While Kevin and Kell might not be the oldest webcomic out there, it is definitely among the oldest constantly-updating webcomics on the internet. Indeed, by my reckoning it is over 4,600 updates (and will likely go over 5,000 updates before the end of 2009), and is likely the largest webcomics out there. As such, I’m left looking at a vast expanse of material and wondering just how the hell I can talk about this comic in fewer than ten pages.

K&K is an anthropomorphic slice-of-life comic with a mixed-race couple and their children. And that’s literal in this case, with the husband being Kevin, a huge rabbit, and his wife Kell, a wolf, and the children including Lindesfarne, an adopted hedgehog, Rudy, a half-wolf/half-fox, and Coney, a rabbit/wolf hybrid that looks like a bunny but is primarily carnivorous. Needless to say, such concepts as genetic incompatibility and the inability of various species to breed are tossed out the window to make way for humor and storytelling.

While many anthropomorphic comics often tell entirely human stories with characters that are drawn as animals, K&K embraces its animal roots, focusing on such concepts as hunting (with the prey as sentient as the predators, down to the level of fleas and the like), communication and relations between animals, and other instinctual behavior. At the same time, it pokes fun at corporate life (especially with the carnivore corporation Herdthinners, which specializes in hunting prey and selling the meat to grocery stores and other contractors), home life, politics, and society in general.

One less-than-amusing aspect of the comic is its depiction of humans as a constantly wasteful and environmentally-callous species, both in the depiction of them in Rudy’s short-lived webcomic-within-a-webcomic, and later in actual depictions of humans in the comic. Indeed, the mere knowledge of humanity is so “dangerous” that animals reading Rudy’s webcomic begin to lose their instincts, and the presence of two humans who were transformed into animals threatened to undo instincts across the globe, even among those who had no contact with humanity or anything to do with them. In short, humans = bad, animals = good. It would be tiresome if not for the fact we seldom get slapped in the face with it.

That said, I found those sections to be the least interesting of the series. Instead what I was drawn to were the character interactions and their relationships with each other. The loving relationship between Kevin and Kell even in the face of social disdain and familial disapproval is one of the great draws of the comic. The varied friendships that form and evolve in the comic are among the best parts of the comic and should be focused on far more than the social messages that Bill Holbrook drives home with a sledgehammer (with humans = evil being the least of the examples of sledgehammer morality used in the comic).

With an archive that inches closer and closer to 5,000 updates with each passing day (by my estimates, Update 5,000 should occur on November 21, 2009), you might wonder if it’s worth reading the entire archive. To be honest, K&K doesn’t rely on plot seeds planted years back. However, it’s this back material that helps enrich the characters and lets you watch them grow and evolve into the beings they are. Whether you spend several days (or weeks) reading through the archives or purchase the print compilations and read them at your leisure, the archives are worth going through… and the comic definitely worth adding to your reading list.