Main Page

Welcome to Ovalkwiki, the Official Encyclopedia of all things Schlock Mercenary

New to the comic?

• Check out Dramatis Personae and Our Story Thus Far.

Here to contribute?

• Please review The Rules of Engagement and the FAQ. You might even be ready for the Style Guide.

In need of life-changing advice?

• Peruse The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.

But if you've been here before and know what you're after, here are some common jumping-off points.

• Tagon's Toughs
• Other Organizations of the Schlockiverse
• Places
• Vehicles, Vessels, and Assorted Conveyances
• Chronology of the Schlockiverse
• Schlock-tech
• 12th anniversary of Schlock Mercenary on the web - Howard's blog post on the future of the strip.
• Howard didn't blog on the 15th anniversary, but mentioned it (at 15 years -and a day- on 2015-06-12

Interested in some truths that might be stranger than fiction?

• The History of Schlock Mercenary
• Intersections of fictional Schlock-tech and real Science
• The Official (If Perhaps Revisionist) Biography of Howard Tayler
• The Museum of Schlock Mercenary Merchandise

Want some other places to find Schlock?

• The comic itself is a good place.
• Not at the computer all the time? Try a book!
• Going mobile? Get Schlock on your iPhone, iPad, or Android Device. The application itself is free, and displays ads on the home page and while reading strips. By purchasing a subscription for US$0.99 a month, or $4.99 for 6 months, the ads are removed and you gain access to strips 3 days ahead of the website. Per the blog post Howard published on April 2, 2016, the Schlock app was going to no longer be supported because, simply, it wasn't a money-making proposition. Though not as nice as the app, the current SchlockMercenary site renders nicely on mobile devices, plus there is an RSS feed for those that take advantage of such things.
• Want to discuss Schlock Mercenary with other people? There are several groups for that.
• Schlock Mercenary has darkened more than one Wiki's doorstep in the past...
  • Schlock on Wikipedia (Oh, look. We're notable! And so is Howard!)
  • Schlock on Wikia (the first Schlock Mercenary wiki, an "unofficial" fan project)
  • Schlock dissected on TV Tropes (and oh, boy did Schlock ever have it coming.)

"Ovalkwiki" is a weird name

It comes from this drink in the the comic strip. It is called "Ovalkwik." Howard is not the sort of person to let the serendipity of shared syllables go unexploited, so when he needed a name for the Schlock Mercenary Wiki, "Ovalkwiki" was the name that stuck. He's had ovalkwiki.com parked for the better part of five years now, and he STILL thinks it's clever.