No Comic Genesis review this week – instead, I feel the need to talk about Arthur, King of Time and Space, and the author note today on the issue of crossovers, cameos and inspiration.

In it, Paul Gadzikowski discusses how he had previously planned to avoid ever crossing over AKOTAS with the cast of any other webcomic, largely because the premise of AKOTAS involves Arthur and co. bouncing from one version of reality to the next – and while some of these arcs might be based on other works, Arthur and crew end up taking the place of the stars of the show. He might drop his cast into a version of another webcomic, but the nature of AKOTAS made it difficult to borrow characters from other strips, and he was resigned to avoid doing so.

Until Narbonic came along.

Now, I can’t fault the man for being tempted by Narbonic, being as it was one of the most well-developed strips on the web. But it strikes me that Paul’s final decision on how to incorporate elements from the Narbonic cast into AKOTAS was a fine of example of the uniqueness of his strip and the throught process behind it.

See, AKOTAS is a pretty unique concept, and one rendered with painstaking detail. But more than that, it is a strip that really does operate equally fluidly on several different levels at once.

In this case, we’ve got Elaine of Carbonek, this rather quirky lady infatuated with Lancelot. For those who know nothing about the tale of Arthur – or merely little beyond the general story – she appears to be a character that, in a handful of strips, is made both likeable and interesting.

For those familiar with the lore the strip draws on, her situation takes on a new dimension – as nice as she might seem to be, she’s out to seduce Lancelot, which will have inevitable consequences for Lancelot, and Arthur, and the whole shebang.

To find out that this incarnation of her character is also developed as a variation on Helen Narbon makes it all even more surreal. I wouldn’t have pieced together the connection if it wasn’t pointed out, but when Paul explains the steps his mind took to make it work, I can see it all falling into place.

Elaine of Carbonek = Helen Narbonic… yeah, it works, undeniably. Subtly, sure, but it is definitely there.

And that’s the really impressive thing about AKOTAS in general – it works equally well on every given levels. It works as an independent story in its own right. It works as a retelling of the Arthurian legend. It works as an homage to the many different stories and movies and webcomics it touches upon.

It is a fine line to tread – AKOTAS is hands down the most complex comic I know of, and keeping track of the differing storylines can sometimes be a challenging task. But more often than not, the strip manages to make this a strength, rather than a weakness. It would be very easy for this latest storyline to be completely incomprehensible unless you were both a devotee of the Arthurian legend, and a die-hard fan of Narbonic.

Instead, you can be neither, and still appreciate the story – while those who do have the extra knowledge can sit back and take in all thhe different connections. That’s hard to do even once, but this strip has managed to consistently pull it off with almost every single storyline, which must require a staggering amount of skill.

Credit where credit is due – the man writes a damn fine strip, and plans to keep doing so for many, many years to come. That deserves praise in my book, any day of the week.

This week in Dominic Deegan has seen the full reappearance of Dominic’s brother Jacob – necromancer, villain, and all around spooky guy.

Now, in this case, Dominic has called him in as something of an ally, in order to investigate a scene of massive death and devestation. The interest at hand is the pursuit of knowledge, and he is able to lure Jacob into helping him – at least for now. This means we get to see the two of them working together, and this is fantastic. 

I like the characters in Dominic Deegan, and Mookie has moved past a lot of the hurdles that had been bothering me a few years ago – but the interaction currently going on between Dominic and Jacob is hands down some of the best he’s ever written. See, one of the issues that had been cropping up was that Dominic began to overshadow pretty much every other character – with his insight, he was the one who had to solve every problem and right every wrong.

Which, to be fair, is the premise of the comic, but still – it meant no one else could stand with him on equal footing. It meant there had to be an entire story arc devoted to the idea of other characters solving problems specifically without him.

Jacob can stand on equal footing with Dominic. He isn’t an ally, he is a foe, as skilled in his own field as Dominic is in divination. He has always been capable of keeping Dominic off-balance, which is a feat almost no one can manage.

He is, after all, Dominic’s older brother.

This is what the last few pages have done a fantastic job of showing. We manage to both have the simmering hostility of, essentially, mortal enemies momentarily entering into a truce… while at the same time we can still see the bickering unique to siblings, and see how well they each know how to push each other’s buttons.

Now that’s how you write a damn good comic.

I really didn’t intend to write about Order of the Stick so soon.

It is one of those comics that I feel like I talk about all the damn time, and I always feel slightly guilty about this. I’m not even entirely sure why – I don’t want to bore people with discussion of the same material day after day, but a strip like the Order of the Stick is anything but boring.

Especially right now.

Prepare for spoilers, by the way, if for some reason you aren’t all caught up on life with Rich Burlew’s merry band of adventurers.

What amazes me about the Order of the Stick – or at least one of the things that does – is Rich’s ability to keep the story moving. It doesn’t feel too fast – if anything, sometimes I am only too eager for seeing what is coming next – but he manages to work an amazing amount of story progression into the strip.

