User:Murgh/Sore Thumbs

Sore Thumbs is a manga-style webcomic drawn by Owen Gieni and written by Chris Crosby, the co-founder and co-CEO of Keenspot. First appearing on March 8, 2004, the webcomic weaves a story in context of the gaming community with characters acting within stereotypes of U.S. political opinion.

Since Sore Thumbs began its run, it has been nominated as Outstanding Newcomer at the 2004 Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards, and during the run-in to the 2004 Presidential Election, the strip was a participant in the Free Comic Book Day project, as the comic book Sore Thumbs Election Special was distributed free of charge.

Synopsis
The story follows Cecania Greensworthington, a recently college-graduated liberal activist allowed to live in her wealthy conservative mother's house on the condition that she works for her brother Fairbanks' business, a right-wing video game store named "Sore Thumbs" that sells only non-violent, non-suggestive games. Other characters include the best friend Harmony, a Gulf-war veteran named Sawyer Kaden, and a little bear named Gary Coleman.

Commentary
Since the apparent sympathies of the webcomic's point of view take a liberal bias, some commentators have criticized the portrayal of the right-wing stereotypes is too exaggerated and heavy-handed to register as successful parody. Other commentators describe a more subtle criticism directed at vocal left-wing supporters. Crosby has himself stated that he is "detached from any particular point of view when writing Sore Thumbs, though it obviously doesn't seem that way to some outside observers."