At its most fundamental level, Footloose could be described as a coming-to-age school comic, focusing on the happenings of a young lady named Keti (which translates loosely in Nepalese as “Oi! Girl!” which may give you some insight into Keti’s mom). The comic utilizes some fundamental aspects found in many school stories: Keti is an outsider who is new to the school, she is disliked by the popular girls, she’s not that good in her classes, and on down the line. But with two words this entire core story is turned on its ear: fantasy dojo. Yes, you heard me right. The story is set in a dojo located in the realm of Faerie and teaches young men and women one of four fighting styles.
To twist things even further, the four fighting styles are the School of Indiscriminate Whacking with Oversized Weaponry (which I think is self-explanatory), the School of Marketable Magic (or in other words, Magical Girls), the School of Overrated Destructive Mecha (don’t ask), and last… Kung Shoe. I swear, I am not making this stuff up and I’ve not been drinking (today). Kung Shoe is the art of fighting critters and people… with high-heeled shoes and other footwear. Of course, considering the shoe is just the weapon, and it utilizes an array of kicks, throws, and thwacks with said footwear, it’s more painful than it sounds. Though considering what a girl in high heel shoes can do to a guy even without training… maybe it is as painful as it sounds.
Keti is, naturally enough, in Kung Shoe. Hey, with a fighting style name that amusing, of course that’s where the protagonist would be. The comic follows her as she struggles to learn the art of Kung Shoe, while dealing with the antagonism of the Magical Girls (and I’ve never seen magical girls written up as so truly despicable as in Footloose), finding love (naturally enough; hey, it may be a fantasy dojo, but it’s still a school comic, and romantic relationships are integral to that genre), and even struggling to maintain friendships. And while there are some dramatic moments (such as in the current storyline), for the most part Footloose retains a high level of silliness that makes this a refreshing shift from the Penny and Aggie clones.





TomGeeks
Eric Burns of Websnark fame once stated that there is no Webcomic Community. While he is correct there is no meta-community of fandom, his assertion is flawed in that there is a multitude of smaller communities. While most of these fans will read one or two comics (and indeed some are ignorant to the fact there are other comics out there), it is the small number of fans who read multiple comics that comprise the nervous system of the greater Webcomic community. The problem lies with encouraging fans to branch out and join the various sub-groups of fans.
Webcomic Collectives help bridge the gulf between comics and the diverse groups of fans. Forums such as those used by the Keenspot Collective, Comic Genesis, Modern Tales, and those comics utilizing the The Wotch Community meta-forums help to bring fans together and allow ease of communications for readers to easily discuss a multitude of comics without needing to subscribe to dozens of forums. Tomgeeks is a new webcomic community currently comprised of seven comics by noted female cartoonists.
But Tomgeeks promises to be more than just a forum community or a webcomic collective to allow for the ease of sharing fans. Tomgeeks also includes reviews of webcomics, games, sites, and more, links to useful sites, and an atmosphere of encouragement and support between female webcomic creators. Nor is the site limited to the seven women who’ve founded Tomgeeks… as any actively updating comic produced by a female cartoonist can also join. And while I’ve not read all of the comics of the Founders, those I have read are among the best comics on the internet, be they created by men or women.
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Posted in Webcomic commentary
Tagged Forum communities, Webcomic communities