Eyes of Liquid Rage
I’m really excited about Ugly Hill’s new book, Eyes of Liquid Rage. I’m mainly excited because the name is so perfectly awesome.
I’m a late comer to Ugly Hill. I started reading it when the Blank Label Comics collective formed, as it was one of the few members that I was not already a intense fan of.
It took a little while to get into it, but I began to really dig it, mainly when I realized that my favorite character was actually Hastings, the uptight, fun-hating, work-minded asshole.
He’s an unmitigated jerk, as shown time and time again by his interaction with his family, his co-workers, and…. well, I guess he doesn’t really have any friends.
But he is a fun character to see in action. He shows his emotions intensely, and Paul Southworth does some great stuff with his expressions. Especially the eyes. The shiny, glistening eyes.
There are a lot of things that can persuade one to purchase a book. The author, the content, the art. Convenience, availability, price.
But here’s one person who was won over on this sale, in large part by name alone. By the fact that someone was able to condense in four simple words such a primal element of the strip.
Now that’s pretty awesome.
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
Ninjas are, in fact, totally awesome. This is scientific fact.
The figure you see to your left is Dr. McNinja.
He is, as you may surmise, a doctor. He is also, as the observant among you might be able to discern, a ninja.
It is not until you learn of his secret backstory that one might discover that he is also irish.
In any case, it is my profound duty to bring The Adventures of Dr. McNinja to the attention of all passerby. To read this yarn of hope and sacrifice is to internalize a great truth unto oneself:
Namely, that ninjas. are totally. awesome.
How long until there is an entire genre of comics that consist of ‘political satire comic with pink-haired girl protaganist’?
I read both Sore Thumbs and Winger, despite the fact that they sometimes go a bit too far on their political tirades for my own personal taste. They both have a lot going for them outside of their political teasings, and both deliver good humor and art.
Now, Sore Thumbs is currently doing… well, something crazy. Other strips have waged the war between humor and drama before, and right now Crosby appears to be giving it a whirl himself.
I’m not entirely positive as to exactly which direction he’s trying to take – whether he is trying to be a drama making fun of its own lightheartedness, or trying to be a funny strip making fun of its attempts to add psycho-drama, or just making fun of the whole shebang.
Regardless, I’m liking it, and it does a good job of making both perspectives work.
Oh, and I’ll admit it – the “Cheney Shot First” shirt made me laugh. Yes, in fact, “out loud,” as the kids say.
The End of the World as We Know It
Now, I am confident I could sing the praises of Narbonic all day long, but that’s been done before.
Suffice to say that Narbonic manages to succeed on pretty much every count. It consistently delivers a comic nearly every day of the week, with enjoyable, clean and lively artwork, an incredibly engaging story, and a exceedingly clever and quirky brand of humor. It has pretty much mastered the art of the comic strip, and there are few others out there that can rival it’s perfection.
Now then, on to the current events of the strip. Narbonic has never been one to shy away from drama, in as much as main characters are constantly getting killed, coming back to life, falling in love, and being polymorphed into all manner of things.
Recently, however, the strip has done the unthinkable – Dave and Helen, the two main attractions, who provided the height of sexual tension, finally got together, and were enjoying lovely bliss and the occasional kinky lesbian sex.
Now, most comics, once they eliminate a tension that is at the heart of a strip like this, need to find a way to bring conflict back in. Conflict can’t be resolved, after all! The audience doesn’t want to just read about daily lovey-dovey stuff! (Well ok, maybe they want to read about the lesbian sex, but that is irrelevant to the point.) But in general, people want action, want tension, want commotion. New developments need to occur. Drama must bloom again!
So it is in Narbonic – though in this case, it manifests as a lot more conflicts being resolved. The worries over whether Dave will need to be eliminated to save the future, whether his mad scientist genes will rise to the surface, whether Helen can handle him while they are in a relationship, are all dealt with… by dismissing him. The core premise of the strip – that Dave, an ordinary comp-sci guy is taken aboard at a laboratory for evil science – has ended. It has been degrading for a while – especially the ‘ordinary’ part about Dave, but now it has fallen apart.
