Tag Archives: Character motivation

Convergence

Posted on February 26, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Bubblegum Crisis (the original one) was my gateway drug into anime. It was the first series I purchased and I quickly fell in love with this science fiction world with vigilantes in powered armor fighting against a malevolent corporation. I get a similar vibe from the online manga Convergence, by Wave (oh, like none of you have ever bothered with a pseudonym online?) about Sakura, a young woman who, after discovering some nasty secrets that the Darkwood Corporation has been hiding from the public eye, has to save her sister from one of the corporate enforcers, Velias… who has his own reasons to hate the rebels and yet not wish to see harm come to her sister Suzuran.

While I enjoy the background setting for Wave’s world-building (even if the whole “evil corporation” theme is sometimes overdone, not to mention it’s likely if Darkwood is as powerful as it’s made out to be, it would control the news media and use those contacts to squash any potential leaks), where the comic shines is with Sakura, Suzuran, and Velias. Each character takes their own turn as protagonist and antagonist, with Velias’ motivation for helping Darkwood (and his concerns about doing what’s right) providing him with more depth than most comic antagonists possess, while Sakura’s desire to reveal Darkwood’s shady dealings ends up the catalyst that causes Suzuran to come to harm. But really, the star of the comic is Suzuran herself.

Suzuran is… for lack of better terms, nuts. She’s a delightful nut, mind you, but in her first appearance (after Velias and Sakura’s initial fight), she’s jumping off a tall building and onto a homemade trampoline she hung between the buildings (and her sister knows about this crazy plan of Suzu’s). After that, she jumps up to a line between buildings and then starts playing the flute, of all things. It’s only after Velias shows up to take her into custody (in the vain belief that he could use Suzu to blackmail Sakura to give up her data) that we learn that Darkwood had experimented on Suzu (and Sakura) in the past… and of the connection that Velias has in initially freeing both girls. Further, Suzu’s still programmed by the corporation… and after running into the man behind her programming tries to kill her sister.

So needless to say, Convergence takes some interesting twists along the way. Interestingly, the comic is actually a prequel and is wrapping up to make way for Wave’s next work, and she’s launched a Kickstarter for a print version of Convergence (which will end on March 6, 2013). It’s the unique touches that really make this one a special event. I mean, any comic can have beautiful artwork (which does unfortunately include a couple chibi-style moments which I suspect most manga artists consider obligatory) and an interesting storyline. But flute players, a complete loon for a character, a shady corporation…these are things that don’t often make it into comics, and certainly not all at once. This comic is definitely worth a closer look, so head on out and see for yourself.

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Sequential Art

Posted on October 8, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Back in July Phillip M. Jackson managed to surprise me with a rather delightful plot twist by having the least sympathetic of his protagonists end up in bed with Sequential Art’s occasional antagonist Hilary. At that point I offered a rhetorical challenge (since I’m sure Jackson hasn’t heard of Tangents before and wouldn’t particularly care in any event) for him to take the road untraveled and to reform Hilary (if only a little bit) by having her and Pip remain a couple. In my opinion this would have allowed for a fascinating pairing with an Internet recluse and a social wasp (I’d say “social butterfly” but while Hilary may have looks (in theory), she’s also possessing a rather nasty stinger as well). Even better in my eyes was how this would antagonize Kat, who’d be expecting the worse.

Sadly, the worse is what happened. Outside of that initial encounter, Hilary used (and drugged) Pip and cheated on him while using her “affairs” to climb the business ladder until she found a married man whom she could blackmail after having slept with him. And now, having figuratively screwed Pip over, she took a moment to plunge the knife into Kat and twist the blade by having Kat be the one forced to tell Pip what had happened (though I truly hope Pip isn’t so naïve as to ignore the hints that have slowly accumulated). Not that this is the end of this storyline, of course; Pip has shown a devious side in the past, and I suspect Hilary may have stung the wrong person this time around. In short, the last couple of months have been watching a slow-motion trainwreck in progress.

