Also, Girly has a freaking awesome archive system. That’s a cause for a happy ending right there, in my book.
Girly is, at heart, a fantasy.
It isn’t your standard fantasy with the magic swords and the flying dragons and the epic quests, no.
But it is about a world of adventure, whimsy, wonder, and above all, love.
This is part of what makes it so appealing. So often in stories the main love interests take forever to get together. Countless hours of angst, and misccomunication, and endless hijinks keep the tension on, and keep the reader desperately strung along.
Girly actually doesn’t spend all that long – it takes a few chapters, but the main leads accept their feelings for each other pretty darn quickly.
I think it says a lot that the story doesn’t end there.
There has continued to be all manner of crazy adventures and ongoing zaniness. It’s great fun.
But for myself, I’m in it for the side characters. Officer Policeguy. El Chupacabre and Autumn. And all the others.
You’re rooting for all of them to end up happy. And all of them, even the ones that might be founded in cliches – Lesnick manages to make them all interesting.
Fortunately, it seems pretty likely that, in this magical world of his, people do end up with happy endings. Coincidence is on the side of the heroes, so to speak, and things have a tendency to… come together.
Now, I think the ending of the comic is a long, long way off. And I suspect we’re heading toward some tough times, giving the many warnings of a coming time of chaos – and given the normal state of affairs, something that passes for chaos must be dire indeed.
Still, that is then, and this is now. And things are looking up for Chuy and Autumn, and thats a pretty rad thing indeed.
It’s late, it’s hot, it’s friday, and I’m rambling. My apologies in advance.
There is a pizza and sub joint I often frequent after my weekly game of Anachronism. Now, they often have a half-price pizza special, so accordingly I have not often given much attention to the subs available.
This last week, I was not so much in a pizza mood (I know, I know, blasphemy), and was perusing their other delectables. As such, I discovered they had a sub called… The Ultimate.
This would have been more impressive had there not been two other subs that were even more grandiose. (I believe they were known as The Fat Daddy and The Beast.)
The Ultimate sub was not, in fact, Ultimate. It was not even penultimate. Truly, we live in sad times.
What does this story have to do with webcomics? Absolutely nothing. I just thought you should know. Moving on to what matters in this crazy world – small pixels on computer screens!
8-Bit Theatre ran a guest strip this week that was exceptionally cool. The best part about it? Now I actually know what the hell black mage’s new costume is supposed to look like!
Seriously, while I’m still somewhat digging 8-Bit Theatre, there are definitely times when the limitation of the artform are felt more than others. And it isn’t even just the artform – I’ve seen good-looking pixel art. Sometime’s 8-Bit just… isn’t up to par, as far as, you know. Being able to make heads or tails of what the pixels are supposed to represent.
In other news, despite not actually having the time to do so, I managed to read back through the complete Narbonic archives. Did I accomplish this through clever manipulation of the properties of space and time, or merely by poor decisions in my own time-management? Only time will tell…
Yadda yadda yadda, the strip is just as good as I remember it, and I especially enjoyed the Dave in Slumberland strips, which are pretty much anything a lover of foreshadowing could ask for.
I’ve been tempted to go and read up on the many and sundry chronicles of King Arthur. You see, I’ve been reading A:KoTaS, and it has struck me that I could make much more sense of the many complications if I just boned up on my history (so to speak.)
However, to do so would no doubt also mean that I would know in much more detail (rather than the generally vague forbodings I have now) about what is to come. Is a greater understanding of events worth risking the ‘spoiling’ of the story? Even for a story that has passed the statute of limitations.
I believe my final decision was that the point is moot, as there are so many variation and retellings of the story as to render any information gleaned useless.
Also, I’m lazy.
Final thought for the day: I enjoy Diesel Sweeties more often than not, but it rarely blows me out of the water. However, I have now resolved that, sometime before I die, I must use this line from Metal Steve.
This I so swear.
All things must end in time… even endings.
Mark Shallow’s ADVENTURERS! may be the longest-running console RPG comic on the interweb, and it is coming to an end.
This… probably isn’t news to anyone. Anywhere.
See, it has been coming to an end for some… oh, two and a half years now. Webrunner announced in February, 2003, that the strip would be coming to an ending. At the time, he did state that the ending wasn’t right around the corner, but I don’t imagine he realized how long it would truly take to bring things to the story’s appropriate conclusion.
Now, I’m quite the fan of the strip. It is an extreme example of a strip with rather humble beginnings that has matured and developed into something very impressive. And while some of the jokes it makes about RPGs have become cliche over time, that is in part due to its own use of them.
