I’m making an exception for the graphic novel reMIND as cartoonist Jason Brubaker (who is a professional storyboard artist and compositor who has worked on over a dozen major films and in print comics) is documenting the process of creating this graphic novel and giving some excellent advice that both print and web cartoonists will find helpful. While the comic aspect of reMIND has only had fifteen updates, each update is a double-page spread that tells a story that is graphically pleasing and quickly catches your interest even as it gradually builds the story and setting.

The comic is about Sonja, a young lady inventor whose cat Victuals goes missing one day… and turns up a week later with the ability to talk, manipulate objects with his paws, and comprehend things. As there have been only fifteen updates, it’s difficult to determine the gist of the story, but it appears to involve stories of lizard men (in what is either a contemporary fantasy or science fiction setting), missing animals, odd bubbling waters, and the uplift of at least one feline. From what Brubaker has said in his blog, I half-suspect that Victuals is the real protagonist of the story, and that Sonja will be playing more of a narrative role in telling Victual’s tale.

While the comic itself promises to be a fascinating tale well worth reading (both in a virtual format and when Brubaker eventually has it published), it is the research Brubaker has compiled and documented that I suspect many web cartoonists will find of use, both for online venues and for possible print compilations. Brubaker has done a considerable amount of research on creating graphic novels, including coloring processes, outsourcing segments of the art to reduce time spent (such as flatting colors, which can save cartoonists a couple of hours), lettering and font creation, and on internet resources that web cartoonists will find useful.

This research also includes information on promoting graphic novels (and by extension, webcomics), the use of advertising, and on active forum communities that may be of use for artists. What’s more, Brubaker also talked about a problem common with many internet resources; the majority of internet resources are out-of-date and in some cases obsolete. While the majority of this information was gathered with an eye toward getting a graphic novel into print, much of it can be adapted to web cartoonists who have no intent on print publication, either due to the animated aspects of their work or the limitations found in print venues.

What makes reMIND so effective is the marriage of comic and resources. There are a number of webcomic resources out there; some of them are even updated regularly. Likewise there is a growing number of webcomics that use blogging formats to allow the cartoonists to talk about their work and what went into each update. The marriage of these two helps show how this information can be used by creators, and allow readers to learn a little of what goes into creating a webcomic. Add in the fact that reMIND is an artistically skilled work that shows considerable storytelling promise, and you have a comic that is worth reading to both creators and fans alike.

No, that’s not a typo. The organization that deals with disasters, monsters, and other insanity is called “SUEPR;” I’m not quite sure what the acronym stands for, but the “Sue” aspect was deliberate, and several of the characters would be Sue-like characters, except for the deliberate deconstruction of the trope in general. Nor are the Sue-like characteristics universal with the entire cast; instead, it almost seems to be an innate aspect of the natives of Reality, in comparison with characters who emigrated from another world to live in Reality. Perhaps the best example of this lies with the leader of SUEPR 4, the teenage boy Todo.

Todo is, for a lack of better words, perfect. He’s handsome, articulate, compassionate, skilled, assumes the best of people and doesn’t judge them if they don’t meet those expectations. In short, he’s the type of character you’d hate (well, initially) if you stumbled across him in a fanfic or the like. But as the comic unfolds, it becomes obvious that Todo’s “perfection” is a veneer, and that the very aspects of him that appear so “perfect” in Reality end up hurting him (and his companions) when facing problems from other less utopian realities.

The two outsiders of the group are immigrants from worlds outside of Reality; A.V. is a young verbose lady who has a lot of talent and heart, but freezes up in social situations, while Hawk is an anthropomorphic dragonfly with a chip on his shoulder and the need to prove himself. It is these two that truly help the comic shine, with their reactions to the eccentricities of their new world (such as a sock puppet rabbit being the mayor of the City of Reality, or how everyone is just so nice to each other, even in the face of infidelity or being robbed.

Of course, A.V. and Hawk won’t be the only ones who’ll give double-takes at times. There are subtle and not-so-subtle images that will suggest how things could go; take the infidelity (which was told as a flashback story): when the guy is confronting his girlfriend after catching her in bed with another man, there is an one-panel flash to a handgun in the bedroom drawer. It’s never touched, and the two manage to talk things out (with the guy that was caught in bed cowering behind the bed looking quite nervous the entire time). Likewise, one of the very first things that happens in the comic is that a young girl is given a ride home by a shadowy complete stranger, taking a different route home than is normally taken… and she gets home safely and untouched. The entire world reeks of the Uncanny Valley effect; the inhabitants of Reality are (for the most part) human… and yet somehow not.

In many ways we’re being given a glimpse of the alien nature of a utopia. In order for a utopia to exist, people would have to resist those darker impulses that are a part of all of our lives… and do so consistently. And they do, with the exception of some of the immigrants from other realities where things are not so perfect. We’ve not seen A.V. react adversely to some of the almost inhuman decency among the citizens of Reality, though there are moments when you’re sure she’s going to comment, only to back away. Hawk, on the other hand, spends an entire chapter trying to break through their veneer of civility, only to finally conclude that somehow, Reality itself is one huge family (and not one of the more typically dysfunctional ones in our own world).

