used to. Very good. The writing is exceptional in a way that other wordy comics can only wish for. With a simplistic style, animal people, and big blocks of text you have all the ingredients for an awful comic... but it defies expectation. Chris Onstad will go down in history as this generation's Dan Clowes... only with talking cats. Read the other Achewood strips then buy this bad boy.

5 out of 5 stars

"I ain't Frederick H. Coca-Cola but I do know something about building a brand" September 24, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

I have been a fan of Achewood for many years and when the author announced that Dark Horse was publishing a hardcover edition of his greatest and most epic storyline, I preordered it immediately. Upon reading it, I find myself both completely satisfied and pleasantly suprised.

One of the biggest differences between reading this story on paper versus online is the lack of the "alt text". Alt text, on the webcomic, is a small blurb that is hidden blurb of text within the comic that is usually very funny and comments on each strip. Without the constant humorous commentary, the tone of the story changes. It becomes more serious, the danger feels more urgent. The tonal change helps highlight the fact that while the story that frames it is humorous, the Great Outdoor Fight itself is deadly serious. It is a true test of what a man is, and Roast Beef and Ray's journey through it becomes that much more powerful.

Now while the feeling of the story is more serious and dire, the dialogue and characters are still gut-bustingly hilarious. Ray and Roast Beef's banter, the interplay between their friends who follow the fight from afar, the entire pre-fight part of the story.

The other surprise was the relative seriousness of the prose sections that bookend the story (with the exception of the Recipe section, that was not serious by a longshot). They mostly served to further the legend of the Fight and really fleshed out some of its backstory.

All in all, The Great Outdoor fight is a fantastic story of two friends taking on the world and this is an excellent presentation. It is a very different experience from reading the story online, which makes it's purchase all the more worth it. It is a must have for all Achewood fans, and I hope a good introduction to new readers.

I highly recommend it to anyone.

3 out of 5 stars

Great premise, good story, questionable format, fair art September 3, 2008
2 out of 46 found this review helpful

The Great Outdoor Fight has a great premise- the son of a winner of one of the longest running "every man for himself" outdoor fights finds out his heritage. This emboldens him to enter the fight with a friend that hacked his way in the fight, too. The story is involving and enjoyable with a good ending. However, the art was a let down becuase all the characters were drawn as anthropomorphic dogs. Think of Maus, but a lot less serious and I known it's supposed to be funny- and it was, but why dogs? It is a hardcover that could have been a prestige format comic one would fine at your local comic shop. All in all it was interesting and I read it all once I picked it up, but if it had better art and was cheaper and in a different format it would have been a better buy.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic

T-shirts, Posters

Pentagram T-shirts, bags, etc...

Gothic Posters