MY FAVORITE
MUNCHKIN

John Kovalic

Backstabbing buddies and ducks found in dungeons,
Alluring ol’ kneepads and monsters you bludgeon.
Lined end to end they will go on for yards,
These are a few of my favorite cards.

 

What’s your favorite Munchkin card?”

It’s a question I get asked. A lot.

The quick answer – kind of a cop-out, really – is that I don’t have a favorite. I’ve now drawn more than 5,000 cards for the Munchkin game series. You try picking your most beloved out of 5,000 of your kids, you monster!

But that’s not entirely true.

In the 15 years I’ve been privileged to be part of the Munchkin team, there are certain cards that I just feel happier about than others, once they’re drawn. The reasons can be anything – perhaps it’s a sly glance a monster seems to make, once it’s inked; a hidden reference to some other card, maybe; a graphic in-joke; or simply any card with a toilet on it.

I’m given a lot of leeway with Munchkin cards, once the art specs arrive from either Steve Jackson or Andrew Hackard. Both pretty much know what to expect from me. If I get a card spec along the lines of “A munchkin wrapped head-to-toe in toilet paper, maybe with the rest of the roll on the ground nearby” (yes, this happened – find it!), it’s safe to say we all can imagine what the finished art is going to look at least a little like.

Sometimes – and I am not making this up – the art spec is simply “You know what to do, John.” The simple fact remains: Yes. Yes, I do know what to do. This scares me.

Often, my favorites come from the most recent set I’ve drawn. I like to think I’m a better artist now than I was 10 or 12 years ago. At the very least, I’m happier with my work these days. I believe that the line quality is tighter, the composition better, and the characters more animated.

I consciously try and make each set better than the last, and the art is constantly evolving. It’s part of what keeps drawing Munchkin fresh and fun for me. Given that the most recent cards are, at the moment, the most interesting, coming up with an unskewed list of my 10 favorite Munchkin cards would be problematic. I know. I try. Often.

But choosing my favorites from each set? That’s easier. There are cards that stand out for me in every batch. I can be notoriously hard on my early work. Still, there are certainly some pieces I remember fondly, the ones that came out juuuuuuust right. So here, at last, are all the Munchkin core sets I’ve drawn. And from each one, I’ve chosen a few of my favorite cards.

This is the first time I’ve ever had to sit down and look back over every card I’ve ever drawn for Munchkin. It’s an odd feeling, reviewing everything like that, even more so when it’s in the name of talking about my own “best” work. In my defense, this is the essay my editor requested of me. Really. Even so, it’s taken some effort for me to rule out my usual “Here’s my artwork . . . it’s not too awful, I guess” approach to these kinds of questions.

So while modesty dictates I should flee screaming at this point (+1 to Run Away), I’ll instead roll up my sleeves and kick down that door. . . .

MUNCHKIN (2001)

FUN FACT: I vividly remember when Steve Jackson Games sent me my contributor copies of Munchkin, mostly because my first thought was, “Nobody in their right mind is going to pay $25 for just a bunch of cards and a single die.” That was 29 printings ago.

I recall the original Munchkin set being a bit rushed. I think I was working on another project for Steve at the time – possibly Chez Geekrelated – and I needed to finish Munchkin off quicker than I would have liked. I was utterly thrilled to be the artist on a game that Steve himself designed, though, so I wasn’t even thinking about turning the project down. I adored the game and loved the unapologetic silliness of it all – even if I believed a light, humorous fantasy card game would be a niche-market product, at best. The cards were hilarious, the game was a hoot, and that was all that mattered.

Despite being hurried, the art – I think – worked. There’s a sense of manic energy that the deadline pressure may have brought to these cards, something I’ve tried to recapture in each subsequent release (the energy, that is – not the deadline pressure). People seem to love the drawings in this set, and some of the cards (“Gazebo,” “Chicken on Your Head,” “Kneepads of Allure”) have become iconic. Part of me would love to redraw this entire set some day. The fear of being pelted with dice and detritus by outraged fans of the game holds me back from lobbying too hard for this.

That said, “Duck of Doom” is my favorite here; it helped define the silliness that would run through all Munchkin, but it’s also evil. “Duck of Doom” is certainly a card I’d still be happy to have drawn in any subsequent set, and it’s become one of Munchkin’s truly unforgettable images.

STAR MUNCHKIN (2002)

FUN FACT: There are no blank cards in any Munchkin core sets. This has saved my drawing arm at more conventions than I care to count.

