Monthly Archives: March 2011

The Webcomic Overlook #157: Blade Bunny

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It took me maybe ten pages to become annoyed with the free-spirited, adorable antics of the title character in Blade Bunny. I started panickedly looking around and mopping imaginary sweat beads from my forehead. After the first chapter or two, I began to wonder what in the world I’d gotten myself in to. Every press of the “forward” button became an exercise in endurance, as I knew that the next page would treat us with yet another tiresome appearance of Bunny.

Incidentally, this is not to be confused with Blade Kitten, the manga-like webcomic about a fighting girl with animal ears who also had a video game made out of it. This is a different manga-like webcomic about a fighting girl with animal ears, only it doesn’t have a video game.

That’s a huge difference, people!

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The Five Greatest Webcomic Fights

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Tom Spurgeon started it all with Greetings From the Land of Beatings: Five Superhero Fights I Like. Chris Mautner at Robot 6 followed up with Six Great Non-Superhero Fights. So naturally, like the homer I am, I asked myself: “Where are the greatest webcomic fights?”

The answer, of course, is that webcomics are well known for snarking on video games and spurring internet memes, but perhaps not so well known for action sequences. But there are some pretty goods ones. Leave it up to me to provide an answer to a question no one was asking in the most trivial way possible.

5.) Mr. Blank vs. Mr. Black, Sam & Fuzzy

The rivalry between the costumed Mr. Black and Mr. Blank plays throughout the entire “Noosehead” story. We learn about their previous friendship and how their life decisions caused them to take opposite sides in the conflict over who gets leadership of the Ninja Mafia. It even sucks in the main characters, who have to decide whose side they’re on. So when they come to blows, it only makes sense that it ends up being a battle royale with everyone in the cast, including Gertrude the ninja girl and the perpetually fearful Sam.

4.) Dr. McNinja vs. a horde of ninjas, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja

One of the earliest of the Dr. McNinja fights, and one of the best comes from “D.A.R.E. To Resist Ninja Drugs and Ninja Violence.” Dr. McNinja is off to rescue his father and his young ward, Gordito, and he has to hack his way through a horde of ninjas. On the way, you get the usual silly touches like chainsaw nunchucks and butt punches. I mean, this is Dr. McNinja, after all. But it’s still an incredibly solid action sequence from beginning to end.

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Know Thy History: Li’l Abner

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It’s always rather inspiring to read about people overcoming physical disabilities to make a name for themselves. As Fox Mulder once said, “I’ve always wanted a peg leg. It’s a boyhood thing I never grew out of. I’m not being flippant; I’ve given this a lot of thought. I mean, if you have a peg leg or hooks for hands then maybe it’s enough to simply keep on living. You know, bravely facing life with your disability. But without these things you’re actually meant to make something of your life, achieve something earn a raise, wear a necktie.”

Alfred Caplin faced such a set-back. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and he came from a very poor family. How poor? He once related a story about how his mom had to sift through ash barrels just so the family could have enough heat. At age 9, Caplin faced another setback: he lost his leg due to a trolley accident.

It’s a tragedy to lose a leg at so young an age. It’s enough to crush the spirits of most people. But Alfred Caplin still possessed a hand to draw with and a quick-witted mind. He grew up to be Al Capp… no, not that drunk British cartoon character, but one of the most influential cartoonists in America thanks to his quintessential comic, Li’l Abner, which ran in papers from 1934 to 1977.


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Praising Bob Weber Jr. and Jay Stephens when praise is due…

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Yesterday, I had to teach a small class of 6- to 8-year old kids the basics of art. While, at the end, I decided to hold off on the lecture about two-point perspective, I did teach them a couple of lesson a la the Oh, Brother! webcomic. Lessons like how to start with a stick figure and how to end up with the character of Lily. And how to draw a baby elephant, a raccoon, and an ape using the handy step-by-step guides that populate Bob Weber Jr.’s Comics For Kids section of the newspaper. It went over a lot better than the landscapes I had then drawing earlier in my lesson. So big thanks to both Bob Weber Jr. and Jay Stephens for always helping kids to discover the magic and fun of drawing!

The Webcomic Overlook #156: The Oatmeal

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Oatmeal has been in the news a lot lately. Much has been made of its incredible cholesterol-lowering powers and its high fiber. Recently, you’ve got the debate between rolled oats and steel cut oats, with some health nuts going, “Rolled oats? Aw hell nah! You gotta get steel cut oats up in the heezy!” But as it turns out, they’ve got nearly the same nutritional value, so either is a good addition to your guilt-free breakfast.

The jury’s still out on McDonald’s oatmeal, though. The Golden Arches bills it as a healthy addition to their breakfast menu. The very minute it came out, though, several nutritionists have weighed in on how the oatmeal isn’t very nutritious, specifically citing how there’s almost as much sugar content as a Snicker’s bar.

Also making the news, to a lesser extent, is Matthew Inman’s webcomic titled The Oatmeal. It debuted in 2009, and it’s apparently one of the most read webcomics today… nearly 5 million unique readers as of September 2010, if you want to get into the brass tacks.

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Miss Tease, a webcomic tease

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Oh, man, I’m apparently being read by burlesque performers who do webcomics. (Which is pretty fantastic, when I stop to think about it.) Frankie Tease, who does Tease Time Comics alongside David Herrick, did an interview with The Examiner, and she namedropped The Webcomic Overlook alongside far more respectible sites like Dinosaur Comics and Achewood. Thanks, Frankie!

As for Tease Time Comics, I’ll let Frankie describe it:

Originally I had the idea for a slightly suggestive pin-up kitchy cheesecake photo comic with captions. I secured TeaseTime.com and published this taking photos myself, and writing funny captions. There was no story and I abandoned the idea when I realized this idea needed to be manifested with much more depth and respect. I wanted a vintage feel to the comic, and this year I met the right person to manifest the original Tease Time Comics vision with beautiful style and lines in tribute to the strips you might see in the NY times circa 1940 to early 1960.

So a burlesque webcomic with a nice vintage feel to it? Sounds sexy. The pages I’ve seen so far (it’s only starting out, so it’s only a few pages long) seem pretty safe for work… but, you know, it is a comic about burlesque, so at some point I expect tops to be doffed.