Pokémon is a great example of how a cultural phenomenon has taken over and spread across several mediums, including games, anime, movies, videogames, and comics. Trainers from all across the world have captured Pokémon on their game consoles and in augmented reality, and have learned from other trainers on the big screen.
When it comes to the written word, fans have indulged in Pokémon books and traditional comics for years, but there is a whole other world of illustrated comics coming from artists online. Here's a look at ten Pokémon trainer comics fans of the franchise will appreciate.
Familiar Starters
One of the things trainers may notice about the Pokémon generations is that some of them are pretty similar to earlier generations. This comic from Generation IV Pokémon, and Charmander, a Generation I Pokémon.
The comic exaggerates this idea by showing how the trainer, in true Kanto.
Pokémon Go Trainer Teams
Pokémon Go had everyone hitting the streets in 2016, catching all their favorite Pokémon in augmented reality. While in-game groups and teams have always been a part of Pokémon, but in Pokémon Go choosing either team Valor, Mystic or Instinct is a big part of the game.
As a result, more players have found comradery in their team and have made it part of their trainer identities. While team leaders Candela and Blanche are more serious and intellectual, Spark has a reputation of being zanier, as this illustrated comic from modantoire shows.
Trainers And Their Starters
Choosing a starter Pokémon is one of the most significant decisions a trainer makes, and it marks the start of their journey. Teaching your Pokémon new moves along with growing and evolving your Pokémon to make it as powerful as possible is all a part of the strategic process.
Lots of trainers will often identify with the Pokémon they choose to start with, and each starter has its own perceived personalities and stereotypes alongside their carefully studied advantages and disadvantages. This comic from Robert Ramjom highlights the laid back and easygoing nature of grass types like Venusaur.
Choosing Professor Oak
Professor Oak as his starter Pokémon rather than Pikachu. This would certainly make for interesting battles, and you have to wonder what fighting moves Ash would teach the Professor, assuming he would be a fighting type.
Professor Oak is a longtime side character from the Pokémon franchise, but he wasn't present in Robin Williams cast as Professor Oak in a live-action Pokémon movie, and since he had ed away they excluded the character from the film.
Powerful Pokémon
Occasionally a trainer might get lucky and bag a Pokémon way out of their league, literally. This comic from Shen Comix hilariously illustrates this. It's very clear that this Clefable is the one who wears the pants in this trainer-trainee relationship.
In the Pokémon video games, certain high-level Pokémon will actually disobey their trainers when they don't have enough gym badges. In Indigo League, Ash struggles with a similar issue when he adopts an abandoned Charmander. After becoming a part of his team, the Charmander eventually evolves into a Charizard, which results in him disobeying Ash's commands since he doesn't have enough trainer experience yet.
Reliving Your Early Training
It's likely that one reason why Pokémon Go was such a hit was that it was a way for older fans to experience catching Pokémon, battling gyms, filling up their Pokédex, and building their team in a new interactive way that still captured the magic of the old games.
This wholesome comic from Sam Hudson invokes the feeling of nostalgia that a lot of fans feel before heading outside to catch Pokémon, similar to how they felt playing the games as kids and using their imagination.
Literal Balls Of Steel
During Indigo League and in other Pokémon series, Ash Ketchum develops a reputation of being somewhat of an incompetent trainer who gets his victories from beginner's luck.
While he is slow to learn, he does eventually make progress as a trainer, but still suffers from misplaced optimism and overconfidence. Matt Knight's comic illustrates something dumb that Ash might do, at the end of the day Ash cares a lot for his Pokémon and generally doesn't intend to hurt them.
The Two Types Of Trainers
This is another comic from Flandrew that highlights the different personalities and stereotypes some trainers fall into. There are plenty of trainers that become overly obsessed with the perfect strategy for capturing Pokémon and tend to overthink the situation each time they encounter one. Others just barrel right through and pulverize the Pokémon they find.
As a trainer, Ash was inexperienced and imperfect, but he was never one to exploit his Pokémon or purposefully direct them to inflict excessive damage to his opponent's Pokémon. It was one thing that set him apart from a lot of the other trainers he encountered and definitely something he got right as a young trainer.
Rookie Mistakes
There are a lot of theories out there about what Pokémon actually are. Some fan theories suggest that Pokémon aren't three-dimensional animals but are actually just energy, which is why they are able to dematerialize and fit into a Pokèball.
The theory is thought-provoking and does explain a lot about Pokémon and their powers. This Jhall comic illustrates what might be a rookie mistake a trainer would make if the Pokémon emerged from its Pokéball and re-materialized in the same spot as an innocent bystander.
Strategizing
This Pokémon Go) each Pokémon can only learn four moves. So you can teach them new moves, but in order to learn a new move, they have to forget another move and give it up.
Because of this, trainers have to strategize on what moves they should have their Pokémon give up and which ones they should keep. These decisions can be difficult but they are one of the skills that come with time and experience for Pokémon trainers.
