Second Chances
I have something of a confession to make – when it first started, a bit over a year ago, I didn’t like Home on the Strange.
Or rather… I just didn’t get it. It didn’t click for me. I went there on day one, sent via Websnark, and was surprised to find that it just left me shrugging.
(Ironically, I went on to check out the words of the strip’s writer, the Ferret, and was impressed by them.)
But the strip itself… nothing. I kept up with it for a few weeks – after all, it would be downright foolish to judge it by a single strip. And it didn’t grab me, and I eventually just stopped reading.
A couple months later, I saw notice of it… somewhere… and decided to take another look, and quickly went through the archives. And was promptly blown out of my shoes.
I was trying to figure out what exactly had changed, and realized only one thing – the strip had had enough time to start actually developing. Character interaction, full-on plotlines, drama – all the good stuff.
Let us make one thing clear – Home on the Strange is a sterling example of an almost perfectly designed webcomic. Clean site design, die-hard update schedule, connects to all manner of audiences (albeit almost all of them geeky), and has a great mix of humor and plot.
The early humor? For me, it didn’t work. But once it had the plot rolling… bam! Snagged me without a chance of escape.
It isn’t because I only like story-heavy comics, because I enjoy plenty of strips that run on nothing more than humor. But with Home on the Strange, the humor alone wasn’t enough to pull me in – and one instance where I was sad that I had first come upon it while it was starting out, rather than later, once it had built up what it needed to draw me in.
Which goes to show that it doesn’t hurt to hedge your bets. Home on the Strange was very carefully constructed to appeal to a multitude of people. Not that there is anything wrong with that – it isn’t any less good for being planned out that way!
In any case, as time moved one, I became a devoted reader of the strip. The last few arcs have been especially compelling – they focus on the relationship of Izzy and Tanner, whose relationship has been one of the central developments through the strip’s run thus far. A relationship that, ever since it began, has teetered precariously on the edge of disaster.
When Izzy was confronted by an attempted seduction by Seth, local GM (as well as an incredibly wealthy womanizer), things didn’t look good. But instead, his attempt helped her take a closer look at her relationship with Tanner, and head home, intent on making their relationship a real thing.
When she got home, however, things didn’t look so good…
…and the storyline was then followed up by a retelling of what was happening to Tanner while Izzy was away. This involved getting drunk, and inviting over his ex-girlfriend, which would have been a bad idea at the best of times.
But in Monday’s strip, he seemed to have his own epiphany. And here is where I give credit to the artist Roni as well, because that strip floored me with its simple change of posture. I thought it was all going to work out, having somehow forgotten the horrible scene that had to somehow transpire by the end of the night.
The battle clearly isn’t over yet. I’m hoping – really hoping – that everything works out in the end, because these two arcs have really matured Izzy and Tanner an incredible amount… but the creators of the strip like to toy with us mere readers, and the ending could go any which way. Right now I find myself checking this strip first thing on every day it updates, and I’m confident that will stay the case until the arc is done.
And in the end, I’m just glad I had a second chance to discover it.
Recognition
I considered spending today giving my own thoughts on yet another bit of drama making the rounds, involving the comic book industry and the fallout from certain massive crossover events. But… others have already written about that, and I don’t think there is much more I can add to the discussion.
I did, however, notice that it is International Women’s Day. And being that my mind was on the topic of comics, that made me think of Girl-Wonder.org, a site with a very strong, and very important, message. The focused campaign of the site is to get recognition for Stephanie Brown, who took up the mantle of Robin, and then was brutally killed – at which point DC mostly forgot about her.
I originally agreed with the site’s goal, largely on the basis that this was a character I had grown up a fan of. One of, sadly, many that DC has done terrible things to in recent years. But it wasn’t really until I started to read Girls Read Comics! (And They’re Pissed), by Karen Healey, that I started to ‘get’ the message they were trying to get across. That I started to genuinely notice the sexism and misogny unfortunately all too present in modern comics.
That was really what struck me about the state of things. That until it was pointed out to me, I just had not noticed. I didn’t agree with women being demeaned in comics, nor could I defend it – but until I had my face shoved in it, it didn’t occur to me to question it.
I think highly of myself as a rather reasonable, open, and well-meaning individual. So being put face to face with my own… ignorance? Apathy? Unawareness? Well, whatever it was, it wasn’t exactly the best feeling.
Since then, I’ve continued to read Karen’s column, and to genuinely keep my eyes open when I’m reading comics. (Both in print and on the web.) I couldn’t claim to have accomplished anything more than become aware of when I am reading something that is slealthily offensive, but I’m glad to take that as a start.
