Monthly Archives: August 2007

I must admit I’ve not really enjoyed College Roomies from Hell over the last couple of years. The shift to darker storylines without comedic breaks just doesn’t work for me. Part of this also lies with the fact that even “comedic” stories can suddenly take a turn for the darker, as the death of Mike Green revealed. This is perhaps ironic considering how much I normally enjoy dramatic storylines… and perhaps if I’d started reading later in the comic’s history I’d not miss it as much. But I remember the early days when things were far more lighthearted and miss them dearly. Still, today’s CRfH, in particular the final panel, had me feeling sympathy for one of the cast, something I’ve not felt for them in quite some time.

We’ve not seen a lot of Marsha since Mike’s death. This is actually a good thing. Considering the amount of pathos and angst the comic has degenerated into (with characters who probably write in their Live Journals at every opportunity declaring how unloved they are and how they should drink bleach), if we’d come across Marsha (who has a legitimate reason for grief) earlier, no doubt things would have been overblown. But we’ve seen only a few glimpses of Marsha… with a flashback of Mike’s last moments of life, and the note he entrusted to Marsha to give to Margaret.

What I find so powerful in this moment is the silent nature of Marsha’s grief. We aren’t being treated to tears and admonishments. She’s not all over her so-called friends or trying desperately to link up with Blue, the only other person Mike loved (and who, ominously enough, is trying to contact her, no doubt to learn what Marsha knows). Instead, she’s sitting on her bed, listening to tapes of Mike’s voice, tapes from when she and Mike had bugged their apartments to learn the secrets their roommates were hiding. In some ways this is more desperate and horrifying than any amount of tears… as she clings desperately to the last thing she has of Mike: his voice.

I’ve read recently have started using a file-sharing site called Wowio.com, which allows readers to download up to five comics, books, or other such products a day, free of charge. Wowio.com actually pays the owners of the downloaded material 50 cents per unique download, thanks to revenue gained through imbedded advertising. Seeing that the next couple of comics I’m reviewing are utilizing Wowio.com, I figured I’d bring it up here. More information on Wowio.com can be found at T Campbell’s blog concerning the company.

Rob H.

I get the feeling sometimes that Pete Abrams regrets breaking up the cast of Sluggy Freelance. The recent storyline is an example of classic Sluggy, with the cast working effectively together in this flashback story set in a hazy point of SF’s past. Indeed, I’m not quite sure where this story lies, with Aylee nowhere to be seen, the Kenandru house still intact, and Torg cheeful and happy. Post-That Which Redeems, Torg wanted nothing to do with Riff and crew. Pre? Well, I’m not sure when Aylee went into hibernation.

For those of us who were waiting to see what was going to happen when Torg and Aylee returned to their own dimension, and how Torg would react to this latest betrayal from Riff, this story was initially annoying. Despite the aggrevation that came from the story’s delay, we’ve still had some strong echoes of the current story in the old; Riff’s irresponsibility with his inventions and the testing of them is a significant part of the flaws in Riff’s character.

So too is his leaving Torg and Gwynn linked together at the waist, and his plans to take advantage of their current situation to make a few bucks. Only Torg’s tendency to shrug off adversity (up until the death of an alternative-dimension Zoe who had been under Torg’s protection) has kept this friendship together as long as it has. We may very well be looking at the last vestige of the Riff-Torg friendship, which will likely be blown to smithereens along with the Feds (and perhaps Aylee) once the main storyline resumes. So if you’re a fan of the classic Sluggy Freelance… then the Halves and Half-knots may be your last glimpse at the stories of old before the coffin closes.

——

Words fail me on what has happened. But… I must find the words, let it be known. See, it all began with the CRfH forums… when one too many forumite claimed that the character Mike was not dead because they hadn’t see the drawn body. In response, I climbed the local clocktower near a convention with a couple sniper rifles and started shooting any catgirl that came my way. I even warned the Boardies that for every claim that Mike was not dead, another catgirl would die. I had no idea where it would lead.

I look over a field of devastation, and the corpses of thousands of catgirls. The great catgirl prides of anime conventions across the globe have been decimated. The hunters grew. First one, then another, then dozens of Boardies and more came to join in the Great Catgirl Hunt. Initially they were hunted with bullets and shotgun… one man even used a bow and arrow. But that didn’t last very long. Soon we’d upgraded to plasma cannons and machine gun nests, leading the catgirls to the ambush where they’d be cut down in large swathes.

