Strizz was a German Comic Strip that ran from 2002-10 in the conservative German FAZ newspaper. It tells about the life of the book keeper Strizz, his family, his boss, their pets, and some related folks, with many hijinks. Definitely better than it sounds.
- Strizz: A young man (early thirties — we guess) who works as a bookkeeper at Leo & co. Very enthusiastic, with big dreams, but not that great in making them come true.
- Herr Leo: Owner of the company, thus Strizz' boss. Would prefer if Strizz just did his work.
- Raphael: Strizz' young nephew. Owns a number of toys, and likes to stage elaborate discussions with them.
- Irmi: A painter. Once Strizz dialed a wrong number and got her on the phone. She liked his voice, though, and stored his phone number. Given enough time, something developed from it.
- Herr Paul: The cat of Herr Leo.
- Müller: Irmi's dachshund.
- Tassilo: A guard dog.
Has an official website here.
You can read the collected strips here, but apparently not for free.
Examples:
- Cats Are Mean: Herr Paul often rips up the newspapers and curtains in his house and gets cranky if he doesn't get first-class cat food. The other cats are less so.
- Comic-Book Time: Averted. We see Raphael grow, and two babies born, who develop over time. Not in Real Time, but they do.
- Consulting Mister Puppet: Raphael and his toys (one of which is even named "Herr Teddy"), who form the "philosophical sextet." Justified because Raphael is a kid.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In one early strip, we see Raphael's toys come alive at night. This would stay the only time, though.
- Formally-Named Pet: Herr Paul. Müller is a last name, but that's it, not Herr Müller, just Müller. And Raphael has a formally named toy, Herr Teddy.
- Missing Mom: Raphael's. It becomes an arc later. Strizz is her (much) younger brother.
- Named After Somebody Famous:
- Berres named his pet rat Lilo, after Lilo Pulver, who was one of the biggest stars of German-language movies in the 1950s and 1960s.
- Irmi, a painter, clearly named her twin children after famous painters: Vincent (van Gogh) and Paula (Modersohn-Becker).
- Shaped Like Itself: Raphael owns, among other toys, a teddy named Herr Teddy, a dinosaur named Dino, a crocodile named Krock, and a man in a car named Driver.
- Sweet Tooth: Rafael loves his chocolate. For a time he had a "chocolate museum" in his room, the contents of which kept disappearing mysteriously.
