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Berkeley Mews' creator calls it a dark humor comic series that exposes the seedy underbelly of everything wholesome and pure. "It takes fairy tales and Disney movies and fond remembrances of childhood and turns them into horrible nightmares - but, like, in a fun way," Ben Zaehringer told Bored Panda.

Ben took some art classes in high school and at the nearby community college, where he learned life-drawing and basic anatomy. "We were also taught to draw cars," he said. "Cars are the bane of every cartoonist, so I'm glad that I was forced to draw them early." Now, he's using these skills to unleash his creative ideas, and people think he's doing a great job. His dark comics has about 200K followers on Instagram and Facebook, and this number is constantly growing.

More info: berkeleymews.com

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"I've been doing these cartoon drawings for as long as I can remember," Ben said. "My mom's cousin, Steve Moore, is a cartoonist, so right away I thought of cartooning as a vocation. My first comics were all in the style of newspaper comic strips, like FoxTrot and Peanuts, only bad instead of good."

"My friend Kevin Garvey and I would make comic books every day after school, by folding two sheets of paper together and then filling them in with funny comics. Mine were mainly parodies of Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z, and Kevin's were these epic, super-funny space operas. When we were done, we'd show them to each other and to our friends. This was the best comics education I ever got. If you are an aspiring cartoonist, make a friend who draws comics (or make your friends draw comics)."
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The creator of the webcomics said that disappointment is the main theme in Berkeley Mews. "When I'm writing I ask myself, 'How can something fun be made disappointing?' Recurring motifs include: God, Santa, love, death, childhood, and 90s pop culture references. Life moves fast, so I try to only riff on things that are timeless, like Disney movies that get remade every ten years."

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Hans
Hans
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just a logical conclusion. Animation movies have a dark twist if you just think them through...

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queen...<3
queen...<3
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I got really confused, but then I saw the trash can lol.

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I expected a giant cat overlord to sit on top of it.

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

.. which is a secret ticket to an unknown society where the dad stored his true will...

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But. This is great advice. A generic strategy for finding information.

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me, except I always poke a small bruise to check that it is, indeed, a bruise which is small.

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why is the mission impossible theme playing in my head?

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

For an additional twist, the artist should have added cleavage to the bone...

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Finally.

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Living_Shadow
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a child, you end up thinking Tom's an idiot and Jerry is right and super clever. It's not all a lie; Tom is shown as an idiot. But Jerry's the cruel one. I remember episodes where Tom wasn't even bothering him and Jerry would get him in trouble with the dog or whatever. Tom also died in two episodes. One, he fell victim to his own trap, and in another, he was beheaded. They didn't show that, just the blade of the guillotine going down. Jerry was cruel af in many ways

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It took me ages to figure out that that was how mousetraps actually worked and that they didn't simply catch the mouse by the tail like in the old cartoons.

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nooooooooooooo this is my favorite cartoon that I STILL WATCH TO THIS DAY!

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NCC~1701
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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WTF this cartoon was my childhood and now it’s ruined 😂 😭

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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've seen a few theories that Tom and Jerry are actually friends and Tom has to pretend to hate Jerry because if he doesn't the humans will get another cat who will actually try to kìll Jerry. Decent theory.

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This why ghosts are horrible at telling lies....we can see right through them haha!

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5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whats dark about this? I went to speech therapy for years as a kid and found the whole experience enjoyable. Its the only reason i speak without my horrible speech impediment I had

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