The Physics Department

I had an idea for a webcomic a little while ago, and it might actually get made. I have a scanner that might work sometime soon, and a detailed bunch of character designs. Let me tell you about them. Hee hee.

The webcomic is called “The Physics Department,” and it’s based around two characters – The Most Honored Executive Concluding High Justice First Degree of Physics Phralan Xor’tanar, and his assistand Angus. They’re aliens, or gods, or something, who work at the judicial arm of the Parliament of Existence, which is where the four Forces ratify and change the Laws of Physics. Funny set-up, eh? Now here’s the catch: Most webcomics have a stupid CAH-RAZY character and a smart bitter character. This webcomic has two smart bitter characters in a world of virtually nothing but stupid characters and CAH-RAZY characters. Not stupid and CAH-RAZY at the same time, though.

So Phralan’s job entails that he judges the highest-up cases of science violation in the whole of the universe. His assistant, Angus, brings him coffee, eases the blows of stupidity, and generally provides a single spark of intellect in this universe of total morons. Other characters include:

• Boss – It’s not quite clear how Phralan can have a boss, being the most powerful judge in the universe, but he’s it. He’s also hyper-enthusiastic, unobservant, and most of all, creepy. Really, really creepy.
• Robert Heinlein – One of two humans working at the Physics Department, he specializes in Science Violation in Fiction. He’s also one of the most well-known science fiction writers on his home planet. Funny coincidence.
• Ernest Shrödinger – The other human, he’s technically the Theoretical Physics Supervisor at the Department, but really all he does is stare at a box with a cyanide vent and a cat inside of it, thinking.
• Albert Einstein – He retired last year. He now spends most of his time living on a private estate on a terraformed moon.
• George Lucas – He’s the director of Star Wars, and he also has a list of science violations twice as high as him sitting on Heinlein’s desk. (Seriously. Banking in SPACE?)
• The Parliament – Not so much a character as a collection, the four Forces have numerous delegates in the Parliament, who intermittently mingle with Phralan and Angus, giving them jobs and such. The Department is so undermanned that Phralan and Angus end up having to do field work almost all the time.

I’m also probably going to include Richard Feynman, the Doctor, and maybe some other famous physicists or SF writers/characters, but I’m not sure how to fit them in. Anyway, my idea for the comic is for it to appeal to David Morgan-Mar and Andy Weir. They’re the writers of Irregular Webcomic! and Casey and Andy, respectively. Not just them, I mean, but geeks who like science. People who can rattle off every Dalek episode of Doctor Who and quote Niels Bohr in the same breath.

~ by pieboy on May 25, 2006.