http://shinnycomic.tumblr.com/

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page At this point in the...

Tue, 07 May 2013 10:30:00 -0400

At this point in the year, we all know what tension is about. The Caps-Rangers series is mostly a low-scoring affair, a goalie battle if you will. And in a goalie battle there is one matter that eventually comes up.

And there’s one guy who spoils it for everyone.

This is the story of that guy.

Now I don’t think that saying “shutout” causes a goalie to give up a goal. I don’t think anyone actually believes that, and if they do I am saddened if those people have the right to vote. But the “shutout” ban isn’t about superstition, it’s about social cohesion. It’s manners and culture, a tiny little society that has created customs and traditions with which to regard themselves.

Shouting “shutout” doesn’t make you a jinx; it makes you a troll. If you know better, than invoke the s-word is akin to belching out loud or peeing in the swimming pool. This is the society in which you choose to participate, and it would behoove you to learn its customs.

Shinny’s boyfriend isn’t a troll. He’s just clueless. Almost adorably so. But… ugh! Did he have to?!

P.S. Check out the cameos by Walton and Wes and Sam and Joe and Craig and everyone else.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page With the best of...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:30:00 -0400

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With the best of intentions, Shinny takes her boyfriend to the game, where he proceeds to ruin everything and be “That Guy.”

We at RMNB have a very new fan-friendly policy, but there is one thing we cannot abide: leaning. You, sir, in the upper bowl of Verizon Center. Please keep your back pinned to your seat lest the people behind you will be able to see. It’s only polite.

But as long as you’re not hurting anybody, there’s no such thing as a good fan or a bad fan. Shinny’s arm candy isn’t a bad fan; he’s just clueless. It’s our job as Totally Awesome Fans to welcome the noobs into the fold with open arms, because hockey is for everybody.

But seriously, lean the $#&@ back.

P.S. the two halftimes in hockey is my favorite line ever. Thank you, NHL, for actually using the three-period system as a sales pitch last year. Ya doofs.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page Our hero chosen to bring...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:30:00 -0400

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Our hero chosen to bring her dopey boyfriend to the Caps game instead of her father. Now, we learn how Shinny, an avowed superfan, prepares for a big game — just like tonight’s Capitals bout with the Jets. There are rituals, superstitions, and traditions that must be honored. Everything must be just right or else it will surely spell disaster for the team.

I (Peter) try not to socialize with fans of other teams, so I can’t understand how Shinny could date one. And yet there he is– wearing a crisp, new, powder-blue Penguins jersey to the Caps game and smiling like a goon.

Shinny’s own preparations are something sacred. Whether or not you truly believe your special socks will affect the game’s outcome, we all fall into habits. Maybe it’s a certain beer or a preferred posture– maybe it’s the number of times you clap (four, any more and the cosmic vibrations might disrupt the Caps). You might know it’s meaningless, or you might not even know you’re doing it. But you are. We all do.

Tonight is a big game, and fan anxiety is high. Nothing is certain right now, and in times of uncertainty we retreat to ritual. That’s good– it’s one of the things that bonds us to each other. But there’s always one doof like Shinny’s boyfriend who spoils it.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page Previously on Shinny! Our...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:26:00 -0400

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Previously on Shinny! Our hero got a pair of tickets to a Caps game and had to consult her shoulder angels to decision whom to bring with her. Today she decides.

Hot stick celebration! Shinny’s boyfriend is my favorite character right now because of irrepressibly cheerful (and obnoxious) he can be. I wonder how that will play out at the Caps game.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page Last time on Shinny, our...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:30:35 -0400

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Last time on Shinny, our hero got a pair of tickets to the Caps game and learned she had to choose between her boyfriend and dad who would come with her. We now join her– deep in thought, as she is visited by… well….

The shoulder angels, folks. Good Sasha and Bad Sasha counsel Shinny on whom she should bring with her. One is all about enthusiasm and togetherness; obviously he prefers Shinny’s plucky boyfriend. The sullen devil Sasha and his pitchfork-stick prefers Shinny’s frumpy and grumpy dad.

I know who I’d pick. What camp are you in? And how adorable is Ovi in that final panel?

