“Free Lunch” by Dnapalmhead, a Macro-Furry Artist

Good morning everyone,

Today’s review of “Free Lunch” was suggested in a February 2022 e-mail from AJ. AJ described Free Lunch as an old macro comic that’s been a favorite of his for many years. Free Lunch was drawn and written by Dnapalmhead, a macro-furry artist who has been sharing artwork online for nearly two decades. It’s not clear when Free Lunch was first created, but discussions about this comic date back to at least mid-June 2006. So, this illustrated story has been around for at least 16 years, if not longer!

The premise is simple. A male humanoid dragon is leaning against a tree when a box labeled “Experimental Science Materials” suddenly drops from the sky.

The unnamed character samples a pill from the mysterious box and quickly begins to grow larger! From this point on in the comic there’s growth shown on nearly every page! Although, the rules governing his transformation were a little unclear. Initially, he gets taller by getting water from a nearby drinking fountain, then sucking on an air tank, and later biting down on a blimp.

He also grows just because, without any apparent stimulant or catalyst.

Then readers get a bit more background and are introduced to a female humanoid dragon. She is also unnamed, but apparently works as a scientist. (SIDE NOTE: It’s more helpful when characters are given names!) She was responsible for the guy’s transformation.

Inspired by his ascension, the female scientist also consumes some of the pills:

The female dragon swiftly expands and in short order joins up with the first growing dragon and from that point they were inseparable. They never consummate their relationship though. Or to phrase that more bluntly, the dragons don’t fuck!

At this point, let’s take a step back and examine Dnapalmhead’s work as a whole. In general, his work has primarily consisted of furry characters. That’s to say he most often draws anthropomorphic animals or animals with human attributes. However, he has also drawn humans in “Channel Surfin’ ” and “Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha,” shown below:

It’s also important to note that Dnapalmhead describes himself as asexual, as can be seen in his profile at Fur Affinity:

I bring this up because that’s relevant to discussing his art and stories. Characters become larger and change their shapes, but they rarely (if ever) engage in coitus. Female characters perform cunnilingus on each other and use buildings as dildos, but as a rule males do not put their penises into females. No matter how aroused or pleasure-filled someone gets in a Dnapalmhead comic they never fuck.

In fact, penises are rarely shown. When they are shown there may be a homosexual slant to their depictions. For example, in the comic “Down on the farm,” two male characters press their cocks together while growing and stroking themselves. Technically, they don’t penetrate each other or perform fellatio, but rubbing dicks could still be considered a gay or homosexual act, in my opinion at least. That’s not a problem, but it bears highlighting as readers may be surprised at the absence of heterosexual intercourse. Characters just cuddle, kiss, and become larger!

Accordingly, the male dragon in Free Lunch didn’t have a penis. Alternatively, maybe he did and it was retracted or inside his body the entire time. Who’s to say? In any case, “Gutzilla” (as he was called in a Channel 12 Action News broadcast) apparently was satisfied with merely snuggling his girlfriend. In a similar vein, the female dragon clearly has breasts, but not nipples. The two lovers show physical affection by growing instead of making love. (SIDE NOTE: Protagonist bodies achieved outlandish physical dimensions stretching thousands of miles if not more, but the status quo was miraculously restored at the end. No one was actually hurt by the constantly expanding duo even when they achieved continental, planetary, or interstellar sizes. Therefore, this was clearly meant for gentle growth fans.)

Of note, there was an actual conflict which arose in the second half. Don’t want to give spoilers, but suffice to say that this comic felt like a complete story. Even if the conflict was resolved rather easily.

As far as potential improvements, let’s begin with the artwork. Backgrounds were sometimes nearly empty with blank walls and few details. Therefore, they didn’t resemble real places where people live or work. For example, the following panel depicts the female dragon in the middle of outgrowing a building:

A rebuttal could be that these dragons and the other humanoid animals were not people, and thus don’t follow our norms. That’d be a weak response, but sure maybe they can’t be expected to act like people. Maybe they digest food using glowing eye beams, reproduce by splitting in two, and sleep for 24 hours at a time. Maybe they stand motionless in empty offices for eight hours at a time and then shuffle home. <Shrug> I’ve never actually observed animal-human hybrids; so, I just assume that they behave and reason like us humans.

Still, the positives of this work significantly outweigh the negatives. Thus, I recommend Free Lunch. It’s not perfect, but it should satisfy thirsty gentle growth fans. Plus it can be read for free! Tyler Mackey uploaded a video of Free lunch on YouTube, click here to watch that. That video was made out of the sketches drawn by Dnapalmhead which were then colored by Redsaber. Additionally, the comic can be found online at places like Fur Affinity or Macrophile.com.

That’s it for now folks. Until next time, keep growing!

This review was written by SolomonG and is protected under Fair Use copyright law.

All Rights Reserved.