Dragon Days
Today I’ve come across a surprising number of dragons in my daily comics.
It wasn’t a great surprise in Order of the Stick – OotS is a fantasy comic, and dragons are a staple in such worlds. This particular dragon has been around for several strips now – though I felt it was a key enough plot point in today’s double-feature.
Also: Ouch.
Sinfest was more of a surprise, though it shouldn’t have been – the Dragon has been part of the merry cast and crew over there for ages.
But I found today’s installment to be especially grabbing nonetheless. There wasn’t any plot or even much point to the strip, but it felt like a fantastic example of Tatsuya’s skills, with some absolutely brilliant energy flowing through the art, and an extraordinarily Charlie Brown-esque moment to finish it off.
Finally, we had Funny Farm, which turned out to have nothing to do with dragons at all. When I first saw today’s update, however, I thought otherwise. A closer examination revealed that the street sign seemed to depict a bird perched upon the back of a crocodile, but my first interpretation was that it was simply a stylized rendition of a dragon.
Despite being wrong, the comic got the biggest laugh out of me of any strip today, so I felt the need to give it some recognization regardless of what strange occurence actually elicited Mewn’s funny little smile of anticipation.
(I can practically hear the voice running through his head, over and over again – “This is gonna be awesome!“)
Nothing more substantial today, save for congrats to the strips nominated for the Eisner awards. I’m a fan of all the comics up for the award – though it should be no surprise that I’m rooting for Minus.
On Many Things
I bought a house this morning. Though I spent much of this week quietly spazzing out, I have discovered that most of my nervousness has, at this point, dissipated. Despite the fact that today is Friday the 13th, which some may feel is not the most auspicious time for such a momentous endeavor.
But the deal is done, for good or ill, and while it may not have completely broken me down into incomprehensibility, I’m still not quite feeling up to a full review. So instead, a quick rundown of all manner of random zaniness that caught my attention today!
ON THIEVES: The Dave Kelly / Todd Goldman incident seems to be wrapping up. Todd has offered an apology and some as-of-yet-unknown amount of payment, while claiming the entire situation was an accident. (We aren’t quite sure how that meshes with his Dave Kelly slander previously.) This outcome is probably the best we could hope for, despite being unsatisfying on several levels. I suspect we would all love to see this guy really pay for what he’s done – but while the money may be a drop in the bucket to him, I’m sure it will be a great thing for Kelly, along with all the publicity from the event.
ON NINJAS: Sam and Fuzzy is possibly my favorite comic. This has been a subtle realization, but has come about primarily due to the fact that it is rock solid in updates, a masterful blend of humor and plot, and one of the only comics I know that I have never been disappointed in. Other strips tend to be a roller-coaster ride for me, as some storylines blow me away while others just leave me shrugging – Sam and Fuzzy, however, has never failed to disappoint. And the bar has only gone up with the latest chapter, wherein Gertrude was introduced as Sam’s ultimate nemesis; yet by the end of the chapter, she may be all that stands between him and certain death.
ON ZOMBIES: As I mentioned on the last Friday the 13th, horror seems to be the least active genre in webcomics. Zombies have seen something of a comeback, but almost invariably as a device for humor. I unfortunately haven’t had the chance to really explore the field of genuine horror webcomics, but today is still a good occasion for recognizing at least one that I think fits the bill: Intershadows.
While more of a psychological thriller, this is a comic that features a lot of crazy people. No, not funny, wacky crazy – but people who have something fundamentally wrong with them. For some, this drives them to murder. For others, it merely makes the world a walking nightmare. This is a story with some moments of genuine fear. It is filled with many other moments, too – it captures life well – but it lately has been dominated by an undercurrent that is wild, and scary, and dark.
And that’s why I’m giving the Second Friday the 13th Webcomic Horror Award to Intershadows.
ON DOPPELGANGERS: Surviving Mars has been the most recent comic to make the jump from ‘comics loosely followed’ to ‘comics I read early and often.’ It has also featured a recent storyline wherein two of the main crew have been acting decidely unlike their usual selves – starting with simple oddities, and more recently moving up to sabotage, seduction and attempted murder. I’d been getting the evil twin vibe for a while, but it was still good to see it come through.
