Van Von Hunter is a weekly hand-drawn parody manga started in 2002 by Mike Schwark and Ron Kaulfersch of Pseudomé Studio, based in Cleveland, Ohio. It has been published in newspapers, books, and as a webcomic. The story takes place in the land of Dikay, a country fraught with zombies, and focuses on the warrior Van Von Hunter and his "never-ending fight against evil...stuff".

Publication history

In the Summer of 2006, Van Von Hunter started a six-month run of Sunday newspapers. It was syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate and published in approximately 30 papers in North America (and one in Sweden), including the Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Detroit News, The Oregonian, The Vancouver Sun, and the Toronto Sun. Van Von Hunter was the second Tokyopop manga to be syndicated to newspapers, the first being Peach Fuzz by Jared Hodges and Lindsay Cibos.

Characters

Monsters

There are many types of monsters in Von Hunter's world. Additional monsters include Trolls, Leprechaun, Dragons, Werewolves, Sasquatch, and Mummies.

Live-action movie

In 2010, Van Von Hunter was adapted as a live-action film directed and written by Steven Calcote and Stuart J. Levy. It stars Yuri Lowenthal, Heather Marie Marsden, and Lucas Bridgeman. It won Levy and Calcote "Best Director" at Mockfest 2011.

Collections

Starting in 2005, Tokyopop published a series of graphic novels set in the Van Von Hunter universe, taking place several years after the conclusion of the webcomic's plot.

Reception

In 2003, the webcomic won the first-place trophy at Tokyopop's inaugural Rising Stars of Manga contest. Carlo Santos of Anime News Network stated: "For those who have grown tired of the fantasy genre's ridiculous self-importance and constantly recycled clichés, Van Von Hunter is the antidote, attacking these clichés with irreverent fervor. However, in doing so it becomes something of a cliché itself, relying on a predictable comedic approach and putting its characters in overused situations—not to mention that the whole adventure-comedy thing has been done plenty of times before." Reviewing the webcomic, Dani Atkinson of Sequential Tart stated that the black and white artstyle of Van Von Hunter is initially fairly "crude", but evolved into a more crisp tone as the series continued.