YMMV / Subnormality

• Anvilicious: Let's just say Rowntree isn't a big fan of subtlety. See also Author Tract and Author Filibuster.
  • This is more true for the earlier Subnormality strips, such as "Mrs. Smith is a Nasty Piece of Work" and "The Atheist Apocalypse" (Winston had much fewer fans earlier on, had more of a bitter outlook, etc.) as well as Abnormality (Cracked opinion columns are generally written in a somewhat in-your-face style, and Winston rightly or wrongly perceived that he needed to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator based on what he observed of the Cracked reader base). Newer strips tend to be more subtle, and in the comments section Winston seems to have adopted the policy of never outright dictating how readers should interpret any given strip.
• Critical Backlash: In this comic, Rowntree pokes fun at DC's then-latest reboot. The problem was, he also poked fun at Batman on Cracked.com, probably the biggest collection of batfans on the internet. Coupled with Rowntree clearly never reading a comic about any of the four characters in his article, the comment section really let him have it.
  • That, and he made the photoplasty shocking and disgusting to prove his point...on a site devoted to light-hearted comedy.
• Genius Bonus: Applied fairly often, such as here. The "16th century Russian howitzer" is in fact the 1586-built Tsar Cannon, and can still be found in present-day Moscow.
• Growing the Beard: Hallway which marked the first time PHG and Ethel met. The first real friendship developed by two different reoccurring characters, it represented a turn for a more continuity heavy, ensemble heavy, story telling that was more character based and a fair bit less cynical.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: This strip was presumably made before The Last Airbender damaged the reputation of M. Night Shyamalan.
• Nightmare Fuel: Has its own page.
• Schedule Slip: Comics were once posted regularly. It's become very infrequent now.
• Strawman Has a Point: "Dual" which attempts to portray those who criticize PHG's friendship with the Sphinx as small minded with the strip mockingly invoking Godwin's Law using Hitler's secretary as an example. However, the previous strip "The Line" had argued forcefully using Hitler's secretary that ignoring the horrible things people do around you was wrong, seriously undermining the easy dismissal of the problems of being friends with someone who eats humans. In fact, the secretary is even mentioned.
• Ugly Cute: Most of the monsters Rowntree draws. Just look at some of them in this strip without going "D'aaaw" at some point.
• The Woobie: Most of the characters who have appeared more than twice. Yes, even the Sphinx.

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