Pinky & Pepper Forever

Pinky & Pepper Forever is based on the discontinued Pinkie Cooper and the Jet Set Pets toyline that ran in the early-mid 2010s.[3] Author Eddy Atoms was inspired to create comics after attending zine fairs, and disregarded traditional rules of illustration while drawing comics.[5] Atoms' first comic work was Clone Void, which Atoms described as "a totally grotesque sci-fi horror that people would probably be repulsed by if I put it out today."[5]

Pinky & Pepper Forever follows anthropomorphic dog girlfriends Pinky Cooper and Pepper Parson. After Cooper commits suicide in the fictional performance art piece Final Piece,[6] Cooper and Parson both go to hell.[3] Atoms created the comic's artwork in colored pencil illustrations, sculpture, and Microsoft Paint.[2]

Following its announcement in January 2018[7] and debut at that year's Toronto Comic Arts Festival,[2] the graphic novel was positively received by comic critics. The Comics Journal reviewer Carta Monir praised the comic's coloring, writing, themes, and authenticity, observing that "As a lesbian with lots of lesbian artist friends, the relationship depicted in Pinky & Pepper Forever might be the truest representation of a sad, undergraduate, gay art student relationship I’ve ever seen."[3] Monir predicted that Pinky & Pepper Forever would "inspire a generation of artists."[3] The Advocate praised Pinky & Pepper Forever as "a fabulous dark comedy about two lesbian puppy-girls, determined to stay together through art school, death, and hell itself."[8] Autostraddle described the graphic novel as "hilarious" and said, "If you’re a recovering Christian, you will be delighted by [Eddy] Atoms’ dark comic about a devoted girlfriend (Pepper) who follows her dead girlfriend (Pinky) into hell and is shocked to find that she's a superstar in the eternal abyss."[9]

Pinky & Pepper Forever was nominated for the Outstanding Artist award at the 2018 Ignatz Awards.[10] Author Atoms was the winner and featured artist of the Columbus Museum of Art's 2019 Columbus Comics Residency for his work on Pinky & Pepper Forever.[11] The graphic novel's popularity has grown in the years since its debut, with sales of the comic from Silver Sprocket increasing nearly threefold between 2021 and 2022.[12]