The ending of the strip has dragged on a bit, I think it is safe to say. Not to the extent that it isn’t worth reading, or doesn’t still hit some good notes – but I think the length of the ending has cost the strip something.
When I first learned the strip was coming to an end, it starts a process of… resignation, I suppose. Detachment. Embracing the end, and accepting that this is one story that will be wrapping up.
But when the story did not wrap up… it merely meant that I lost some level of investment in the tale. I think it finally is winding down to a close –
Webrunner has temporarily closed production of his other strip, Antihero for Hire (a great strip, by the by, and one that shows lessons learned from his first comic – it is a much stronger, much tighter story.) He has moved to fully updating just Adventurers until it is complete, which certainly implies to me that it won’t be long now.
But while I’ll enjoy the conclusions and seeing what happens to all the characters, in a lot of ways, Adventurers already has ended for me. I went through the mourning process already, as it were. So no matter how much the finale might dazzle and amaze me – there will be something personal missing from it.
Now, I’m not sure what could have been done to avoid this. I am rather confident the length of the ending was unintended. The fact that the final battle took a year and a half to conclude, and the ending sequence itself has been running for seven months… well, sometimes the story has its own demands. But somewhere along the way, amidst the long, drawn out, eternal ending… something was lost.
I suspect Webrunner is as aware of this as any fan. As I mentioned above, his other comic Antihero for Hire is a much more well-crafted strip. I’m not even 100% sure on what the lesson is – I certainly don’t believe that it is requisite for one to plot out the entirety of their strip before embarking upon it.
But while one might not need the strip to be fully fleshed out in advance, I think that an awareness of pacing is a skill that is very easy to pass by when one is starting out. Each strip can remain as golden as the one before it – but it is all too easy to be four-hundred strips later, and have a reader who has lost interest in the comic without even noticing.
In any case, let’s see that ending, Mr. Webrunner. It might be too late to have the fullest impact, but I’m sure it will still do the strip proud.
We could all use a little change…
I feel like I should talk about the changes of editors at Modern Tales and Graphic Smash – but I’m not really sure what to say.
My opinions of the collectives themselves remain the same – GS seems to be doing well as far as content, and MT still remains barren as far as new material. They have a nice redesign (well, it looks nice, even if navigation isn’t anything exceptional.) Hopefully a new editor will help things take off again.
As far as the editors taking over, I don’t think anyone can complain – Tim Demeter does one of the most professional looking webcomics out there, and Shaenon Garrity has always been a heavy hitter on the web.
Those stepping down? Well, no one can deny the impact Eric Burns has had in the last few years (case in point – I wouldn’t be writing this blog without his inspiration.) Sometimes life steps things up a few levels too high, and there isn’t anything one can do about it. He certainly owes the webcommunity nothing, and hopefully he won’t have been so burnt out as to leave it entirely behind – the updates on Websnark these days aren’t the onslaught of yesteryear, but remain full of quality whenever they arrive. That, I think, is more than enough for us.
And T Campbell? Man. From his recent musings on his blog, he seems to be pondering a lot of personal changes. He seems to have been through rough times of late, and I really feel for him – this is the man who, more than any other, has represented webcomics in my mind. He has been involved in so many projects designed to expand the medium. He was the writer of one of my favorite strips of all time. So I hope that whatever changes may come, things work out well in the end for him.
I don’t know how much these changes will really be felt, by and large – much of what the people in those positions do goes on behind the scenes. Still, it strikes me as… well, worthy of note, I suppose, that two such transitions are happening at the same time.
I’m not sure if I am really able to draw conclusions about what it means – and, to be honest, I don’t know if it means anything more than some people moving on to different things in their lives.
Still, I’m going to go with the best approach I think I can take with anything along these lines – see it as a chance for new editors to help Modern Tales (and friends) reach their full potential, and wish the best to those leaving it behind, and hope that wherever their path takes them next, they have a good time of it.
Change, after all, isn’t always a bad thing.
One of the Rules of the Game
Today I discovered that Saturnalia had recently returned from an extended hiatus. (And by recently, I mean… many months ago.)
I sometimes wonder how many great comics I am still in mourning for that are now merrily updating away without my notice.
In any case, I happened to check up on this one and was well rewarded for doing so.
Saturnalia is one of those comics that may not blow me out of my shows, but is still fun to follow. It has manga style art, which can sometimes be a little chaotic to follow, but often with some exceptionally good scenes. The story is set in the future with your usual hot-headed protaganist and a whole set of quirky ‘friends’.