The remaining few catgirls have gone into hiding, but the killing has not stopped as now the hunters are poisoning supplies of catnip over at Megatokyo’s forum, and hunting dogs are being trained to sniff out the remaining few catgirls. Rumors claim the otaku have taken to giving the catgirls shelter, but I fear it will do no good. Soon… what was once a massive con presence shall be done and otaku everywhere will sob, knowing they will never again hear the “kawaii!” mating call of the amorous catgirl. Hmm. I wonder how good hunting otaku are….

I think a part of my addiction with forum boards lies with my fascination on how people react to events within comics. An excellent case-in-point lies in the comic Candi, with the relationship between Candi and Alex, and the absolute lividity that some fans have shown concerning these two. Readers have disliked Alex for the longest time. Instead, they rooted for Candi’s friend Jon, who has been crushing on Candi forever, but who Candi prefers as a friend. They also cannot understand why Candi prefers to be with Alex, and who has put up with Alex’s constant criticism for the longest time.

Indeed, the fan reaction to Alex and Candi’s breakup was rather intense. So too has their reaction to the fact Candi still wants to get back together with Alex… and I get a feel that some people just don’t understand why this intelligent and talented young woman can be so “blind” as to what a “horrible person” Alex is. The fact that love is blind and can easily blind the most intelligent of people as to the flaws inherent in everyone doesn’t matter to these fans; Candi deserves better and she shouldn’t waste her time on Alex, no matter what her silly heart says.

Interestingly enough, even as Alex was the one who broke up with Candi… so too is he now saying they can’t get back together. And I’m not entirely sure why. I do know that he saw the problems their relationship was suffering from. Time away from each other hasn’t fixed those issues. And as easy as it would be to slip back into an old comfortable relationship, he can’t. It’s not right. No matter what feelings are still there… and for all of his less-than-noble traits, I must respect him for that. Likewise, I truly respect Starline X Hodge for creating characters that have captured the hearts of many a fan, to the point they get upset over who Candi is or is not dating. Any story that can pull that off is well worth reading.

Lullaby is one of a growing number of professionally-drawn comics that are making their way to the internet to increase sales and readership. As such, it suffers from several traditional flaws of the print comic genre: breasts large enough to give serious back problems in the future (though with the character Alice, part of this may very well be padding as her costume appears to be padded armor), an over-reliance on combat instead of conflict, and a sometimes-skewed sense of pacing.

Despite those flaws, Lullaby managed to catch my attention. Part of this lay in how the panels were broken down and placed online. Rather than posting full-page updates (which would take a while to load on dial-up), often the pages were split along borders and the like, giving smaller snippets to read that would not take forever to load. While this would also result in updates that did not always tell much of a story, taken as a whole it worked fairly well.

The story itself was also rather intriguing. The start of the comic talks of fairy tales and the like… and shows a young girl in a car with loving parents… and in the process of passing another car she notices a young boy playing a flute. A rabbit in the road results in a car crash, the two youngsters brought together… and Alice waking up in Wonderland. Wonderland is heaven and hell… and what we think of reality is for Alice the dream. Unfortunately, only the first two chapters (each consisting of the contents of one comic book) are available for immediate perusal, though the first two Lullaby series are available for download through Wowio.com. Hopefully, Abacus Comics will load additional pages of this series for fans who cannot use Wowio.com.

It is the very nature of epic storytelling for the story to end. This conclusion often consists of a denouement with loose ends wrapped up, characters finding their way home and settling down to live a life interrupted by the quest they set forth upon. And while it might not be as exciting or invigorating to read as the conflict that surrounded the protagonists, it is a necessary part of a story to bring closure to characters readers have grown to identify with.

Inverloch ended today with two young lovers reunited and an interrupted life continued. And while the denouement faltered near the end, it still was worth reading. I found particularly touching the gift of a flower from Kayn’dar to Shiara, a gift echoed from near the start of the comic when Acheron likewise gave a flower to the elvish girl. When Acheron gifted Shiara with a blossom, it decayed in her hands, speaking perhaps of the conflict within her; this time, despite her doubts and fears, the flower remained whole.

