Artist Adds Dark Humor To His Comics That Look Innocent At First (30 Pics)

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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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

303points

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Hans 5 years ago

Practical.

97points

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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)."

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

282points

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S. 5 years ago

. . . oh

119points

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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."

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

280points

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Hans 5 years ago

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

113points

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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

276points

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Grapeling 5 years ago

Slapped in the face by reality

117points

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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

273points

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queen...<3 5 years ago

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

192points

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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

272points

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Hans 5 years ago

Love is just a mushroom away!

138points

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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

260points

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Hans 5 years ago

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

158points

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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

250points

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Hans 5 years ago

A job that has to be done.

77points

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Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

250points

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Cats vs zombies 5 years ago

I expected a skeleton or a zombie to walk in.

34points

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#10

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

240points

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Hans 5 years ago

Ouch

82points

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#11

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

226points

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Grapeling 5 years ago

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

80points

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#12

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

226points

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Rissie 5 years ago

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

133points

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#13

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

223points

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lilly nyangweso 5 years ago

oops

95points

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#14

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

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214points

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Grapeling 5 years ago

Mom:...?

69points

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#15

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

204points

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Hans 5 years ago

Great one!

68points

Night Owl 5 years ago

That escalated quickly

13points

Sakuhana 5 years ago

Wow okay, childhood ruined

12points

-Møøn- 5 years ago

Roses are red, cacti are prickly, Holy guacamole That escalated quickly

10points

Bowen Song 5 years ago

OMG, i am so grossed out

5points

Lemon 5 years ago

that looks like a lot of acne over took him

4points

Laura Drillenburg 4 years ago

Uhhhh.... I will never watch a smurf movie the same ever again now...

3points

Missy Barton 5 years ago

That makes sense

3points

Lola 1 year ago

I thought it was storks

1point

Jinx (she/her) 1 year ago

if I recall correctly, gargamel created smurfette to seduce the smurfs, but she turned good from their pure wholesomeness. she has "something" under her dress, but the rest do not.

1point

Sushi Smack 5 years ago

Actually just so you know Smurfs come from storks

1point

Daniel Wang 5 years ago

I thought smurfs say a lot of "smurf" in every sentence.

1point

Alyse 5 years ago

I hate this more than anything

1point

J.Labuschagné 5 years ago

I've always wondered about that.

1point

amy harvey 5 months ago

I ran out of unsee juice... oh no.

0points

lily s weakland 3 years ago

i have always wondered where smurfs cam from

0points

hiếu ngô 4 years ago

trypophobia activated

0points

Harry Potter nerd 4 years ago

Omg that looks disgusting

0points

Jellybear 4 years ago

Well isn't THAT nice.

0points

Cees Timmerman 4 years ago

The male equivalent of a blue waffle.

0points

Freya the Wanderer 5 years ago

I always knew the Smurfs weren't so innocent!

0points

Tamara Bradshaw 5 years ago

Um....ew

0points

Ina 5 years ago

😬

0points

Polly Rabbits 5 years ago

Don't get that one....

0points

White Raven 5 years ago

Oof

0points

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#16

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

204points

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S. 5 years ago

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

69points

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#17

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

199points

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IzzieM 5 years ago

Wingmen sometimes get all the action...

35points

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#18

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

197points

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Grapeling 5 years ago

*Immediately pinches self* nope not still dreaming

63points

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#27

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

172points

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European other 5 years ago

Literally haha

53points

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#28

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

166points

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JeffC 5 years ago

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

91points

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#29

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

163points

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S. 5 years ago

Not too far from reality, often.

68points

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#30

Berkeleymews-Sorry-I-Ruined-Your-Childhood-Comics-Ben-Zaehringer

Final score:

148points

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Herb Eaversmells 5 years ago

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

98points

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Note: this post originally had 107 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

What do you think ?

hobbitly 5 years ago

I love these!

20points

Nice ones!

glowworm2 5 years ago

These are really funny.

11points

Night Owl 5 years ago (edited)

I love them 😍 These are fun and twisted

Luna Lovegood 5 years ago

Someone missed the upvote button- so I fixed it :)

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CR82 5 years ago

These were all great!

TheExtremeSmell 5 years ago

I laughed I cried I spilled juice on my good pair of pants

2points

Lilli 5 years ago (edited)

these were great! keep it up! EDIT: my dark sense of humor loved these :3

MagNat 5 years ago

Great work <3

Bored Birgit 5 years ago

I had to see all 107 of them! Awesome!

🍁Snow🍁 5 years ago

Same!

Full Name 5 years ago

I have time for anyone who thinks outside the box and can follow things to different conclusions.

M Dream 5 years ago

very clever

Chris DiFonso 5 years ago

Ben said, "We were also taught to draw cars. Cars are the bane of every cartoonist, so I'm glad that I was forced to draw them early." I'm not an artist or cartoonist. Why are cars the bane of every cartoonist?

Very funny and clever

Sarawyn 5 years ago

These are fantastic! Love your sense of humor!

thom mac donald 5 years ago

So funny!

Dorothy Parker 5 years ago

Top Ten Bored Panda Items. These are so good. It's all in the context.

Harshad Deshmukh 5 years ago

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Artist Adds Dark Humor To His Comics That Look Innocent At First (30 Pics)

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