The plot, as of yet, has a lot of mysteries, and if some things seem to be done a little too neatly… well, that may be explained in time.
However, I discovered one thing that was done exceptionally well during the months I had missed.
Chapter Nine of the story focuses on an announcement made by the King of the planet. Up till then we’ve only heard strange rumors about the King, and implications that something horrible and shady may be going on behind the scenes.
The King himself is over three hundred years old, and despite the machines that keep him alive, his body is failing.
At this point you are expecting someone diabolical. This man controls the entire world – an ancient genius plotting who knows what. Your first view of him is the visage up above – a shadowy figure, isolated and alone.
What I was not expecting was a figure who looked nothing so much as a boy playing dress-up, in an outfit a few sizes too big.
Looking close, the facade of youth is clearly that, from a physical standpoint – King Hal the first appears far from healthy.
But he still acts like a kid. He suffers from a fear of public speaking. He dwells on the achievements he made in high school – in grade school, despite it being three hundred years later. Several of the silly names of cities, communities, and the kingdom itself make much more sense, if you imagine a man like this as the founder.
One does not expect him to cut such a jovial figure, but he manages it well – despite his extra pair of arms.
Now, is this all there is to him? Doubtful.
It could well be that he is a diabolical genius planning something sinister. But whether a villain or not, he is an interesting character.
The creator, Space Coyote, has done something very well – they have subverted expectations. They took what could have been something easily cliche – and mindless, and dull – and done something completely unexpected with it. And that makes it all the more fascinating.
Does this mean every artist should throw absurd characters into the story without reason or explanation? Well no – one of the reasons the character of King Hal works is that the very flaws in the character make him believable. And he clearly has a place in the story – he isn’t thrown in recklessly.
Having that sort of originality is vital for a storyteller. As I mentioned earlier, I enjoy Saturnalia, but it has rarely wowed me. Adding something new and exciting, though – that makes me remember it. That gets my attention.
I’m not saying to try and constantly one-up the reader. Don’t ruin the integrity of the story because you are afraid readers might see the plot twist coming, and don’t create wacky characters or events solely to try and shock and dazzle the reader. It isn’t about beating the reader in some obscure way – but it is about doing something to win them over and get them coming back.
But if you can carefully, subtely lead their thought process one way, and then successfully subvert that expectation with something fascinating and clever?
Then the game is already halfway won.
The end of the world as we know it?
My, but there have been quite a few webcomics running guest strips this week – though I suppose more than one cartoonist was exhausted by last week’s Comic-Con.
I missed the con myself, primarily due to living some three thousand miles away. Nevertheless, the many and sundry reports of the con made it seem as though I was actually there, only surrounded by words and pictures instead of, you know, people.
But yeah, the panels sounded like they were crazy awesome, and I’m sad I missed it – though glad that people were kind enough to take notes, as it were, and share the lecture with those of us who missed class.
Anyway, I’ve got a dirty secret. The comic that has, this last week, had me on the edge of my seat, religiously checking the updates every day, and gleefully anticipating the next installment… is Garfield.
Whoa, what? Could this be the end of the strip?
Back when I was a young lad, I was quite the Garfield aficionado. I watched the cartoon, I bought the collections. It wasn’t until I was educated by wiser minds on the internet that I realized the daily Garfield in the paper was… well, bad. It hadn’t always been – once, the jokes had been genuinely interesting, the characters had storylines and weren’t simply stuck in an eternal punchline about mondays and lasagna.
But clearly things had changed, and I went with the flow in mocking Garfield (along with 95% of the other strips in the daily papers), and somewhere along the way I forgot that once upon a time, I actually enjoyed the strip.
So it was quite the surprise to see something of an ongoing storyline in recent weeks. A blog about Garfield brought the matter to my attention – and what can I say? I was riveted. Actually having something happen is a ballsy move in any syndicated strip – especially one as glued to ‘the formula’ as Garfield.
And now we seem to have… well, not just change, but possibly a conclusion. I’m sure we’ll know in a day or two if Garfield has actually wound its way to a happy ending, or if it will return to the standard fare.
One thing I do have to recognize, regardless of where Garfield goes from here – the fat cat has genuinely embraced the web. The website is a bit overloaded – but contains an archive with every single strip of the comic. That is a hell of a lot more than most newspaper strips do, and I must give props for that.
What may the future bring?
So, as I’m sure that everyone has heard by now that Narbonic is free again. For those who may have been hiding at the bottom of the ocean, or on the moon perchance – go, check it out, yadda yadda.
