LOL: 'Broship Of The Ring' [Image Gallery]

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy stripped of all its fantasy elements may not sound like a great idea, but that's only because you haven't seen the delightful "Broship of the Rings" yet. In her ongoing series, artist Noelle Stevenson reimagines of the iconic Fellowship as an oddball group of modern-day pals embarking on a road trip in their trusty van Shadowfax. While she never explains where they're headed or why, she does have them encounter all sorts of cool folks and weirdos along the way.

In Stevenson's interpretation, Legolas becomes a prep school pretty boy, Gimli a truck driver, the Rohirrim a biker gang, Merry and Pippin a couple of hipsters ("What do you mean you've never heard of second breakfast?"), and so on. Pretty apt, right? Check out her utterly charming artwork after the jump.

[images from Stevenson's Tumblr, via Vulture]

Stevenson describes her own series as "a lot of dudes from different backgrounds and walks of life hanging out together," which when you think about it is pretty much what Lord of the Rings actually was. Plus all that stuff about war and the ring and what have you, of course. Life appears to be much more carefree for the Broship, as opposed to the Fellowship, but it's hard to hold that against them when they look like they're having so much fun barbecuing, playing beer pong, and getting into bar fights.

If you enjoy Stevenson's playful style as much as I do, it's certainly worth heading here to see the rest. Stevenson also serves up plenty of non-LOTR illustrations on her Tumblr and her blog — a couple of my non-BOTR favorites include this Mulan joke and this very silly but endlessly amusing (at least to me) X-Men: First Class comic strip.

Discuss: What do you think of Stevenson's Lord of the Rings artwork? Which characters would you like to see her tackle next — and what form do you imagine their modern-day interpretations would take?