Monthly Archives: June 2009

Girl Genius

Posted on June 30, 2009 by | 4 Comments

One problem inherent with epic storytelling webcomics is that it can take forever to tell the story. While this is not necessarily a bad thing (as it almost guarantees the comic will continue updating for years), there is the risk of storyteller burnout. Cartoonists can get bored with their characters and their storyline, and often start looking over older work and growing unhappy with it. (Indeed, a number of epic storytelling comics have undergone a reworking of old artwork or even reboot the entire comic.) But some cartoonists, sensing burnout (or even a decline in story quality) in the wings, go the route of the Japanese Omake and create non-canon short stories to amuse themselves and their readers.

Phil and Kaja Foglio have taken several such breaks with their comic Girl Genius, with the most infamous of these being “The Adventures of Agatha Heterodyne” as told by Professors Foglio and Foglio (the comic-avatars of the cartoonist and his co-writer wife). This naturally gives the Foglios a more humorous outlet for their endeavors (and as any long-time reader of Phil Foglio knows, he is a master of the comedic cartooning crafts).

That is not to say that Girl Genius itself is not comedic in nature; while it is a superb example of epic storytelling, it is also a superb mixture of drama and comedy, with glimmers of humor appearing even in the direst of scenes. But it’s kind of fun to occasionally let loose and indulge in full-scale silliness. The latest GG short story, Revenge of the Weasel Queen, has once again shown that the Foglios are equally at home with pure comedy as they are with epic storytelling, while also remaining true to the Girl Genius universe (meaning fans will see plenty of buxom and beautiful ladies, a sardonic intelligent talking cat, and mad acts of science).

I mean, where else could you see a mad science plan to overthrow a ferret/human hybrid’s control of giant carnivorous rabbits by feeding her plenty of pierogi, heavy on the garlic? Which would have worked too if Ferretina controlled the giant rabbits through scent rather than bribing them with free health insurance. (Why does this sound like one of my old D&D adventures?) The ending, with Ferretina running off with Agatha’s fashion clank and Zeetha telling Agatha that was the best ultimate weapon ever, is just icing on the cake, and proof positive that even when telling a short humorous story, the Foglios are masters of their craft.

Revenge of the Weasel Queen was split into three parts at various points in the two years it’s taken to tell the entire story. Part one can be found here, while Part two continued four months later. The third and final part of Weasel Queen started at the start of June. Other short stories can be found here, including a retelling of the classic Norwegian folk story The Cat on the Dovrefjell, which features the superb artwork of Kaja Foglio and was originally published in the 1997 “Last Dangerous Christmas” anthology from Aeon.

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Sorcery 101

Posted on June 23, 2009 by | 1 Comment

A couple years ago I came across Sorcery 101, a dramatic comedy webcomic set in a modern fantasy setting. Unlike many of its peers (who often succumb to dramatic storytelling at the expense of the humor), S101 has managed to maintain a decent balance between its humor and dramatic elements. This is not to say that there is always a punch line at the end of every comic. However, cartoonist Kel McDonald has managed to remember the comedic roots of S101. Indeed, often McDonald manages to insert small moments of humor into dramatic scenes which help leaven darker aspects of the comic.

Part of this lies with the comic’s protagonist, Danny Gunn, who has a bit of a wry sense of humor and is rather laid back most of the time. While he can be a bit of a jerk and a chauvinist at times, Danny has also shown tremendous loyalty to his friends and those he cares for. This does tend to land him in trouble from time to time, and is also one of the main reasons Danny is learning sorcery; so he can be more of a help to his friends, who due to their very nature are often in the middle of matters supernatural.

It’s not exactly easy describing S101. It’s a world much like the real world, but also inhabited by the creatures of contemporary fantasy; werewolves and vampires exist alongside humanity, though humanity mostly believes that the supernatural isn’t real. Even the shooting of a werewolf on live television was brushed off by many to be a publicity stunt of some sort, and that the “werewolf” (who is actually the King of Lynnbria, one of the fictional kingdoms of the S101 world) is a nut job. It would be a mistake to lump S101 as some sort of clone of White Wolf’s World of Darkness roleplaying setting. While there are some similarities, these can also be found in the pages of dozens of other fantasy novels that WW lifted its setting from.

The supernatural aspects of S101 are an important part of the comic. All of the main cast possess some measure of supernatural abilities; Danny is studying sorcery (which also helps explain the very title of the comic). His best friend Brad is a werewolf, as is Brad’s daughter. Brad’s wife Ally is a mage, while Danny’s sorcery teacher is a vampire. And on down the line. Indeed, of all the cast only Danny’s girlfriend Melanie could be considered normal, and he met her at a store that sells magical supplies and books (though she herself doesn’t seem to study magic).

