The Harmless Free Radicals Collection

In the future, we hope to be able to present a dynamic tool for finding your favorite comics by date, subject or title. But until then, there's this.

Read the Comic by the Book!

The chapters of HFR are organized into a series of books. The issues that are printed in the Whatcom Independent are collected in a book called Quad Shots, and its printed sequels, available from Lulu.com. These are gag oriented strips based on what life is like in Fairport, WA. All the rest of the comics comprise an epic story, and begin with HFR101. Though that story is being retold, beginning with The Dragon & the Radical. This page is a directory of those books, along with brief descriptions of what they are. Hopefully, you'll find this to be a good navigational aid.

HFR101 is the first year of Harmless Free Radicals. It's rough. A good chunk of it was originally generated in 72 dpi, and it's full of type-os. In other words, it's exciting! When it is finally available in print, it will contain notes and annecdotes about the history of the comic, and hopefully serve as a useful primer to anyone interested in starting their own comic project.

The Lazy Boxer is currently available through Lulu.com for those that are interested. Also, the first edition, published by Grass Dog Studio itself, has a few copies left and may be found where-ever there is a Grass Dog Studio booth at the rare con. The story it contains tells of how Ian Robertson, in a fit of excitement, bites off a little more than he or the rest of the band can chew, thus leading to what is later referred to as "The Lazy Boxer Incident." It has a forward by Horus Bailey, editor of the Fairport Fishwacker.

Catastrophic Shaft Detachment is the direct sequel to the Lazy Boxer, covering the aftermath of that auspicious event. In general, in this book, things tend to go bad. A lot. Even for the cartoonist. The print version is currently only available by hunting down Fenmere himself and bribing you to sell one of the first editions. It may soon be available through Lulu, but Fenmere says don't count on it.

Trials and Tabulations tells the story of how Fairport came to be beset by the scourge known as KotŽ of the Drum People. As Brian and Dakota receive training from world renowned guitarist Matthew Belgium, Jenifer must round up the rest of the crew to head off the oncoming doom. The print copy is also only available directly from Fenmere's horde.

"Don't Touch That!" skips ahead to the future. KotŽ has been defeated, that battle lost in the book that was never published, Burn! Burn! Retribution! Now we meet Rachel Flannigen, bicyclist and newcomer to Fairport. Rachel finds herself the focus of one of Fairport's strangest phenomena, the comic. Available through Lulu.com.

Cellphones & Cigarettes is a tragic loss. A terrible hard drive crash destroyed most of the original files half way through the telling of this story, and it is essentially where the saga of Rachel and Boer currently leaves off. It is possible that this story will be finished sometime in the future, but Fenmere currently has larger fish to fry, beginning with the retelling of the whole beginning of the story! With better artwork, even.

Coming soon...