(Admittedly, it has done so to degrees before, such as when he died, or they got dragged off to various parts unknown, or so forth. But this isn’t an ending leading off into another beginning – this is an ending leading off into an ending.)
Now, I’m not so silly as to actually think that. I’m sure we all are pretty confident that the plan to have Dave leave the ‘mad science life’ and go on to an ordinary job just won’t work. I also suspect that the other likely scenario of what might happen when a guy like Dave – being a technological (evil) genius with a developing gift for mad science – goes through circumstances like this – having his whole world overturned, his heart broken, and his life of adventure abandon him. (I mean, really, did the gang at the labs honestly think this was the safest way to make sure Dave didn’t go insane? Well, I suppose it was the safest way to ensure he didn’t go insane near them.)
But as tempting as it is to think that Dave will fall into his evil genius powers and go on a rampage, I suspect the actual hijinks will be something else entirely – Shannon Garrity has a gift for taking the stories in unexpected ways that seem the perfect path nonetheless.
In any case, I have to give props to her. A lot of strips, when they had achieved the zen of comic perfection that she has, wouldn’t shake it up with this crazy thing called drama.
But Narbonic not only does it, but does it well – every development seems to move along without feeling forced, overdone, or out of the blue.
Hmm, I guess this turned into a rave review of Narbonic anyway. Ah well, some things are meant to be.
It has been one of my favorite strip for years, and the sole motivation for my subscription to Modern Tales. Narbonic might not throw its weight around in the webcomic world, but its influence is there nonetheless – if nothing else, as an inspiration and a role model of how to do a comic right.
I Still Don’t Get The Titles, Though
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is, in my opinion, the Far Side’s evil twin. Yes, with goatee and everything.
There are more and more comics cropping up based on this type of humor – jokes that are essentially based on twisting and subverting expectations. Some of them work well, some of them fall flat.
SMBC does it’s job well. The format is simple and straightforward – typically a single panel, oftentimes with a caption beneath it.
The amount it is able to accomplish with that is pretty staggering, on the other hand. Most of the jokes are of the ‘delayed punch’ variety – you see the strip, register what it says or shows, and then a moment or two later, the joke hits you. The humor is often dark and sometimes cruel – but then, most humor is in some form or another.
Then, on the other hand, we’ve got the Perry Bible Fellowship. Pretty much the same approach – take a concept, turn it on its head, often in dark but still humorous ways. The big difference is that each of these strips are three panels long.
Now, I love both these comics. They aren’t afraid to throw punches, and even if I might end up somewhat horrified by half the comics they deliver, it’s usually while laughing for several minutes over it regardless. It feels somewhat sinful to enjoy their brand of humor, but that somehow makes it all the more enticing.
But I can also see the various differences that their styles make. The Perry Bible Fellowship strips come off as much more refined, and the humor is also a lot more built-up – which makes for a much softer punch when it comes. There is often more of a general recognition of the clever nature of the comic, rather than really full-blown ribaldry.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, on the other hand, is much more crude – but at the same time, this gives it a lot of its charm. The jokes are often a lot more intense, and a lot more likely to get a sudden laugh out of me once they hit.
In the end, both are freaking hilarious comics, and well worth a shot – and if you enjoy one, you are pretty likely to take to the other one as well.
Sometimes one has to be cruel to be kind, and I know that despite the fact that I was horrified by both of them the first time I perused the archives, I just keep coming back for more…
My favorite webcomic I don’t really read
Toasted Pixel is my favorite webcomic that isn’t actually all that good.