Just as important to the comic is the family aspect of the comic. Some of my favorite segments are when Danny is with Brad and Ally, or helping them with their daughter who is five, and at that wonderful age of embarrassing questions that parents don’t want to deal with, only moreso as she’s a werewolf and doesn’t understand why everyone doesn’t have tails and turn fuzzy on nights of the full moon. Actually, one entire storyline happened because of Rebecca and her not understanding why you don’t bite people or even that other people might not want to be a werewolf.

Sorcery 101 is part of McDonald’s Veiled Truths setting, and is the longest-running of her stories. Perhaps due to its longevity, I also consider it the best of her works. The interplay between her characters is quite enjoyable, and I particularly liked the glimpses of Brad and Ally’s relationship, as well as the growing romance between Danny and Melanie. McDonald manages to balance adult content and themes without being blatant; any nudity in the comic is concealed by panel cuts and strategically placed objects while remaining obvious as to what is going on. This respect for her audience goes beyond just the occasional adult content, with the story itself told intelligently and with the expectation that her readers don’t need to be told everything, while still showing enough to tell a good story.

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By Moon Alone

Posted on June 16, 2009 by | 2 Comments

I must admit I was rather taken in by the concept behind the epic fantasy comic By Moon Alone. The comic starts out with your classical epic fantasy where two children (Lune, the Moon Child, and Sola, the Sun Child) are facing down your typical forces of darkness (you know the type – big, demonic-looking, and clearly overcompensating for something). It would not be until ten pages into the comic that the first major twist occurred; the fantasy epic? It is the script of a story being read by Melanie, a paraplegic girl in the real world, and written by her only friend Daniel.

On the surface, this would make for an interesting story in and of itself. While the lack of back story for Lune and Sola is a bit confusing (especially once we’re introduced to even more heroes in the fantasy world who seem to be working to protect the Sun Child from some dark force working to gain the one weapon that can harm Sola), their story still drew me in. I’m more ambivalent about our young storytellers. Melanie’s moods are mercurial and apt to flip quickly and frequently, while Daniel is your typical milquetoast without much of a spine and more patience than any child his age should possess. Of more interest to me is Melanie’s love/hate relationship with Daniel’s story.

Naturally, there’s more to this. A brief glimpse of a shadowy figure lurking in the trees freaks out Daniel and suggested to me that perhaps this “imaginary world” Daniel is writing is more “real” than the world in which Daniel and Melanie live. And this presents an interesting dichotomy; for if Melanie is the Sun Child, she bears little resemblance to her counterpart in Sola. Daniel is perhaps closer to his potential counterpart in that when Melanie is being threatened by her Nana (I’m unsure as to her relation to Melanie; it may be grandparent or grand aunt, given her age) he hides and cowers behind the sofa, much like Lune hiding when Sola was facing down one of their foes.

If we assume the “real world” is in fact imaginary, then aspects of Melanie and Daniel’s world can take on added meaning. Melanie’s handicap may be a manifestation of Sola’s own fears and doubts which were glimpsed earlier. Her Nana becomes both warden to keep her imprisoned in her fears and an obstacle to be overcome when she finds herself. And Melanie, banished to an attic she cannot escape without help, slowly pieces together the pages of her life, her hatred and loathing of the story becoming instead self-loathing, and her constant attempts to force Daniel to destroy the story reflecting her own fears of having failed at some point.

While the first two chapters examined the fantasy epic near the story’s climax, I suspect the third chapter has taken the time-honored path of returning to the start of the storyline. This may help fill in more of the story behind Sola and Lune, and the foes they face. What will be interesting is to see if we’re given glimpses into the past of Melanie and Daniel as well; a bonus comic suggests they met at a convenience store but the growth of their friendship and the collaboration between Daniel and Melanie has only been mentioned. Even if my suspicions on the levels of reality for By Moon Alone are correct, the story would work better if we had a better understanding on what drives the friendship between these two, and on the story they are telling.

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Fiction – Guardian Angels

Posted on June 15, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Three and a half years ago, I wrote up a short story fan fiction for the webcomic College Roomies from Hell (one of many submissions for the 2,000 Strip Extravaganza, though the story wasn’t chosen). This obviously was back when I was still reading the comic, and I believe it’s the last webcomic-related fan fiction I’ve written. The story obviously takes place before April went completely insane and rammed a knife through Mike’s sternum (and was actually written before that point, and before I wrote the character off). As the story is over 4,000 words in length, I’m only going to include an excerpt of the beginning of the short story, and a link will lead to the page which contains the entire story.