As a cartoonist, it’s no fun revisiting your work from years ago. Heck, sometimes I hate revisiting my work from a few months ago. But I’m not gonna lie – I’m surprised at how well Star Munchkin has aged. Going over the cards again, I see the embryonic beginnings of a definite Munchkin style; I was gaining confidence, and I had a bit more time to finish this set. I remember “Sidekick: Loud Hairy Alien” being as fun to draw as it still looks, to me; the “Cyborgs” and “Space Goats” turned out nicely; and one of the promo cards, “Heart of the Anomaly,” has gone on to become the single most sought-after Munchkin card in existence. One sold for more than $1,000 on eBay.

This is a tough one. “Being of Impure Thought”? “Duct Tape”?

In the end, the Doctor Who fan in me still loves “Dogbot” most of all. Possibly for no other reason than it’s “Dogbot.”

MUNCHKIN BITES (2004)

FUN FACT: At a convention in Minneapolis, I met Marv Wolfman and found out he was a Munchkin fan. So we added Marv the Wolfman to this set in his honor.

The art deadlines for both Munchkin Fu and Munchkin Bites were relatively close together; there was also a Chez Geek project in the works. (At the time, Chez Geek was still the larger franchise.) We were all worried about my ability to do three major releases in such a short period of time, and I suggested that the immensely talented Greg Hyland be given Munchkin Fu, which turned out wonderfully.

I drew most of Munchkin Bites during the summer of 2003, sitting outside various pubs on the banks of the Thames, in Southwark, London. It was glorious. I can recommend no better venue for drawing Munchkin cards. Also, I may have become slightly addicted to Pimm’s because of this. That definitely helped when I was designing the werewolves and changelings.

“Stake-A-Matic” and “Wind-Up Skull” are both cards that still make me giggle, but “Vampire Hunter” (based on my pal Sonia) is my favorite. It’s got a little more detail than most Munchkin cards did back then and is nicely energetic.

SUPER MUNCHKIN (2005)

FUN FACT: I drew the first Munchkin sets with Ultra Fine Point Sharpies. I am not proud of this, but at the time, it was what I was using for all my work. They are cheap and easy to use, but the line quality stinks. I didn’t know any better. Wait! This isn’t a Fun Fact at all! It’s just sad. . . .

Super Munchkin was the fourth Munchkin core set I worked on? Really? I always remembered it as being one of the first. Never trust a cartoonist’s judgment. Lesson learned.

Looking back over Super Munchkin is a bit of a revelation; this is one of those sets I don’t play as often as others. My drawings seem to again be gaining confidence, and – huh, look at that – there’s an energy to these that wasn’t there in the earlier sets. I was using horrible pens, yes, but I enjoyed drawing this set enormously. There’s far more action here than there was in Munchkin Bites. “Molybdenum Skateboard” and “Flight” are both evocative of the fun I was having, but “Touched Ancient Idol” is my stone-cold favorite of the set. Why would you touch an ancient idol? Why would you touch an ancient idol? I believe I captured a certain essential stupidity nicely on this one. Capturing stupidity is important when drawing Munchkin.

MUNCHKIN IMPOSSIBLE (2006)

FUN FACT: Munchkin Impossible is the only core Munchkin set I’ve drawn that does not yet have a supplement. It’s a great set, but Munchkin Cthulhu was released soon after, and was a huge hit. Munchkin Impossible was caught in the explosion of a gaming supernova. We still hope to get back to it some day, though. There aren’t enough tuxedos in Munchkin. Or martinis.

Confession time: In all honesty, there are some stylistic aspects of the early- to mid-period Munchkin drawings I wish I’d never, ever glommed on to. Specifically, the Stupefying Tremendous Overbite. The Stupefying Tremendous Overbite is something I’d draw on the characters when I’d want to show them grinning, but manic. I used it in my comic book, Dork Tower. It was a stylistic quirk I picked up from cartoonist Carol Lay. (Her Story Minute and Way Lay strips were simply fantastic.) But I took it to unfeasible extremes. I believe it reached its zenith with Munchkin Impossible; the main character appears frequently, smirking with a disturbing James Bond-meets-Hee Haw zealotry.

That said, going through all the cards again, I’m probably happier with this set than the Stupefying Tremendous Overbite problem might otherwise deserve. The “Seduce Enemy Agent” duo, “Shoe Blades,” “Cheat Death,” and “Deep Cover Assignment” all make me happy. But my favorite? “Learn From Experience.”

