This most recent story-arc has been Redcloak’s story, as he wraps up loose ends in the human city that his hobgoblin allies helped him and Xykon conquer. When the Resistance (comprised of the remaining paladins and their elvish allies) initially stole Xykon’s phylactery, I was fairly certain things were going to turn poorly against them. In this, Burlew didn’t disappoint. The wholesale massacre of the Resistance was just the start, much like the initial few pebbles presaging a landslide; it wasn’t too surprising, as Burlew had already given readers hints at just how powerful Redcloak is. But no, it wasn’t until Redcloak returned home to find Xykon’s pet minion (and necrophile) Tsukiko poking around his lobby that we saw the true face of Redcloak.

Much like the Resistance, the moment I saw Tsukiko confront Redcloak, I knew she was dead. I even suspected that Redcloak was going to turn her own wights against her. But it was how Burlew pulled this off that gave me new respect for the goblin. He told her everything. He admitted the entire plan, that Xykon was not going to gain control over the Snarl (and that neither would Redcloak, for that matter), and that this was purely a ploy by his God to improve the wont of the Goblin races. And then, having told her everything… he unleashed the very wights she had created against her… having them devour her very life essence before devouring her body. And then he ordered them to destroy one another, leaving no witnesses to his deed.

If Burlew had left things there, I’d have applauded the conclusion of Tsukiko’s story, and Redcloak’s successful diffusion of a potentially nasty situation. It would be simple enough to concoct some story about her disappearance, or even to claim she helped reclaim Xykon’s phylactery and died in the process. But instead, when asked if he’d seen her, he admitted to Xykon’s face that he murdered Tsukiko just ten minutes prior and then fed her to her own wights. Not only that, but he even confronted Xykon (without accusing him of anything) with Tsukiko having acquired Xykon’s half of the Gate Ritual. And Xykon bought it (or at the very least, accepted what had been done).

By the way, did I forget to mention that he also created a duplicate of the phylactery and has tricked Xykon into accepting it, while keeping the real phylactery on his own person (and thus giving him leverage over Xykon should it be needed)? Yeah, I think I forgot that little detail. It’s just a minor thing really, when you come down to it.

With this last touch, Redcloak has grown far beyond his initial roots as the Dragon to Xykon’s Big Bad. Instead, he is now Xykon’s equal, and I am fairly certain Xykon is aware of this shift in power between the two. No doubt he’ll work to quietly try and reassert control over Redcloak, but I doubt it’ll be so simple. At the very least, Xykon will be left wondering what Redcloak’s next move against him will be. And maybe as a result, we’ll get to see some growth with Xykon for a change. After all, the saying goes that you only stop growing when you die. It would be fun to see Xykon prove that old adage wrong.

Rather than focus on any one specific character, SS bounces from character to character and scene to scene with reckless abandon. In fact, it doesn’t even focus primarily on heroes; instead, Milholland gives equal time to the villains, sidekicks, and minions (and to be honest, I find the comics focusing on the minions to be some of the most interesting of the series). Of course, it’s not all fun-and-games; he’s included such things as a minion planning on holding the world hostage to force increased funding for Alzheimer’s Disease research (because Terry Pratchett has the disease), a former hero-turned-villain who has AIDS (villains have better medical plans), and even a rather twisted take on the whole “stuffed in a refrigerator syndrome” where the woman turned the table on the villain (and has since stalked the villain, scaring him spitless).

In fact, if Milholland ever decided to switch to SS full-time, he’s already established enough background information with his earlier strips that he could easily draw years of comics. We’ve child heroes, heroes working for the IRS, heroes and villains in love, and on down the line. He has inhabited this world with fascinating and enjoyable characters; at the same time he made these characters sympathetic (or at least likeable) without needing a lot of extraneous updates. Even the jerks and idiots stand out. Take, for example, the villain being stalked by the woman he tried to kill; his fear and paranoia about his (deserved) situation has left me sympathizing with him, if only a little.

Super Stupor works because of its format. I suspect that if Milholland tried to tell an ongoing storyline, the comic would fall apart fairly quickly (unless the story was some sort of round-robin that switched from the viewpoint of character to character, perhaps with the camera following the new victim in a form of narrative contagion). Just enough time is told to show the scene before Milholland moves on to other things. On the plus side, this allows people to jump in at almost any point without needing much explanation. The negatives only exist for those who prefer storyline comics, like myself… and in this case, I find I don’t regret the lack of an ongoing story one bit.

Cartoonist Heather Meade quickly captured my interest with a surreal and disturbing start, with half a dozen teenagers lying bloodied on the ground before a young green-eyed girl with blood splattered on her face. From there, things only become yet more surreal, with the girl’s reflection stepping out of the mirror to confront her, before finally Vix starts awake, the bloody scene revealed to be a dream. It was a most superb start to the comic and the comic shifts to a more mundane setting, with Vix starting a new year of school, and we’re treated to a brief moment of normalcy before her world starts collapsing around her.

Along the way, Meade does an excellent job of introducing background elements to her world without overwhelming readers with information dumps, outside of a three-page summary concerning “unhumans” and how they’re treated by humanity as a whole. (To sum up quickly? Segregated and discriminated against.) Most of the background elements are provided by Vix’s own internal monologues as she comes to cope with the revelations of her own heritage and trying to find out who and what she is after Vix learns that the life she knew had been a lie.

The artwork tends to be fairly clean, with a good grasp of effective shading of characters and backgrounds, though there is a definite manga influence to Meade’s artwork. This is especially true with the frequent chibi-style artistic elements which often are used to depict moments of frustration and intense emotion with Vix. To be honest, I’m not fond of these elements; Meade has shown considerable talent with her art, and doesn’t need to rely on such crutches as over-exaggerated art found in the chibi-style. Given that DS has had over 160 updates to date, this is unlikely to change, and I’m sure there are plenty of readers who have no problem with this artistic element.

Most importantly to me, the comic has a firm story and has maintained a good grasp on continuity. This is partly because Meade had initially written much of the story as a novel before she adapted it to a graphic novel format. The pacing is fairly slow in places, but it helps in building the atmosphere and mood. The cast of characters outside of Vix have proven… interesting, though I must admit I liked her human friends better than most of the unhumans; no doubt with further exposure I’ll warm up to them as well. On the whole, dream*scar is definitely worth reading, and a webcomic I highly recommend.