So here we are, two weeks later and we finally have met our main character Joel and his buddy Gogs. Here is where it gets interesting, not as a story, but for me as a storyteller… traditionally in a story like this your monsters attack at the break into Act 2. This being a two pages per week web comic means that Act 1 could take months to get through. This comic was intended to be 5 pages/week but Axe Cop happened and so now I am doing what I can.
Obviously we have to build to Bearmageddon and at 2 pages per week it will be a slow build, but I think it will still be entertaining. I think Act 1 is the toughest Act to make entertaining in my limited experience as a writer, so we’ll see what I’ve got.
Also… does anyone have an opinion on the bear VS. gorilla issue? I actually tend to lean gorilla but it is a really tough decision.
Ethan
I think Gorilla.
I think the real answer is that in a matchup between a bear and a gorilla the spectators win.
good point. i agree. as long as there’s free popcorn…
Seriously, we just need to find a rabid gorilla and a rabid grizzly and through them in a ring. They’re gonna die of rabies anyway and we would just be using them for science. For instance I hypothesize that if a gorilla got a good hold of the bear’s head it could tear it’s entire head off at the jaw hinge in one swoop.
I’m thinking bear if it can get the claws involved in a hurry. A gorilla is really strong, but as far as I know, can’t rip and slash like a bear can.
Bear. Definitely a bear.
Gorillas are strong, but a grizzly on its hind legs can be ten feet tall – plus, as mckapet mentioned, it has claws. I’ve heard that a bear can rip an arm off with one swipe. I’m definitely leaning toward the bear.
Totally depends on the type of bear. Gorillas might be smart, and they’d probably take out something like, say, a sun bear, but once you go grizzly or polar, it’s a whole new ball game.
And if it’s a war bear covered in heavy artillery, where can I get one to ride to work?
Grizzly Bear. All other bears should be called “lesser bears”.
whoa whoa whoa–let’s not forget about Polar Bears!
Or Polar/Grizzly crossbreeds. All of their strengths, none of their weaknesses.
Aah, the mighty Grolar Bear. All the killtacular power of a Grizzly, with all the murderous wrath of a Polar. It’s Mother Nature’s revenge.
Ah, the grolar bear, the apocalyptic spawn of the far northlands
A polar bear would kick a grizzly bear’s butt any day.
Bear. Hands down. They have claws, gorillas don’t.
Such confidence!
Don’t worry about the slow pacing. Although frequent updates are always appreciated, I think most webcomic readers have learned to evaluate a story’s pacing based on the number of pages, not the time it takes to post.
But what if the gorilla has a bazooka?
The bear, easily.
Now, if you got a couple of pissed off chimps vs a grizzly, it might be different.
A male gorilla weighs in at 310-440lb. An adult grizzly bear can get near 1000lb. These are true facts, because wikipedia says so.
A smart gorilla can sign 1000 words in ASL and understand 2000 words of spoken English.
A smart bear can break into your car.
BEAR WINS
the gorilla could use his intellect to confuse the bear, make it look over at the tree thinking there is some honey, then CRACK break its neck.
In real life a fight between a bear and a gorilla would just be sad. In a natural setting they would both run away from each other. The last time such a spectacle could have happened was when humans were still wearing frilled collars…
How did you know I was wearing a frilled collar?
hmm… i guess i get to be the devil’s advocate here… i think in terms of agility, which can be crucial in beastly type match-ups, the gorilla will have the upper hand (opposable thumbs included) – remember King Kong vs. the T-Rex? Gorillas are really freakin strong! Of course a bear with tentacles is whole nother story altogether – that’s a bear victory hands down…
going back to the tiger vs. bear. i think it’d be a close call again because I imagine the tiger having more agility, but I could see a bear coming out on top in that one.
thanks Ethan for another awesome Ep.
Bears…. in addition to the claws, they are carnivore to the Gorilla’s (mostly) herbivore, therefore having a vastly stronger bite as well as sharper teeth for tearing and a wider bite radius. Also the heaviest bears weigh more than twice as much as the heaviest silverback gorillas, and weight is the main factor in any melee.
a dog ate my breakfast… that’s why you don’t leave food on the floor in the ax’s house.
huh?
I’m confident that a Tiger could kill a grizzly bear.
A 850lb Siberian Tiger already hunts and kills brown bears by snapping their necks.
With their Superior speed, agility and experience preying on bears the tiger would win hands down.
http://youtu.be/UztB1gRCFn0
I agree with will I think a bear would win over the Gorilla. The gorilla is strong but he wouldn’t be able to land a quick killing blow he would need to win.