I probably should add in a warning that the story contains an intense emotional (non-sexual) situation that may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

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Guardian Angels
by Robert A. Howard

April stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Brown eyes stared back at her, deep shadows lurking under her eyes. Her bangs drifted over her eyes and she pushed them back, pushed her hair back, her fingers catching in snarls.

Her hair had never been quite right after the incident when the new dorms blew up. The back of it had gotten burnt. Still, she resisted cutting it short; she remembered that her mother had always loved braiding her hair. Keeping it long was a way to honor her memory. And she couldn’t remember much of her mother. She had tantalizing tidbits here and there, loving moments of being with her mother, but that was all. And she remembered the fall, when her mother had slipped from the trapeze… and her father had tried to catch her and cushion her body with his own… and failing.

But it didn’t matter now. None of it mattered. It never had. She was imperfect. Incomplete. Whatever her dad had said… whatever act that had separated her and June, turning his daughter into twins, each having gotten part of the original’s memories… and soul, had left her a shadow, a defective copy. June was right about that. She was defective. That was why she was alone.

Mike was busy taking Marsha out to dinner, to some fancy restaurant where the guys had to wear ties and a jacket, and the girls fancy dresses. Marsha had actually splurged, dragging April along to go to various shops until she found a dress she liked, something with a high back to conceal her wings, but cut down low in the front to show off her breasts. And a new bra to push them up more, make her look larger than she was.

Not that Mike cared about breast size. Hers were easily bigger than Marsha’s. But Mike never looked twice at them. He never looked twice at her. April watched a tear tumble from her eyelashes and down her cheek, hot against her flesh, and she rubbed it away, pulling up the neck of her nightie to rub her eyes.

April looked down at it; white lace sewn on top of pale pink cotton, a little bow between her breasts. She used to dream of wearing it to bed for Mike. Or for any guy really. But outside of Roger, she didn’t think any man had seen her in it. She’d brought it with her from home… and in all that time, she’d found no one. Dave had been wrong about that. She wouldn’t find someone. Why would anyone waste time with her?

She heard a door shut and listened for a moment, but heard nothing else. It was probably across the hall. Margaret had gone out shooting with some of her buddies in the gun club. Not that she really wanted to spend time with the brunette; Margaret had mostly avoided her since the guys had brought her back from wherever she’d run away to.

(Click to continue to the story)

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Fiction – The Trip – Prologue

Posted on June 12, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Several years ago I finished the first draft of an original novel, The Trip. It was based in part from an old fan fiction I had written in 2002 using characters from Maritza Campos’ webcomic series College Roomies from Hell; back in ’02 I wrote up a horror story about an Ice Elemental that was going after campers. While I kept the monster and secondary characters I introduced in that story, the process of rewriting the two protagonists to be uniquely my own characters helped shape the story itself. One inherent problem with the revised story, however, was that I had two antagonists; the “monster” from the original fan fiction, and the Unseelie sidhe, Tynan, who would prove to be responsible for so much of what Ginny (the new primary protagonist of the novel) was going through.

After some thought I decided to try and integrate the two antagonists. It seemed far too obvious that Tynan would be behind the problems Daniel and Miriam faced when camping… but I did not just want to make the Elemental into a generic minion of the Unseelie. Thus the rewrite.

I’m including the first section of the revised prologue and the original. I welcome comments and questions on the story segments (and apologize that the revised segment doesn’t go further as I need to get up early tomorrow, which precludes staying up ’til 4 in the morning to continue the rewrite).

And now: The Trip

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Only a fool willingly worked for the Unseelie Court. Aneira brushed her white hair out of her eyes and glanced back at the shadow-cloaked sidhe following her. Two of his soldiers were behind him, part of the larger band of Unseelie that had entered her village three nights earlier. Only a fool worked willingly for the Unseelie Court; but with the safety of her village at stake, she would have been a fool to deny the sidhe prince’s demands.

The air was so cold that the sidhe’s breath crystallized and fell to the ground with each exhale. She was long used to it; indeed, the fires the Unseelie built while they camped during the short daylit hours were painful for her to be near, as with the rest of her kin. Still, she did not dare wander far from her “employers.” It was not safe to be out and about in the frozen lands during the day, not even for the snow fae. And while the sun had set an hour earlier, some of the nastier predators continued to hunt until the wee hours of the morning.

