Webcomic / Nerd & Jock

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Nerd & Jock is a webcomic written and illustrated by Finnish comic artist Marko Raassina. It is a spinoff of a older webcomic named Grumpy, which carries the first ten episodes of the comic.

The story follows the aforementioned protagonists, Nerd and Jock, two close friends who live together in the same house. Despite embodying the stereotypes that come with being... well, a nerd and a jock, they manage to form a close friendship that plays off of each other's respective strengths and flaws: Nerd assists Jock with his intelligence, while Jock motivates Nerd to become stronger.

The webcomic can be read here, Tapas and on Webtoon. Grumpy can be read on Tapas and Webtoon The comic strip also has a Patreon. The Patreon also hosts Goth and Tiger, a spinoff comic about Olga and Tiger.

Nerd & Jock contains examples of:

• Adhesive Bow Tie: Nerd's bow tie doesn't seem to be tied on anything. It's lampshaded in one comic, where the titular characters read a comment from a reader noting that Nerd's tie is just a part of his shirt. He then insists that it's real, only for Jock to pull it off and show that it's actually a piece of candy stuck on his shirt.
• Amusing Injuries: Jock has accidentally subjected Nerd to a couple of these painlessly, such as flattening him with a massage or stretching his arms so he can reach the high bar.
• Audacity Earns Approval: In one strip, Jock panics in the middle of a school exam as time runs out, and Nerd advices Jock to calm down and "use your head." Jock heeds the advice... and proceeds to headbutt the test, along with the desk, in half. He passes because of this trope.
  Teacher: I have never seen a student who had the guts to just headbutt my test! You get an A , young lad!
• Bait-and-Switch: The staple of the humor for the series in the early years is that it plays off of Nerd and Jocks' odd friendship. The setup was always that Jock would act threateningly or otherwise make a stereotypically masculine move towards Nerd, but the reveal would be that the Jock would actually need Nerd's help in some way, or he would reveal he shares more in common with the Nerd than expected. This was phased out completely once their characters were fully established as best friends and later strips play with expectations in different ways instead (Nerd getting a miniature rock as a Halloween treat, and out pops a miniature Dwayne Johnson, Zenetreus The Eternal being summoned by Stalker Girl for fashion advice despite initially being mad about the call, or Nerd attempting to cook Jock and Olga a meal while at a restaurant, and the owner is okay with it as he doesn't have to pay him).
• Beach Episode:
  • Episode 96, where Nerd and jock have a friendly water fight
  • Since 2022, from June until September, there is an arc where the main characters spend a day on the beach
    • In 2022, Olga joined Jock and Nerd in going to the beach, where she learns to swim.
    • In 2023, Tiger spends her first time going to the beach with the group.
    • In 2024, Queen joins the group to try to get Nerd's attention and pretends to have turned a new leaf, but fails as the group is wary of her due to her obsession with becoming Nerd's girlfriend.
• The Big Damn Kiss:
  • Jock kissing Olga in Episode 133.
  • Tiger kisses Nerd in Episode 185.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Jock is a tall, muscular Top-Heavy Guy; Nerd comes up to his belly and can wear outfits meant for cats.
• Bigger on the Inside: The interior of Tiger's hair is the size of a two-story house, but only about as large as Tiger herself on the outside.
• Bigger Than Jesus: In episode 123, Olga claims Jock and Nerd's unboxing channel will be this soon enough. Jock replies that he already is this, assuming this was referencing physical size, followed by a Cutaway Gag to Jesus working out in Heaven, saying "Not for long, my child".
• Black Bead Eyes: The cast has this for their eyes, the exception being Nerd who has Eye Glasses instead. The exception is when anyone is shocked, in which case the eyes become more traditionally filled in, such as when Nerd plays some "Black Metal" on a guitar at an Italian restaurant and Olga and Jock are initially surprised by it.
• Breaking Old Trends: Most of the series features characters that seem like they would be antagonistic only for them to become friendly real fast. The introduction of Queen breaks that mold by having Queen be the first genuinely antagonistic character.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Jock does this on occasion.
