What is Enthalpy?
It encompasses many media, but at its core is an animated series which follows the adventures of three boys (Nicholas, Udesky and Charles) and the strange circumstances they and those around them constantly encounter.

What does "enthalpy" mean?
Merriam-Webster Online defines "enthalpy" as "the sum of the internal energy of a body or system and the product of its volume multiplied by the pressure."

What is Enthalpy's target audience?
There isn't one, really. I make what I like, so I guess it's for anyone of any age who shares my interests and/or sense of humor.

Is Enthalpy appropriate for the littlest, tiniest children?
Probably, as long as content in the more-violent-but-still-G-rated Disney moves from the 1990s is and what's on the TV-Y7 FV shows on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network is. If you find that sort of media too subversive, you may want to watch a few episodes before showing your children. You might find some content unacceptable such as use of the very funny word "poop".

You're the main character in your own cartoon? That's rather unoriginal and narcissistic. I don't like you anymore.
Enthalpy takes place in a fictional universe with many similarities to and many differences from our own. The fictional Nicholas in Enthalpy is loosely based on me at the age when I first started using the character in comics back in 2001, but there's no way I could survive most of the situations my doppelganger character does, or even face them without breaking down in a tearful trauma. You're right; that does seem narcissistic. I don't like myself anymore.

What's all this about these old comics?
When I was eleven, my nephew Severin started drawing comics about a superhero named Severin Boy. I liked the idea and wanted to do something similar, but with a protagonist who's just a regular human instead of a superhero. I drew the first comics during fall break of 2001. They were just one page (front and back) each, featuring Nicholas and his archenemy Piggly Oink. When I returned to school, I started writing longer graphic novels with this character that I was allowed to publish using the school's copying machine. In the second graphic novel, Nicholas met up with Udesky, who ended up becoming a recurring character. Charles appeared several issues later and turned out to be charismatic enough that I felt I should continue to involve him in my stories. When I started making Flash animations, I knew I wanted them to be a continuation of this universe.

Several Flashes with these characters have been released over the years. Why do you not consider them part of Enthalpy?
Though I consider those Flashes to be within the same canon as Enthalpy, they were more intended as experiments to practice my animation skills before I started the "true" series.

Where can I read these old comics?
For now, unless you manage to find a copy published back in 2001 and distributed to my friends, family members and school faculty, you can't. I'd put them online, but back then I had no qualms about stealing jokes I saw on TV and putting them in my comics, so I did it all the time. Consequently, the comics aren't available for copyright reasons. And because I'd have to scan in and touch up hundreds of pages.

People steal jokes all the time! Everyone does it! You won't get sued!
But it's immoral and I'm ashamed. I don't even find it fun to read them because everytime I encounter a stolen joke it nags me. I may eventually release an annotated compilation pointing out which jokes I came up with myself and which I stole and from what, since the comics are part of Enthalpy history. For now, though, you can read my more recent comics, completely stolen-joke free. If you encounter a joke that you've seen somewhere else before, it's either a coincidence or an unfortunate case of cryptomnesia.

This informational page was originally drafted on October 15, 2008 and updated on October 7, 2010.
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