Melonpool follows the daily adventures of Mayberry Melonpool — an alien without a clue, stumbling through life as he explores the galaxy. The strip is updated daily with color Sunday strips. This is a reboot/reimagining of the strip that ran from 1996-2012. It’s an all new universe. All new adventures. Same old crazy characters.

Mayberry Melonpool

Mayberry Melonpool is the television-addicted, somewhat clumsy, not-all-that-intelligent Captain of the "Steel Duck." Oh yeah, and he's obsessed with getting a date. In short, he doesn't have a lot going for him.

Comics: 240
Recent Appearance: April What?
First Appearance: New Beginnings!

Sam T. Dogg

Sam T. Dogg is completely out of his element. He’s super intelligent, a highly-skilled pilot and has the most common sense of anyone aboard the "Steel Duck." Also, no one takes him seriously because he’s a dog.

Comics: 214
Recent Appearance: April What?
First Appearance: Beating the Odds

Ralph Zinobop

Ralph Zinobop is the inventor of the "Steel Duck." He is eager to enter the next phase of his plan: to make money off his inventions to regain his rightful place as ruler of the Planet Zinobop — a planet that he was exiled from by his paranoid father several years ago. His other hobbies include wild get-get-rich schemes and drinking copious amounts of coffee. He also has a terrible temper.

Comics: 199
Recent Appearance: The New Normal
First Appearance: Meanwhile, in Space....

Sammy the Hammy

Sammy the Hammy is a genetic experiment gone horribly awry. Sammy is part of the ship’s equipment (he’s the engine) as well as a member of the crew. For this reason, Ralph never bothered giving him a name and he remained known as “Hamster 42” for much of his life.

Comics: 85
Recent Appearance: Hoax on You
First Appearance: Meanwhile, in Space....

Ralphie Zinobop

Ralphie Zinobop is an "evil" clone of Ralph Zinobop. Since Ralph was already evil, Ralphie popped out warm, caring and generally the nicest guy you’ll ever meet — essentially, he’s everything that the original Ralph is not. In addition to his personality, Ralphie is left-handed (Ralph is a “righty”), his DNA winds the opposite direction and his fingerprints are reversed.

Comics: 62
Recent Appearance: Pairodorks
First Appearance: Past Tense

Flatworm Jim

Flatworm Jim was the original pilot of the "Steel Duck." A six-foot-tall intelligent flatworm, Jim’s usefulness was cut short when he was injured, resulting in three versions -- good, bad and a two-headed neutral version. All three (or four) now live on Ralph’s asteroid tending to over 6 million hamsters.

Comics: 59
Recent Appearance: Better Late Than Never
First Appearance: Meanwhile, in Space....

Roberta Smeffinfeffer

Roberta Smeffinfeffer is level-headed, if not a little bit insecure. She has the tendency to follow her heart a little too much. Case in point: she's also Ralph (and Ralphie's) ex-wife. She has a background in space biology and studies medicine for awhile. She currently serves as doctor aboard the "Steel Duck."

Comics: 33
Recent Appearance: Hell Froze Over
First Appearance: The Other Shoe

Fred the Monkey

Fred the Monkey was Ralph‘s last foray into augmenting lab animals for other purposes. Fred accidentally jettisoned himself in an emergency escape pod, sending him back to Ralph’s asteroid, where he and the rest of the original crew were created.

Comics: 24
Recent Appearance: Better Late Than Never
First Appearance: Meanwhile, in Space....

Old Ralphie

Old Ralphie is the only survivor from the original Melonpool universe that we've encountered so far. He's essentially the product of Ralphie being caught in a 30-year time loop. He's currently searching through time and space for his lost wife and son.

Comics: 17
Recent Appearance: Back to the Future?
First Appearance: Kickin' it Old School

Slime Lord

A giant snail gangster has a price on both Mayberry (who he thinks is named "Mulberry Melonhead") and Ralph. His base of operations is on Mollusca 7, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. No relation to Jabba the Hutt.

Comics: 15
Recent Appearance: Low Resolution
First Appearance: Slime Lord!

Vic

Vic was Mayberry‘s former boss and the owner of P.J. O’Earthy’s — an Earth-themed restaurant on a space station in the outskirts of the known universe. Like any T.G.I. Friday’s wannabe, it’s tacky and overpriced and known more for the kitsch than the food.

Comics: 14
Recent Appearance: Past Mistakes
First Appearance: New Beginnings!