  • In Episode 48:
    Olga: Always hanging with my Jock! Do you think I don't know what they say about you two?
    Nerd: Dude, what's she talking about?
    Jock: Don't you ever read the comments?
    Nerd: What comments?
  • In Episode 58:
    Jock: But the balance of the universe is at hand! There should always be a nerd and jock, yin and yang! Without Nerd, how would the title even work?
    Nerd: Title?
  • In Episode 247, when Queen tries to distract the group with a "look over there" gambit, causing them to look directly at the reader in the next panel:
    Jock: Hey, there's nothing weird over here! Only this cute person looking at us!
• Brick Joke: In 109, it's revealed that Jock is afraid of Ghosts because they're the only monster you can't drop kick. A few pages later in 111, Jock gets spooked by Nerd and Olga in their Halloween costumes - his first instinct being to dropkick Nerd (dressed as Pinhead) while he just about has a heart attack from seeing Olga dressed as Sadako.
• Bullying a Dragon: Queen repeatedly tries to make herself appear superior to Tiger by trying to take Nerd away, picking a fight and cheating, and demanding Tiger to sit. Tiger proves to be way stronger than even her strongest simp, so her efforts are blatantly stacked against her, and the only one Tiger listens to is to sit... on her.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Jock and Tiger have the same "babbling in shock" behavior when looking at Olga and Nerd respectively, and an entire arc is formed around Tiger trying to confess her love for Nerd, but failing due to her reputation preceding her (having a scary name, being a bully).
• Chick Magnet: Nerd becomes one when Jock gives him a makeover. Jock in episode 245 wonders why he doesn't have more girls interested in him, only for Olga to reveal that he does, but she "takes care of them" when he's not looking.
• Clothing Damage: In Episode 69, Nerd flexes and his shirt explodes, showing how much he's progressed with exercise. Jock warns against doing this too often, so as not to ruin all his shirts.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Olga does this frequently to Jock during a beach visit.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Olga the Stalker Girl. She has a creepy demeanor, her skin is paler than Jock and Nerds' skin, and she has black hair longer than she is tall, with a few stray strands sticking out for extra eerieness.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Subverted. Jock is telling Nerd the story of why he's afraid of cats, but it turns out what traumatized him was the cat farting on him, not clawing him. He just wanted to show off his scar.
• Evolving Credits: The title of the comic used to only have Nerd & Jock, with their respective character heads. As of ep 229, the credits evolved to include Olga and Tiger as well.
• Eye Pop:
  • Nerd does this when Jock gives him a Smack on the Back for luck. Jock does the same when he sees Stalker Girl putting on a spiked glove to slap his back.
  • Happens again when Nerd somehow manages to turn a grape into a butterfly.
  • The sight of Nerd's sand sculpture makes Jock and Olga's eyes bug out so hard that Olga's sunglasses shatter.
• Friend Versus Lover:
  • Stalker Girl Olga initially was this with Nerd's presence in regards to her and Jock, (who is oblivious about this). After she becomes friends with them, she only shows rare occasional annoyance at worst. Subverted with Nerd, who is genuinely happy and supportive of her and Jock and usually knows when to give the two privacy.
  • Later on, both Jock and Tiger get into this trope regarding Nerd, but more over competing on who can protect Nerd better.
• Frivolous Summoning: In strip 117, Olga summons a demon called Zenetreus the Eternal so he can give her fashion advice. Zenetreus is surprisingly happy about being summoned for that.
• Funny Background Event: In episode 171, the horror movie Jock and Olga are watching can be seen in the background. A cloaked, masked killer is about to stab a woman, but the woman takes off her head to reveal an identical mask underneath. The killer takes off their mask to reveal that it's the woman, then the masked woman start chasing the cloaked woman with a knife.
• Future Badass: According to Episode 52, both Nerd and Jock will become these in order to fight the M87* black hole.