The rest of the cast plays primarily a background role; Froggie, a giant intelligent anthropomorphic frog is the scientist of the group, while Victor is the final member of SUEPR 4 and is, if anything, even more perfect and decent than Todo. Little has been done to date to expand on their personalities or backgrounds (though Victor is hinted at having a “mysterious past” which will undoubtedly become the basis of some future storyline). Finally, there’s Mayor Rabbit, a sentient sock puppet rabbit who single… um… handedly runs the entire government of the City of Reality. Much like the other natives of Reality, when he appears and talks about various things we catch brief glimpses that suggest things aren’t quite as perfect in Reality as appearances might suggest, but outside of a few disasters (all of which have been (indirectly?) caused by interactions with another reality called Magic World) we’ve had few glimpses at the possible darker side of Reality.

After the first two chapters (which introduce both A.V. and Hawk), the chapters tend to flow into each other. Indeed, the problems caused by Magic World products ends up being the motivation behind the CoR storyline that just concluded, where SUEPR 4’s three core members had to travel to Magic World to stop their own brethren, who are trying to eliminate the threat Magic World poses for Reality. Cartoonist Ian Samson manages to portray the members of SUEPR 1 as well-intentioned extremists that know what they’re doing is wrong… but that it’s for the greater good of Reality. Chapter 5 may be the best storyline yet in CoR, and undoubtedly we’ll see more of Magic World in the future, especially once Mayor Rabbit admits to the rulers of Magic World that some of his own were responsible for their own recent troubles.

Another interesting aspect of CoR is its update schedule: the comic is released twice a month with sizable multi-page updates. This helps create a better sense of story and continuity than even a daily update schedule would do. Samson has stated that this update schedule will be changing soon, but hopefully he’ll continue some form of multi-page update (perhaps similar to the update schedule of Sarah Ellerton’s The Phoenix Requiem).

City of Reality is one of those comics that will amuse, charm, and at times disturb you. It may also make you sit back for a moment and consider what Samson is saying here… and on the state of our own reality. For that alone I’d recommend it; the interesting deconstruction of just what a utopian world is and on the nature of “perfect” characters is just icing on the cake.

Addendum note: It appears CoR is switching to a MWF update schedule, for the time being.

Metaphysical aspects aside, Blip is a slice-of-life comic where the mundane exists obliviously along side the surreal and supernatural. The comic’s protagonist, a young woman called “K.” by all her friends and associates, is oblivious to the ongoing conflict between the forces of Heaven and Hell over her life. Well, she’s oblivious on a conscious level at least; a fair ways into the comic we learn that K. knows the Devil, whom she calls “Uncle Luc” (and who in the comic is a very attractive and affable gentleman, showing courtesy to both his own minions and to his opponents among the angels) and was mentored by “Luc” in her dreams, being taught how to play instruments, draw, paint, and write. The forces of Heaven try to combat this by discouraging her artistic tendencies and ensuring her life is boring and nondescript. (And no, they apparently aren’t allowed to kill her. It’s against the rules.)

Needless to say, Blip does not ascribe to the notion that the Devil is evil. While it is revealed that he rebelled against God, he is not shown to be the metaspiritual boogyman of Christian mythos. Indeed, even the Devil seems to answers to someone… that being The Adversary, who (according to the Devil) is responsible for “ruining” K.’s life (even if it’s the angels who are doing the footwork). Likewise, we’ve not seen evidence that the comic is using the trope that “God is Evil.” An evil God wouldn’t care about rules and would do worse than ensure that a young woman’s life is uninteresting and uninspiring. While it’s not exactly a nice thing to do, it’s at worse a very vanilla evil.

Amusingly enough, K.’s life is replete with supernatural elements that she is unaware of. Of her two best female friends, one is actually a vampire, and the other a witch. A third former friend whom K. is antipathetic toward is a cyborg (and whose father is hinted at possibly being Dr. Frankenstein). And as I mentioned above, K.’s spiritual/dream mentor is the Devil. Interestingly, K.’s friends were unaware of K. being without destiny (or a “blip”) until the Devil tells K.’s vampire friend; needless to say, the knowledge that K. is anethema to God’s Plan is a considerable shock to them.

Despite the supernatural turmoil surrounding K., her life is fairly mundane with a boring job at a hospital’s medical records department, as well as the ongoing tediousness of K.’s life in general. Eventually she forms healthy relationship that the angels are unable to stop (thanks to the Devil’s minions distracting them until the roots of the relationship grew and the two started dating) at which point we finally catch a glimpse of K. being genuinely happy. Don’t get me wrong; the angels continue to throw monkey wrenches at K. and her relationship (including old exes for both K. and her boyfriend) and there are days which are full of suck. But that could be said for all people.

The mixture of supernatural and mundane elements works. Our frequent glimpses into K.’s life helps us care for a character who has the sort of life we can relate to, which helps anchor the more surreal elements and meta-conflict. What’s more, we end up cheering for someone who traditionally is considered a villain (though he is not necessarily a hero in this incarnation) except for his efforts to give one person a better life. And whether you enjoy a comic that has metaphysical elements that make you think or just enjoy a slice-of-life comic with a squeeze of supernatural lime, you’ll find Blip to be one comic you want to keep on your radar.