Monthly Archives: February 2011

Penny and Aggie

A little over three years ago, T Campbell started toying with the fantasies of the shipper-oriented part of his readership with the concept that in the future his primary protagonists in Penny and Aggie could end up in an intimate relationship with each other. Oh, there were hints before then (and after, for that matter) by the secondary cast that there might be the potential for something more between these two, but Campbell was always careful to avoid that next step. Unfortunately, he may have been too circumspect in their relationship as I didn’t think he’d actually have his titular pair locking lips or moving their relationship beyond the existing friendship. It just wasn’t showing in the cards.

Oddly enough, I feel rather ambivalent about this development. While Campbell has slowly been building up until this moment, I’ve not seen much in either Penny or Aggie’s character that suggest they are interested in the other gender. This is something that Campbell actually touches upon within this latest strip, with Aggie chatting with her good friend Lisa about her kissing (or being kissed by) Penny. Her previous reaction to Lisa kissing her was apparently to freak out… which I suppose might have been denial of feeling attracting toward another young woman or that she even enjoyed it. Even with that supposition, we’ve not seen anything suggesting Penny was interested in other girls. Of course, this might be supportive to my theory that people can be straight (or gay) normally, and then find one person who hits the right buttons to switch their preferences… but only to that one person.

Thus there is always the possibility that Penny and Aggie are “gay” for each other, but normally straight. Unfortunately, we never really saw this effectively represented in the comic. I could easily believe the two girls were very strong friends, and that this friendship formed from an initial antagonism. But as lovers? While countless shippers may be doing a Tagon Happy Dance (from Schlock Mercenary), I’m just not buying it. And this is a shame, as Campbell is normally an effective character writer; but this doesn’t feel like a natural evolution of the characters, and there’s been no internal buildup that I recall leading to this moment. It’s not an actual derailment of the characters… but it’s definitely a lost opportunity for further character development that would have led to a more natural pairing of the two.

OTENBA Files

Yesterday I waxed elegant on a depiction of intelligent savvy antagonists in a well-written webcomic. Sadly, today I find myself looking for a hard object to smack my head against at the depiction of a minor annoyance in a separate webcomic… well, let’s just say that in a matter of a couple of panels the character (Matty) came off as a hick and a moron. OTENBA Files, a science fiction comic so soft it could be used as a pillow that has strong yuri overtones, has sadly been disappointing me after my initial review.

Part of the reason for my declining enjoyment lies with recent comics that focus on resident loner and fox-human hybrid Tamka. While anthropomorphic characters aren’t exactly my cup of tea, I rather liked seeing the surly character who just wants to be left alone cope with walking in on her roommate in an intimate (and undressed) situation with Kris, and coping with the stray thoughts (which, as she’s telepathic, she keeps picking up on) of various people who want to get in her pants. Her recent revelation that she thinks she’s “not into guys” (coming on the heels of a short flashback story where she was seen lusting after a very male teacher at her school) was a bit of a wall-banger, as there were strong overtones that she was saying she is gay. (Note – it seems I was wrong on the gender of this character. My apologies on this mistake, please note the addendum at the bottom of the article.)

Mind you, I don’t dislike gay or lesbian characters (and the fact I’m still reading the comic should be a clue to that fact). It’s just that the comic is chock full of them, and the general asexuality of Tamka (up until the flashback story) was a welcome addition to the cast (not to mention that there are remarkably few asexual characters depicted in webcomics). Given that cartoonist KTom has been cagey concerning Tamka’s preferences, I had strong hopes that Tamka and Kris would end up becoming friends rather than lovers (which would have been a delightful twist on a yuri-centric comic).

The recent drunken antics by Kris are another reason for my declining enjoyment of OF; while it was interesting to see that Kris seems to have a drinking problem (that she’s aware of but refuses to deal with), having her start to molest the person who got her drunk and that character enjoying it while trying to tell her to stop… I’ll admit I cringed when I encountered this scene. No means no. If you’re drunk and you try something, you’re liable. That Kris got a pass on this is unconscionable.

This is especially true with the recent interactions between Matty and Tamka, in which the young man joined the ranks of a multitude of characters making unwanted advances on the poor woman, and her turning him down cold. Now, I had no problem with this. Nor did I have a problem with him chasing after her and continuing to act the ass; there are guys out there who do things like that. No. My problem is what happens after Kris smacks him into the wall (and for that matter Tamara’s reaction to Kris’s franticness, which she never managed to even try to explain), a smack down that honestly he didn’t deserve as he was just being a pest, and wasn’t, oh say, putting his hand down a girl’s pants when she’s telling him to stop.