In any case, in celebration of it being free, I’ve been perusing the archives here and there. Not the entire thing, being that, these days, I am frightfully busy – but various key segments, especially in light of the grand finale the strip is heading for.
The main arc that I took a browse through was the time travel arc, for somewhat obvious reasons. I had remembered little hints of the things to come, of course – what I hadn’t remembered was the sheer quantity of them, nor how direct some of them were.
I really, really, really like foreshadowing like this. The idea that a story is already thought out years in advance, and that the bones of what is to come are already laid in place, is greatly appealing to me. But it can’t be easy to do – I can’t imagine the thin line an author has to walk between leaving hints versus directly giving away the story.
And how does an author handle it when someone does see what is coming, and accurately predicts the ending? Most seem to stay silent on all counts – you know, smile the mysterious little smile, and let people wait and see. I’ve noticed some take a more active approach – Rich Burlew, creator of the Order of the Stick, prohibits any predictions about the strip that aren’t given the spoiler tag, so he can avoid seeing what guesses are being made, and thus resist the urge to change things and ensure an unexpected plot twist.
On the one hand, I can see the value of wanting the readers to be surprised – but I generally value the integrity of a story more.
In any case, I was pleased to see how well the stage was set in Narbonic – and again, because I haven’t said it enough, go read it if you don’t already.
Dominic Deegan and the Return of the Damned
The latest Dominic Deegan storyline has stirred up a measure of controversy, as the plot was taken in a direction that some readers were dissatisfied with.
For myself, I was overall rather indifferent to the War in Hell. I wasn’t aghast at the plot developments as some readers were, but the arc itself didn’t really leave an impact on me. It is a shame, because I was really excited about the story arc when it first got started, but it ended up focusing on some different characters then the ones I was expecting, and that was some of the let-down.
That said, Mookie has easily grabbed my attention back to the strip with recent developments.
Now, I should note that one of the complaints people have raised about this storyarc was regarding the death of a character whom many still felt had a great potential for development.
I should also note that I held similar concerns over the seemingly pointless death of a character during the last epic storyarc.
Which is why his recent return has convinced me that it is very, very unwise to leap to conclusions in matters concerning Dominic Deegan. Mookie plays his cards well, and I suspect that there may be similarly interesting developments for other characters we’ve written off somewhere down the road.
Now, all that said, I do still feel that if yet another world-shattering epic catastrophe that only Dominic can solve should happen to break out anytime in the near future, I’ll not be all that happy.
But I think it is safe to say that the strip continues to hold the capacity to pleasantly surprise me, and that as long as there is as many good plot developments as bad, I’ll be sticking around to see what’s next.
The Weekend, oh thank god, the Weekend
While others are off carousing at the San Diego Comic Con, I am planning to be quite merrily collapsing at home in exhaustion.
For now, though, some quick thoughts on developments from my weekly webcomic perusal:
I am flat out 100% digging Sinfest since its most recent return. Ishida has been in top form. His latest strip hardly touched on a new concept, but the execution is so perfect as to hit the nail on the head regardless.
Oh yeah! Spamamusement is back and in business, and he’s still got it!
I’ve talked about My Nemesis before, but today’s installment is really nice. Specifically, the use of shadow in the first two panels to make Rob look like a bad-ass instead of, well, like Rob. (Also, the cast page has been updated. Have I mentioned I really like interesting cast pages? Well… I do. So there.)
And finally, CRFH, as always, has me smiling with dreadful anticipation of what might be coming next.
WCCAs 2006 – Take 2
This year’s Webcartoonist’s Choice Awards are just now winding down (winners announced, ceremony on its way.)
Scandal and controversy has been abounding (which is to say, there have been some minor hiccups in the works this year.)
In spite of this, I’ve generally been pleased with the event and found the results perfectly acceptable (despite only about half of the comics I was rooting for taking home the gold.)
All in all, despite the delays and confusions abounding the ceremony this year, I like the fact that we have the WCCAs. It is one of those nice little corners of the webcomics world, and for an event that, like most online cartooning itself, is volunteer driven, it is a lot of fun for a lot of people.
Would I like it to be a bit more organized? Sure. Would I like to have the ceremony right off the bat, rather than simply a list of winners? Certainly.
But I don’t think the experience is ruined by it. Given that there wasn’t even a ceremony two years back, I’m happy just to have one on the way.
So maybe I’m just an optimist. But one way or the other, I see a lot of good comics getting some solid attention and recognition, and that’s a good thing any day of the week.
Damn Good Comics 