The only real point to reading was waiting to see if Pip would wise up or if Hilary would screw up enough that she’d get caught red-handed. And to be honest, I’m not quite sure what purpose Hilary serves at this point. She’s an occasional antagonist who’s been shown to be mostly unsympathetic. Even the brief moments of humanity that have emerged are lackluster at best (I mean, declaring vengeance on Kat because of an idiotic lunchbox? Right. That’s a good reason to be antagonistic for most of your life). But perhaps the greatest disappointment is that Jackson had a brief moment to flesh out Hilary into a real character. Instead, he dumped her back into the one-dimensional antagonist bin. Barring some truly unexpected twist, the story seems to be heading to a formulaic ending and a lot of missed opportunities.

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El Goonish Shive

Posted on August 8, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Sometimes I’m left to wonder if Dan Shive weighs his comic on a scale, because it seems when El Goonish Shive’s artwork is at its best, the storytelling suffers… while he starts taking shortcuts with his art when ramping up his writing talents. Of course, I’ll be the first to admit I hold Shive to a higher standard than I probably should, especially when compared to quite a few other comics I’ve come to enjoy but which haven’t run for nearly as long as EGS. Unfortunately, Shive’s latest crime against artistry is a common flaw among many webcartoonists, even some who’ve been comicking for some time: copy-and-paste artwork.

Undoubtedly some of my older readers are already rolling their eyes at my mentioning this, as I’ve long had issues with the abuse of copy-and-paste art. I’ve long felt it robs the cartoonist with the chance at improving their artwork (for as the saying goes, practice makes perfect), and in turn robs the readers. And yes, I know that cartoonists are often hard-pressed for time, and draw comics as a hobby after work or school. Nor is all copy-and-paste bad; it’s quite possible to manipulate a drawing so that the copy-and-paste is hidden or transformed into something else.

Sadly, Shive ignored these alternatives and went for a cheap repeat of two panels. There were no shifting camera angles. There were no closeups. There were no background differences. In fact, Shive actually copied one panel and only altered a facial angle and added Elliot in two panels. And the irony is, the differences between panels 4 and 5 show how to disguise copy-and-paste art! The shift in Susan’s head and the addition of Elliot helped disguise the fact they’re both the same panel. It’s pure and utter laziness, with a scene that could have been far more powerful artistically if Shive had just taken the time to draw Susan from a different angle.

It diminishes from a potent bit of character development that I don’t recall being expanded upon before: Susan’s feeling of isolation after Sarah started dating Elliot (way way back when EGS was known for decent storytelling and mediocre artwork with oversized heads). This is something many of us can identify with: being abandoned by friends who suddenly have someone else to be with who sets their hormones percolating. And it’s not even a retcon. It makes sense and helps to deepen Susan’s character a bit further. I mean, we already knew she had issues with her father… but now we can see how she could feel anger at this guy whose only real crime was agreeing to date her best friend.

The irony of the situation is even more interesting when you consider Shive has actually been laying the groundwork for Elliot and Sarah’s eventual breakup… and Susan’s own growing attraction to him. For all that I’ve complained in the past about Shive’s bizarre fixation on turning EGS into the Hogwarts Comic of Magic and Witchcraft, he has slowly started the pendulum swing back toward better storytelling. Unfortunately, this is a moment when some of those fancy camera angles he’s used in the past could have helped deepen the emotion of the scene, rather than stall it out with the entropic weight of copy-and-paste artwork.

Ultimately, this is about what would make El Goonish Shive into a better comic. I applaud his continued effort to improve his storytelling (assuming this is not just a cyclical shift between art and story), but this is only half of the job. The best comics utilize art itself to tell the story. You can see elements of this with Susan’s body language and the weight of her solitude weighing her down. Sadly, shortcuts such as copy-and-paste art cheapens his storytelling efforts and diminish the quality of the comic as a whole. If he avoids (or at the very least does a better job of disguising) these elements, then EGS may surpass its heyday so many years past. Yes, I know it’s an odd idea to think of me praising EGS eventually, but he may yet pull it off.

