War and Peas

War and Peas

Cover of the first print edition of War and Peas, published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, showing a parody of the painting American Gothic
Type of site	Comics
Headquarters	Germany
Created by	Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz
URL	warandpeas.com
Launched	7 September 2011; 13 years ago (2011-09-07)[1]
Current status	Active

War and Peas is a webcomic by Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz.

The comics are in strip format, usually four panels long and characterized by morbid, dark or surreal humour.^[2] The comic's world features recurring characters, for example, Slutty Witch, a standalone witch character who counterposes obtrusive suitors, often with black magic.^[3]

The title is a play on words using the novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.^[4]

Publishing

Pich and Kunz met at School of Fine Arts in Saarbrücken, Germany.^[5] After experimenting with illustrative forms, they found the comic format ideal for their type of storytelling and began to develop the weekly webcomic.^[6][7]

Since 2011, Pich and Kunz have posted once weekly every Sunday to their website and several social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. They alternate with drawing but usually write together.^[8] Starting 2017, they also release their strips on the publishing platform Line Webtoon. Several online and print magazines feature War and Peas comics on a regular basis, including the Italian magazine Internazionale, releasing new strips every week since 2018. War and Peas has been published in several anthologies, such as Launch Party or Block Party – both edited by David Daneman – along with other webcomics, such as Mr. Lovenstein by J.L. Westover, Deathbulge by Dan Martin and Safely Endangered by Chris McCoy.

After Nick Seluk introduced the duo to his publisher, their first book, War and Peas: Funny Comics for Dirty Lovers was released by Andrews McMeel Publishing on March 3, 2020.^[9] On July 23, the German translation was published by Panini Comics.^[10] On November 5, it was followed by the Spanish translation, published by RBA Libros.^[11] On May 6, 2021 the French translation, published by First Éditions, followed.^[12] In 2023 it was translated in Italian and published by Edizioni BD.^[13]

In 2021, the collaboration with the Rewriting Extinction campaign began. As part of this, Pich and Kunz worked with Richard Curtis and created a comic that was subsequently published in the comic anthology The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World^[14] by DK. The book consisted of stories created through the collaboration of various comic artists with celebrities and environmental activists, including Jane Goodall, Ricky Gervais and Cara Delevigne. Since then, Pich and Kunz have been regularly publishing comic strips about current environmental issues associated with Rewriting Extinction on their website and social media channels.

Since 2023, they also release their strips on the publishing platform Tapas.^[15]

On October 20, 2023 a new strip collection "Salut la terre" was published in French by Les Requins Marteaux and was highly praised by critics and readers.^[16] The book was nominated for a prix Tournesol at the Angoulême International Comics Festival 2024.^[17]

On April 2, 2024 the book "Once Upon a Workday" was released by Andrews McMeel Publishing again.^[18] The book contains several short stories that are very different from the usual comic strips by War and Peas. Told in rhyme, the stories are dedicated to the problems of everyday working life, but also to creativity and mental health. "It reminds me that I don’t walk alone with the hardness of life, and shares some feelings I’ve had about my own life and work life." wrote book blog The Book of Meghan.^[19] Jay Snook from The Good Men Project wrote "Each section was clever and tried to put a playful spin on a different task. Some of them reminded me almost of Dr. Seuss and appeared to be drawn in a similar style. As this book came to a close I was happy to have some nice laughs."^[20]

Several fan accounts on social media are dedicated to translating the comic strips to various languages, such as French, Spanish and Russian.^[21]

Reception

Readership figures

As of August 2024^[update], Instagram reported that War and Peas had 1.1 million followers on that service.^[22] At the same time, Webtoon reported that they had over 161.000 subscribers^[23] with over 44 million views through that service.

War and Peas also has significant follower numbers on Facebook,^[24] X,^[25] Threads,^[26] Reddit^[27] and Mastodon.^[28]

Reviews

War and Peas is largely praised on the internet. Bored Panda referred to War and Peas as "one of the most exciting and funniest webcomics in the world"^[29] and fellow webcomic creator Nathan W. Pyle states, "It's so nice, really lovely and clean."^[30]

Steve Shinney said on the podcast Digital Strips about War and Peas, "It goes to that well of existential dread a lot." Co-host Jason Sigler later compared it to The Far Side.^[31]

In the podcast Comic Lab the hosts Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett described themselves as "huge fans" of War and Peas.^[32]

References

1. "10 Years of $Wap". 7 September 2021. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
2. Dreckiger Humor für Nerds in Der Tagesspiegel
3. Komik ist Wahrheit und Schmerz Archived 2020-10-08 at the Wayback Machine in Saarbrücker Zeitung
4. Comic Review Archived 2020-10-10 at the Wayback Machine in comicsaftermidnight.com
5. Comic-Fans lieben War and Peas Archived 2020-10-09 at the Wayback Machine in Deutsche Welle.com
6. Art & Life with Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz Archived 2020-08-09 at the Wayback Machine bostonvoyager.com
7. I drink too much coffee: Jonathan Kunz thehansindia.com
8. Creators To Watch: Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz Archived 2020-09-26 at the Wayback Machine tubemag.com
9. “War and Peas: Funny Comics for Dirty Lovers”. Andrews McMeel. ISBN 978-1524854072
10. “War and Peas: Von Hexen und Menschen”. Panini. ISBN 978-3-7416-2072-0
11. “War and Peas: Cómics divertidos para mentes retorcidas”. RBA Libros. ISBN 978-8491876823
12. “Des Sorcières et des hommes, par War and Peas”. First Éditions. ISBN 978-2412067680
13. “War and Peas. Fumetti spassosi per amanti scandalosi”. Edizioni BD. ISBN 978-8834913352
14. The Most Important Comic Book on Earth: Stories to Save the World. DK. 2021. ISBN 978-0241513514.
15. Des Sorcières et des hommes, par War and Peas. First Éditions. 2021. ISBN 978-2412067680.
16. Salut la terre (in French) (2nd ed.). Bordeaux, France: Les Requins Marteaux (published October 20, 2023). 2023. ISBN 978-2-84961-334-4.
17. "Découvrez la BD "Circuit court", prix Tournesol 2024". Les Écologistes. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
18. Once Upon a Workday (1st ed.). Kansas City, USA: Andrews McMeel Universal. April 2, 2024. ISBN 978-1524882389.
19. "The Book of Meghan". March 5, 2024.
20. Snook, Jay (May 9, 2024). "The Good Men Project".
21. Pointen Made in Germany Archived 2024-08-26 at the Wayback Machine in Der Tagesspiegel
22. "war.and.peas". Instagram. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
23. "War and Peas". Webtoons. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
24. "warnpeas". Facebook. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
25. "warandpeass". Twitter/X. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
26. "@war.and.peas". Threads. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
27. "/r/WarAndPeas". Reddit. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
28. "@warandpeas". Mastodon. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
29. 25 Hilarious Comics With Unexpected Endings by War and Peas Archived 2020-09-30 at the Wayback Machine boredpanda.com
30. Why 4-Panel Comics Now Dominate Our Screens Archived 2019-03-06 at the Wayback Machine wired.com
31. "DS 649: War and Peas". Digital Strips: The Webcomics Podcast. 15 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2023-08-07. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
32. "Comic Lab: Special guests Elizabeth Pich & Jonathan Kunz ("War and Peas") on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Archived from the original on 2023-08-07. Retrieved 2023-08-07.

External links

• Website