The Webcomic Overlook

What do you get when you have a webcomic that features … get this … both pirates AND zombies? Bet you didn’t guess “a surreal, stream of consciousness comic with subtle, absurdist humor.” But that’s what you get with Brian James’ very strange series, A Fine Example.

When I first started reading this webcomic, I did not have high hopes. The art — which uses chicken-scratch cross-hatching to indicate shading and alternates between pencil and ink — reminded me of the drawings our newspaper editor, who was in every art class and competed locally, used to draw in the wide margins of the “humor” page in our high school newspaper. (And if this is really him under an alias … I’m on to you, Ed.) It resembles post-Woodstock art, the type you would find in counter-culture dailies or underground comix printed under publishers with names like “Rip Off” and “Kitchen Sink.” Consequently, character illustrations in A Fine Example feel gritty, raw, and unpolished. However, James balances it out with sparse backgrounds that impart an air of both desolation and solace, not unlike a Bill Plympton cartoon. Later pages retain this underground comix aesthetic, albeit with more detail.

However, I find the jagged white edges around the characters in shaded panels to be very distracting. If I were Mssr. James, I’d work on the anti-aliasing.

A Fine Example is a story of a fellow with a fake eyepatch and two peg legs named Free Pirate Stiles. Stiles acts rather silly and clueless most of the time, but perhaps that’s a reaction to his environs. He lives in a surreal world where kids are drawn in pencil and zombies seem to be in charge of society. There’s no plot, really. It’s more a series of random events. Zombie attack, Stiles gets in touch with an old, decomposing friend, and pirates get together to have an outdoor party. That’s it. Nothing outstanding or particular coherent… but nothing terrible, either.

What impresses me most about A Fine Example is the writing. Sure, initially we get a lot of dorky gags of the “How did you lose your eye?/I didn’t!” variety. And James get a lot of mileage out of a cute comedy side character. However, A Fine Example eventually syncs into a pleasant, easy-going rhythm. And there’s something transformative about Mssr. James’ brand of art. Like Minus, everything seems to exist in a dreamlike state. Crazy moments — such as, I don’t know, the hanging of the uncanny GoGo Lack — somehow feel gentle, as if everything should be happening in slow motion all the time.

It’s like, so mellow.

Wow. This comic is turning me hippie.

Also, this may be the only webcomic I’ve read where it’s absolutely shocking when the author drops pop culture references. While reading this comic, I had Brian James pegged as a “sensitive art student.” You know, the type that brags that they never watch TV. Who would’ve guessed that he knew anything about Bret “The Hitman” Hart?

I can’t say A Fine Example is for everyone. I personally liked it. I found it to be a nice, pleasant head trip. It’s lighthearted, bizarrely humorous, and tranquil despite the strong presence of pirates and zombies. That would just harsh the vibe.

Rating:

Truckin’