This is due to Rich having a damn good grasp of pacing, and knowing exactly how much screen time to give a scene for maximum impact. It is even more insane when one recognizes how well he is able to split the focus between all the different characters.

You see, the strip doesn’t follow a single, linear plot thread. There are moments, yes, when our heroes are all together in a group and going about a single task. This was much more true in the early days of the strip – that is essentially what a dungeon crawl is. Even then, however, we would flash back and forth between scenes of the heroes and Xykon, the great nemesis, plotting from his lair with his minions and allies.

We really saw the split storytelling manifest with the appearance of the Linear Guild, at which point the party goes off on three seperate tracks. The (first) Linear Guild saga concludes with Durkon seperated from the rest of the party, and a heartbreaking tale of dwarven romance.

(This, just as a note, is where the strip really starts to shift focus from gaming in-jokes set in a fantasy world, to a full-fledged story that happens to have a fair share of jokes.)

(Speaking of which, it’s a damn shame Dragon magazine is going away, as the OotS strips featured within were quality pieces of work. Seriously, the comic in its current state is fantastic, and blows me away with every update, but it does miss out on the pure level of humor from the first few strips. Those are the strips quoted around one d&d table after another, and those are the ones that really established his presence. The Dragon magazine strips were the same deal – simple one-shots to make you laugh, and I’ll miss them.)

(That’s not to say the jokes have left the main strip – far from it! Rich has a great grasp of comedy, and is adept at balancing action with humor. He even had an entire full page strip that was nothing but one long penis joke.)

(No pun intended.)

Anyway, where were we?

Right, right, lots of characters, storylines, etc. Here we have a strip with a half-dozen main characters, each with their own story. We also have their evil twins, who get plenty of screen time, as well as the main villain and his own merry band of misfits. Finally, the self-righteous paladin whose own personal conflicts have been a focus of many recent arcs. Each of them gets their moment in the sun, which normally I would expect to result in the action slowing down to a crawl – but somehow it feels even more in motion.

Even in battle, which previously would just have the group fighting as a team, now seems designed to give everyone a shot at glory. During the most recent showdown with the Linear Guild, the party basically paired off with the villains one on one. During the current massive battle, each characters has their place and their chance to shine, and each time it is simply freakin’ awesome.

And Roy got the chance to go toe to toe with Xykon. To finally find out exactly what was the first step that led down the path to this confrontation. To demonstrate exactly how far his own skills have come. He had the means and the power to end Xykon once and for all…

…and he blew it. Oh, Xykon doesn’t get away unharmed. Roy landed a few solid blows, enough to give Xykon pause. Roy deprived him of his mount, which isn’t insignificant. But it wasn’t enough. We can’t even really hold Roy accountable – Xykon is leagues more powerful than him, as far as Roy has come. Sure, he came out on top in their first encounter, what with grappling and surprise and ancient magical gates at hand.

But this time, Roy lost.

And now he’s dead.

It’s a pretty big event. I mean – bam, most central character of the storyline, dead. Yet somehow, his fall doesn’t even feel as momentous as Miko’s. 

Maybe it’s because adventurers do weasel their way out of trouble all the time… even death. I mean, there are plenty of ways for them to bring Roy back in the D&D world, and we’ve seen first hand they have the means to do so. Assuming the heroes win the battle. Assuming the clerics make it out alive. Assuming they recover Roy’s body.

That’s the thing – there are enough different directions this could go in that I can’t speculate as to what will happen next. On the one hand, I can’t believe Rich would take Roy out of the picture for good, given how central he has been to the entire story. At the same time, I can’t believe he would kill him off and then cheapen the death by easily bringing him back.

I’m not even sure if he was killed off in spite of being the main character… or because of it.

Roy is the leader of the group. That’s a given. Not only does he give them direction, but he is really the bond that keeps them as a team, that manages Durkon’s standoffishness and Vaarsuvius’s thirst for power, Haley’s greed, Elan’s innocence, Belkar’s hatred of all living things. They wouldn’t even be here if Roy hadn’t brought them together for his own quest to go after Xykon. Most of them certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with each other without his stabilizing presence.

They are all important, that goes without saying. They have all developed into central figures in this grand tapestry. But Roy brought them together, Roy forged them into a team, and Roy is the single reason they have come down this long and winding path.

Maybe that’s why we need to see what will happen without him.

I don’t think this is the end for Roy Greenhilt. This death – it is dramatic, it is momentous, but it’s not a good death. Roy didn’t die succeeding in his goals, he died failing them.

He failed to fulfill his father’s blood oath.

He failed to stop Xykon in his quest to conquer the world.

He failed to even weasel his way out of one simple fall.

