Pocket God is a series of digital and print comics, published and marketed by Ape Entertainment and iVerse Media, released for iOS devices, and available in print beginning on August 3, 2010.
Based on the best-selling iOS application Pocket God, created by Bolt Creative's Allan Dye and Dave Castelnuovo, the comic was created and plotted by Dave Castelnuovo and Allan Dye, written by Jason M. Burns, and drawn by Rolando Mallada. The comic is about "an indestructible race of people who inhabit a mysterious island and are continuously (and comically) tortured by their mischievous gods".
25 issues of Pocket God were published, including a special Christmas issue, Xmas Marks the Spot, and fourteen 'behind-the-scenes' comics, named The Pygmy Peril. Pocket God was rated for "mature readers" and "teen and up", due to violence.
According to iVerse Media, Pocket God was the first original iOS game to have its own comics series.
Publication history A sneak preview of the comic was released on the official website on May 7, 2010, an almost full three months before it was released, describing the series and who was involved. Bolt Creative originally stated it was going to only publish four issues of Pocket God.
Within a week of the comic's release, it was met with generally positive reviews from many websites and critics. The comic quickly reached the top 25 in the App Store, peaking at #1 in the books category. Review websites such as App Advice praise the comic for its engagement, interface, and overall capability, but criticized it for its short storyline, quoting "Minus the title page, instructions, and credits this is a 20-page comic... it goes by so quickly, and there's nothing left to do with it." App Advice gave the comic four and a half stars. 148Apps gave the comic 4 out of 5 stars. Pocket God #1 sold 150,000 copies of the digital comic (while selling fewer than 1,000 print copies).
After the comic's initial success, and due to popular demand, Bolt Creative decided to produce more issues.
Due to financial troubles at Ape Entertainment, the comic was put on hiatus and canceled in late 2013, before releasing its 26th issue. The creators wanted to be able to continue the comics, but the contract was up in the air so it was unknown whether or not the Pocket God comic would continue.
Beginning November 2, 2019, Pocket God was republished on the Webtoon website, being posted gradually in sections by its creators. A final issue, "#26B", was posted on December 31, 2021.
Setting The comics are set around six pygmies, named Ooga, Klik, Klak, Booga, Dooby, and Nooby, who form a tribe, Oogka Chaka, and are always loyal to their gods (with the exception to Ooga, who thinks worshipping the gods is a waste of time, and does not believe in them). Regardless of Ooga's thoughts, the tribe, Klik mainly, still believe and honour them. The story is set on a small archipelago of islands, approximately 200 Mya (million years ago, set in the Triassic period), when the super continent Pangaea still existed. According to the game, the islands are located in the Panthalassic Ocean, opposite Pangaea. It is set mainly on Oog Island, the home of the tribe. It is a relatively small island, with a small type of forest. When the Gem of Life faded its colour, the Pygmies travel to an unnamed island, with a large rainforest and a hidden temple. Inside the temple is an Egyptian-like setting, with hieroglyphic writing on its walls.
Plot
The Gem of Life (August – December 2010) The Gem of Life consists of four parts, in a total of the first four issues, it revolves around the entire tribe as they attempt to return the Gem of Life to its original pedestal, after Nooby clumsily causes their pedestal to be destroyed.
Part 1 The comic begins with a meteor hurdling towards Earth, while the tribe is circled around a type of totem pole, holding a gem. The tribe is honouring the gods by offering them large amounts of fish. Much to his boredom, Ooga catches his eye on the meteor that is heading straight for him. He then asks dim-witted Nooby to swap places with him. He agrees, then almost immediately, he is crushed by the meteor, killing him. Klak tries to spear the meteor, resulting the spear to ricochet off it then hit Klak in the chest. The rest, except Ooga, are executed from a chain reaction. The next day, Ooga and Klik have an argument why Ooga keeps disrupting 'the pygmy way'. Klik then explains that their ancestors discovered the Gem of Life, and brought it back to Oog Island and gave them something that they have never could have hoped for, or, in Ooga's terms, asked for. Klik tells him to grow up. Meanwhile, a great white shark with what is described as a military nitrogen laser, approaches the island. Meanwhile, Booga is having trouble trying to light a fire on the meteor that crashed earlier; and volunteers Nooby to gather firewood. As Nooby walks into the small forest, he finds an anthill with an ant on top of it. As Nooby talks to it, Up above in a coconut tree, Ooga spills coconut milk onto Nooby. Back at the meteor, Booga asks where he is. Nooby then runs out of the forest, with hundreds of fire ants crawling on him. He then manages to kill himself, Booga and Nooby. Klak then emerges; and after eating a part of a fish head, he suddenly screams towards the sea and submerges his head underwater. The "Shark with Laser" then lurks towards him. As it prepares to eat him, an octopus grabs Klak and eats him. The next day, the pygmies have a tribe meeting discussing their mortality. He is then interrupted by Nooby, who needs to go to the outhouse. Lightning strikes on the outhouse and he runs out, trying to hold up his grass skirt, while so. he then hides behind the totem pole, with it holding the Gem of Life, and the lightning strikes the pole, snapping it in half. Klik, shocked, exclaims that the gods will 'cast us away once and for all', when the Gem of Life is removed from its pedestal. Klik comes up with a plan to make the gods forgive them, but all but Ooga end up electrocuted. Klik, delusional, but correct, then sees the now discoloured gem and is shocked to say that when the colour drains from the gem, they will lose their immortality.