But after Tamka left with Kris I went from mildly disappointed to wondering why I was reading when two antagonists (one of whom I don’t recall seeing before) approach Matty and offer him magic that will ensure he get Tamka to fall for him (or somesuch idiocy). His reaction (which can pretty much be summed up as “my pop told me not to talk to people dressed as weirdly as you two”) left me wishing I had something stronger than Scotch available (and that it wasn’t too early in the morning for a shot). To turn around from that initial hick moment and then take up the offer from people he knows nothing about as a “win/win” for him? Without even asking what price there would be for this bit of magic?

Bravo. Way to go KTom, you just managed to make our minor irritation out to be the front-runner for moronic hick of the year. If he’d just accepted this Faustian bargain without the comment on their garb, I’d have rolled my eyes and just accepted it. Adding in an extra dose of hickness (and this ain’t the first time KTom has depicted minor characters as hicks who lack any sense or brains) was an extra kick to the shins to the insult given to the male gender.

What’s worse is the potential lost to the scene. We could have had Matty blackmailed into helping these antagonists, with threats against Matty’s employers or family. Or even just had him take a logical look at what was happening, admit it’s a terrible idea, and give a fatalistic sigh of “what choice do I have?” before agreeing. It would have been better than taking a two-dimensional tertiary character and shoehorning him into a one-dimensional role. I just hope that this is a short-term glitch as OTENBA Files has an interesting premise, and has shown promise.

Addendum note: it appears that I was mistaken on the gender of a tertiary character mentioned in the second paragraph. My apologies on that; knowing that Tamka was lusting after a female teacher does reduce my need to find a wall for my head (at least for this scene – I still find the use of hard surfaces for my head when I make errors like this to be useful). I’ll stand by the rest of my arguments, however.

Girl Genius

It’s always enjoyable to see an effective and well-developed villain in stories. More often than not, villains (recurring ones, at least) are depicted as potent but fatally-flawed individuals who never seem to realize that doing the same thing (with minor variations) to overcome protagonists is destined to fail. Only a few villains are ever shown to learn from their mistakes, or possess some level of genre savviness to avoid the more common pitfalls that their brethren make time and time again. Thus I was quite amused to see the mind-clones of Lucrezia showing their own genre savviness in the latest update of Girl Genius.

To be honest, part of me has doubted the validity of the revelation that Agatha’s mother Lucrezia is the Other, responsible for the destruction of so many Sparks and the devastation of Europe. Something just feels… off about it. Part of this lies with the fact that Lucrezia’s first child died in the attack on Heterodyne Castle, when Lucrezia vanished, and I can’t quite imagine Lucrezia as someone monstrous enough to kill her own baby just because she realized she was pregnant with a girl. I always figured that Lucrezia herself was controlled by the Other. No doubt it’s the romantic in me who manages to survive the rampant pessimism of my inner cynic.

But with each new comic with the Lucrezia mind-clones, I must admit I’m reluctantly putting that theory to rest. There seems to be no reason for the Other to call itself Lucrezia if it was in fact a separate entity. Oh, there’s always some glimmer of possibility my old speculation is true, but it seems quite doubtful after all this time. It’s a bit of a shame, too, as I suspect Agatha would fight long and hard to try and rescue her mother if it were at all possible. But not only does Lucrezia seem beyond redemption (as Agatha’s father sadly learned), but that her father also is gone. But Lucrezia is no Darth Vader, and what we’ve seen of her remnants and personality is of someone who not only feels no remorse… but sees even her daughter as just a tool to be used and discarded.

The humor of the last couple of panels, with the Lucrezia mind-clone inhabiting the body of Zola chatting with another copy nestled away in a humanoid clank built by Prince (and part-time antagonist) Tarvek Sturmvoraus only to freak out when one of the pair dismisses the long-absent Barry Heterodyne as being no threat, was the strongest strike against my theory of the Other and Lucrezia being separate individuals inhabiting the same body. It is obvious from their reactions that the Heterodyne Boys have a long-standing tradition of appearing when the Heterodynes are dismissed as “not being a threat,” which Lucrezia has experienced in the past. It also was a delightful tip of the hat to the few, the proud, the genre-savvy antagonists who know better than to tempt fate (or the whims of the cartoonist) by saying such things as “nothing can stop me now!” or the like.

