Tangents Reviews » Niche comics

xkcd

Tangent — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:56:32 +0000

Congratulations to Randy Munroe of xkcd, whose comic has had 1,000 updates as of today. And don’t forget to click the image for a larger version of the update; he actually drew 1,000 stick figures doing a variety of things. When I have a spare moment, I’ll have to peruse it more closely. Here’s to 1,000 more, Mr. Munroe! Good luck to you.

Lit Brick

Tangent — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:43:01 +0000

Over the past month, John S. Troutman has been exploring Jonathan Swift’s novel Gulliver’s Travels in his literary sequential comedy Lit Brick. While many people are familiar with the Lilliputians from the first part of Swift’s novel, there are three additional sections to the novel which become increasingly dark and cynical. (What’s disturbing is that the novel is touted as “children’s literature” by people who’ve obviously never given it a thorough reading, as at one point (if memory serves me right) in the second section Gulliver is used as a sex toy by a giantess. Yes, that’s exactly the sort of thing we want our children reading. Though I suppose it’s better than the cult of violence that permeates much of U.S. culture.)

While Troutman avoids many of the darker elements (through expediency), I have to admit I was curious as to how he’d introduce the Houyhnhnm, or horse folk from the final quarter of Swift’s novel. I must admit I never anticipated Troutman would depict the Houyhnhnm as Ponies (as in from the television cartoons “My Little Ponies”). Yet when you think of it, this makes some sense. On one hand we have a group of sentient talking horses, while on the other a series that has grown tremendously popular over the past year. Of course Troutman’s going to poke fun at both at the same time. Unfortunately, Troutman is wrapping up this story before we got to see any real depictions of Pony Society through Troutman’s eyes. I can easily see a dozen different jokes from linking the MLP genre into Swift’s novel.

Actually, it’s probably for the best that Troutman is wrapping up the story now, before his interest in Gulliver’s Travels wanes (as has happened in the past with other books). Yes, watching such surreal scenes such as the Pony riding Nicholle (sans saddle) might be amusing enough (though if fans misinterpreted Nicholle showing off her legs in yesterday’s update, what are they going to think of the Pony mounting Nicholle? I think there’s an Internet rule for that…), but a lot of the Houyhnhnm storyline dealt with aspects of its culture that would only interest hardcore literary geeks. And yes, I know that’s part of Troutman’s target audience, but I doubt it’s the entirety of his readership.

Saucer Seekers

Tangent — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 03:39:41 +0000

I must admit that the latest storyline of Mark Mekkes’ science fiction webcomic Saucer Seekers has been rather enjoyable for me. Part of this is due to the more… uplifting aspect of the story. Rather than having the characters fruitlessly spin their wheels while trying to uncover the truth, they’re succeeding for once. They’ve discovered their evidence of an alien abduction and alien spacecraft (or at the very least, unidentified craft that seem beyond current Earth technology), including photographic proof from traffic light cameras, and are all set to reveal this to the world. There’s only one thing in their way… and it’s not the men in black or covert government operatives. It’s an act of conscience.

The location of the abduction and of the sightings of the craft is in a small town. The people who admitted to seeing it asked for their anonymity (and weren’t included in the reports from what I can tell). But we have our protagonist looking down at the evidence he just has to mail out… after wishing a bunch of townsfolk a Merry Christmas… and realizing that even though they haven’t revealed who anyone is, people in this town are going to lose their privacy and anonymity once these reports go out. And this has made me wonder… how many instances of UFO sightings with actual proof go unreported because of moments of conscience such as this one? And ultimately… is this search about a personal proof, or vindication? Because mailing out this proof to the world… is vindication, and doesn’t serve the truth at all.