Monthly Archives: June 2010

Terra

Posted on June 24, 2010 by | 1 Comment

One advantage webcomics have over their print brethren lies with their impermanence. Errors can be easily repaired, plot holes plugged, and weak storytelling shored up either through reboots of the entire comic, or of additional pages to help expand the story. A case in point is the science fiction webcomic Terra; after a number of fans complained about the actions of two antagonists felt rushed and incomplete, cartoonist and co-writer Holly Laing inserted a page that helped build up to (and slightly modifying) the scene in question. In addition, Laing is joining a growing number of cartoonists of rewriting their comics’ beginning, while working on a buffer to help eliminate missed updates (though at the expense of a summer-long break in regular updates).

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Posted in Chord

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Footloose/Cwen’s Quest

Posted on June 10, 2010 by | 1 Comment

I have to admit I enjoy reading the occasional guest comic. While the pause in the comic’s story may be jarring to some, it can be fun seeing an alternative perspective on the comic, especially when that viewpoint is quirky and humorous. (Come to think of it, I can’t recall any serious one-shot guest comics. I suppose it’s easier to write comedy in one page than drama.) Thus when I found out that Emily Brady of Footloose had created a guest comic for Cwen’s Quest (which I’d intended on reviewing at some point, but lost the URL for during one of my many computer deaths devouring my bookmarks), I had to read it.

Brady has hit the mark on this one; while I don’t know (or remember) who the Village Bicycle – er, I mean Gram Trellion is, it’s easy to figure out from the context of the comic… and from the humorous final panel. Further, the setup of this strip even gives strong hints as to who (and what) Gram Trellion is, without his even appearing on panel. Seeing a half-dozen blonde children running around (with every adult with dark hair) made me quite glad I wasn’t drinking coffee when I visited the comic.

Probably the only thing that would have made this even more amusing is if we’d seen a single father happily holding a blonde child without any wife in evidence. As improbable as that would seem (though this is a fantasy comic…). In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy this short side-story of Emily’s (which will be running for another four updates) while catching up on the archives for Cwen’s Quest.

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Posted in Secant

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8-Bit Theatre

Posted on June 4, 2010 by | 2 Comments

8-Bit Theatre has come to an end; not with a bang, or a whimper, but instead with a shift in art and an ending that is both pointless and yet manages to wrap things up at the same time. In doing so, 8BT manages to stay true to the mediocrity that became 8BT’s venue for the last several years; from what I understand, webcomic creator Brian Clevinger has long been mystified as to why 8BT was popular to begin with. I almost wonder if the comic degenerated into its current form as some twisted experiment by Clevinger to see how long before his readers left out of boredom.

The thing is, there were still gems of awesomeness visible in 8BT from time to time, such as the big bad planning on creating a cakelogical singularity out of the universe (which Black Mage actually came up with when considering how the big bad might bring about the end of the universe). But much like a mine that is being played out, these gems grew rarer and rarer as the comic continued. Near the end, the only reason I continued to read was because of all the effort I’d already put into it. And of course, I hoped to find just one last nugget of goodness to remind me of what had attracted me to 8BT to begin with.

Naturally, the climactic conclusion of 8-Bit Theatre pulled a massive twist. Don’t expect any grandiose battles between the forces of not-quite-good and of utter-evil. It is here where the comic fizzles, with luck and deus ex machinas allowing the so-called heroes to survive. And while the epilogue comic (with actual drawn art rather than the cut-and-paste pixel characters that were used for the rest of the series) does give us a “where are they now?” wrap-up, it fails to provide any last gems of greatness with its closure.

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Posted in Secant

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