Gronk
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"OK, Gronk; if you're going to stay here, we're going to need to teach you about my world. One: This is my office. No touchy. Two, there are always cookies in this jar. If we're running low, let me know. Three, you're going to have to watch some educational movies. We'll start with the Muppets."
Gronk is a webcomic by Katie Cook. It can be found here.
The titular Gronk is a monster; she is of indeterminate age, but is probably somewhere in the vicinity of "pretty young." Among all of the monsters, she is the most horrible...ly cute. And she is unhealthily fond of cats for a monster. After her beloved plush kitty is torn in a fight with another monster, she decides to leave the monster woods forever. Soon afterwards, she meets Dale, an affable shut-in who agrees to fix her kitty plushie. The two bond, and Dale agrees to teach Gronk about the human world.
What follows is an extremely nerdy and extremely sweet-natured Slice of Life comic about a girl and her adopted monster child, in which Gronk attempts to cope with the human world after getting all her information from the Internet and TV. It's cute, it's full of geeky references, it's cute, it has a style of humor similar to Yotsuba&!, and... did we mention it was cute?
Definitely not to be confused with Gonk or Gronkh.
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: Harli is somehow capable of winning at Risk.
- Author Avatar: Dale looks a lot like the author, Katie, only with longer hair.
- Big Eater: Harli the dog has actually gobbled Gronk up into her mouth a few times.
- Big Friendly Dog: Harli is about half as big as Dale, and at least twice the size of Gronk. She's also picked up Gronk in her mouth a few times. But she wouldn't hurt a fly, honest.
- Canada, Eh?: Dale is Canadian, though it only really comes up in a few strips, such as when the author lampshades (in The Rant) that Dale and Gronk shouldn't be celebrating Thanksgiving when the Americans do.
- Children Raise You: There's a definite vibe of this with Dale's adoption of Gronk.
- Cool Loser: Dale. Although in her case, it's not so much that she lacks social skills as she lives way out in the sticks.
- Cute Little Fangs: Gronk has one.
- Everything's Better with Plushies: Gronk's cat plushie, Kitteh.
- Expressive Accessory: Dale's books change when they're being thrown. And then there's her pumpkin after seeing what Gronk does to hers...
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: Eyes! Eyes everywhere! (For bonus amusement, there's an alternate ending panel in The Rant where Gronk is given Crazy Eyes.)
- Gasshole: Roofus the pug, who's got a "poot!" near him in almost every panel he appears in.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck: A Hellboy comic actually appears as "Heckboy" at one point. Then again, it's also funny.
- Happily Adopted: Gronk herself, natch. She much prefers the human side of life.
- Hurricane of Puns: Dale indulges her Pungeon Master side here. Gronk is not amused.
- Iconic Item: Kitteh, Gronk's plush kitty. It apparently used to be Dale's, but she lost it on a camping trip.
- Innocent Swearing: While Dale was on the phone, no less...
- Interspecies Romance: Gronk gets a crush on Dale's brother's pug, whom she believes to be a monster.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: Gronk herself.
- Made of Explodium: Dale's bathtub... somehow. Mr Wizard is probably to blame in some fashion.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Gronk is... not a normal monster.
- Mr. Imagination: Gronk, especially evident when she finds Kitty playing in a box. She imagines all sorts of creative scenarios while in the box; Kitty imagines being in a box.
- Not a Morning Person: Dale, very much so.
- Nightmare Fuel Coloring Book: Done intentionally by Gronk. "Buy me an iPad, and the drawings stop."
- One-Hour Work Week: Dale seems to have nothing better to do with her time than hang out at home with her pets and Gronk, but it gives her enough cash to support them all and her nerdy habits. However, reading the characters page actually does reveal her job: She's a composer who makes music for commercials and TV, which she can conveniently do from home.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: It doesn't, but it's worth addressing that a number of people believed it did. Many people believed the Children Raise You angle to the strip was because the author was expecting a child of her own when the strip began, but she then explained that she'd had the comic idea for well over six years.
- Schedule Slip: Happened when the author had a baby. However, she actually had guest strips to fill the void.
- Scrabble Babble: "Smar." According to Gronk, it means "Not quite smart to a 'T.'"
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Gronk on the roof in a Batman costume, with an umbrella. "You tell me how this could possibly be a bad idea and then we'll come down!"
- Vague Age: Gronk seems to have lived by herself among the monsters, but she has the personality of a small child. It's hard to say.
- A recent[when?] comic reveals that she's 109. But she's NOT a baby! She has one of her adult teeth!