Saturday, January 28, 2006

Sometimes it's about fear.

I want to say something... but there's nothing to say.

I'm out. I'm tired and sick and completely and utterly floundering, you understand, in the wake of stuff happening.

I would talk about Something Positive. But... like I said before, there aren't any words. Not really. Eric talked about it already. So did Phil. And Robert. And the emotion in their posts... the feel... I can't duplicate that. I don't want to. I just don't have the energy right now. Go and... I dunno. Go away, for now. There's nothing here right now.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

(From Narbonic. Click for full sized PLOT TWIST ONLY NOT REALLY!!!)


This isn't a snark. This... is a revelation.

I read today's Narbonic... and I realized that I could identify all of the references that Helen makes. (This whole strip is a rather large crack in the fourth wall, [But still all part of the plot! It boggles the mind!] wherein Shaenon's characters refer to things like Questionable Content and GPF, while at the same time referencing/jabbing playfully at the blogging community surrounding webcomics.)

It's official now, (though it may have been true for a long while beforehand): I... am a webcomics geek.

I don't know if that's an accomplishment, or whether it means I should be committed. Either way it's sorta nifty...

Monday, January 23, 2006

The R-Word.

(From Dominic Deegan, Oracle for Hire. Click for full sized Quick Thinking.)


I have to say that I've been seriously digging what Mookie's been doing lately. Because, for me, it seems like this storyarc is breathing new life into my rabid interest in DD.

Now, don't get me wrong. I've always liked Dominic, Gregory, Luna, Spark, and the gang. I like the humor in Dominic Deegan (the puns notwithstanding), and the way that it's mixed with the serious storylines. I like the way that Mookie builds his fantasy world and develops the races and rules. I like the way he develops characters.

It's just that the whole thing with the Storm of Souls and the subsequent battle for Barthis... I wasn't feeling it. It was cool and all, but it somehow didn't capture me as much as some of the beginning stuff seemed to. For a while, I was lackluster about Dominic Deegan.

Oh, wait... false alarm. I'm interested again. Because this thing with the Orcs... is awesome.

Let me just preface this by saying that I've always liked the way Mookie invisions Orcs. I always have. And since they were first introduced, he's been weaving in little things that give us furtive glimpses of how Orcish culture and individuals work in this world.

First in this storyline was the way that he introduced the characters. There wasn't really a sharp division between the concert and the beginning of the new arc about the Orcs. They just sort of showed up, stuff happened, (along with foreshadowing which even started earlier, you see...) and we moved on. But then things got more central. Bulgak the Orcish Infernomancer (and what's up with him anyway? Why is Stonewater hanging out with him? I WANNA KNOW!) passed out and Dominic saw somebody bad. But then it got overshadowed by the plot coming back around to whatever happened between Melna and Stonewater, which is really what caught my attention in the first place. And then, the R-Word came out. Melna says that Stonewater raped her.

Holy crap.

Holy. Crap.

So now we're getting backstory explaining what happened. Which, I must say, I am very keen to hear. This is Mookie opening up on new characters, weaving their stories into bits of the culture that he's invisioned for Orcs in his world.

Also, just as a note? His Orc girls are hot.

...Well, actually, I really just want to talk about his art at this point. The Orcs in the world of DD are extremely humanoid, and Mookie has succeeded in making them look like Orcs (fangs, green skin, funky hair, etc.) but also making his cast of a solid dozen Orcs look different from each other, distinctively male or female, and still moderately attractive to human aesthetics.

That's nifty, folks.

Needless to say, I'm hooked on this storyline like I haven't been for a long while, now. I want to know what happens next.

A cookie for Mookie. At least.

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Gasp-a-roo!


(From 1/0. Click for full sized philosophical discussion in the guise of humor.)

OK. I know I haven't been saying a whole lot lately. But I did promise you a reaction from 1/0 when I finished it, and I intend to follow through on that, dangit.

