Gossamer Commons is an interesting dichotomy among webcomics.

Close to 9 months ago, Eric Burns (writer of GC) started up Websnark. Well, actually he started it in January of 2004, but in August he first talked about webcomics and put on the reviewer’s hat. In doing so, he unleashed a genie, and has become one of the names of the Internet. When you talk about finding good webcomics, you suggest new people to check out Websnark, as Eric knows good comics.

Eric’s roots, however, lie in the same path as mine: a failed webcomic artist/creator. He’s never forgotten that… and he has some interesting stories to tell… and just insufficient artistic skill to draw his stories. (God do I know that feeling…) Finally, the creative bug bit, and he had a story that just begged to be told… and rather than risk his own slings and arrows (doubt, disdain at your own artistic ability, anger at being unable to draw those images that are in your mind), he decided to go with a partnership with an artist collaborator. Not just someone to draw his script, but someone to contribute, to suggest how something might look better, to work with to create a greater whole.

And so GC was born, the brainchild of a critic/creator and an artist/creator. Despite a slow start (slow enough that the first “update” was a mega-update comprised of a week’s worth of strips in one, so to get closer to the “action” of the comic), the comic itself has build a strong foundation and a storyline that promises to be interesting.

As a writer, I can’t help but think of how I’d have changed the start. I’m a novelist… and we write with the idea of hooking the audience quickly, and then letting the line slack, let the reader get a little head and then yank it again to get that hook in firmly. I can’t help but think the comic might have worked better starting a little forward… possibly with Malachite in the apartment itself… and then flashing back to the start of the day.

Indeed, I remember hearing some complaints about GC is that it started too slowly. People weren’t sure where it was going, or what it was about. And that’s sad, because GC promises to be that which I enjoy most: a storytelling comic. Eric might like comics that are “funny” more often than not, but at his heart he’s a storyteller, and that shows with his comic.

We’ve not seen enough to be sure of where this is going. Is this going to be a “Changeling” style story from the World of Darkness games, with Keith Onzeker being enchanted to see the world of the fae and dreams coexisting in the mundane world? Is Keith going to be stepping out of his world and into a fantasy world similar to Eversummer Eve? Or (more than likely) is it going to be some strange blending of fantasy and reality that I have no insight on, because I’ve not seen deep enough into the mind of Eric Burns: writer/creator, and thus can’t effectively guess at what he’s thinking?

In any event… I see a lot of promise in Gossamer Commons, even if it starts a tad slowly. But I don’t see it as a slow start, so much, as a firm foundation with plenty of roots to grow from.

Addendum report: Unfortunately, GC has gone into hiatus, much like Websnark and other webcomic projects Burns was working on. It’s a shame as it’s a great comic and looked to have an interesting premise.