Inverloch is one of a growing number of webcomics available through the free download site Wowio.com. It can also be read online in its entirely at the Seraph Inn host-site. The first two books are also available for sale at bookstores, and the third is due out shortly. While the first two books have altered content (a redrawn prologue in book 1, and reworked dialog in the second), the third unfortunately lacks any new content. It is still worth purchasing, especially if you’ve purchased the previous volumes.

(From Megatokyo. Click on image to see it full-sized.)

(First, a quick apology to the fictional Sonoda family for my familiarity with them by using their given names even though I’m not a close friend. Considering the sheer number of Sonodas (four) in the comic, using their surname would be too confusing, and using their full names would get old and tedious quite fast.)

Fred Gallagher is said to have once described Sonoda Meimi as the “scariest woman in Megatokyo” (apparently at Anime Central 2005 at a Megatokyo panel). I’m not sure if I’d go that far, considering the sheer destructive potential that both Nanasawa Kimiko and Hayasaka Erika hold at their disposal through their fanbases; or for that matter the strength of character they’ve shown (particularly with Nanasawa, who can break through the language barrier with the purity of her spirit). At the very least she’s one of the most fascinating of the more recent stars to step into MT’s limelight.

It’s hard to believe that when we first encountered Meimi, she seemed a tertiary character at best. She was Yuki’s concerned mother. She was Inspector Sonoda Masamichi’s loving wife. But she lacked an existence outside of others. If she were to appear again in the comic, it seemed likely as a bookend character, appearing at the start and end of chapters with a stronger focus on Yuki or Masamichi. Only those familiar with the manga and anime that Gallagher enjoyed would have recognized his homage to Kaitou St. Tail (whose star was a magical girl thief named Meimi who would steal from other thieves to return the belongings to their rightful owners).

Meimi’s reappearance was a bolt of lightning out of the blue. While I had only two previous comics to go on, it felt like her character itself underwent a paradigm shift. She transformed from an aspect of Yuki and Masamichi’s to a person in her own right, with her own life and own history. And interestingly enough, she was linked with Hayasaka’s own past.

We’d already had hints of that before. The day Largo was fired from the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division (TPCD), Masamichi and Hayasaka exchanged words… and it was revealed that Hayasaka knew Masamichi’s brother. Later we’d learn that Hayasaka was engaged to Masamichi’s brother, but even this initial hint linked Hayasaka to the Sonoda family.

Meimi’s reappearance helped solidify her links to Kaitou St. Tail as well with Junpei’s revelation that Meimi was a magical girl, as well as Hayasaka scolding Meimi for shoplifting. This is actually something she shares in common with her daughter Yuki… and makes me wonder if Yuki picked up the trait by watching her mother steal from stores like this, or if it is a part of Meimi and Yuki’s shared magical girl heritage.

Interestingly, her children don’t know of her past. It seems likely Masamichi does, especially considering his reaction during his confrontation with Tohya Miho at MegaGamers. Her taunt of a “blissful mother of two…” managed to anger him, partly because Yuki was there and hearing every word (though she obviously did not understand). And then just as she was leaving, Tohya adds “…do you think she might want to play with me again?” resulting in his admonishment to leave “her” out of it.

It’s most likely that Tohya was talking about Meimi. Hayasaka was right there, and no one else has been introduced that could fit the bill. In addition, their daughter Yuki had manifested magical girl abilities shortly before Masamichi’s little “talk” with Tohya… and in doing so saved Tohya from being hurt badly in a fall. But that’s going off onto a tangent, and Tohya Miho could easily be the subject of her own paper.

Looking back to the day before… when Meimi “ran into” Hayasaka and Largo, I could easily see how terrifying Meimi can seem. Here we have this loving wife, a mother of two, blissful and happy… stalking Largo through the streets, spying on him and on Hayasaka. Indeed, her “fight” with Junpei was equally chilling when you consider this is a man who easily disarms Ed and Dom. It seemed she effortlessly jumped through the air in a skirt and sweater without revealing anything or breaking a sweat.

But this was not as ominous as was the expression on her face as she stalked the streets pursuing Largo and Piro. Upon seeing that expression, I had chills go down my spine. That look, that smile… was entirely too knowing. It was staring right into Largo’s heart and soul, and I can easily understand why Largo fled, especially after his encounter with Tohya earlier that night. He had no defenses left. He was vulnerable. And she was there, closing in for the kill.