…
Hmm, that came off a bit harsher than I actually intended. Toasted Pixel is not that bad of a comic, per say. While the art has definite room for improvement, it is getting cleaner as the comic goes on. The comic has recently shown itself willing to tackle extended story-lines. The comic updates consistently, has a decent layout for archives and a well-put together cast page. All of these are good things for a comic to have, and a good set-up for a comic to improve itself as it continues.
But all that said, I don’t actually read Toasted Pixel for the webcomic itself.
I read it because the man behind it writes some damn funny stuff, and likes to point out – and often mock – humanity’s silliness at its worst.
Attached to each comic is a rant on something unusual, ranging from his reviews of the atrocities Uwe Boll has unleashed upon the world, to bringing to our attention some of the strangest websites available on the internet, to even simply pointing out some creepy ass costumes.
The comic itself, in fact, often times seems to just be a medium for delivering that same humor. The writing, as expected, often overcomes any weakness in the art, and there are certainly strips that I am especially fond of. As Penny Arcade has shown, clever and unexpected violence will get a laugh out of folks 9 times out of 10. (Note: That number was entirely made up.)
The creator of Toasted Pixel is also responsible for Judge a Book By Its Cover, which is essentially him mocking movies based entirely on the terrible screenshots they’ve released to promote their works.
All in all, some funny stuff. I can’t promise the comic itself will floor you, but if the content doesn’t leave you cracking up like there’s no tommorow – or simply horribly disturbed by the depths to which humanity can sink – then I’ll eat my hat.
I don’t actually have a hat, as such, so that should show I am extra confident in making that claim.
Just so you know.
Crayon Creation
The Order of the Stick, by Rich Burlew, is a relatively recent success in the world of webcomics. There have been many gaming comics before him, and there have even been numerous rpg-specific gaming comics, but few were able to corner the niche as succinctly as he has. His comic is unique due to his art – we’ll get to that in a moment – but it also completely masters the art of gaming references as few others do.
It helps that the comic takes place entirely within a universe defined by a single game – Dungeons and Dragons. That allows it to have a lot of ‘inside jokes’ that might turn off those with no knowledge of the game. What let’s Rich surpass that is that, in the midst of the constant gaming references and jokes, he’s stealthily weaving an incredibly good story.
We have a ton of characters that readers get to know and love. We have evil twins, heroes that rebel against their expectations, secret backgrounds, unrequited love, and every other cliche in the book. And the fact that they are cliches is half the fun – and makes it all the more entertaining when our expectations are subverted.
The art itself, meanwhile, gives the comic a good bit of charm. The characters are stick-figures, but they are stick-figures done well. The strip is fun to look at, and is occasionally able to do especially nice visual effects through its own special style of art.
Today’s comic is a flashback to the Dawn of Time, which leads right into what appears to be the creation mythos of the comic’s entire world.
And it’s freaking amazing.
The creation myth itself seems, at least thus far, to be one of the best crafted mythologies I’ve ever seen. Coming up not just with alternate pantheons, but recognizing all of the pantheons seperately, as well as how they interact, goes far beyond the care and attention that normally is paid to such things in fantasy gaming universes.
It again emphasizes that Order of the Stick is not just a stack of gaming jokes that uses the comic as a delivery method. The jokes might pull people in, but the story is really what traps the reader there.
So we have this elaborate mythos that is developed, and it is slightly different than the normal art of the strip. Instead of the solid colors and clear lines of the norms, the tale of the history of the world appears in crayon.
Let me say that again – in crayon. Fuzzy, loose, frenetic colors that only mostly stay within the lines.
It’s genius. We have this world of stick-men, so it seems a logical conclusion that the dawn of time was made in crayon – its more primal, more basic, more youthful in this world.
So here is a strip that wins on every count. Cleverly crafted art to backdrop a dynamic and detailed creation mythos. The fact that it does this while ostensibly being a stick-figure comic about a fantasy gaming universe? Just icing on the cake.
Edit: Oh, and Order of the Stick appears to be updating every day this week. Cheers all around!
Damn Good Comics 