• Gender-Bent Alternate Universe: One of the many alternate universes Nerd and Jock witness in the multiverse room. Jock is unimpressed with his Distaff Counterpart having smaller pecs than he does.
• Genre Mashup: Nerd and Jock's band is yodeling metal.
• Given Name Reveal: Episode 81 reveals Stalker Girl's real name is Olga.
• A God Am I: When Jock gets an A+ on a test, he lets it go to his head a bit.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": So far, Nerd has only been referred to as such, while Jock has an implied first and last name (Eustance being his middle name, according to Episode 121).
• Hurricane of Puns: Episode 211 is all this from the moment Jock catches an incredibly jacked fish using bait with protein and creatine, to Nerd's exasperation. Observe.
• Hypocritical Humor: In Episode 321, Nerd finds Olga reading a Korean webcomic. He looks at the comic featuring an incredibly top-heavy guy and chuckles at how inconsistent the body proportions are in the comic before being carried away by the equally top-heavy Jock.
• I Got a Rock: Nerd gets one on Halloween. It turns out to be a miniature Dwayne Johnson, though.
• Irisless Eye Mask of Mystery: Nerdman and Jockboy's costumes have these (though the only thing they get to do is rescue a Cat Up a Tree).
• Kids Prefer Boxes: Jock can be childish sometimes (though in that comic Nerd is comparing him to a cat).
• "Kiss the Cook" Apron: Jock wears a "Kiss the Jock" apron when grilling in Episode 3.
• Kung-Fu Jesus: He's not quite there yet, but He's working on it.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Strip 105 has Jock make a comic on a drawing tablet about a geek and an athlete being friends, and Nerd states that it's a good idea.
• Learning to Swim: In the 2022 summer arc, Olga admits that she doesn't know how to swim, and Nerd and Jock help her learning until she manages to swim on her own. The lessons have stuck, as she's capable of swimming on her own in later beach episodes.
• Limited Wardrobe: Nerd and Jock are almost always seen in their orange sweater and red t-shirt, respectively.
• Literal Metaphor: Episode 120 has Nerd rolling out, which is him cartwheeling away from Jock and Olga.
• Medium Blending: Comics made to promote plushies feature pictures of the real plushies (with an outline) with the fully-drawn cast and world.
• Mistaken for Gay: At one point, Olga says that Nerd is getting in the way of her and Jock's love. Jock gets confused, then Nerd explains to him that the comments make it obvious what she's referring to. With Tiger's introduction, it becomes clear Nerd is not gay.
• Mistaken for Undead: Jock is convinced that Stalker Girl is a ghost or a vampire, or possibly even a werewolf.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Attempted by Xarhuul, who tries dropping a small asteroid on Tiger after she's accepted into the friend group and gotten closer to entering a relationship with Nerd. Xarhuul missed, and Tiger just wrote it off as one of her many enemies trying to start things.
• My God, You Are Serious!: Jock claims that he wears his blue cap all the time because it's his Power Limiter for his "real power". Nerd doesn't believe him and takes off the cap, resulting in Jock revealing his true form as a Physical God.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Nerd fits into cat costumes, which has Olga and Jock take photo's of him, much to his increasing embarrassment.
• Nice Guy: Jock is always more than eager to cheer anybody up, and Nerd is always happy to help anybody out. Olga and Tiger also become this after their Relationship Upgrade with the two protagonists, with their respective Yandere and Tsundere sides being downplayed.
• The Noseless: None of the characters have noses.
• Outside-Context Problem: Nerd spends much of Episodes 124 - 130 making sure Jock's date with Olga goes well... only for aliens to open a portal and invade the beach they're on.
• Pathetic Drooping Weapon: In Episode 205, Jock is prepared to surprise his friend Nerd in a water gun battle with a water minigun, but then Nerd shows up in a giant water gun mecha, causing both him and his gun to do an Eye Pop, followed by the minigun barrels going limp.
• Pass the Popcorn: Jock's reaction to seeing Olga wrestle his sleep paralysis demon is to tell Nerd to get popcorn.