She had wondered why the sidhe even needed her at first; with his soldiers and glamour he could easily take down even the deadliest of prey. But he had left most of his soldiers at the town, holding it hostage for her good behavior and to encourage her to lead him to what he sought; an Ice Elemental. Aneira suppressed the urge to shake her head. It was madness to seek out the Elementals. They were unpredictable and all-but-impossible to kill.

Aneira was more than half tempted to lead him deep into the frigid wastes and abandon him to the gulon. Yet she stayed her hand. The sidhe had promised her that her children would suffer a slow painful death if she tried to betray him; even if she succeeded, she did not know how she could free her children from the sidhe’s soldiers.

Besides. He did not want to slay an Ice Elemental. He meant to capture it. He was surely mad… and would likely die the moment he tried to command one to do his bidding. The Elementals were contrary in nature, and delighted in freezing everything around them. All she had to do was lead him to what he desired, and let his own foolishness end him.

It would not be much further; Aneira could see the signs. The trees were all coated with a glaze of ice, while the air had an extra bite to it that even she felt. Ahead she could see a clearing in the pale light of the crescent moon. The moonlight sparkled off of the ground ahead. If the Elemental was not in the clearing, it was nearby.

She paused before the clearing; the air had grown noticeably colder, leaving even her breath to steam in the frigid air. She put up a hand in warning and the sidhe and his soldiers stopped without a sound. The moon slipped down past the trees, but the light did not fade. If anything, it grew brighter.

The light seemed to emanate from the center of the glade, a pale green glow that illuminated a swirl of mist that wafted through the clearing and to the far side of the glade. It twined around the trunk of a small tree and then seemed to press inward; there was a loud crack and the tree collapsed downward, sending shards of wood scattering through the glade.

“There is your Elemental, my lord. But I know of no magic that can control it,” she cautioned quietly, so not to attract the Elemental’s attention. “They are being of instinct, of action. You cannot bargain with them. You cannot bribe them or coerce them.”

“I do not need to control it. Just you,” he said, and she turned in panic. He held an opal in his hand; he spoke a Word that reverberated in her ears and light flared from the opal to fill her until she knew no more.

———————————

Here’s the original start to The Trip:

It existed without form but with reason and purpose. It was ice and cold, the cold of the winds blowing in the blackest nights of the long Artic winters and the shadows on the face of the moon. All it knew was this elemental pureness… and of the others, like and yet unlike it. It was not unique, nor was it incredibly old. But it was curious, especially of the others. That proved to be its undoing.

The opening was small and unstable. That didn’t stop it from moving through to peer at the other side. It felt intense heat on the other side and quickly smothered the heat, causing ice to form along a circle on the ground – elemental earth, but muted, unlike the elementals it had encountered before. In fact, the earth was… polluted, a combination of earth, water, air, and even a touch of fire.

The Circle stopped the young Elemental and kept it in. It resisted in a way the young elemental had never encountered before. The Elders mentioned this before, wards… and then memory surfaced, of why the wards would exist. But by then it was too late. The opening vanished, trapping it in this strange alien world.

Outside two forms stood, beings with a darkened twisted life-glow. Impure. The Elders had mentioned these before as well… and the young elemental realized with a shiver of horror just what those two things were. Humans.

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Gulch

Posted on June 9, 2009 by | Leave a comment

It would probably come as no surprise that I consider the Internet to be the future of the comics industry. A combination of escalating costs and a shrinking market has badly hurt the print comic industry; indeed, if not for several spectacular movie successes, I suspect DC and Marvel would already be bankrupt. It seems only natural to me for more comics to follow the route of Phil and Kaja Foglio with Girl Genius, presenting the comic online to draw in readers and offer graphic novel compilations to those readers who want the comic in print.

Thus when DC Comics decided to launch Zuda Comics as its webcomics division, I was somewhat interested. However, when it was obvious this was just a mechanism to draw in webcartoonists to draw for them, rather than posting existing DC Comics online to drum up added business, I lost interest. And while I occasionally received requests for reviews from several potential Zuda comics, I held off on reviewing as the comics had not reached what I consider to be critical mass (over 35 updates) when I’ll consider reviewing them. (The few times I’ve bent the rules on this policy inevitably result in the comic going on hiatus soon after.)

One of the comics to emerge from the competition and get a contract to continue its storyline is the science fiction/post apocalyptic comic Gulch, which follows the story of Clarabelle Dust, a spoiled rich socialite and terrorist striking out against the world that had given her everything on a silver platter. It is this dichotomy that first attracted me to Gulch; of a young woman who has everything and yet lashes out at the world around her out of a sense of guilt and self-loathing that she has so much… when so much of the world has nothing.