We also have the set-up for another bit of drama; Zola (and her copy of Lucrezia’s mind) knows that Baron Wulfenbach was infected with a Slaver Wasp, rendering him vulnerable to the commands of those who can speak with Lucrezia’s voice (an odd aspect of how Lucrezia was able to control her minions while preventing others from wresting control from her; her very vocal patterns are inherent in her ability to issue commands). But only the humanoid clank can mimic Lucrezia’s voice, allowing her to seize control of the Baron’s kingdom as the puppet master behind the scenes. Naturally, something will keep the Zola-based Lucrezia from imparting this knowledge to the clank; at least, for now.

It is inevitable that the Baron will fall under the control of Lucrezia. The moment he was infected by a Slaver Wasp I saw this was coming, though I would like to think Klaus Wolfenbach to be savvy enough himself to have safeguards in place to keep him from being used by Lucrezia. It also feels too… pat. Too easy. Like Phil and Kaja Foglio are trying to lure us into a false sense of security over what will happen. Might it not be more interesting to witness the start of a game of chess between Klaus and Lucrezia as she tries to take control… and he manages to evade her time and time again? After all, Klaus knows Lucrezia all too well, and has seen what she can do. And it would be a suitable distraction of his attentions away from Agatha, giving her time to fix the Castle and protect her people.

This is one of the fun things about Girl Genius; the Foglios retain enough of a sense of whimsy to pull the unexpected, even when literary and storytelling tropes would suggest a different course of action. No doubt there will be twists within twists even if Lucrezia gets her claws into Klaus sooner rather than later in the story with his own struggles to overcome her control (which would be an interesting parallel to the struggle Agatha herself faces in overcoming the fragment of her mother’s personality implanted in her own mind). It is these twists (along with characters who I can easily like) that make this comic so enjoyable.

Penny Arcade

As I’ve undoubtedly said before, humor’s not exactly my forte. That’s not to say I don’t have a sense of humor; while I couldn’t tell a (humorous) joke to save a clown’s life, I’ll gladly laugh at the witticisms of my friends and family. But often I find myself wondering afterward just why I laughed; the latest Penny Arcade comic had me look back and feel almost dirty for having found humor in what was a bit of reverse fat humor (where the target is rather scrawny but ends up binge eating after being told he was fat (in a roundabout fashion)). Given the rampant political correctness that has made ridiculing any topic outside of overweight people and white men taboo, I probably shouldn’t be surprised to see Tycho and Gabe poke fun at this (especially when you learn that Gabe had been trying to gain weight). Still, despite my brief amusement at the comic (and recognition of the label on the tub of ice cream), I have to think that Penny Arcade is better than this, especially given the dangers of binge eating and bulimia.

The Phoenix Requiem

What is the fundamental core of horror? I’ve found myself wondering about this concept as Sarah Ellerton’s The Phoenix Requiem enters into its denouement, with the dark forces that were preying on humanity’s souls having been vanquished and its protagonists coming to terms with all that has happened to them… and the costs that will incur as a result. While I seem to recall TPR having been billed as a horror story in its past (the site’s page concerning the story describes it now as a Victorian-inspired supernatural fantasy that contains various elements including horror), the comic has shifted away from many of the tropes that are traditional to the horror genre – at least, as Hollywood would have us view it.

One of these is naturally enough the mortality rate of our protagonists. Up until the last few updates, I was positive that Jonas Faulkner was going to die. Part of this lies with the fact Jonas himself thought he was going to die, and was in fact willing to sacrifice himself to stop the Spirits from escaping their prison – a prison he himself had weakened due to his misguided belief that the Spirits were noble and worthy of worship. Fortunately for the story, Jonas’s faith had been weakened enough that when he learned the truth, he didn’t flee into denial and a stubborn refusal to accept the facts and actually spurned the leeches that were using his faith and belief to break out of their prison.

Given that I’d been operating under the belief that TPR was a horror story (and to be honest, there is a bit of evidence that would support this supposition), I was surprised at how few characters actually died; by that I mean developed members of the cast. But outside of Officer Patrick Armand and Doctor Blythe (whose deaths happened off-screen, though their corpses were presented as proof positive they would not come back unless as a Shade), the only character to “die” was technically already dead; interestingly it was Jonas’s willingness to sacrifice his life for Anya which opened Ksendra’s own eyes and made her willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep the Spirits trapped.

