Of all the reasons I’ve seen someone start up a webcomic (be it to tell a story they’ve had lurking in the back of their mind for the longest time, indulging in a whim for humor and jokes, or even to improve one’s artwork through the constant practice that comes with drawing on a regular basis), I must admit that the ironically-named Something Original takes the cake. The cartoonist, a young lady named Amanda (no last name given), just wanted to make a webcomic, and decided to create a journal comic about her life because she had no other ideas. (I kid you not. She states this in her very first comic.)
As such, she joins the likes of Jenny Breeden (The Devil’s Panties), Karen Ellis (Planet Karen), Jin Wicked (Crap I Drew On My Lunch Break) and other cartoonists who decided at some point to create a comic about their own lives in general and the ups and downs they go through. Of these, the only person who continually updates on a daily basis is Jenny Breedan, and to be honest the webcomic version of TDP can be repetitive at times. Much like her peers who’ve traveled this unoriginal path before her, Amanda indulges in showing her readers little snippets of her life, the occasional rant on things that annoy her, her boyfriend, school, and whatever else catches her whimsy. The end result can be be fun to read when she draws something that she feels passionate about.
Unfortunately, Amanda hasn’t exactly had the sort of life experiences that make for captivating reading. Something Original is cute and amusing, and is quite well drawn (even if she doesn’t care for her artistic style and wishes she could draw in a more “cartoony” style that didn’t take as long to put image to paper), but at times I get the feeling she struggles with ideas of what to draw (examples of this struggle including such noteworthy classics as gross dirty dishes and bleaching and cutting her hair). Add to that the intermittent nature of Amanda’s update schedule and I get the feeling that the lack of any real motivation for creating a comic outside of “I want to make a webcomic” is likely a leading cause for the frequent pauses in Amanda’s update schedule.
That’s not to say the comic’s not worth reading. There are times when Amanda hits the ball solidly, and shows a keen sense of humor. These little gems often make up for the comics that fall short. The comment section below the comic also give added insight into Amanda’s mindset (along with the periodic apology for not updating more often). Amanda also isn’t afraid to experiment with her art; while the majority of the comic is black-and-white (or greyscale), occasional color updates stand out and help the artwork come alive. I’ll admit, I wish Amanda would indulge in less copy-and-paste art, though fortunately Something Original avoids abusing CaP too badly. If Amanda could start updating more regularly (or even just start up a reliable update schedule) then I’d definitely recommend this comic. As it stands now, it’s worth a read through and then putting in the “check monthly” folder to read the handful of updates that might accumulate randomly each month.