Some time after this point, I was talking with a friend about All Star Batman and Robin. It’s by Frank Miller, and it is pretty damn terrible, in all manner of ways. Most people are aware of this by now.
I was telling a friend how bad it was, and he asked me exactly what made it so bad. My response: “The gratuitous amounts of fanservice, the exceedingly lame dialogue, and the thoroughly incompetent pacing of time.”
His response: “Well, only two of those are really reasons not to read the comic.”
Now, this individual is one of my most intelligent friends, and a person I have a considerable amount of respect for. So seeing him just as stuck in that mindset, not even seeing anything wrong with it… well, that was another shock.
I don’t know how to stop the problem. But I think talking about it, getting it out in the open, is definitely an important part of the process. Making people aware of it is important. Because it really is far too easy for someone not directly affected by it to just not notice. And that says plenty of bad things in its own rights, but also means that the more people that can be made aware, the more progress can be made.
I’m sure there is plenty more I can do to contribute. For now, though, I’ll point people towards Girl-Wonder.org, and recommend they take a good long look. They’ve said it better than I ever could, and are saying things that damn well need to be said. And, honestly, it shouldn’t take it being some special day of the year for me to mention them – but the topic has been in the back of my mind for a while, and I’m glad I had something prompt it to the front.
And hopefully, in the future, I won’t need even that.
Shifting Focus
Let’s talk about Wikipedia.
Wait, wait, wait! Don’t run away! At least not yet!
I know that the subject has already been beaten into the ground. Repeatedly. I know that the majority of people are either tired of the entire debate, or only growing more upset the more they hear about it. And, honestly, I’m halfway in both camps – equally frustrated by the situation itself, as well as all the drama (often meaningless) it’s creating.
So why, then, am I writing about it?
That’s a very good question.
Quick summary for those who somehow missed the rest of the drama: Wikipedia has had a tendency to delete non-notable webcomics listings from their site. Their definition of non-notable clashes significantly with that of the webcomic community itself. Thus, conflict.
One thing I’ve noticed, recently, is that many people seem to have a hard time pinning down the purpose of webcomic listings on Wikipedia. They aren’t there to lead people to the comic – if you are listed on Wikipedia, it isn’t going to get you any noticable new traffic. It is a nice mark of accomplishment – but a webcartoonist who has thousands of readers should feel that regardless of whether Wikipedia recognizes them as notable or not.
The primary use of those Wikipedia entries, in my mind, is to provide information. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. It is a catalogue and compilation of information. With the majority of its topics, that information isn’t something easily found elsewhere on the web. If I am trying to learn about a specific novel, and I don’t have that novel on hand, Wikipedia just might have an entry with some valuable information.
I don’t go to Wikipedia to find new books to read – I go there to find information about books I already know about.
When I go there looking for webcomic information, it is usually to dig up random facts about the webcomic itself. When it began, names of characters, etc.
All information, by and large, that I would much rather have on the webcomic’s site itself. After all, webcomics are on the web. If I can get to Wikipedia, I can get to the webcomic’s homepage. In a perfect world, everything I need to know about a strip would be right there next to the archives.
Unfortunately, many webcomics don’t have much more than the bare bones around. They’ve got archives, and usually a forum or place for comments. If we’re lucky, a cast page (which, more often than not, isn’t up to date).
If I get more than that, I count it as a genuine accomplishment. Having a storyline guide, detailed character pages, searchable archives – those are amazing things. But generally, the webcartoonists are too busy with, say, actually producing new material (entirely for free), and simply don’t have the time, energy, or know-how to put those features in. I can’t complain about it – that’s just the way it is.
It would be nice if every webcomic had all the info we needed right there on the page, but it just isn’t going to happen.
Hence why I go hunting through Wikipedia. Or, with Wikipedia yanking out entries left and right, to Comixpedia.org. Gilead Pellaeon, over at the Webcomicker, gives his own response to the matter – he plans to work hard at fleshing out Comixpedia.org and the information there. Which is an idea I can certainly get behind, and I plan to do my own fair share of work on the database there.
There have been those who have… well, let’s not say criticized, but rather, been dubious of the use of Comixpedia.org. The arguments have often been that it isn’t going to do what Wikipedia does, and that only people already in the webcomic community will even know about the page.
But that’s ok. The purpose of Comixpedia.org is to be a collection of information on webcomics. Not a guide to introduce us to the outside world, not a guide to lure newcomers into the fold. Which isn’t to say we don’t need more along those lines – but being posted on Wikipedia certainly didn’t do that. It collects knowledge in a place we know where to find it.