Suburban Tribe, on the other hand, completely blew me away with today’s reveal. Now that’s a hell of a cliff-hanger – curse you, John Lee!
ON FRIENDS: CRFH has also been decidely dark of late. I was expecting a scar instead of a trim, but the outcome is about the same. For the first time, I realized this story might not have a happy ending.
I’m sure many readers could have said that long ago. It just never occured to me, and even as CRFH has transitioned into a very different comic than it once was, I had a hard time fully letting go of the pure comedy it started out as. I want it to end happy. I want redemption for April. I want the characters to be able to laugh and be friends again.
But for the first time, I finally realize that just might never happen.
ON OH MY GOD THIS COMIC IS AWESOME: Koala Wallop added a new strip to their roster today – Rice Boy. This comic is so good. So. Good. I cannot emphasize that enough – I started reading, and within a handful of pages it had grabbed me by the throat and was dragging me along with the power of a million suns. No force on earth could have stopped me from finishing the archives! It fits in perfectly with the other genuises at Koala Wallop; it is filled with amazing art, concepts, story in this incredible childen’s book / fairy tale / epic fantasy story; it has this… gorgeous, eminently-Miyazaki feel to it…
Man, I wish I had time to do it justice, but right now I just wanted to spread the word that this comic was out there.
Just go read it. Now. Now, damn it!
Here’s hoping Goliath proves an exceptionally appropriate name
By now I imagine everyone has heard the news of Dave Kelly’s art being ripped off by Todd Goldman, aka Todd Goliath. If you haven’t heard about it, read here, here and here for the situation and the commentary on it.
I can’t add much to what has already been said – Mr. Goldman is clearly a man (and I use that term loosely) of very low caliber, who apparently sees nothing wrong in profiting from the work of others. Dave Kelly, of all people, certainly doesn’t deserve this, as the producer of some absolutely brilliant – and unfortunately often unrecognized – webcomics. I’m just glad that the rip-off was so blatantly done that Goldman won’t have an easy time hiding from the fallout – which will hopefully include both a complete trashing of his reputation, and significant reparations to Kelly.
I wanted to show my support by mentioning what had happened – and I had planned to also talk about one of Kelly’s brilliant works – namely, Living in Greytown.
Unfortunately, Living in Greytown is currently only available through Keenspot Premium, as far as I can tell. It sounds like there are plans for the free archives to return, which will be a very good thing – of all the works I’ve seen from Kelly, this was the one that felt like his masterpiece. His comics were always bizarre, absurd and often offensive, but this was the one that took those elements and made it into something more. But… the strip is hidden behind a subscription wall, so no dice.
My next plan was to talk about the sequel, Lizard – but it looks like the archives for that are proving similarly inaccessible. And his other comics… well, just weren’t ones that grabbed me like the more story-centric ones did.
So… no reviews. Which means I just end up showing support for Kelly the same way everyone else is – spreading the word, via posts like this. Getting in touch with Mr. Goldman’s PR team, as well as his other affiliates, and letting them know that it might not be the smartest thing to associate with a stain on the face of humanity.
And hopefully, with enough outcry, the next time someone thinks it might be worth engaging in artwork theft for fun and profit… they won’t.
The Power of Marshmallow Kitty Compels You
Girly turns 4 today – Happy Birthday, Girly!
As one of the strips I’ve been reading since it began, it’s always cool – and a little startling – to realize how far it has progressed since it began. I’ve mentioned before that Girly is at heart a fantasy comic – but it’s also a romance comic, a superhero comic, and absurdist humor, all at the same time.
Most of those have come together in the latest arc, which seems to be wrapping up – we’re only a half-dozen strips away from #500, which I imagine will be a doozy. As of now, (most of) the villain’s secrets have been revealed, the end-boss has been just about bested, and our heroes have all been returned to their proper bodies after some very entertaining – but also remarkably confusing – adventures.
