The 12 Labours of Gastrophobia (Gastrophobia #1)
By David McGuire
It doesn't take long for this cute, funny webcomic to be seen as hella snarky and sharply toned personality to shine through. This book has 12 episodes and each one is a great time with the view of a mother-son team kicking some ass and fumbling their way to success, sometimes. The first story had them going after a humongo-lion looking cheetah and ending with them not receiving the reward on it, due to its state. The second was a story of Phobia (mama) looking for her bro when they were both quite young and locating him at the bottom of a long ass plummet down a hole, Hydra also waiting for her.
In the end, this tale being for Gastro (son), she scares him since he'd been so unceremonious with how he woke her. The third was a Bambi-like story where he wants revenge on she, who killed his mother, so must become a "monster" in kind, with an open ending. There are also short one-offs, but the longer story after has to do with Phobia's relative haunting Gastro over how she'd dined and dashed a ton of inns, ending with another look see at grown Alcides, Phobia's baby bro. The next episode has to do with Gastro being responsible for cleaning out their hut since he'd packed it with trash from the city thinking it could be useful, and also thinking directing the river through the hut would be the best way of cleaning it.
The more I read, the more Gastro reminds me of Steven Universe. The fifth episode had the two going after a minotaur and Gastro ending up without his horn because the minotaur didn't get bored. Phobia meanwhile, doesn't see the value in replacing it anyways, since their family were warriors and Gastro was destined to be one, as well. They then walk into Horsetown where a new resident horse gives Gastro the opportunity to get some kind of magical request and in the end gets his horn replaced with a mini harp.
There's even a nod to The Time Machine HG Wells-style, which then transforms into the Phobia episode where it shows how she got kicked out of Amazonia. The crossover comic with Chris Hastings who wrote Dr. McNinja, was funny and the humor stays strong throughout. They have a bake-off Iron Chef-style, which the results are just as unfair. The last story has Phobia adopt a puppy for Gastro, it not being a large beast, but still had a good sense of the hunt. Another fun go-back is the ever-changing story of who Gastro's father is, Zeus, but the form he takes being different in the tellings. This is bunches of fun and I'll enjoy reading them til there are no more.