I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him. I don’t think Rich would consign a character to such an ending, especially not a character as pivotal as Roy. Not a character with such distinct a voice – even more than the guy who drove the story along, he was the perfect straight man for so many of the jokes. Sure, V or Durkon might be able to fill in that role, but can the comic really go on without him?

I guess all we can do is keep reading, and find out.

I didn’t intend to write about OotS, but this really is a scene that can’t be denied. Regardless of what happens next, this moment will have an impact, on everything. (Not just’s Roy’s skull.) Roy was their chance to stop Xykon from getting to the throne room and setting his plans in motion, and he couldn’t cut it. The others are engaged in all manner of difficulties, and even if Xykon wasn’t in the picture, they are up against potentially overwhelming odds.

And Rich has shown he isn’t afraid to pull punches. If he can kill off Roy, then anything goes. We don’t have the slightest idea what is going to happen next.

But I’m damn well going to be there to find out.

Hannelore is fast becoming my favorite character in Questionable Content.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m a fan of most of the cast and crew. But I tend to have my ups and downs with QC – sometimes I can appreciate the witty dialogue and slightly surreal hijinks, and sometimes it all feels a little bit forced.

Except with Hannelore.

The first arc that introduces her reveals that she has been sorta stalking Marten and co. for several weeks. The rest of the cast have quite a few issues of their own, but Hannelore is quite definitively crazy. And Jeph Jacques manages to write her as realistically crazy, and that’s what impresses me so much.

It’s hard to write characters who act crazy, and more often than not, the result is simply to have characters who behave erratically and spout random gibberish. It is an altogether frustrating thing to witness, and certainly not my cup of tea.

Intershadows has at least one character who has severe mental problems, and demonstrates it well – but to the point that it is almost horrifying to see what she is experiencing. Hannelore isn’t at that level – she is crazy, but managing to function relatively normally in society despite her disorder. That’s not just interesting, it’s impressive, and means that every scene she is in has an underlying level of conflict intensifying the moment.

In her very first appearance, she comes off as a decidedly different individual than she appeared to be thereafter. She’s smoking – in more than one sense of the word – and positively exudes an aura of confidence and control. This may have been due to her opponent in the conversation being extremely drunk, or the fact that she had several weeks of stalking him helping her plan what to say, but for that one page, she is totally in control. But… her confidence slips as she worries over her ruse being found out, and nervousness takes control, and shortly she moves from sexy, smoldering temptress to… cute, slightly maniacal friend.

Which makes it easy to forget that first appearance, and how in control she was. It makes it easy to forget that it must take an awfully solid will to operate relatively normally in society, and an awfully clever mind to make her OCD actively work for her.

Right now she is joining up with Marten’s rock band and plans to teach herself to play the drums. This might be an entirely bad idea – but that right there is reason enough for her. To prove she can do it, regardless of what others think. And she just might have a gift for it.

QC is, by and large, about two things. One is the interactions between characters – both the clever bouts of dialogue and the deeper developing relationships. The other is the characters themselves – both their unique natures and views at the world, and how they themselves are changing and growing.

Hannelore’s developments might have less to do with crushes and makeouts, and more to do with friendship and finding her place in the world – but somehow, I’m perfectly ok with that.

I don’t believe anyone has accused Mr. John Allison of having a diminutive cast. Diminutive cast members, mayhaps. But he is known as the man who every so often takes a look at his merry protaganists, shakes his head, and suddenly shifts the story to focus on entirely different individuals. Characters who were the stars of the show abruptly depart for parts unknown while random passerby take the spotlight.

Despite the turbelence of his cast, I can’t deny that each and every one of Allison’s characters is able to carry the show when their hour comes.

Which is why I am expecting nothing less than an Armageddon of awesomeness from the current menagerie that has gathered. Allison appears to have brought together all manner of individuals for the newly formed Super Best Friends Society, from the most notable of cast members to those who have had only a handful of appearances in the strip. Their goal – for reasons both personal and apocalyptic – is to locate five ancient gods in order to stave off the end of the world (and rescue a fair damsel from a singularly unpleasant fate.)

Admittedly, I’m not altogether familiar with every one of the sundry souls currently embarking on this mission – but the first arc of the kraken huntin’ team has already enamored me of Ms. Moon, Captain Cromerty, and even Desmond the lily-livered Fish-man.

The action has moved back over to Amy, who is unfortunately discovering that being a witch caretaker has a lot to do with caretaking, and very little to do with witching. (Raise your hand, though, if you think dear Amy’s fancy little tattoos will prove the necessary mark required to begin lessons in witchery.)

In any case. Five different gods to find, over a dozen cast members lined up for hijinks and escapades, and only so much time left before the cat (Satan) is let out of the bag (Hell).

Scary Go Round is often much more about mild silliness than epic plots – but somehow manages to pull off both with equal entertainment. As usual, the comic is a wealth of bemusing dialogue, guaranteed to put a grin on your face, and from the looks of things, we’re in for one hell of a ride.