Bear (comic)

Bear
Bear being chased by Looshkin
Publication information
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Black comedy Surreal humour
Publication date	2003 -2005
Creative team
Written by	Jamie Smart
Artist(s)	Jamie Smart

Bear is a popular black and white alternative comic book created by British writer/artist Jamie Smart and published in the United States by Slave Labor Graphics. It follows the adventures of a small stuffed bear named Bear and his roommate/antagonist, a psychotic housecat named Looshkin. Looshkin often plays cruel, sadistic, and nonsensical pranks on Bear, and it is not uncommon for faeces and dismemberment to come into play.

Smart's linework is bold and expressive, and his panels are littered with information and throw-away gags. The stories are marked by a combination of violent shocks, random silliness, and other hallmarks of Dada.

10 issues were published between 2003 and 2005.

The foil and victim to Looshkin's insanity, Bear is a stuffed animal standing twelve inches tall. Apparently, he has served in the British Army in a great number of wars (ex: World War I). When you poke his nose his head expands, much to his dismay and Looshkin's joy. He hopes that one day Looshkin will die so he will be able to live his life reading books and slowly becoming an alcoholic.

Bear is known to date human women, much to Karl's surprise, and he spends a good deal of his time fantasizing about being a ladies' man or a gentleman in a Jane Austen novel.

Looshkin is depicted as a mentally disturbed cat who has a blue pelt. He has large, sharply pointed ears that look like party hats. He is a bipedal creature with opposable thumbs that make him able to pick up objects, much to the displeasure of others. His activities usually consist of senseless babblings and innumerable sadistic acts on people, chiefly his housemate Bear, or whoever is closest when he gets his hands on a likely weapon. He is a humorous character (in the sense of black humor) by some of the things he says or the original comical scenes he'll inflict, such as pretending to be a "Gangsta" and speaking fluent slang that he picked up from "Hood Movies" and going by the name LZ. He is maniacal and merciless, and most readers assume that the reason for that is that he has a mental disorder. Karl, Looshkin's hapless bachelor owner, thinks Looshkin is just lonely and needs a female cat to play with, but the traumatized Bear vehemently disagrees.