24-year-old Alvin Juano from Jakarta, Indonesia is the brilliant mind behind The Square Comics; short, darkly funny comics that take you through a range of emotions in just 3 or 4 frames.
With over 430k followers, his easy-to-digest webcomics have become a hit on Instagram, the perfect medium for regular doses of bite-sized comedy. The comics often begin full of cheer and optimism but struck you with a dark plot twist that has become Alvin's trademark. Scroll down below to check the deliciously dark comics out for yourself, as well as a little background from Alvin himself.
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"I started The Square Comics in 2014," Alvin told Bored Panda. "I was doing so badly at school that I was almost kicked out of the course. It was one of the lowest periods of my life and I needed something to get out of the funk. Creating funny drawings was it."
Some of my inspirations are: Ricky Gervais, I enjoy how honest and unfiltered his sense of humor is and how sarcastic the opinions. When growing up, my favorite cartoon was Doraemon & Crayon Shin-Chan, and Cyanide & Happiness, Safely Endangered and War and Peas are the best funny comic strips!
Gotta say, as a human mum, I'm kind of glad our babies don't peck their way out.
Coming up with new material is a unique process for any comedian or artist, and Alvin has preferred method. "Usually before I sleep, I’d try to think of things that could be funny and write it on a notebook/phone," he explained.
"The next day, I’ll pick out the ones that I find interesting and work on it. I’ll then show a sketch of the strip to my friends & see what they think. If they don’t find it funny, I’ll work on it further or scrap it. But, if I think it’s funny and they don’t, I’ll ignore them and post it. I try to have this process, but sometimes good ideas come at random times."
Does that mean dogs are just trying to lick the ugly off our faces? I feel so betrayed.
"For the process, I usually sketch out a couple of things on paper, take a photo of it and then draw the digital version of it on photoshop. I use pens and papers to sketch. To digitize it, I use Wacom Intuos Comic. It’s really small so it’s easy to carry around and it’s also cheaper than the other models. And a MacBook."
Now I know why I have three younger siblings. My parents were just determined..
I have 6 soon to be 7 and I'm the oldest so s**t?
Load More Replies...That just made me realise something that has never crossed my mind in my 55 years. If my brother had been born first I would not exist. My parents really wanted a boy. I was born after 9 miscarriages - 7 years later and after more problems my brother was born and they were happy. If the firstborn had been a boy - I think they would have stopped at that, considering all the risks. Really weird just realising that for the first time.
That's 😞. But then I am the eldest and my younger sister is the better version.
Load More Replies...Let's just say that if we had our second child first, there would not have been a second child!
That is just what I (the first child) just realised. Am almost glad I never thought of it at a point when I could have asked my parents.
Load More Replies...I'm an only child, so my mom used to say they got it right the first time.
Babies strengthen a strong marriage and weaken a weak one.
Load More Replies...This is even darker knowing people will keep going until they get one of each.
My friends' firstborn was a son. Their second child was a boy. Their third kid was a boy. Then the fourth one was a boy, too. With the birth of the fifth boy, they gave up.
Load More Replies...Hey that's our-my husband and I-plan too! We can only guarantee that our children potentially will have a good life if there are only two.My first is a boy and if the second is a boy again that doesn't matter. Adults sometimes (or often?) have to decrease their ego and be responsible.
Load More Replies...No. I'm the second child and I was so wonderful and awesome that my parents wanted more, so they had two more after me. But none of them were as perfect as me. Lol.
After about the 16th kid you know that your never going to make a perfect one so just settle for those you love
After two I realized more wouldn't improve the chances of a perfect child.
"As for my humor, I think it’s definitely on the darker side. I hear it can be sometimes depressing. Definitely not something my mom would approve!
" There's someone for everyone, your someone may be 5 cats in a trench coat" . I have 4 cats and 1 dog. I'm looking to trade the dog....
Roasted like a burnt, bad tasting marshmallow that a kid dropped in a fire!
Some of these were depressing and twisted. Those were my favorites.
Very funny. You made my day better. Don't stop drawing because you are very good combining humor with drowning. Thanks for the sharing.
You can replace the T-Rex cartoon with Trump and the punchline is still valid!
Is it me or does it seem like this person is depressed and contemplating suicide? I hope he's okay. He sounds a lot like me and how I think.
I was feeling sad after some depressing conversations about real-life things and stumbled over this while looking for cute animal pictures on Bored Panda - I laughed so much! Thank you for the anti-humour, just the ticket for me today!
Some of these were depressing and twisted. Those were my favorites.
Very funny. You made my day better. Don't stop drawing because you are very good combining humor with drowning. Thanks for the sharing.
You can replace the T-Rex cartoon with Trump and the punchline is still valid!
Is it me or does it seem like this person is depressed and contemplating suicide? I hope he's okay. He sounds a lot like me and how I think.
I was feeling sad after some depressing conversations about real-life things and stumbled over this while looking for cute animal pictures on Bored Panda - I laughed so much! Thank you for the anti-humour, just the ticket for me today!