Four years down the road, and Girly is still going strong, and one of the most professional webcomics out there. Definitely a damn good comic all around, and definitely deserving recognition for how far it’s come. And I’ve got a feeling that if Josh L. keeps up the good work, Year 5 is going to be filled with even more awesomeness to come.
Hand in Hand
There will be a review up later today, but I wanted to make a quick note to point out PennyPacker, a fan-designed extension for FireFox designed to help browse the archives of Penny Arcade. In the process it is creating a very effective database of tags for the strips themselves, allowing one to search the PA archives with ease regardless of whether they actually use the extension or not.
This is good, because the Penny Arcade archive search is the work of the devil.
On one of the more professional webcomic sites out there, with an eight person staff on hand working to keep the comic running smoothly, the complete ineffectiveness of that feature has always seemed a glaring hole in an otherwise solid production. It isn’t a necessity, persay, for a webcomic to have – but it seemed somehow wrong for a site so polished to be lax in that one area.
Given Tycho’s comments in his post, it seems the gentlemen there are aware of this as well. I can’t fault them for not having invested them time in developing a better feature, especially given the strain a search engine might be under given the size of their archives and their audience… but I imagine they were even more pleased than I to discover that fans had already come up with an answer.
Which brings us to the point of this post – there are a lot of nice features for webcomics to have that go above and beyond the essentials. Searchable archives, detailed cast and story pages, plot overviews. And more often than not, webcomic creators don’t have the time or capacity to go ahead and create all of those themselves – but that doesn’t mean they have to go without. I’ve mentioned this before, regarding Comixpedia – even if an artist isn’t able to write up their own introduction to the comic, it’s worth checking to see if a fan has already done so at Comixpedia.org… and making sure to link to that page!
I imagine more than a few fans would be happy to make similar contributions to their favorite comics. Will it always be something as robust as PennyPacker? Most likely not. But even a simple story summary could be a big help for a new reader, and something a lot of fans could help with.
I’m not trying to say that fans should be treated a plunderable resource and used for free labor – but I’m sure every comic has those devoted enough to it they’d be glad to lend a hand for the simple purpose of improving the comic.
And in a lot of cases, I imagine all it would take would be putting the option out there.
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.
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.
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.
Surprisingly Fulfilling
Today was the last Killroy and Tina.
It might return somehow, someday – but when an author puts his comic on indefinite hold, it tends to be the exceptions that return to life. Justin Pierce has put Killroy and Tina to rest, and the safe bet is that they won’t be seen again.
He’s done so masterfully, admittedly. When you consider that the strip was all set to build up to a grand, epic story, when you had glimpses of the future to come, you would imagine that cutting things short would be a recipe for disaster.
But he ends it well. He finds the point where we can disengage from the story without feeling cut off. Where we can appreciate the five years of comics he’s given us, rather than despair over the fact that there won’t be five years more.
When I first heard the news, I’ll admit I was distressed, despairing, dismal, and sundry other words that begin with ‘d’. But that state has passed, and we do still have nonadventures to embark upon, and in the end, I suppose we can safely say, everything is fine.
In a galaxy far, far away…
Banished returns.
For me, this was unexpected.
It is not that I thought poorly of Banished in any way. It was an enjoyable comic, sure. It had a good sense of humor and was developing into an interesting story.
But the artist left. And while that isn’t a guaranteed deathknell for a comic… well, I’ve seen too many fall by the wayside. Rising from the ashes is the exception, not the norm.
Banished seems to have pulled it off.
Now, there is only one strip by the new artist thus far. We’ve yet to see if they can maintain a solid schedule, etc. But that one comic… damn, but it is promising.
Previously the strip has been more of a gag comic than anything else. The art was very cartoony, which worked perfectly. Freaky aliens, silly robots, even mammazons – the strip was clearly driven by laughs.
Over time, though, story began to develop. And with the emergence of the new artist, it looks like the story will have the chance to shine. The new art is really, really forceful. Before, the cartoony looks helped convey the jokes and punchlines of the strip – now, while the laughs are still around, there is instantly a much more powerful sense of action and drama.
Making that change can be good and can be bad, but with this one strip, I’ve got high hopes about what is coming. That in itself is pretty promising.
Damn Good Comics 