Also, a bonus, because Rachel watched that one scene from The Emperor’s New Groove at least a hundred times while making this comic:

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page Rachel has returned from...

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 10:30:00 -0400

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Rachel has returned from parts unknown so Shinny! is back to continue our best story yet. Special thanks to Sfé for filling in for us while Rachel was gone!

When we last left Shinny, she had just procured two tickets to a Caps game. And now, the wrinkle.

Here is the essential challenge of fandom: How do you share it? With the one who brung you– the man who turned you into a fan and with whom you’ve already shared so much? Or do you share it with your special guy and build new memories? It’s tradition vs the future, Cash vs Reznor, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra vs GI Joe: Retaliation.

Which way will Shinny decide? That part’s easy. How she gets there– that’s where the good stuff is.

Thanks for reading Shinny!

Rachel’s been on study abroad the last 10 days, so this...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:30:34 -0400

Rachel’s been on study abroad the last 10 days, so this week’s Shinny! is a guest comic by her good friend (and fellow hockey fan) Sfé M. This week we learn are certain things you don’t say to hockey players, who are a superstitious lot.

The answer, Shinny is: No. He is not listening to himself.

Thanks for filling in for us this week, Sfé! Check out Sfé’s artwork and webcomic, Kyle & Atticus.

Next week, we return to our regular posting schedule, were we continue the story of Shinny scoring tickets to a Caps game.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page I was a suburb kid, so I...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 10:30:00 -0400

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I was a suburb kid, so I didn’t get to go to a lot of Caps games when I was young. But my buddy Johnny and his dad got great seats sometimes, and they’d bring me along once or twice a year. It was a rare thrill. Before we all got jaded and blasé about watching hockey, just getting tickets was a life-altering experience. And that’s where Shinny is in this strip– kicking off a multi-part story.

I swear to god we wrote this before the Eddie Money insurance commercial. Regardless: the ritual makes sense. You get tickets, you blast “Two Tickets to Paradise” on your tiny laptop speakers. That’s just tradition, right? It’s not just me, RIGHT?!

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page Here’s a little inside...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:30:00 -0500

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Here’s a little inside baseball: Rachel and I started putting Shinny after last year’s playoffs. For a while we didn’t know what the lockout would do to our precious little hockey comic. This strip in particular is a time-shifted product of that anxiety. We flash back to a conversation held between Shinny and her boyfriend is those pivotal days before the CBA memo.

Mecha-Shinny vs Robo-Bettman. YES. You are welcome.

Let’s just be glad that — just like the non sequitur consequences of Shinny’s gambling– the uncertainty surrounding the league is now but a memory.

P.S. Let us know if you caught the other sight gag in this strip, ’cause it’s a sleeper, but it’s worth it.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page Last week, we gazed into...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:31:00 -0500

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Last week, we gazed into the past. Today, we’re face to face with the stormy present. The Caps are DFL in the Southeast, struggling to establish a new style of play. It’s all drama all the time in Caps town, but there’s at least one thing fans can rely on– and Shinny’s boyfriend is here to remind us of that.

There’s Alex Ovechkin, looking demented and delighted, riding a bear. The timing for this bad boy couldn’t be better, fresh off a hat trick and hungry for more.

I really do believe that while Caps are surely having a rough transition, there’s still a lotta good stuff in the future. Stay fast and we’ll make it through the Tampax together.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page And here’s the story...

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:22:00 -0500

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And here’s the story we’ve been so excited to tell. In part I the boyfriend wondered aloud how hockey fans are made. This is our answer.

But, as we hope this story that Rachel has beautifully rendered tells, being a fan is more about the connections between people than the connections between people and teams.

There’s Shinny (pre-nickname I assume) at the Cap Centre with her dad, watching the Capitals take on the Flyers. She’s a disaffected little girl, distant from everything around her– particularly her dad.

And then a switch gets thrown. A little girl invests herself in the same silly game as her dad, and now they’ve got something to share. Something lasting. And she begins forming an identity for herself– deliberately– as all kids should be able to do. You build yourself into what you want to be, even if it’s something with a mohawk and an un-ladylike passion for hockey violence.