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The Jupiter Palladium

Posted on May 24, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Given the popularity of antiheroes as protagonists, it can be difficult crafting an effective antihero that can still attract readers. Part of this lies with their basic personality – as an antihero, they tend to be… less than pleasant (to understate things). Seeing that people rarely like cynics and their ilk, often some redeeming aspect is needed to help not only explain why an antihero has chosen that path, but also present some aspect of redemption (even if only a minor one). This is certainly the case with Matt Cooper, an information broker in the superhero comic Jupiter Palladium who uses sarcasm to keep people at bay, while simultaneously pointing out their shortcomings and forcing them to take a long hard look at themselves.

Of course, when you consider what it is that information brokers do, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise people don’t think highly of him (and this is even before his own ability to transform into a humanoid bat is revealed). People don’t enjoy having their secrets revealed, and they also tend to dislike being teased. Naturally, Matt revels in teasing and harassing the target of his sarcasm while slowly revealing small tidbits to whet the appetites of those listening to him while the target of his sarcasm has her secrets revealed. To be honest, I’m not quite sure why he held his sarcasm in check when forcing the Jupiter Palladium’s leader, Angel, to admit the truth of her past. But what did prove interesting is his targeting of the telepath Syren and his reasoning behind his harassment.

In essence, Syren is useless. She was unable to do anything effective in the Jupiter Palladium’s recent fight, and despite being a telepath she wasn’t able to reveal the treachery of one of their own despite spending a bit of time with her. While she’s not the only novice among the heroes, Matt seems to think her naivety will end up getting herself killed… unless he can toughen her up or chase her out. What with Matt’s own tendencies as a loner and his words, we end up with a glimpse of someone who is trying to keep Syren from getting herself killed. It’s an interesting glimpse into the mindset of someone who ultimately is more heroic than he likes to let on… but who hates to show any sign of weakness that others could use against him.

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Cerintha

Posted on May 23, 2012 by | 4 Comments

Given the popularity of the historical fiction genre, it’s no surprise to see the genre make its way into webcomics. However, I must admit that even among historical fiction webcomics, Cerintha may be unique as it is set back during the Roman Empire… or more specifically, during the apparent fall of the Roman Empire. I suppose if you want to get technical about it, there was no actual singular event that resulted in the end of the Roman Empire (and even after the Western Roman Empire declined, the Byzantine Empire continued for another thousand years).

The comic focuses on a young barbarian warrior named Cerintha who has two great loves. First, she loves the Roma Empire, its culture, history, prestige and power, all aspects of it. Indeed, one of her fondest desires is to walk through the city of Roma and take in the sights (as it were). Unfortunately, having been born a barbarian, she’s denied Imperial citizenship and isn’t particularly welcome there after she bailed on the Roman Legions because of her other great love: staying alive. In short, Cerintha is a coward. She will flee from any fight she is in, even those that she is likely to win… and her cowardice has made Cerintha into a truly talented swordswoman.

To be honest, it’s not particularly fair to call her a coward; while Cerintha runs from fights (especially those in which she’s facing overwhelming odds), the main thing she’s running from is her sister-in-arms and former comrade, Hellebore. Hellebore is close to Cerintha’s equal with the blade (and several times in the comic slaughters several warriors with ease). But unlike Cerintha, she wants to die gloriously… and is hunting down Cerintha after her comrade-at-arms abandoned her on the battlefield out of her desire to live. Given how much Cerintha seems to care for Hellebore, their fights often are truly difficult for Cerintha as she struggles to stay alive… while not harming Hellebore and giving her the death she so dearly craves.

The first part of the comic focuses on Cerintha as she strives to avoid the twin threats of Hellebore (who has tracked her down once more) and the Roma sorceress Discordia, a young conflicted woman who believes she is cursed and uses her magical talents at the bequest of the rulers of Roma; her power is great enough that she easily annihilates the army Cerintha is with (though Cerintha had fled prior to that incident). Along the way, Cerintha runs into another sorceress, Hemlock, who places a magical artifact, the Sky Relic, within Cerintha. Naturally things don’t quite work out the way they’re supposed to, and Cerintha slowly starts developing magical abilities as the comic commences… abilities she cannot control and which threaten to destroy everything around her.