Fortunately for Largo, she was then distracted, first by the revelation that Nanasawa was mixed up in all this, leading her to wonder what she should do. It was then that Junpei ran interference, and even then she effectively disarmed him by taking his mask. As things wound down and Nanasawa stopped Largo’s mad flight from Meimi (without ever even knowing she was there), she admonished Junpei for distracting her so she wasn’t there to keep Largo from being sick all over Nanasawa (and I must praise Fred Gallagher for not going the low road here; I’ve seen several comics where the artist seems to find it necessary to show a character throwing up. Gallagher hinted enough to let us know what was going to happen, but held off on unnecessary detail).

When telling Largo about magical girls, Junpei mentioned that magical girls live by a code of love, which has lead to many disasters and a great deal of destruction. Part of this may very well be the incident with Tohya Miho, an incident which seems more and more likely that Meimi also played a part in. But recent revelations show that not even family is exempt from that code… and that the loving concerned mother can be quite relentless in opening her daughter’s eyes to the truth.

And I think that’s a good word for Meimi. She’s relentless. There is a definite sense of mischief to her as she toys with her daughter, leading Yuki along as aptly as Tohya lead Yuki to the top of some power-lines to reveal the truth to her. Even as she does this, leading her daughter to the truth within… she has yet another target in sight as she homes in on Piro, who is on his own mad quest to protect the ones he loves. Nor will Piro easily escape from Meimi’s grasp now that she has caught up to him.

Sonoda Meimi is easily one of the more complex characters in Megatokyo. She’s a concerned mother… a loving wife… a relentless warrior of love intent on protecting those she loves no matter what the cost. And that includes more than just family; Hayasaka Erika is another whom she cares deeply for (and I must admit to some curiosity as to what Meimi meant when she said “[Erika] did a wonderful job playing a magical girl, but in real life she’s not very good at it, is she?” Is it the aspect of finding and accepting love? Or is Hayasaka a latent magical girl, tapping into that talent in her role as an idol and seiyuu?) and through her Nanasawa Kimiko as well.

This brings us to Piro, running frantically through Tokyo to save the girl he loves, a woman that Meimi likewise cares for. Add into the mix the feelings Yuki has for Piro and has been suppressing for him… and we’ve a potent brew of mischief ready to boil over at any moment. Is Piro an ends to Meimi’s means, another adventure to use in awakening Yuki to her true potential? And indeed, what will happen when Meimi encounters Tohya Miho? It’s been hinted that they’ve already met in the past. Might old conflicts come to boil once again when these two meet again?

Most importantly, will any of Tokyo be left standing when Meimi is through?

Addendum: It’s been brought to my attention that my write-up of Sonoda Meimi paints her out to be far more sinister than perhaps she is. In particular, comments were made about Meimi’s discussion with Junpei near the end, when she explained to Junpei why she’d taken up the contract to neutralize the threat that Largo represented to the power structure in Tokyo. In that, Meimi said “I have my reasons. As a mother, as a friend, and as a mentor.”

There is some debate over just what she meant by that. Obviously she is Yuki’s mother. It seems likely that the friend would be Hayasaka Erika… but that may not necessarily be the case. Her links to Hayasaka likely began with Hayasaka’s engagement to her brother-in-law, Hitoshi. But it may be that Meimi, whom I suspect retired from being a magical girl heroine once she had her first child, was a consultant for the company doing the magical girl anime that Hayasaka was a voice actress for.

Meimi may have met Hayasaka to tutor her on the poses and such that magical girls use. And while Hayasaka was only an actress instead of a true magical girl, Meimi may very well have become her mentor… and even introduced Hayasaka to her brother-in-law. And Nanasawa may be considered a friend… even as Meimi mentored Hayasaka. Why else would it matter that Nanasawa’s heart was entwined in the situation with Largo and Piro?

It seems unlikely, considering what Tohya said to Masamichi, that she sees Meimi as her mentor. Indeed, she may see Meimi as a threat. She’s already warned Ed and Dom off from meddling. For all her teasing to Masamichi days earlier… she may view Meimi’s meddling as a threat to her own plans… and this could bring Tohya and Meimi into conflict. As for Meimi’s own feelings… even if she feels kindly toward Tohya Miho, her hand may be forced by those around them.

Robert A. Howard