A bear. A hundred times a bear.
The only creature with an even footing, in my opinion, is a wolverine. You do NOT mess with a wolverine.
They don’t actually have adamantium skeletons.
Wolverines are nasty. Take a chihuahua and make it as big as it thinks it is, you’ve got a pretty serviceable wolverine.
Ask Malachai. He will know.
Bear vs. gorilla? Awesomeness wins, that’s who.
Save bunnies, live best, Wow-Mart?
a square circle is actually possible in non-euclidean geometry.
I keep forgetting a lot of web comics readers are math geeks. I should have gone with “can God create a rock he can’t pick up?”.
it’s all good. that’s why there’s xkcd, which i don’t even get a lot of times. but the bear vs gorilla is a good matchup. you should request a deadliest warrior “beast wars” special episode. actually, idk why that kind of show doesn’t already exist.
matchups are hard, man.. bears and gorillas are both the types to get mad when you least expect it, and be totally gentle up to that point.. they’re lazy, they never use more strength than they need to.. that’s because they do more foraging than killing… whereas a cat is always ready to fight.
I like to think a gorilla’s dexterity would help it take out most predators, but a BEAR is the most dextrous of all the carnivora.. this really is an interesting question.
Gorilla.
Bears can’t make a fist!!
A better brain, the ability to punch… That is a huge advantage.
The sequel to this comic should be called “Gorrilageddon”
I actually had an idea for a sequel that involves gorillas, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Don’t tease me, man!
You’ll just make me want it more.
I think it all comes down to which one has a better front kick.
Gogs looks like Ed from Ed, Edd & Eddy.
Joel looks like a stoner friend of mine from the 80’s.
I approve.
…did you mean for Joel to slightly resemble Simon Pegg?
Didn’t intend any Simon Pegg resemblance though I think gogs looks more like him than Joel. Joel looks a lot like my good friend/ex-band mate Brandon Sause though i didnt realize it until I was about ten pages in.
I say bear wins by jugular puncture in round 7.
In the matchup between bear and grizzly it is no contest. Chuck Norris would win.
Hmmm. In neutral territory the bear probably wins. It’s got size and strength on it’s side. However if there are trees and rocks that bear is screwed since the gorilla can use hit and run tactics to slowly take it out.
Bear vs gorilla? I have my money on bear in terms of sharper, stronger teeth, meaner attitude, and stealth. MY question is who would win: Bear or Hippo? I think Hippo.
Bear vs. honey badger, that is the question.
But as for grizzly vs gorilla… that’s a tough match to call! I must say, though, gorillas are pretty freaking scary. They have some nasty teeth on them (though maybe not as nasty as a bear’s…). I don’t know…
Y’know, this isn’t a great place to ask a bear vs. gorilla question. It’s kind of like going into Burger King and asking the manager if they think McDonalds is better.
First, very excited this comic is up!
Second–Gorilla has my money. They’re made of muscle and waw poop-throwing agression. Bears are made of fat, muscle, honey and pseudo-philosophical musings in the Hundred Acre Woods. Bears are totally awesome…but would be whooped by any reasonably mature gorilla.
Third, eagerly awaiting updates to this site!
I say Gorilla! They have oposable thumbs and can beat the bear with sticks and rip off its arms, probably.
In the scenarios I’ve been running it’s gorilla most of the time. The reason is this: gorilla’s have more of a battle culture. To be the head of a gorilla family you have to be able to beat the crap out of all the other gorillas. Bears are mostly solitary, when they come into each other’s territory or mating season they fight viciously but it doesn’t happen nearly as often. The bears have better stats: weight, claws, and teeth but experience wins.
Is this a teaser for the sequel….Gorillmageddon!
Isn’t that what DC comics is doing with the Flashpoint tie in “Grodd of War?” How about Gorilla Grodd vs the Octo-bear?
What about a honey badger?
Dude, I was telling Ethan about Zoofights! Over there they are actually doing a bear vs. tiger battle! http://forums.zoofights.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=192
A bear hasn’t fought a gorilla yet over there, but I bet the bear would win. Gorillas don’t have claws and sharp teeth
As the creator of a small community dedicated entirely to answering these sort of questions (www.zoofights.co.uk), I am thrilled to see this issue given the attention it deserves.
I’m not sure we’ve ever done a straight Gorilla versus Bear matchup at zoofights, but we’ve pitted them against just about everything else going at some point.