The more people working on it, the better a tool it is. Gilead’s got the right idea. If you want to worry about notability at Wikipedia… well, go for it. I do agree that their current standards are fundamentally flawed, regardless of whether the concept itself is or not. But I think Wikipedia is a lot less important to us than we think – and while it is easy to feel it is a personal attack, the amount of energy wasted on the matter could be put to far better use.
Like fleshing out the websites of the comics themselves. Or working on Comixpedia.org. Or finding new and innovative ways to draw people into webcomics.
I suspect if we could spend half the time being productive as we do ranting, we’d see a world of difference.
"Everything is connected… no one thing can change by itself."
Longevity can be a dangerous thing.
The majority of webcomics are still in their youth, these days, but we have started to get more and more passing the decade mark. Which isn’t a sign of old age, persay – but it does occasionally make me worry. How long until we have gag comics that go the way of Garfield, reduced to a formula and devoid of all real humor? How long can a story run before wandering over its own tail in complex plot after plot, needing to hit the reset button over and over again in the fashion of so many comic-book superheroes?
There are a lot of comics I have faith in to avoid such fates – but the more solid the world of webcomics becomes, the longer it survives and evolves, the more likely that many of my favorite strips see similar dilemmas to those that plague the newspaper strip and comic book industries.
Which is why it is often a relief to see a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and enters into the game fully aware of this fact.
Empty Words is one such strip.
Empty Words is a beautifully illustrated story that deals with some very heart-wrenching issues, and more importantly, some very realistic people dealing with those issues. And as of last week, the story has come to an end.
There aren’t many characters in the story. There aren’t many locations. The plot itself is driven almost entirely, intensely, by the people in the story and their interactions with each other.
Which seems perfectly appropriate, given the topics the comic is about. Loneliness. Family. Relationships.
The art is striking, and despite the almost hollow eyes of the characters, they convey a very real – very powerful – sense of life. The story adds that realism as well, with people and moments that connect the characters to a larger life, outside of what we see. They have a past, and seeing bits of those details helps ground the story in a much larger world than what we are shown.
Some pages have many words, and some have nearly none at all. Both have their place in telling the tale of Audrey, a young woman who works in a caretaking home for the elderly, and Greg, a journalist in search of a story.
As I said above, it is a very powerful story. At it’s heart, it deals with the connections between people, both those they yearn for and those they try to run away from. Along the way it touches on motivations, infallibility… Life. Death.
Serious stuff, but it manages to deal with it without ever feeling forced, without ever feeling fake.
It took three and a half years for Ben Rivers to tell this story.
I’d say it was worth every minute of it.
The Return
My apologies for the absence last week, as life was exceptionally hectic. Given that I would have likely spent most of the week whining about the latest Sluggy storyline being lame, it is probably for the best everyone was spared that.
I’d like to start things off on a good note this week, however, so let’s talk about Penny and Angie.
Last week, it is altogether likely I would have spoken poorly of the current storyline. The premise: Aggie’s dad Nick is introducing her to his girlfriend Charisma, and her son Marshall, whom she has a major crush on despite him currently dating Karen, an enemy of both Aggie and her rival, Penny, who happens to be stalking the lot of them.
Yeah.
I mean, even from the start it seemed clear it would be one of those stories about a bunch of people embroiled in an atmosphere of extreme awkwardness, with all sides embarrassing themselves and various hijinks ensuing.
Which is fine, but is simply a brand of humor that has never really worked for me. Watching a trainwreck in action, knowing that there is going to be misunderstandings and silliness and so forth… just leaves me feeling frustrated, not amused. Which is my own personal taste, and no real fault of the humor in question. Still, it is a good comic, so I knew I would keep reading through the storyline despite it not being for me.
My suspicions about the direction of the storyline were confirmed when I saw the interactions between Aggie and Marshall. The parents own little run-in left me mostly confused.
And then I got to today’s strip, and realized I was starting to enjoy the entire fiasco. I’d say this is in part because the dialogue is finally starting to ring true, whereas the Aggie/Marshall interaction felt a bit too idealized. But honestly, it is also just due to the set-up itself finally growing on me.
I found myself looking forward to whatever was coming next, and the fall-out thereof. I found myself actively enjoying a brand of humor that normally leaves me numb.
I’d say that is a damn fine testament to the skill of T Campbell and Gisele Lagace, the minds behind the mayhem.
Penny and Angie has been running strong for two and a half years now, and has definitely come into it’s own. Perhaps the defining moment occured in this strip, right near the start of the storyline.
Didn’t notice anything too special? Penny trying to chastise Aggie, and Aggie blowing it off – doesn’t seem all that important, does it?
