No 4th Wall to Break

No 4th Wall to Break is a webcomic that was originally written and drawn by Chris Whetstone. The name of the comic comes from the saying "breaking the fourth wall", which refers to a character in a piece of artwork who directly acknowledges the audience.

Although the technique of breaking the 4th wall is a common attribute of webcomics, No 4th Wall to Break took the idea one step further. In this comic, there is no fourth wall; reality and the pseudo-reality of the web-comic are blended seamlessly. The comic exists in a strange formless yellow limbo in which there exists no real cause and effect; there is continuity, but it often makes strange leaps.

No 4th Wall to Break was a comic characterized by a playfully bizarre style. Whetstone's humour was based on placing his characters in random, unrelated circumstances. The comic had a minimalist style, which often played into visual gags.

No 4th Wall to Break was first published on May 21 2002. With some interruptions, Whetstone published two comics per week until October 15 2006. The comic's art style was cartoon-minimalist, and many of the characters were stick figures or stylized abstractions of creatures and objects. One character, for example, was a triangle.

The art evolved over the life of the comic. Originally, Whetstone drew the comic by hand on what appeared to be Post-it notes. It was scanned in and edited to add text. However, Whetstone and co-creator Jamie McGarry (see "The Creative Team" below) later drew the entire comic with the aid of computer programs. Two features remain from the early days, however. The comic always appears with a yellow background (with few exceptions), and each character always speaks in a different font.

The Creative Team

As Whetstone was having difficulty updating the site on a regular basis, a British "guest artist" named Jamie McGarry was introduced on May 31 2005. Whetstone said that McGarry would be "taking over the art side of things for a little while". This addition to the creative team followed a period marked by an abnormally high concentration of guest comics on the site while Whetstone was unable to update.

McGarry is the artist and writer of a webcomic named Built for Comfort.

The Hiatus

On October 15, 2006, Whetstone put the comic on hiatus, since
he found it difficult to continue updating on a regular basis, and
also was running low on ideas. On July 22nd, 2007 the comic restarted.

The Characters

Otto T. Specter

A spectre who for no discernible reason dwelled within the yellow limbo. Despite already being technically dead, Otto had died and returned to life previously in the comic, lending to its surrealism. Otto worked for the internet, however has not done so since early in the comic.

Lit Match

Was introduced to the comic quite early on and was featured in most. He was brash and a little arrogant.

Chris "Me" Whetstone
The author of the comic appeared in most of his creations as part of the fourth wall breakery. He used to have a "Me ->" label, but was later dropped after he became recognizable. He was the least detailed "character", as he appeared as a stick figure in the strip (though he did show some real photos of himself).

Bert the Petulant Triangle
An angry triangle. Spendt most of his time antagonising the minor characters and beating up Malefax. He was killed shortly after he was introduced, but came back to life along with Otto and Hitler. Since his introduction in August 2003, Bert had since become one of No 4th Wall to Break's most popular characters.

Odin
The Norse god had made several appearances in the comic until the December 17 2004 story, when he made up his mind to depart. Though he declared he might appear in the future for a cameo, this may not be possible since the comic is now on hiatus. He is a skilled guitar player.

Los Mosquitos
A group of mosquitos that are apparently Mexican. They do not speak English, and, since the other characters don't speak Spanish, most of what they say is "¿Qué?" and the ubiquitous "Furia de Los Mosquitos!". Los Mosquitos spent most of their time attacking Chris and trying to suck his blood. They were one of the winners of the "Create a new character" competition held in 2003.

Malefax
Supposedly a supreme evil being, Malefax was in fact a child-like floating, bat-like blob. Malefax was the other winner of the "Create a new character" competition.

Quote Guy
A person who only said famous movie quotes/catchphrases. Originally from the Repository of Dangerous Things, when the author of that site stopped, she auctioned off her more popular items, and Chris Whetstone received Quote Guy.

Walt
An anarchist with nice hair and freaked-out eyes. He remained dead after randomly sinking right near the start.

Bucket of Ice Water
A bucket of ice water. Appeared occasionally as Lit Match's nemesis. This was possibly because s/he was in love with Lit Match, but recognised that union was impossible and that her/his feelings were unrequited, thus leading to destructive yet cold rage, like some sort of evil wet samurai. In February 2004 Bucket of Ice Water was killed by Bert.

Hitler
Hitler was first introduced into the comic when Otto died, and was taken into purgatory. In order to escape purgatory and become "alive" again, two other dead had to travel with him, and Hitler and Bert the Petulant Triangle were chosen (much to Otto's dismay). He worked in what he believes to be a comedy club, the "Laughter House with an S at the front".

Jamie McGarry
Jamie McGarry was the newest character in No 4th Wall to Break. He looked like Chris Whetstone except he has a pair of brown spectacles and often spoke in Britishisms. His contribution to the strip usually consisted of berating the author for a lack of scripts.

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