And I did indeed learn from experience: I banished the overbite from my drawings.

MUNCHKIN CTHULHU (2007)

FUN FACT: The “Cultist” card, showing the titular character holding a statue, is a tip of the pen to an Illuminati: New World Order card I did for Steve Jackson back in the 1990s. Illuminati was my first professional gaming gig. Try and spot my cards in it: I did 20 of them!

Munchkin Cthulhu was the turning point. Look, I loved working on all the Munchkin sets prior to this one. But by 2007, it was obvious that the game was becoming something special. Very special. Those who know me also know I’m a Cthulhu freak, as is Steve. In a sense, Munchkin Cthulhu could just as easily have been called Munchkin No-Brainer. We were prepared to lose Sanity points with this one.

Coming hot on the heels of Munchkin Impossible, Cthulhu let me switch from drawing contemporary characters to historical ones. For a very silly card game, I still wanted to get the clothing styles correct. This is where good reference materials come in, and The Chronicles of Western Fashion, by John Peacock, was a huge boon to the look of the game.

I had scads of time to complete this set, and I loved every minute of it. “Chibithulhu” went on to spawn its own mini-franchise. I’m also happy with the quasi-caricatures of “Aughost Derwraith” and “H. P. Munchcraft.” But it’s the simple little “Elder Globs” – playing off of soft drink characters from my youth – that remains my favorite.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE MUNCHKIN (2007)

FUN FACT: Some artists hate drawing feet. Me? I hated drawing horses. I had never come up with a good horse drawing that fit my style of cartooning. The Good, The Bad, and the Munchkin meant that I suddenly had to draw many, many horses. Because of this, I’m now much better at drawing horses. Go up a level!

The massive success of Munchkin Cthulhu shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to anyone. But by the time the art specs for The Good, The Bad, and the Munchkin came in, there was a very palpable sense among those of us working on it that the line was only getting bigger and better.

My cartooning career began with me drawing funny animals – specifically, a muskrat named Carson, in my comic strips Wild Life, and later, Dork Tower. So I really enjoyed all the animal cards in this set: “Catamount,” “Coyote,” “Grizzly Bear.” Even “Exterminate a Bison Herd” is sort of animal-based, in an awful, awful way. But there’s something about the expression on the doomed protagonist’s face on “Shoot the Piano Player” that keeps it my favorite.

By the way, I now want to do a game called Catamount, Coyote, Grizzly Bear. Or possibly that’s the name of my new indie band.

MUNCHKIN BOOTY (2008)

FUN FACT: In every Munchkin set, one monster becomes the Loser: the hapless, put-upon protagonist of almost every card that features something foul and unnatural happening to a creature. The Net Troll created this position in classic Munchkin (and has become one of the game’s best-loved monsters because of it). For Munchkin Booty, it seemed fittingly ridiculous to let the Clam take this spotlight.

I group Munchkin Cthulhu, The Good, The Bad, and the Munchkin, and Munchkin Booty together as sort of a transitional period for my cartooning. They were the three releases that defined in my mind what Munchkin should look like going forward. Possibly it was the quasi-historical research the character designs now required, making me think more about little details that went into them. Possibly it was the growing sales numbers, and the “Holy carp, these drawings had better be good!” mentality that came along with it. But in the Beatles discography of Munchkin games, these are, to me, the Help!, Rubber Soul, and Revolver of the catalogue. Though Weird Al might be a better musical metaphor for a game like Munchkin.

“Sir Francis Drake” could have been my favorite here, but it was squished into a teeny tiny little space, because of all the card text. “Almighty Cod” makes me grin, but “Cutlass” is my favorite, again loosely based on my pal Sonia. Wait. What? Is Sonia my Munchkin muse? At the very least, she’s really fun to draw!

MUNCHKIN ZOMBIES (2010)

FUN FACT: My daughter was born in 2008. This was the first Munchkin set I drew as a daddy, and I asked – politely – if someone else could draw the “Meals on Wheels” card. I just couldn’t bring myself to draw zombies going after a baby in a pram at that point in time.

Following what I remember as back-to-back-to-back big Munchkin releases, there was a two-year break between Munchkin Booty and Munchkin Zombies. It was welcome, and let me recharge my batteries, at least a bit.

Don’t get me wrong – there were plenty of other Munchkin projects to get done. There always are: supplements, promo cards, plushies, T-shirts. They all hit fast and furious. Munchkin had become a sales behemoth by 2010. But I went into Zombies excited by the prospect of designing new characters for a new set for the first time in a couple of years.