• Physical God: Arguably, Jock's true form. Nerd discovers that if his blue cap is off, he transforms into a muscular, godlike being with a Third Eye on his forehead, radiating arcs of power from his mere presence.
• Poster-Gallery Bedroom: In an early strip, we see that Nerd has a bookcase full of thick volumes, a poster of Attack on Titan, and figurines for Sailor Moon, One-Punch Man and Overwatch.
• Product Placement: Episode 63 and Episode 105 are sponsored by Huion, and both feature the boys using a Huion tablet to draw.
• Please Subscribe to Our Channel: Used at the end of Episode 115 to distract from the literal pandora's box they just opened.
• Puff of Logic: Nerd's glasses stay on unconsciously due to the comic's lack of visible ears. If he thinks about how they stay on, they fall off. Jock uses some chewing gum to act as a workaround for that.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Jock has come close to this, but the 'unmanly' thing in question was more childlike/nerdy than feminine. Jock plays Dungeons and Dragons as Jock the Tank Engine, an obvious reference to children's character Thomas the Tank Engine. In addition to showing a hidden soft, childlike side to Jock's personality, this also suggests a general love of steam locomotives, implying Jock may have a nerdy side too.
• Schmuck Bait: A door that says "Do not enter" and "Do not touch anything".
• Skewed Priorities: Episode 124 has Olga upset annoyed at Jock thinking about "Dinosaurs but they're linebackers".
• Secret Handshake: Nerd and Jock have quite an intricate and elaborate one, seen in Episode 97. With a friendship like theirs, a normal fist bump isn't epic enough.
• Self-Parody: Jock's comic "Ned and Jack", about a geek and an athlete.
• Shipper on Deck: Olga, the second she sees Tiger kiss Nerd, is fully on board trying to get them together. Both Jock and Olga a few comic strips later try to unsubtly hang around while they talk about what happened.
• Shout-Out:
  • In Episode 4, Nerd has an Attack on Titan poster in his room. He also has a Sailor Moon figure, along with one of Saitama and Tracer.
  • In Episode 17, Jock has just finished reading The Egyptian and wants to discuss it with Nerd.
  • The song Nerd and Jock sing while cleaning up their house in Episode 35 is "Wannabe".
  • In Episode 36, Nerd says he's watching The Walking Dead, but his screen shows The Simpsons.
  • In Episode 39, when both of them are sick, the TV is playing the theme song for Sailor Moon.
  • In Episode 41, one of the multiverses shows their alternate universe equivalents as Rick and Morty (though surprisingly Jock is Rick). Nerd says "I guess only people with superior intelligence can understand these fellows." Another universe shows them as the Millennium Falcon and an X-Wing.
  • In Episode 55, when Nerd discovers Stalker Girl's Stalker Shrine, he says "Holy dramatic sound effect playing in my head!"
  • Olga has done the Sorting Hat quiz a dozen times and was only sorted into Slytherin 2/3 of the time.
  • In Episode 70, Jock and Nerd dress as Thor and Loki, respectively.
  • Jock plays Thomas the Tank Engine in their D&D game.
  • Jock's Imagine Spot of "Jockhalla" evokes the cover art for DOOM.
  • Jason shows up to Jock and Nerd's campfire in Episode 99.
  • In Episode 111, Nerd dresses as Pinhead for Halloween, while Stalker Girl goes as Sadako.
  • In Episode 122, the Luigi's Pizza parlour sign Olga and Jock walk under has a subtitle text of "not the plumber".
  • In Episode 143 Nerd's shelf holds, among others, figurines of Batman, Hulk, and Quest Sprout.
• Signed Up for the Dental: Olga tries to convince some simps to stop simping for their queen Bee and instead worship Zenetreus, the extradimensional demon she herself worship, because it's healthier - including free dental care coverage.
