Regular Guy

"About as exciting as anything else"

Regular Guy is, despite its name, a not-so-regular webcomic chronicling the adventures of an Every Man hero, Reg, and his two friends: Anja Baker, a high school love interest with a hairtrigger temper, and Arik Nolan who seems more concerned about the status of the yogurt in his refrigerator than any of the weirdness that befalls his friends.

In the first chapter, the trio are kidnapped, along with American Actress and Spiritual Leader Tori Spelling, by an alien spacecraft. They hold an extraterrestrial gay wedding for the Earth's fate, and stop a weapon of interstellar destruction with The Power of Rock. Readers have yet to confirm whether It Makes Sense in Context or not. Then, in order to return to Earth, they jump through a "causality loop" in the spacetime continuum that de-ages Reg to a teenager.

The strip is written and drawn by Scott A. Williams. Though the writing engendered a certain amount of praise, the art itself is, by the author's own admission... not very good. But not terrible either.

The comic has been running since late 2007, but strips come out at a trickle and have never even professed to be on a real schedule. It has been on hiatus since September 2010, when Chapter 3 ended.

Tropes used in Regular Guy include:

• Art Evolution: Although the art never gets good, it definitely has improved...
• Awesome McCoolname: Reg decides he needs to get to know Katie DeLorean on the basis of this.
• Berserk Button: Rory wants relish. Anja wants Reg and Whatsisface to stop bickering over her. Katie does not like other girls looking at Reg.
• Casanova: Not only was Nolan popular in high school due to his prodigious facial hair, he had his thingy declared a work of art. He seems only to use this power for good.
• Catapult Nightmare: Combined with a Non Sequitur Scene... of sorts.
• Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): Used, deconstructed and somewhat Played for Laughs with Reg and Traci's 1999 relationship.
• Early Installment Weirdness: There was no spoken dialogue (ie Speech Bubbles) until the 17th strip, using omniscient narrator and pictures instead. The page orientation was also inconsistent for a long while.
• The Everyman: Reg is this. He's not cunning like Nolan, he doesn't fight like Anja, stuff just happens to him and he deals with it.
• Fantastic Racism: The Queen of Ninurta is in a same-sex relationship, but they are forbidden to marry. This is why they must destroy the Earth.
• Fiery Redhead: Anja, who has been shown to be at least strawberry blonde in a few coloured strips, and though she mellows with age, is definitely not to be crossed.
• Flash Back: Lost-style: piecing the characters' pasts together while also commenting (sometimes) on current actions. Usually clearly denoted to avoid confusion.
• Gang of Bullies: Rodriguez, Chung and Hirschman, a multi-ethnic tribute to the Sweat Hogs.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: If Nolan is indeed Reg's sidekick
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum: A lot of stuff.
• Last-Name Basis: The bullies, whose first names are not revealed, and Arik Nolan, who mostly just goes by Nolan.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Katie is introduced somewhat like this for Reg. It doesn't go according to plan...
• Modesty Bedsheet: Completely averted here.
• Mundane Fantastic: When an alien threatens the entire planet due to the lack of available relish, you're heavily accenting both words of this trope.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Whatsisface, whose real name is scrambled, Kill Bill-style, on at least one occasion (as is his face.)
  • Katie DeLorean never seems to refer to Reg by his real name.
• Poke the Poodle: Hey, I DID want fries with this...!
• The Power of Rock: How do Reg, Anja and Nolan destroy the World-Breaker missile? With an impromptu performance of The Who's Baba O'Reilly.
• Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: Anja executes a particularly lame one.
• Schedule Slip: To paraphrase the "About" page: It doesn't have a schedule, which means it is never off schedule.
• Schoolgirl Lesbians: Beans McCoy may very well be "The World's Worst Lesbian." And she is unkind to Sarah Petruzelli.
• Space Whale Aesop: You can take the gay marriage stuff in the first chapter seriously... or not.
• Truth in Television: The business about Tori Spelling gay-marrying people.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: As Anja describes Whatsisface, "Just because you can look like Kevin Bacon, doesn't mean you are Kevin Bacon."
• Webcomic Time: To an uncertain degree. Inevitable, even without taking Schedule Slip into account.
• Wham! Line: I looked -- like -- THIS!!
  • Also, in a sort of instance of "burying the lead," "Katie told me you guys had a bit of a fling, but I forgive her as long as you promise it's over." Ouch.
• Wild Teen Party: Reg re-enacts the plot of Superbad for part of Chapter 2. The party itself seems rather subdued.
• Your Head Asplode: Apparently used to happen to Reg all the time, when attempting conversation with girls during his awkward (original) teenage years.