But if you dial way, way back, to the very first storyline, and to a moment when Penny learned that Aggie had lost her mom, and filed it away as future ammunition, imagining it was knowledge that would cripple her rival if she brought it to the fore.
Except… she couldn’t bring herself to do so. It came up, time and time again, but for over 400 strips it faded into the background.
And finally, humiliated, she breaks it out – and it is shrugged off. And that – that hits Penny hard. That’s what truly drives all the frustration and hate to the surface. That is what brings her into the entire catastrophe we have unfolding before us.
I can’t deny that sort of connection. So I really shouldn’t have been surprised that even the storyline I was dreading has won me over, and left me coming back for more.
Spread the Word
I think it is pretty commonly agreed that Queen of Wands was a hell of a comic – so good, in fact, that it ran a second time with commentary for those who couldn’t get enough of it.
And now the sequel is out. Punch an’ Pie, written by Aeire, drawn by Chris Daily, and featuring Angela, still the same tiny, crazy blonde as before.
So here I am, getting the word out.
The one thing that I am sad about is that the strip is black and white. Don’t get me wrong – the art looks great, and I’ve been a longtime fan of Striptease, wherein Chris Daily does some amazing things in black and white.
But Queen of Wands was one of those comics that really felt alive, and in large part thanks to the brilliant use of color.
That said, given the overload of work the artist is involved in, I certainly can’t find fault in the quality of the strip. And I’m certainly looking forward to many more comics to come.
So it was written, so shall it be.
Penny Arcade’s latest adventure into continuity has involved an imaginary world wherein the duo behind the strip unleashes Olympus: the future of the arcade, and/or the arcade of the future.
It’s a fun little tale, and delivered as brilliantly as usual. People ask me why I like Penny Arcade, and even occasionally accuse me of rapid fandom, but I’ll hold by my guns – these guys have the comic art down. Even aside from my particular enjoyment of Gabe’s art and Tycho’s writing, I find the rhythm of the strip to be invariably spot-on.
But what struck me the most, in the latest two installments, was that I had several moments of pondering whether or not the plan proposed in the strip was grounded in reality. It’s a foolish, ludicrous thought – but immersed in the grand vision of what Penny Arcade has become, it seems almost tangible.
I’ll get back to why that is possible in a few moments. For now, let me make mention that I picked up a copy of the Warsun Prophecies.
As with their previous books, it is an unsurprisingly quality – and professional – piece of work. The only thing that astounds me is how fast they are coming out with these, without even any noticeable slowdown in their production of new strips.
But aside from the book itself, what caught my attention was the bonus feature in the last few pages – some previews of concept art on their upcoming video game, On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness. It’s pretty brilliant stuff – the game is set in New Arcadia, a humble city in 1920s America, no doubt infested with hobos, gangsters, and more.
What especially stood out, though, was the following statement: “Rather than simply licensing the property to a developer and then standing back while they make the game, we’re actually partnering with Hot Head and making the game together. That means Tycho and I are writing the entire thing and I’m doing all the concept artwork.”
So, obviously, that both bodes well for the game itself, and again, leaves me wondering how they have the time to accomplish all of this. (Enslaved colonies of clones? Diabolical machinations? Potential radical temporal manipulation?)
The big realization, though, was that I expected the game to rock. To rock hard. Which wouldn’t seem so weird… if I didn’t realize how little faith I had in other webcomic pros similarly branching out into new areas.
The foreward of the book is by Scott Kurtz, and is a clearly tongue-in-cheek attack on the success of Penny Arcade over PvP (along with a brief shot at Ctrl-Alt-Del.) And yet, for all of Scott’s cracks at Ctrl-Alt-Del, and his claims that PvPs animated series was going to blow Buckley out of the water… he failed to deliver.
Oh, the PvP animated series isn’t bad. It also has barely even started – I’m sure it will ramp up as they polish the show and get into their proper rhythm. But I am confident that even at it’s best, it won’t blow me out of my shoes. It will be a nifty little novelty, but not ground-breaking. A nice addition to the strip itself, something for the dedicated fan to enjoy, but that’s about it. And, generally, all I can see from most similar endeavors from many and sundry webcomics out there.
Somehow, Penny Arcade inspires a much higher level of faith in what they can accomplish. Partly because of what they have already accomplished. The most readers of any webcomic, by a landslide, if I remember my numbers right. Child’s Play. PAX. And, yes, it helps that they have the weight to through around to get something like this done.
But having the ability to make it happen isn’t as important as having the drive to make it happen right – and that’s what I’ve got faith in.