There had been zombies in Munchkin before, sure, but Zombies gave me a chance to redesign them from the ground (the underground?) up. This made it an exciting, dynamic project, and I was psyched about it. Nobody asked, but if there were a “Most Fun Munchkin Projects to Have Worked On” list, this would be in the top three.

Personal highlights here included animating the shambling zombie corpses on cards such as “Roller Skate,” seeing how much extra blood-splatter I could add to the butcher as a “Wandering Monster,” and tossing my great pal Kenneth Hite in as the “Zombieologist.” Simple cards such as “Mailbox” and “Perfect Hiding Place” delight me to this day. My favorite card, however, must be “Brains Enough for Two.” Sick, twisted, and cute. When I was penciling it, I tweeted that the card art was “the most gruesome thing Munchkin has ever made me draw.”

As Andrew Hackard has designed more and more cards, I’ve had to tweet that same line several times since.

MUNCHKIN CONAN (2012)

FUN FACT: Snake-beasts. Why did it have to be snake-beasts? There were a lot of them in this set. If I never have to sketch another frog-god or snake-beast again as long as I live, I will be a happy, happy man.

This was the first, big licensed Munchkin game I drew. (Obviously Steve Jackson Games wasn’t going to do something silly like have me redesign Axe Cop or anything.) Heck, it’s the first big-deal licensed anything I’ve been involved with.

Working on an official Robert E. Howard Munchkin set was thrilling.

Creating a cartoonish Conan was a dream come true.

It also scared the hell out of me.

So many legendary artists had already put their marks on the world and people of Cimmeria and beyond. Dank places where evil dwelled? Sorcerers of dour and mysterious intent? A few extra tentacles thrown in for good measure? Thoth-Amon and/or Nabonidus the Red Priest and/or various shambling masses? Check! All there, and all done by the greats. I mean, seriously: I was using Frank Frazetta and Bernie Wrightson as reference sources. “Intimidating” doesn’t even begin to cover it!

None of them had ever drawn Ducks of Doom, though, so I got over it.

I enjoyed coming up with a comic Conan that worked in the Munchkin universe, yet remained respectful of Howard’s creation. Well, as respectful as a three-fingered doodle with wildly violent tendencies could be. It’s fitting that my favorite card in the set is the one that encompasses the spirit of Conan perfectly: “What Is Best in Life?”

That it is also one of the very few cards in Munchkin that lets you go up two levels makes it that much sweeter.

MUNCHKIN APOCALYPSE (2012)

FUN FACT: Did you know the Scientists in Apocalypse are all based on the Atomic Zombies from Munchkin Zombies? They are doomed! Doomed!

There was much for me to love in Munchkin Apocalypse, and pound for pound, it may be my favorite set, art-wise, overall. It was outrageously entertaining to work on, even though it had to be completed in record time. You know, to make sure it was released before the 2012 Mayan apocalypse.

Steve, Andrew, and Phil flew up to Madison, and we discussed the cards, throwing ideas back and forth. What’s not to love about a kid whacking a monstrous gourd with a first aid kit? Some old favorites returned, with sharks (first seen in Booty) and zombies making cameo appearances. Plus, I got to draw musicians Molly Lewis and the Doubleclicks for the special Munchkin Apocalypse promotional bookmark, “The Ladies of Ragnarok.”

It’s embarrassingly difficult to choose a personal favorite from this set, but if you put a triple-barreled slingshot to my head, I believe the mindlessly happy, shimmying couple in “Safety Dance” best reflects how I felt working on Munchkin Apocalypse.

MUNCHKIN PATHFINDER (2013)

FUN FACT: Paizo, publishers of the Pathfinder roleplaying game, sent me a massive box of Pathfinder goodies as reference materials. When the box arrived, it was like Christmas morning. Things like this often lead me to believe I have made the right Life Choices.

Two of the last four Munchkin core sets I’ve drawn have been licensed products. On a certain gamer geek level, I think I was even more thrilled to play in Paizo’s Pathfinder sandbox than I was in Conan’s. I’m a roleplaying gamer at heart, and I have always cherished the Pathfinder RPG. Being able to dive deep into its lush, detailed background was my own personal spell of Righteous Might. The good folks at Paizo were wonderful to work with, and Munchkin czar Andrew Hackard came up with a superb card list.