Part 2 Klik and the tribe, much to the dismay of Ooga, journey to the neighbouring island to return the Gem of Life to its original pedestal. The "Shark With Laser" shoots a laser through their raft after they had been in the water for countless hours. They all "abandon ship". They resurface to find that Dooby has been captured by the shark. Ooga rescues him, by throwing a spear into the shark's laser beam, electrocuting itself. When they both resurface, immediately they are pulled by a tsunami, and crash on the island beach. While in the jungle, they arrive to a field of banana skins. A pack of apes terrorise the tribe and Klik is caught by one, and killed. Ooga then realises that, since the gem's power has disappeared, Klik is now deceased forever, by that one part of the gem is now a dark grey. After the tribe craft a tombstone for Klik, Ooga decides that he will return the gem of life for Klik, with the approval of everyone, except Booga, who looks pale and delirious. A bug had sucked blood out of him, from his back. Ooga then rips it off of Booga, throws it on the ground, then jumps onto it, with a "bloody" result. Ooga then thinks he needs some food to regain his health, and immediately, Nooby rolls out a gigantic egg, claiming it is a chicken egg. A Tyrannosaurus rex emerges to attack the group, clearly aggravated.
Part 3 As the five remaining pygmies are evading the T. rex, Klak suggests that they run in serpentine. Shortly after, Dooby is caught by his grass skirt by the Rex's mouth. Ooga then throws a spear, narrowly missing Dooby, but hitting the skirt instead, falling to the ground, naked. Dooby falls on Nooby, while trying to catch him. The tribe is disgusted that he is not wearing anything. The dinosaur returns, and the pygmies run into a cave, stopping the dinosaur in its tracks. Klak passes Dooby a bunch of leaves to cover himself up, and then asks how they are going to get rid of the reptile. Ooga asks Booga if he knows how to get rid of it, but he doesn't respond. Ooga approaches Booga and asks if he is alright, and Booga appears to be wrapped under snake skin. Ooga looks at the gem, and another sixth of it is now grey, resulting that Booga is dead. A giant snake had eaten him, and the Pygmies run out of the cave.
Dooby is flabbergasted and in excitement after discovering a whole field of what appears to be mushrooms containing Psilocybin. Dooby is then crushed by the dinosaur's foot, leaving only Ooga, Klak, and Nooby alive. They run towards a cliff, ultimately falling off it. They fall into the water, beside the temple, and Ooga and Klak find that Nooby is being chased by a pack of piranhas. The Laser Shark shoots the piranhas, not knowing it has let the pygmies escape. When on land, they discover the temple, but there is a puzzle to open the entrance. Klak and Ooga are stumped, but to their surprise, Nooby cracks the puzzle in seconds. Inside, Ooga finds a skeleton of a pygmy, still wearing its hat, a bag and a wooden sword. Ooga takes the bag and the sword, while Nooby takes the hat. Ooga then realises that Klak has disappeared, and shouts for him. Klak responds, and they see that Klak is stuck in a large cobweb.
Part 4 As Ooga fights to free Klak from the web, a large barking spider emerges behind them. Nooby starts singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" when it lands in front of them. They throw themselves away from the beast as it jumps towards them. It then cocoons Klak, who is still stuck. Nooby then says that he rips the legs off smaller spiders and "watch legless balls wriggle". Ooga gets the idea and quickly uses his sword to chop off the spider's legs. As Nooby and Ooga try to get Klak out of the cocoon, another fraction of the gem has faded to grey, indicating he has suffocated in the cocoon, but as they rip it open, dozens of baby barking spiders crawl out and chase them. They run off again, both agreeing that they are tired of doing so. As they exit, they push a large circular door to stop the spiders from getting to them. As Ooga explains they are the last hope of getting the gem to the gods, Nooby tells that he did not believe in them though. Ooga says he does now, but he thinks the gods do not believe in them, and how they deserve to know why the gods are always killing them. As he reaches in his bag, Ooga finds a journal, it reads:
I have travelled once again to this island to uncover the true nature of that which the gods have bestowed upon us.I have witnessed a side of their generosity that seems more sinister than sincere.Their gift not only promises eternal life, but from what I have seen, eternal death as well.