With what authority I have, I’m going to say the bear takes it in 2 out of 3 instances, whenever it can get in a good enough first blow to seriously wound the ape.
Where the ape can get out of range of the paws long enough to get up on the bear and start messing its face up, I think it’s in with a fighting chance.
For those who want to take the Bear Vs Tiger route, we are actually going to be answering that this week (although the tiger in question is sort of fused to a DeLorean and the Bear has a nightmare beam powered by car batteries… http://forums.zoofights.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=192)
oh hey chris!
If Rise of the Apes gets a sequel it should involve Humans attempting to defeat the Apes with mentally enhanced BEARS.
We have a song called “Bears” that may answer your questions. http://nekrogoblikon.bandcamp.com/track/bears
that was actually pretty awesome bear metal.
You know, before I had even found this comic a question on my mind was who would win in a fight, a shark or a bear with scuba gear?
Shark. It’s more nimble and has the ability to use it’s teeth. Though if the bear got a good swipe in, and dragged it up on land…This is just too fun to think about 🙂
Gotta go with bear. A gorilla’s got speed, agility, and strength, but a bear’s got reach and claws, and a lot of weight to put behind a swipe. One or two blows in the right spots and the gorilla would be down. From there, it’s all bear “CPR” (crush prey’s ribs, bad bear joke?) and the gorilla would be done for. I didn’t know bears did that before I saw this show where a guy sat in a clear box and watched the bears. It’s intense. The bear puts it front paws on its prey, and just pushes, and pulverizes them because it is so heavy and massive. Bears FTW.
I almost hit a cougar while riding a bicycle. I am glad I did not.
Bears. Have you ever heard of anyone being attacked by a bear? No, only mauled by bears. If you look at what each does to humans in fights, it’s clear bears destroy us more completely.
I am thinking bear too but the gorilla could be a dark horse to win unexpectedly. It’s 11:20pm, I should go to bed but your comic has me intrigued. One more episode before bed I think
The bear. Bigger, faster, stronger. One good hit and the gorilla is down. Gorilla is however, the only one that could theoretically win. Perhaps if he gets behind the bear and breaks it’s neck. The only reported human to kill a bear with his bear hands, hid behind a tree then jumped on it’s back and choked it out.
I think everyone is neglecting the fact that grizzly is not the largest bear. Its not even the largest BROWN bear. That would be the Kodiak bear, which is also in dispute as the largest bear in general. Without even addressing the bear vs gorilla, I have seen Jungle Book and am pretty sure I tiger could best a bear. Tigers are predators. Hunters. Killers. Bears are just big. Yeah they are strong and well equipped but they are foragers and fishers at heart. So we get mauled by bears but what happens if a tiger attacks you? It pounces and goes right to your neck. I think everyone has under estimated the power of a tiger here.
The arena is important. Gorillas can climb trees.
Let’s face It, a venemous Brown Python can end up a bear with a single attack with his vains. BUT, If the bear incountered first.. he’ll win! It’s like Solid Snake VS A bear.
Is it just me, or does Joel look like Abe Lincoln from Clone High?
i would have to go twords the gorilla against everything even though the bear might be tall and it’s strong with claws the gorilla has long arms stronger then shit. and can literally turn a car into a paper ball. A silverback gorilla might be vegitarian but it doesn’t need claws or teeth to demolish anything. it rips trees out of the grown like it’s a weed lol no shit a gorilla one blow break every bone in a bears body hammer fist baby
True fact: people in history have tried this (any many other) animal Fights before. The Bear wins. every. single. time. The bear vs. Gorilla was common initially, and later they shifted to Bear vs. Lion because the fights always ended quickly, and the same way. The bear simply uses it’s massive strength and crushes the skull of any opponent.
don’t screw around with bears.
A bit late to the party, but I just learned about Bearmageddon and am ready to jump onto the bearndwagon… Shut up, that works. If you can make bear puns, so can I.
Anyways, this reminded me of a Creased Comic by Brad Neely and provided a wonderful half hour of conversation with friends, so thanks so much Ethan.
Link to Referenced Comic: http://images.cryhavok.org/v/Creased+Comics+Last+Bets.jpg.html
My partner and I stumbled over here from a different page and thought I should check
things out. I like what I see so i am just following you.
Look forward to exploring your web page yet again.
what is gogs real name because only terrible parents name a kid gogs
Jeremy Chandler. They call him gogs because of his goggles.