Naturally I’ve left out a lot in my brief summary, including political intrigue, sword fights, war between Roma and the barbarian tribes, true love (I jest!), and magical duels between sorceresses. Along the way, the cartoonist (who has managed to hide his actual name by not signing his work) has managed to mix humor with drama in the comic (with Cerintha’s cowardice often played for laughs). Unfortunately, updates have grown intermittent as the comic approaches its fourth year of production, but given the comic appears to be approaching its climactic moments, it presents readers the perfect chance to read through the archives during the comic’s downtime. And I definitely have to recommend Cerintha; while the main story seems ready to conclude and I’m doubtful there’s any sequel hooks, it’s still a most enjoyable tale and well worth reading.

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Supernormal Step

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Every so often I stumble across a comic that I have difficulty easily summing up. These unfortunate (and often creative) works often languish in my reading queue until I either forget I’ve never reviewed them or lose the initial creative urge to critique the comic in the first place. This is the sad lot that the alternative reality/superhero webcomic Supernormal Step fell into a couple years ago, and since that time I’ve enjoyed it while procrastinating on writing an actual review. Fortunately for SS, another comic just recently crossed my radar and displaced it on the procrastination table so I figured I’d see if the Muse would be interested in writing this comic up. She was.

The comic focuses on the dimensionally-displaced heroine Fiona Dae, a young lady from Earth who has found herself displaced to another Earth where people have magic (but no guns), humans are just one of a multitude of intelligent species, and the U.S. government is a benign dictatorship under a man named Henderson who provides security and some semblance of order, in return for being the undisputed ruler of the nation. Of course, how benign he is depends on just who you ask, and there’s naturally a Resistance of sorts that is trying to get Fiona to work for them, even as Henderson tries to get her to work for him (even while claiming she could leave anytime she wants to).

As with most stories in the Transference genre, Fiona is intent on returning to her old world (which is of course easier said than done). This is despite the fact that in this new Earth, she has learned magic and has become a bit of a hero (having fought a giant wolf at one point, as well as a band of villains who’d been hired by the Hendersons to identify who the dimension-traveler was, and who don’t know when enough is enough. Part of this lies with her upbringing; her father was apparently a survivalist and a vigilante who home-schooled her, resulting in Fiona being… paranoid about letting people get close (as well as dying her hair blue so she’s not reminded of her dad when she looks in the mirror). Despite this, she’s become friends (of sorts) with the two people she first met in this alternative Earth, a heroic sorcerer named Van who has this talent at attracting women, and a cursed hero named Jim who tends to turn into a stuffed rabbit whenever he acts too arrogant or is caught in a lie.

More recently, there’s also Akela, a four-armed blue-skinned lady who started helping her investigate the Hendersons and who has apparently started to fall for Fiona. In this, cartoonist Michael Lunsford has actually taken a rather realistic approach; Fiona hasn’t shown attraction for anyone at this point (being focused on returning back to her Earth, though this seems to be more due to her being constantly weirded out by this alternative Earth than because of family or friends back there), and Akela even admits to herself that it’s probably a lost cause. I must admit I’m rather taken by this approach to a relationship. I could see it going one of three paths, with Fiona not being interested (in Akela or in girls in general), a relationship forming, or even Fiona not quite realizing until she finally has a chance to go back to her own world… but realizes she’d have to leave Akela. No doubt there are other paths as well.

Interestingly, the Hendersons are also being developed further, specifically with Hall Henderson (who has also shown a bit of interest in Fiona, though I’m not sure if he’s romantically interested in her as his partner Eva implies, or if he’s fascinated with her situation) learning he’s not the first (or only) Hall Henderson… and realizing that his boss, Mr. Henderson, is up to something. What this is has only been hinted at (though it may have something to do with dimensional transit), but in all likelihood as the story’s climax approaches we’ll see Hall (and his older incarnation) drawn back into Fiona’s story, even as she’s dragged (screaming and kicking) into an ultimate confrontation against Mr. Henderson.