When you look back at the character of Jonas from the story’s start and through the revelation of the Shades, the Spirits… and of Jonas himself, you see a character who has matured and grown over nearly 800 pages of story. His decision to step away from Anya and to pursue his duty over his desires is as much a sacrifice as that which Ksendra made; it is also a rather odd way of honoring her, considering that Ksendra sacrificed her eternal soul because of the love Jonas holds for Anya. This makes me wonder; was Ksendra’s choice a noble one? Or was it one last blow (if subconscious) against a rival for her former husband’s heart?

The irony is, of course, that there is another possibility: Anya could join Jonas in his travels as the new shepherd of the souls of the dead, even though she has in the past stated her desire to stay in Esk. As she is linked to Jonas (much as Jonas was linked to Ksendra), it is entirely possible she shares some of the gifts he possesses. In short, she may too be a shepherd of the dead (which would be an ironic twist, seeing that she is studying to be a doctor and has fought to keep death at bay). As we’ve one last chapter for the denouement for The Phoenix Requiem, we may very well see this come to pass; at the very least, I expect some time to pass between this chapter and the next.

Looking back at my earlier question, what is horror? Is it a flaming ash-beast that threatens to smother and spread a disease that tears one apart on the cellular level? Is it a flitting Shade that disturbs one’s slumber? Or the revelation that the very beings that so many worshipped are in fact soul-devouring monsters who look at humanity as a snack? Or is the horror of The Phoenix Requiem something more subtle? Is it the sacrifices that must be made… or even the possibility that duty and obligation can overwhelm love? For ultimately, Ellerton did tell a horror story; it may have lacked the blood and gore of a Hollywood film, but it does hold the elements of horror fiction with a subtle touch that makes it well worth reading.

Runewood Abbey

When I first was drawing my own webcomic back in 2002, I used greyscale art in a mad attempt to reduce production times (which ultimately failed to work; keeping track of the various shades of grey I used ended up taking as long as using full unshaded colors). I used the greyscale primarily to reduce the starkness of the page and because color – even greyscale color – can help hide artistic errors. Looking at the latest Runewood Abbey I must admit I’m quite impressed. A considerable amount of work went into the shading and rendering of this comic. Ultimately, I feel the beauty of the scenery is enhanced by Michael Brewster’s use of greyscale instead of color, and creates subtleties that could be overwhelmed by regular color.

Sorcery 101

Although I’m not a big fan of movies, I must admit some disappointment in Hollywood’s delusion that the epitome of horror can be found with splashes of blood and gore intermingled with lurking horrors that leap out from the darkness. While fear of the unknown is a key part to horror, it is often an external horror. Only a few moviemakers such as Alfred Hitchcock embraced the more subtle aspects of internal or psychological horror. But where the motion picture industry has failed to utilize psychological horror in lieu of special effects and choreographed fear, other forms of media (including webcomics) have embraced psychological horror with a format suited for subtlety. One recent example of this can be found in the last few updates of Kel McDonald’s contemporary fantasy webcomic Sorcery 101.

To be honest, I don’t normally consider S101 a horror comic. This may seem odd, seeing that the comic is set in a world with vampires, werewolves, angels (who seem more akin to the Old Testament angels than the benign pretty-boys that modern culture has morphed them into) and other, darker things; part of this may be due to how human many of these things seem to be. But every so often McDonald pulls out a stop and you get a sense of Other of these entities that populate her world; the current meeting between our protagonist Danny and the vampire Frost has managed to catch my attention, not only due to Danny’s utter powerlessness against Frost but the realization that Frost is a complete monster and that Danny and his girlfriend Trish are but pawns in an ongoing game between Frost and the vampire Seth (whom Danny is blood-bonded to, just as Trish is bonded to Frost).

Each comic starting with Frost’s appearance has slowly built the foundation of this psychological horror brick by brick, slowly trapping Danny in a prison where he will likely not only lose Trish, but be forced to watch as Frost literally alters her mind, taking away her free will and encouraging her to once more follow Seth like a lovelorn puppy who is unable to see his idle cruelty for what it is. What’s more, this is not the first time this has happened; nor is it likely to be the last. While this may not be the horror inherent in the loss of identity or self, or of slowly turning into something monstrous, I have to think that the loss of free will and the revelation that this could happen to Danny but for the whims of another monster is a subtle horror that even Hitchcock could admire, and adds yet another reason why I enjoy reading this comic.