JLB-8

A partially completed (and often malfunctioning) Protocol droid-like robot. Made from spare parts of several different discarded robots, the lower half serves as a secondary propulsion system for the "Steel Duck" on occasion.

Comics: 14
Recent Appearance: What Ralph Did
First Appearance: Tunnel Vision

Eileen

Eileen is not a very nice person. Some might say that she knows what she wants — or rather — what she doesn’t want. And what she doesn’t want is Mayberry. There aren’t a lot of GRAISE women roaming around the galaxy — leading to persistent rumors that Eileen may or may not be a human-GRAISE hybrid.

Comics: 13
Recent Appearance: Old Boy "Friends"
First Appearance: New Beginnings!

Charlie the Goon

One of the mercenaries under constant employ of the Slime Lord. He seems to be the (slightly) smarter of the two Goons.

Comics: 13
Recent Appearance: Low Resolution
First Appearance: Past Catching Up

Tammy the Hammy

Originally named "Hamster 13," Tammy is the former engineer of Roberta's ship, The "Blue Bird." She's much smarter than any other of Ralph's giant hamsters, but was horribly-burned saving the rest of the crew. She currently is encased in a block of Carbonite, awaiting medical treatment.

Comics: 13
Recent Appearance: Vigil-Anti
First Appearance: The Last Days of The ZSC-2

Steve Troop

The cartoonist/puppeteer who occasionally appears in this comic.

Comics: 10
Recent Appearance: Hoax on You
First Appearance: Fan Mail from Some Flounder?

Vinny the Goon

The slightly dumber mercenary employed by the Slime Lord.

Comics: 10
Recent Appearance: Low Resolution
First Appearance: Past Catching Up

Stag Nasty

A Bounty Hunter with a Napoleonic Complex.

Comics: 10
Recent Appearance: At least it's an Update...
First Appearance: The Quicker Picker Upper

Tilly

Cartoonist Steve Troop's Italian Greyhound dog. She appears in the strip occasionally and is also an alien.

Comics: 9
Recent Appearance: Hoax on You
First Appearance: The Big House

Maddie the Cat

Roberta's cat. Rumor has it that she was adopted during a brief trip to Earth.

Comics: 9
Recent Appearance: Cat-atonic
First Appearance: Get a Life

Johnny Space Commander

Womanizing captain of the USS Mainway. Among other people, he's currently dating Eileen.

Comics: 8
Recent Appearance: Darth of Ideas
First Appearance: Come on, Eileen

GRAISE

The scientific wing of a much larger space empire. GRAISE stands for Genetic Research: Alien Intelligence and Experimentation.

Comics: 8
Recent Appearance: 50 Shades of GRAISE
First Appearance: Work!

Dr. Ruppert

Dr. K. Ivan Ruppert is the doctor aboard Johnny Space Commander's spaceship, the USS Mainway. His first name is Kilroy and he's rumored to have distant relatives living on Earth who may or may not work in convenience stores.

Comics: 6
Recent Appearance: No Slime Like the Present
First Appearance: Come on, Eileen

General Osuna

Head General for Stag Nasty.

Comics: 5
Recent Appearance: Attack of the Clowns
First Appearance: Optimistic

Whitley

A GRAISE crewman aboard Johnny Space Commander's spaceship, the USS Mainway. He's about the equivalent of Mayberry intelligence-wise. He's considered the general purpose crewman by Johnny and his crew.

Comics: 2
Recent Appearance: No Slime Like the Present
First Appearance: Dumb Luck

No-Da

No-da is Yoda's black sheep brother. He's a master of the Grey side of the Force -- a skill he uses to cheat at gambling, pick up women and light his cheap cigars with a lightsaber.

Comics: 2
Recent Appearance: Easy Come, Easy Go
First Appearance: Well, No duh!

Roberta II

Roberta II is the alternate version of the Old School Roberta. She was created after Ralphie got stuck in a 30-year time loop, turning him in Old Ralphie. Once that timeline was restored, Roberta II and Old Ralphie traveled to 2187, got married and had a child, Gil. Eventually, they desttoyed the original universe and became both time and universe refugees, assuming she even still exists.

Comics: 1
Only Appearance: Past Tense

Gil

Gilligan Tiberius Zinobop is the son of Old Ralphie and Roberta II from the original universe. A unique Melotian/Zinoboppian hybrid, he seems to take after his uncle Ralph in temperament. His current whereabouts (and whenabouts) are unknown.

Comics: 1
Only Appearance: Past Tense