20 funny comics to lighten your mood and make you laugh

17. Boulet

Okay, I hear you. Violent, gut-wrenching twists on the superhero genre aren’t quite your thing. Maybe, then, you would prefer something that’s a little more slice-of-life?

If that’s the case, then you may dig Boulet. He’s a French comics artist who has been publishing since the early 2000s. While, yes, most of his work is in French, there are many English translations out there. That includes his popular webcomic, which combines musings on everyday life, spy movies, learning to levitate and drinking way too much water.

In the webcomic, his work is artistically accomplished (I certainly wouldn’t want to spend all that time drawing bricks in a metro station) and energetically cartoonish. It works especially well when we have to switch back and forth between the real world and Boulet’s oftentimes drama-laden fantasy world.

It’s not just straightforward Seinfeld-style complaints about airplane food or something similarly mundane. Boulet is unafraid to take strange left turns, as in his exploration of dreams about flying. He wonders if he could actually take those common dreams and make them into reality … then realizes he’d probably be a jerk about the whole “flying powers” thing, anyway.

Or, if that’s still too close to superheroes, then check out his short about navigating the public transit system in Paris. Boulet claims that he has become an “urban ninja,” able to navigate the tricky world of the city’s metro system. He dramatically rushes through crowds, evaluating people as he goes. Too bad he still makes the rookie mistake of entering that one suspiciously empty train car.