• Sleep Paralysis Creature: Jock has a female sleep paralysis demon who plays a role in an arc from Episodes 163 to 168. She resembles a shriveled up corpse and only communicates in hissing sounds. Olga attacks her, both to protect Jock and because she's not sharing her man. After being kicked out, Nerd offers her to be his sleep paralysis demon for the night.
• Smack on the Back: Episodes 80 and 81 focus on this trope. Episode 80, Jock gives a big one to Nerd to get his spirits up for the test, and Nerd tries to reciprocate but isn't strong enough to make a back-slap with any real impact. Nerd gets an A+, but Jock gets an F. Episode 81, to encourage Jock on the re-test, Nerd hires Olga the Stalker Girl to perform the slap, as she's the slapping champion of the school, probably due to her slapping with a spiked glove.
• Smash Cut: Episode 123 has Jock claim he's bigger than Jesus (for context, he's referring to his muscles' definition), and the final panel cuts to Jesus pumping iron.
• Spider-Sense: Jock can sense when Nerd is feeling down.
• Spontaneous Mustache: Played with. Jock pulls a long beard and mustache out of Nerd's face, somehow.
• Strangely Specific Horoscope: Episode 121 has Nerd checking out his horoscope while he's alone due to Jock being on a date with Olga. His horoscope reads "Today something catastrophic will happen to your friend Jock!" Nerd brushes this off saying there must be plenty of Jocks in the world, only to continue reading the horoscope and it having a photo of Jock as well as his phone number, full name, blood type, shoe size and favourite farm animal. This was enough to spring Nerd into action, despite not believing in horoscopes.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Olga the Stalker Girl evokes this trope's imagery, but this trope is subverted as she is alive (though Jock isn't completely sure about that).
• Squashed Flat: Jock once accidentally flattened Nerd while giving him a massage.
• Sudden Name Change: During Jock's first date, his girlfriend was called "Stalker Girl", which wasn't unfitting in a comic where the protagonists are literally called Nerd and Jock. In Stalker Girl's later appearences after the first date, her true name is revealed to be Olga and everyone acts as if it was always her name.
• Sympathy for the Devil: After a jealous Olga kicks Jock's Sleep Paralysis Creature out of the house, Nerd later finds her sobbing outside in the rain. He takes pity and offers her to be his sleep paralysis demon for the night. The next panel cuts to both of them sleeping soundly together during the storm.
• There Was a Door: Jock in Episode 103 as he senses that Nerd is putting himself down and opts to jump out of an airplane and crash into Nerds' room.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Tiger has no real experience with romance, so all her ideas come from the Shōjo romance manga she reads in private. Unfortunately her attempts at a Wall Pin of Love merely scare Nerd, and she ends up having a comical meltdown when she realizes she stole Nerd's Sacred First Kiss.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Jock's ridiculously massive torso is balanced atop a fairly normal-sized pair of legs.
• True Companions: Nerd & Jock are a textbook example of this. Almost every episode involving the pair has them cheering each other up or helping each other out with an issue.
• Unkempt Beauty: Both Olga and Tiger don't put a great deal of effort into their appearance normally, but still look pretty attractive if Jock and Nerd's reactions are any indication.
• Use Your Head: When Nerd tells Jock to do this on a test, he takes it literally and smashes his head through the desk. Somehow this gets him an A.
• Vague Age: The main characters' ages are a bit hard to pin down. They live on their own in their respective home and yet they still go to school. It's also not helped by the fact that Nerd looks like a young kid while his friends look like late teenagers or young adults, even though they are all the same age.
• Visual Pun:
  • There's a "monster" under Jock's bed.
  • When Jock uses Nerd as practice for cutting hair, he goes too far evening it out and shaves his friend bald, after which he finds out Nerd is an actual egghead.
• Voodoo Doll: Olga made one of Jock in a comic made to promote the official Jock plushie, and she uses it to give Jock back-scratches and headpats.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The things that stop Nerd from liking being a vampire are his increasingly specific hobbies, such as swimming in holy water and sunbathing.
• What Are Records?: Jock is unfamiliar with printed media, despite using it in school.