Wurr (Webcomic)



""...Thus the evil forces of darkness were sealed forever to rot in their own monstrosity. They got what they deserved. This is according to the official books of history. But that's how it is...the official books of history are always Written by the Winners.""

- end of Wurr's opening narrative

Wurr is a webcomic by Finnish artist WolfPearl, uploaded on Deviant ART.

The story opens with what looks to be a stereotypical plot--the dogs who live out in the world are good, and the hideous mutated hellhounds that live within the crater are evil. The jealous hellhounds envy the beautiful lands of the dogs, and a war breaks out. The righteous dogs triumph over the wicked hellhounds, and seal them away within the crater. However...

The real story begins with a pack of hellhounds, who are gathered by their leader Iacar to be told they're being evicted. Driven from their territory by another pack leader, Pyramos, they are forced to find new territory elsewhere- beyond the craggy borders of the crater. The comic follows the pack as they leave their home behind and venture out into the alien world of the dogs.

Notable for its amazing art, and the artist's amazing attention to anatomy and realistic (barring Rule of Cool) mutations with the hellhounds, along with the incredibly detailed backstory of the world. The first volume of the comic is now in print, unfortunately only in Finnish.

Wurr provides examples of:

 * Action Girl: Surama.
 * Alien Sky: The sky in the Crater is covered in dark smoggy clouds. For the hellhounds, the normal blue sky is the alien one.
 * Alternate Universe: Where the story takes place. The world is inhabited by intelligent dogs in a rough equivalent of the Copper Age, and humans (and thus the types of dogs they breed) have never existed.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Pyramos does one with his tail.
 * Art Shift: The comic's introduction is drawn in a simpler style, reminiscent of cave drawings.
 * Ax Crazy: Niftynose, who starts a fight in the middle of a (fairly) rational discussion by shooting lightning from his nose.
 * Beard of Evil: Subverted by the original Iralbe.
 * Berserk Button: Don't call Grimmon a wolf.
 * Beware My Stinger Tail: Pyramos has a long prehensile tail with a bone-blade at the tip, which he uses as an effective weapon.
 * Big Eater: Morri
 * Big No: Hafmar lets one loose when Iralbe informs them that Pyramos will take their territory.
 * Body Horror: The hellhounds have been exposed to mutating Black Touch for generations, resulting in strange mutations such as extra limbs, eyes, too many teeth, strange skeletal structures, and countless other strange features.
 * The most mutated ones are called deepblooded and are forbidden to breed. Even more grotesque are the cliffhounds, who live on the outer slopes of the Crater and guard it against intrusion.
 * B Roll Rebus: Used a couple of times for comic effect.
 * " + Pack = Death; Iacar = No Death; Dog + Iacar = No Death?"
 * Call a Smeerp a Rabbit: All the prey animals (and cave beasts) in the Crater are so mutated it's a stretch to even call them rabbits or rats anymore.
 * Can't Have Sex Ever: The deep-blooded are forbidden from mating; they are so heavily mutated that their mutations endanger the pups, the mother, or both.
 * Conjoined Twins: In a weird sort of way- the Gateguard's mutation started as this, with a Cerberus-like conglomeration of three heads, and got worse from there. One of the cliffhounds also seems to be this way, with a second "body" emerging from the first's back like a rider.
 * Dark Is Not Evil
 * Disability Superpower:
 * Despite all of Crippled's weaknesses, he has excellent sonar-like hearing.
 * Iralbe's heat vision.
 * Dr. Jerk: What little we see of the (original) Iralbe indicates him to be this.
 * Don't Try This At Home/Do Not Attempt: Poked fun at in the author's comments- "Warning, do not attempt to rob mutant chicken nests. It should only be attempted by trained professionals, idiots, or Surama."
 * Everyone Went to School Together: this bonus strip.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Crippled, who is...crippled.
 * Extra Eyes: Iacar (above his normal left one), Morri (three pairs and seventh in the middle of his forehead), Niftynose (small Third Eye),...
 * Eyeless Face: Iralbe.
 * Eyes Do Not Belong There: Iralbe, again.
 * Eyes of Gold: Surama.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom
 * Fantastic Racism: Dogs against Hellhounds.
 * Feather Fingers: Subverted- while the dogs don't have hands, they can move their paws in a way that their innermost toe acts as a thumb, with three fingers, better explained and illustrated here.
 * Fighting For a Homeland: Or more accurately, searching, at least for now.
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero: Iacar
 * The Lancer: Crippled
 * The Smart Guy: Iralbe
 * The Big Guy: Morri and Surama (Morri being physically big and powerful, while Surama is more of the aggressive Dumb Muscle)
 * Well, not so much "dumb" as "mentally unstable."
 * The Chick: Hafmar
 * Sixth Ranger: Azrabak
 * Funetik Aksent: Iacar fpeaks with a lifp becaufe of hif large fangs.
 * Funny Background Event: Frequently, usually involving Surama.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar:
 * Surama effectively Flipping the Bird at Pyramos.
 * Nonhumans Lack Attributes is constantly Averted.
 * A set of nude hellhound breasts shows up in one panel.
 * The Ghost: We're frequently told about the cave beasts, but never get to see them outside of ominous cave-drawings and shadows.
 * Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: One of Pyramos's many mutations lets him be very good at this.
 * Handy Helper: Everyone (mostly Iacar) to Sinjal.
 * Hell Hound: While they are called hellhounds, they don't fill the usual roles. Instead, they are just large, heavily mutated dogs.
 * Humans Are Bastards: Intentionally averted- humans don't exist in the dogs' world.
 * Insistent Terminology: Grimmon is not a wolf!
 * Large Ham: Pyramos.
 * The Medic: Iralbe. In comic, this role is known as a "wounder."
 * More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Hafmar, having two rows of sharp teeth, top and bottom!
 * Mordor: The Crater, especially from the dogs' point of view.
 * Mutagenic Goo: Black Touch.
 * Natural Weapon: Pyramos's blade tail.
 * No Biological Sex: The whispering ones (such as Iralbe and Riega) have no genitalia, and thus no sex. They're generally referred to in the masculine for simplicity's sake.
 * Nothing but Skin and Bones: Sinjal/Crippled, due to his severe disgestion problems.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname: Crippled's real name is Sinjal, but as Iacar couldn't say it right when they were pups, Sinjal got nicknamed Crippled. In the comic, he's only referred to as such.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: Word of God states that the hellhounds are essencially the Blizzard variant in animal form.
 * Outnumbered Sibling: Surama has four brothers and no sisters, and three of them are older than her. The fourth is Hafmar.
 * Partially Civilized Animals
 * Perp Sweating:
 * Psycho Electro: Niftynose.
 * Sibling Rivalry: Surama and Hafmar.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang
 * Shock and Awe: Niftynose's mutation allowed him to draw electricity in and send out lightning bolts through the horn on his nose.
 * Shown Their Work: The amount of detail put into realistic anatomy and mutations is really quite incredible. At one point, the artist spends several paragraphs explaining that dog teeth are generally dull and meant to crush windpipes and major arteries, not cause huge blood splatters.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Surama is the only female in the pack. She isn't The Chick.
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Inverted by a couple of background characters. He looks like an elegant sighthound; she looks less like a canid than like a fuzzy hippo.
 * The Unpronounceable: Azrabak's name apparently is this for the hounds. Cue the nickname "Bakbak".
 * Unusual Euphemism: Surama's "licking" obviously has some very ominous meaning.
 * Xenofiction