Andrew likes to say that he can tell by my artwork when I’m really charged up about a project, and this was definitely one of those times. Can we talk about the Red Mantis Assassins for a second? Anything to do with the Red Mantis Assassins. Man, I loved drawing those guys. What’s not to love about overly serious characters running around wearing goofy bug helmets? Especially the one that needed to lose a few pounds.

One of the earliest cards I drew remains my favorite: “Hobbes Goblin.” Being able to work a Bill Watterson tribute into a Munchkin game was like the icing on a cake that was already buried under a ton of icing in the first place!

MUNCHKIN LEGENDS (2013)

FUN FACT: Munchkin Legends was the last Munchkin set I drew at my downtown studio in Madison. It was a terrific studio, right above a bar called the Tipsy Cow. But downtown Madison was fast becoming a distraction . . . as was trying to pry their share of the rent out of my studio mates. So I moved to a studio in the country, on my own. It may not be as prestigious as being on Madison’s Capitol Square, but it’s been enormously beneficial to both my productivity and my blood pressure.

 

I’m an ancient history nut, so Munchkin Legends was a particularly apt set for me to sink my teeth into. It was also a very hush-hush one, as are most Munchkin new releases now. This meant that I couldn’t say anything about it publicly while I was drawing the cards – which is probably okay, as I’d only have kept tweeting “ZOMG I LOVE THIS SET!” over and over again, until I’d lost every Twitter follower I ever had.

Yes, this was a particularly rewarding set for me. As such, it may also be the most difficult one of them all from which to choose a favorite. “Passion Potion” and “Viking Duck” are visual riffs off of classic Munchkin’s “Kneepads of Allure” and “Duck of Doom.” “Sewer Gator” and “Loch Ness Monster” also make me giggle. But in the end, I have to give the nod to “Kraken” and “Flying Monkeys” – two cards that work for me because of the expressions on the monsters’ faces: one mighty (and hungry), the other resigned and, frankly, doomed.

MUNCHKIN OZ (2015)

FUN FACT: I was visiting my family in London when I got the call that we needed a cover for an emergency secret Munchkin Project as soon as possible. I always travel with pens (Faber-Castell PITT artist pens, fine and superfine nibs), pencils (Palomino 602s), and paper (four-ply Bristol Board). “Emergency cartooning” is a thing that happens more often than you might think, where Munchkin is concerned. . . .

Munchkin Oz was by far the tightest deadline I have ever been given for a major project. Seriously. If I told you what it was, you’d never believe me. Possibly it was the sheer adrenaline-fueled panic that added a certain spark to the work, but in the end, sore wrist and all, I felt this turned out to be one of the prettiest Munchkin sets we’ve ever produced.

The illustrations from the original L. Frank Baum Oz books (by both W. W. Denslow and then, from the second book on, John R. Neill) were wonderful. However, they felt, to me, very Victorian: lovely, classic, but dated – not a look I felt was right for Munchkin. I became a huge fan of Skottie Young’s work for the multi-Eisner Award-winning Marvel Comics Oz graphic novels, and the energy and vibrancy that leapt off their pages became my inspiration for Munchkin Oz. I had huge fun with classic characters such as the Sawhorse, H. M. Woggle-Bug, and Jack Pumpkinhead. But lord help me if one of Andrew’s silliest cards, “This Is Not the Oz You’re Looking For,” didn’t become my favorite.

Doomed adventurers and undone monsters are common themes in Munchkin, but the game itself, thankfully, has proved to be anything but. What are the expansions I’m working on right now? I can’t tell you, but they are so cool. Playing in Steve Jackson’s Atomic Toybox is a ridiculously rewarding experience, and as long as I’m here, I hope to keep Munchkin looking better and better . . . and its adventurers more doomed.

Gotta go now – I’ve got some cards to draw. And I’ve a hunch one or two of them may turn out to be my new favorites!

Munchkin illustrator John Kovalic’s cartoons have appeared everywhere from The New York Times to Dragon magazine to games that have sold in the millions. His comic creations include the critically acclaimed comic strips and comic books Dork Tower and Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink. A co-founder and co-owner of Out of the Box Games, and a cartoonist for Steve Jackson Games, John has illustrated over 100 games and game supplements, including Apples to Apples, INWO, and Chez Geek. He was the first cartoonist inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame in 2004. His game design credits include ROFL! and Double Feature. Kovalic has drawn more than 5,000 cards for Munchkin and wouldn’t mind a spot of whiskey because of it. In his spare time, he searches for spare time.