Anyway.

I don't even remember where I first heard about 1/0. (Not that I haven't looked, but Websnark, The Webcomicker, Fleen, Tangents, and I'm Just Saying are all curiously devoid of any recent mention [that I could find, at least, after a cursory search] of the quirky strip.) What I do remember is that wherever I read about it, I heard that it was a completed strip, with a clearly set beginning and end at exactly a thousand strips (the neatness of which appealed to me for some indecipherable reason; I suppose it's because it was the sort of thing one could invest a certain amount of time into, like a book, then go on about one's life without having to worry about.) Also, this mystery review blathered on about how intelligent, witty, and well done 1/0 was, and so I made it a priority to take a glance.

Edit: I found it. It was the review that Andrew Araki did a while back over at Comics Rock. Give it a looksee, 'tis nifty.

And, of course, that glance turned into a gaze, which turned into a stare, which turned into a drooling fixation for three days until I'd gobbled up all 1000 strips (which do indeed form a complete story, spanning, in fact, from the beginning of the universe to the end of the universe.) 1/0, I discovered, was everything it had been touted and more. It was funny ("This is war! There is no time for feet!") as well as being sometimes rather deep.

It starts in the beginning. First, there was nothing... then... there was Tailsteak. After creating light, he then proceeds to steal his first character, Barnacle Jones, from the strip Absolute Tripe (which I would link to if I could find it, but I can't, so I won't.) From there, the strip proceeds in earnest with gobs of wacky energy. It was clear that the story was simply supposed to be crazy and frenetic, and it was amusingly wacky for a while.

But then... eventually it settled down a little bit. It began to explore its world, the physics of the world, and the way that it worked. And since the characters had never had fourth walls (except for about a week in the beginning when Tailsteak experimented with an enforced fourth wall, which didn't go over too well) they spent a lot of time conversing with their creator. Because of this, long discussions spawned concerning the nature of their existence. They know they're in a comic strip, which brings up interesting theological questions. What kind of morals should they adopt? How should they regard their creator, Tailsteak, who converses with them and seems to be a normal guy just like them, rather than a god.

And most importantly, what will happen to them after the strip is over?

This spawns hundreds of discussions on the nature of fiction, examinations about breaking the fourth wall, and even (intended or unintended) metaphors for the differences between athiesm and Christianity.

When reading 1/0, you quickly become embroiled in the action yourself because it feels real. It feels like this place really exists, just because Tailsteak drew it into existence. What is great about this is that you develop an emotional investment in what happens to the characters.

I'll try not to spoil any more of the story for you, because sitting down and reading these thousand pages truly is a treat, and I'd highly recommend it.

Head over and take a gander. You won't be disappointed.

(...Unless you're the type who is always disappointed. In which case this will be just another disappointment. Sucks to be you!)

_Kneefers

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

1/0 is true. Deal with it.

Not anything really big to say, just a small note to say that I've been reading 1/0, and I love it. I was just going to slap up a review when I finished, but I couldn't keep quiet. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend taking a gander...

...Yeah, that's all. I'm planning on having more stuff to fill this space in the weeks to come, rather than the half-effort I've been putting in lately.

Yeah.

No, I'm not dead after all. Nifty, eh?

(From Lore Brand Comics. Click for full sized Just read it again and you'll get it eventually.)

Lore is hysterical. And the reason that I love his humor, largely, is because you have to wait for a moment before it hits you.

And this strip is a perfect example. I log on, early in the morning, and scan the strip. Like usual, I don't get it for a minute. So I read it again. "Oh, yeah! Like something died!"

I giggled like a maniac, in the computer lab during history class, and got funny looks.

Awesomeness.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Bleh

Yeah, yeah, I know, I haven't said anything for a while. But in reality, nothing has really struck me in a while. And yes, I know that I still owe y'all a review of It's Walky! I haven't forgotten. Just gimme a bit. I'm not dead, just tired.