That’s why, if they said they were going to sit down and open their own utopia of a gaming arcade, I’d take them at their word. And I know for damn sure there isn’t any other webcomic that would get the same response from me.
Sure, they aren’t perfect – for one thing, they need to fix their archives into a slightly more functional state. (Read: a state wherein navigating feels more like searching for strips, and less like wading through a rabid pack of mutant weasels.)
But damn, New Arcadia is gonna rock.
Ow. Ow. Ow.
So I’m recovering from a weekend of gaming my health away, the WCCAs are out and the usual deliverances of injustice have occured, Sluggy is only a day away from a dramatic reveal whose countdown has thoroughly sapped my interest in the matter, and yet… overall, I’m content.
You see, I noticed that the William G has pointed out the return of KraziKimchi and the artistic stylings of Hyung Kim, old school webcomics madman.
Even better, he’s actually got several months of solid, consistent updates, which is pretty good evidence for the continuance of said solid, consistent updates.
So that’s pretty darn good news.
My apologies for the brevity in updates – hopefully I’ll be back to a more regular schedule once I stop feeling like I’ve been repeatedly bludgeoned into senselessness.
In which I rant far longer than is necessary
Today…
Today, I rant.
I normally tend to look for the positive in a comic rather than the negative. Given that you don’t (usually) pay for webcomics, pointing out bad ones to ‘steer people away’ doesn’t strike me as quite as effective a service as it is for critics in other fields. I’d rather, say, point people towards the good stuff, right off the bat.
But the last few days have been a major pain, what with ice, ice, more ice, and the occasional spider.
So you get a rant.
When I do tend to focus on the weaknesses of a strip, I tend to focuses on strips that have promise despite those weaknesses. Like I said – singling out an irredeemably horribly strip is pointless. A strip that has potential, if it can overcome one tiny hurdle or another.
In this case, Trouble Konflik might have potential, or it might not. For the last six months that the strip has been updating, I have been entirely unable to discern what is happening or whether it is interesting or not. That in and of itself should be a sign something is wrong.
Now, let me pause for a moment, and read through the archives…
…done.
There is currently just over one chapter updated. And, reading it in one fell swoop… it’s actually not that bad. The art is really cool, with vibrant and engaging character designs. The plot… well, hard to say, as the story is exceptionally slow-moving.
Which is the problem. Or part of the problem, at least. A story doesn’t have to move fast to be good – but Trouble Konflik is relatively unique, in that each update consists of no more than one. single. panel.
There are good single-panel strips out there, sure – but they are gag strips. A new joke every update. They don’t have to deal with the struggle to tell a story, because you can’t tell a story with one context-less frame every week. It is completely incapable of conveying the necessary information to actually understand – let alone enjoy – the story being told.
Until I read through the archives today, my impression of Trouble Konflik was essentially a memory of watching a slideshow of disjointed images. Indeed, there were times when I wasn’t sure if it was updating with a story, or just… sketches, filler, meaningless images. I could not tell.
That, I say, tells me there is a problem at hand.
Reading the archives – having the entire story on a single page – is a different situation entirely.
And, sure – anyone reading the strip can skim back through the archive with every update, to refresh themselves on what is going on. And once they’ve done so enough, it will probably start to fall more into place with each strip – though some will still feel empty on their own.
When a strip relies both on what comes before for the entirety of its context, and what comes after, and is presented independent of either of those, it isn’t a strip at all. It is nothing.
That’s the tragedy of Trouble Konflik. Looking back through the archives, I can see a promising tale. But I read it for half a year without getting anything out of it. A newcomer, glancing at the latest strip, will be completely lost. Sure, the archives are there, but isn’t the purpose of a strip that updates on the web to be about the updates, not the archives?
The strip is just now starting to hit its stride – from what I understand, just starting to see newly crafted pages (panels) twice a week. Which is great – if anyone is still reading. If anyone will continue to remain reading.
The solution is a simple one – don’t update one page at a time. Cut the updates from twice a week to twice a month, and update four panels in one fell swoop. Update, basically, with one full page at a time – or hey, only update three or four times a year, but give a full chapter every shot. It might seem like less output – but it would be output that a person could actually read.
The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Alone, they are nothing more than pretty pictures. Together, they tell a story. Which is the goal of the comic? That’s the decision that has to be made.
Happy Wednesday!
A few short notes today:
NEWS: Hob has shown itself to the light of day, and it is very pretty.
CATS: VG Cats wins for best Valentine’s cards ever.
HEARTS: Something*Positive wins for best Valentine’s Day strip ever.
Damn Good Comics 