The world of Gulch is an interesting mixture of delusions or fantasies (with Clare often living in a green lush world until she’s forced to interact with those around her), biological weapons (I lost any sympathy for Clare and the revolutionaries when they turned a small dog into a biological bomb to kill dozens of people at a boutique, as well as an exploding pig dropped from a highway overpass), and naturally a good dose of government corruption and decadence. Considering the story takes place in the year 2092, the world appears fairly familiar, with buildings and vehicles that don’t look out of place in the early 21st century (though considering the story takes place after the world went to pot, I suppose the lack of flying cars is understandable).

Interestingly, Gulch has avoided the information dumps endemic to far too many comics. While this leads readers to muddle through and piece together what’s going on from snippets in the comic, it can also leave those readers used to having everything explained on a silver platter confused as to what’s going on. While we hear of instances of “police brutality” (Clare mentions killing a cop who was beating up on a bum), we don’t really see any instances of brutality or oppression. As such, it’s difficult to garner much sympathy for this revolutionary movement, outside of the fact they care enough for their own that they try to rescue a captured comrade.

Given more time, it’s likely that Gulch’s story will be fleshed out better. We may be given a glimpse of the world outside of the artificial island of Torros, and of the apparent collapse of civilization that is hinted at in the comic. However, when you consider each “season” of Zuda’s contracted comics run for 60 updates, I have to wonder if we’ll be given that opportunity. An added problem lies in the use of Flash to navigate through the comic; with DSL I would suffer load-times of half a minute or so. I have to wonder if the comic would be worth reading for readers on dial-up. Still, if Matt and Gabe White are able to increase reader sympathy for the resistance and expand on the reasons behind the terrorist attacks, then Gulch would be well worth reading, rather than the curiosity it currently is.

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Aetheria Epics

Posted on June 6, 2009 by | Leave a comment

Back in the ’80s, I first encountered the Choose Your Own Adventure books, which allowed the reader to be more proactive in the story by choosing the protagonist’s actions. While I soon moved on to more serious literature (relatively speaking; I know my English teachers despaired of my fascination for fantasy and science fiction), I enjoyed the diversions these adventure stories provided. This format of storytelling has occasionally appeared in webcomics, with Damonk’s Framed!!! having had an HTML-coded “find your own adventure” for several strips and the comic Ctrl-Alt-Del likewise having several reader vote-directed adventures appear when the cartoonist was bored with his own storyline.

Following in these footsteps is Aetheria Epics. AE follows more in the footsteps of CAD rather than Framed!!! in that there is one storyline that reader votes is directing, rather than the continuous choices (and in-jokes) that Damonk scattered in his name-coded strips. AE is designed as a roleplaying game (very likely similar to some Japanese roleplaying computer games) allowing the readers to decide through majority vote on the protagonist’s posture, decisions, and dialogue choices. In fact, many aspects of the story have been selected by fans voting for it, from the genre to which character (of three) would be focused on to her personality type.

As part of the decision-making aspect of the comic, readers were able to select what part of the game world (Aetheria) the game would take place in, with a mixture of science fiction and fantasy settings available. The first story is a fantasy setting following the story of a young somewhat aloof female Summoner named Allete and her two friends Lily and Iris. The choices provided actually help drive aspects of the comic; one example lies with an early choice where readers decided Allete would dress casually instead of wearing the mandated uniform for Summoners, which resulted in a confrontational encounter with Instructor Magius shortly before class began.

That is not to say that the readers have complete control over the storyline. Certain parts of the comic are undoubtedly intended on occurring, such as the protagonist’s search for a nonpareil creature to form a contract with. At one point of the comic, the readers were given a choice: to apply herself on her own terms, to seek out Instructor Magius and apologize, or to run away. Undoubtedly the first two choices would have led to the quest for nonpareil summon, either through Allete’s own desire to prove herself or through her teacher’s suggestions.

While other comics have delved into the “Choose Your Own Story” genre in the past, I’m not aware of any that have consistently stuck with this theme or given their readers as wide a variety of options in terms of shaping the characters and their personalities. What’s even more impressive is that Kristof S. is writing this comic five times a week (mostly) while simultaneously writing and drawing another comic, Circumstances of the Revenant Braves. And while Aetheria Epics might not possess the vivid lines and crisp colors of other comics, the minimalism to line art and the glowing coloring style help give the comic an ethereal feel that fits the comic nicely and helps it stand out from its peers.

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