Needless to say, the story’s grown rather complex and involved at this point with four years of archives (even with some occasional breaks and intermittent updates), but during this time Lunsford has created an impressive mix of characters. The obvious star of the story is Fiona, but that doesn’t diminish the stories of the other characters (though Jim seems more of a two-dimensional jerk who only avoids Mary Sue territory due to the curse he suffers under). And I must admit I’m curious as to what Akele’s story is, especially as she suddenly moves to share the stage with Fiona. I’m not exactly sure where Lunsford is going with Supernormal Step, but he has created something quite unique, and more than a little fun.

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Schlock Mercenary

Posted on February 20, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Individuality is often considered a trait to strive for, among people in Western countries at least. It is a core aspect of Western Identity that leads to efforts to achieve some level of uniqueness among each person and their creations. So consider for a moment the existential dissonance that would occur should someone be duplicated (not just cloned, but recreated down to every last personality nuance and memory). This concept has been visited multiple times in science fiction and fantasy over the years, but never quite to the scale that Howard Tayler pulled off in Schlock Mercenary, in which the character Gav was duplicated millions of times a number of years back.

While Tayler has alluded to the massive presence of Gavs in the comic from time to time, for the most part he’s not really touched upon the concepts of loss-of-identity and individuality with this new collective, at least until now. Yet I must admit I found myself profoundly disturbed at the solution one of the Gavs came up with: mental and genetic rewrites. In essence, this (now female) Gav can give other people new knowledge, a different body… and a different personality. Ponder that for a moment. Are you as disturbed as I am? Because I truly hope you are.

Remember what I said about Identity and Individuality earlier? While Western society emphasizes individuality in people, our core identity is a key aspect to this. And thousands of Gavs are throwing that away while worshipping at the Altar of Individuality. What’s more, they’re taking the word of someone who claims she was a Gav before she rewrote herself and became someone new. But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen people given new memories and altered personalities before – Tagon’s Toughs, the mercenary band that is central to the comic, just recently learned that they had sections of their personalities rewritten to hide a dark secret of the Terran government.

This has provided us with an interesting dicotomy to what the Gavs are doing. While the Gavs are willingly throwing away their identities in order to become someone new and thus regain an element of individuality, the Toughs had a portion of their identity stolen from them… and their ally Petey (a rogue artificial intelligence that subverted a number of warships to its control while saving the galaxy in an earlier storyline) has only been able to identify the memories and mark them, rather than restore what was once there. Of all the Toughs, only one has his original memories – Schlock. (While Commander Andreyasn was able to get a number of his memories restored, I’m not exactly sure he was able to get them all.)

In fact, one of the Toughs quit over this; Nick had found a nice (if much shorter) girl and was concerned that having his false memories flagged would change who and what he is. It would be easy to claim this isn’t the case based on older comics, but when who and what you are is up for question, it’s a valid concern. This didn’t go over well with Schlock, especially as a number of new recruits didn’t have to have their memories flagged… and were trusted despite having been hired while in a Terran military facility. (In fact, readers already know at least one of these mercenaries is a Terran intelligence agent; the question being if Lieutenant Para Ventura is the only agent.)

Of course, there is always the chance that the first transformed Gav is who and what she claims to be… and she may even be honest in her endeavors to provide her fellow Gavs with a measure of individuality. Thus the Gavs may in turn be able to use their skills to help the Toughs regain more of their memories. But I rather doubt things would be that easy. Instead, I suspect that the alterations to this group of Gavs is less-than-benign… and likely includes psychological triggers that would turn the Gavs on Tagon’s Toughs (who’d be at a disadvantage as it’s not good for business to shoot the hand signing your paycheck). And ultimately, the Gavs may realize that in their mad quest to regain a modicum of individuality, they lost the very identity that made them unique to begin with.

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