That’s the off-ice story we like to tell at RMNB. The story of building bonds with a team, with each other, and within yourselves.

Well done, Rachel.

Previous Page | First Page | Next Page We are so excited to...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 10:30:00 -0500

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We are so excited to share this story. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be taking a sepia-tinted look at how hockey fans are made, and how that making brings people together. It’s the Shinny origin story! It’s adorable and demented, and it features Rachel’s best art yet. Follow us to Landover and the Capital Centre of yore.

!!!

Stop by next week. You’re gonna love it.

Previous page | First page | Next Page After last week’s...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:02:00 -0500

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After last week’s interlude we’re back with a new strip all about old-timey team names, and the tendency for fans of the good old days to mythologize excessively.

Weird story: we put this strip together during the Summer Olympics (see Shinny’s t-shirt). Since then, Glendale seemed to get its stuff together. And then, like a miracle, everything went down the toilet again last week.

We’re working down the backlog we built up during the lockout, so our stuff will start getting more timely. We’re both really excited about a story we’ll be telling starting next week. In the meantime, thanks for reading Shinny!

Bonus sketch #2 (A follow-up to this week’s comic): The...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:25:31 -0500

Bonus sketch #2 (A follow-up to this week’s comic):

The consequence of crossing the crease.

previous page | first page | next page Week four of Shinny! is...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 08:30:00 -0500

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Week four of Shinny! is an interlude of sorts. We get a peak inside Shinny’s bedroom, and I do believe there’s a deliberate allusion to Clarissa Explains It All in there as well.

Also, Chad just doesn’t listen.

We’ll be back next week with a new strip and a new story. Please: if you’re enjoying Shinny, tell a friend. If you hate it, tell an enemy. Thanks!

Some weeks we’ll have little bonus sketches that...

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:40:14 -0500

Some weeks we’ll have little bonus sketches that we’ll post here on Tumblr! Here’s the first of them, which follows the events of the last two pages.

Chad feels reaaaaaallllly bad about that whole “Inflatable Stanley Cup-gift-thing.”

previous page | first page | next page The lessons of hockey are...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 10:09:00 -0500

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The lessons of hockey are universal, abstractable to all corners of life. In this example, we learn that the role of enforcer/thug/goon has meaning in responsible parenting.

To both readers familiar with Johnny Dangerously, congratulations on identifying the inside joke.

First page | next page There are certain gifts that shall not be...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:30:00 -0500

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There are certain gifts that shall not be given to Caps fans.

It’s the fan version of the player superstition: one does not touch the Cup until one wins the Cup.

Peter’s not into superstition personally, but man oh man Rachel is. And so is Shinny, our titular mohawked hero. But more on that later. For now, we have to deal with the inchoate conflict between Shinny’s dad and her boyfriend.

Next Page Hi everybody. Welcome to Shinny! We’ll be here every...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:30:00 -0500

Hi everybody. Welcome to Shinny! We’ll be here every Tuesday with a new strip about three very different hockey fans.

Let’s jump right in with our first comic ever– a discussion about hockey purity between a father, his daughter, and an idiot.

Russian Machine Never Breaks is proud to announce the debut of...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:42:00 -0500

Russian Machine Never Breaks is proud to announce the debut of our new webcomic, Shinny!

Brought to you by writer Peter Hassett and illustrator Rachel Cohen, Shinny! is a weekly comic all about hockey fandom. It’s the story of how hockey breaks and mends hearts, how it brings people together and smashes people together, and how there’s a place for everyone in it. Plus: hockey jokes.

Shinny is a spunky, twenty-something hockey fanatic. Beside her dad (an oldtimey hockey purist) and her boyfriend (a fairweather fan noob), Shinny sees every side of the hockey world and eventually finds her own place in it.

As a comic, Shinny! is both topical and lasting, telling stories about both current events and timeless hockey milestones. It’s about the people as much as the game, but with reverence for neither and jokes on all. Fans of every team (or no team at all) will find something to enjoy in Shinny!

New comics come out every Tuesday on RussianMachineNeverBreaks.com, as well as here on Tumblr! We’ll also be using this Tumblr to post extra content not seen on RMNB. Stay tuned!