Buni is the work of cartoonist Ryan Pagelow, whose career includes comic strip work, journalism and contributions to publications such as Mad magazine. Pagelow began publishing Buni online in 2010 after developing the idea of combining an adorable cartoon world with humor that could suddenly turn bleak.
That contrast is the foundation of the series. Buni is a wide-eyed, optimistic rabbit living in a world filled with teddy bears, zombies, garden gnomes and other strange characters. His positive outlook rarely protects him from the consequences of bad luck.
The joke often comes from the gap between what the artwork suggests and what actually happens.
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Pagelow deliberately built Buni around visual contradiction. The characters have simple, rounded designs that could easily fit into a children’s cartoon, while the stories can involve death, misfortune, betrayal or other grim twists.
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The series also relies heavily on visual storytelling. Pagelow explained that the first Buni strips were created without dialogue, and he continued using the wordless format. That became an important part of the comic’s identity.
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For readers, this makes the final panel especially important. Instead of explaining a joke through dialogue, Pagelow often lets the reader discover the punchline by following the characters’ actions.
A major reason the dark jokes land is that the characters generally do not behave as though they are inside a comedy.
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Buni remains optimistic even when circumstances are clearly working against him. His romantic interest is another recurring source of disappointment, while his cynical father, BuniDad, provides an almost complete personality opposite.
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Although individual Buni strips frequently circulate on social media, the series has a substantial history as a webcomic.
The comic was syndicated through Universal Uclick and appeared on platforms including GoComics and Webtoon. Pagelow’s official site also continues to archive the strip.
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Pagelow’s work received significant industry recognition. The National Cartoonists Society lists Buni as an award-winning online comic, while Andrews McMeel notes that the series was named Best Online Comic by the National Cartoonists Society. The series also moved into print. Andrews McMeel published Buni: Happiness Is a State of Mind on June 5, 2018. The 128-page paperback collects Pagelow’s comics and presents the same combination of optimism, visual humor and darker twists that defines the webcomic.
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Readers can find Buni through Pagelow’s official website and its archived comic strips. The series has also appeared through platforms such as GoComics and Webtoon.
For collectors who prefer physical books, Buni: Happiness Is a State of Mind offers a print collection of Pagelow’s work.
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