Boomer Express is a furry comic strip, by amateur cartoonist Tyrnn Eaveranth and poet/writer, Jakebe Sunraven. It followed the huge swell of online comics and began on May 26, 2002. While usually published three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), it has occasionally been more frequent and has had the periodic lapse in meeting it's schedule. The strip centers on the adventures of two kangaroos, Jared Knight and Victoria Havencroft, who work for Boomer Express Delivery Service.

About the strip

Boomer Express, according to its creator, is intended to have a blend of both comedy and action in the same vein as Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, unlike its televised inspiration, the tales in Boomer Express would not revolve around horror-based situations, instead relying upon fantasy and science fiction elements.

Tyrrn, the artist and creator of the series, teamed up with Jakebe, the experienced writer, to bring the characters to life. Both are fixtures of Furry Fandom and have become relatively well-known in that community.

Jakebe left the series in April, 2005, effectively turning over the reigns, completely, to Tyrrn. Some collaboration on plot ideas and concepts has been maintained since.

Setting and characters

The world of Boomer Express is an anthropomorphic version of our own, where ordinary people are animal counterparts. Race is more fluid and no strong scientific or philosophical reason is given for why so many sapient, self-aware beings populate the world. Like Disney's creations, it is simply assumed that a world populated by humanoid animals is normal.

Jared is the male lead in the series, a kangaroo who works for Boomer Express. He has an enormous appetite, in an anime-like tradition and may sometimes appear to be lazy, but is loyal to his friends.

Victoria is the female lead in the series, often acting as Jared's common sense. She tends to be brave but not to the point of overlooking her own limitations and obvious danger to life-and-limb.

Gary Dill is the owner of Boomer Express and the boss of Jared and Victoria. He seems to possibly have secret reasons for founding the company and hiring the two, his involvement not entirely sinister, but suspicious.

Prince John is a spoiled brat (son of King Montifort IV) who figured prominently in Jared and Victoria's first adventure. He now is in somewhat unwilling exile on Earth and staying with Jared.

Other significant characters

Tim is a member of the semi-faceless, silver-skinned, extra-dimensional race known as the Gholem. He was a guide and aide to Jared and Victoria in their first adventure, but his status changed towards the end (see below).

Kaminovo is a demon obsessed with power and an enchanted item that came into Jared's possession during their first adventure.

Kyominara is another demon like Kaminovo, also pursuing Jared and the power he possesses.

Adam Barrett is a geeky, Ren-Fest fan, remarkably skilled with a sword. He has a crush on Victoria and seems immune to being rebuffed in his efforts to ask her out on a date.

Storyline

The first story ran for approximately two years and followed a delivery that Jared and Victoria took which ended up sending them into an alternate dimension. Their delivery turned out to be an orb in which dwelt the power of a dragon. It was intended to be a gift from King Montifort to his son, Prince John.

During a series of events, Jared came to have the power of the dragon infuse itself with him, allowing him -at times- to grow into a half-dragon/half-kangaroo hybrid, hundreds of feet tall. It is noteworthy that, occasionally, the essence of the dragon can speak to Jared, regardless of whether or not the kangaroo is currently invoking the creature's power.

The dragon power was originally going to be used by Tim and the two demons Kaminovo and Kyominara to summon the dragon-god, Tiamat. This nearly destroyed Montifort's kingdom and laid waste to his castle and grounds. With their allies, and with Victoria's recently-gained magical skills, Jared was able to help defeat Tiamat. Both demons, however, managed to escape.

After Jared and Victoria went home, they discovered that no time had passed; only minutes, in fact, of their months in other dimensions had actually gone by in their absence. The skills and abilities they had gained remained with them, however, and Jared can still, apparently, turn into a dragon.

While some criticized the length and rambling nature of the first story, the second was much more succinct, telling of a delivery to the mansion of a mad scientist, Dr. Giarc Von Harris. Having accidentally shrunk himself to a mere six inches tall, the doctor was waiting for the delivery with part of a machine that could restore him. The device, the Matter Enhancement Generator Array (MEGA), was fueled by various chemicals ironically found in Twinkies.

Due to a slight miscalculation, Dr. Von Harris was enlarged many hundreds of times his normal height and destroyed his mansion. Jared was injured in the incident and had to be taken to the hospital. Although his injuries have mostly healed, he has fallen into a shock induced coma on being told he is now Prince John's guardian..

Meanwhile, Gary has been following the actions of the two and monitoring everything in preparation for some deed not yet revealed.

NOTE: There are many in-jokes and themes in Boomer Express, with cameos by various friends of both Tyrrn and Jakebe. This does not seem to impair the reader's understanding of the strip, although there is a level of humor that an outsider may not "get". There are also many size-related jokes and situations in the strip, making it popular amongst macrophiles and microphiles.

The strip continues.

External links

Boomer Express Web page