Monthly Archives: July 2011

The Webcomic Overlook #174: Original Life

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It’s been said that the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. After reviewing some 200-plus webcomics, it’s a statement I’m inclined to agree with. I know instantly when something merits a lower rating: you feel rage utterly and ultimately consuming you. Love and hate both have passion on their side. Apathy is by definition the lack of passion.

This is why I love to watch terrible movies like the ones they used to show on MST3K, but fidget uncontrollably through recent middling fare like Green Lantern. Part of the fun is catching yourself when the movie really gets to you, where you just want to launch out of your seat with an incredulous, “Oh, come on!” It’s the same philosophy that separates one star reviews from three star reviews on this site. One star webcomics fill me with so much rage that I want to get my fiery hot vengeance on the comic as swiftly as possible. Thee star webcomics leave me feeling listless and blase. There is no urgency.

Jay Naylor’s Original Life is, to its credit, less laughably terrible than its predecessor, Better Days (reviewed here). There is, for example, nothing as mindbogglingly wrong as the twincest scene.

It also means, though, that there’s very little here to make me want to give a crap. The webcomic still manages to irk me from time to time, and much of that has to do with Naylor’s political stance. I try never to turn these reviews into a political discussion, since that’s hardly ever productive to a site that claims, ironically, that “webcomic reviews are serious business.” However, I fear that this time it will be unavoidable. Apologies in advance for any libertarian toes I step on.

By the way, while this review is likely going to be safe for work, I should warn you that last time I clicked on to Original Life, the banner consisted of furry asses in bikini bottoms. Also there are multiple links to Naylor’s porn projects. Soooo… proceed at your discretion.

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Webcomics makes the Xeric grant obsolete

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The Xeric Foundation is going to stop giving grants to small time comic book creators… and it may be ending because of webcomic business model. From Peter Laird, founder of the Xeric Foundation:

Roughly twenty years ago, I started something called the Xeric Foundation. It came about because, with the success of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” property that Kevin Eastman and I had created back in 1983, there were a lot of people asking for money. Many of these requests were legitimate and came from real need, and I wanted to find a way to deal with them in a fair and organized fashion.

I also wanted to help out struggling comic book creators. Having started TMNT with Kevin as a self-published venture, I knew very well how critical even a relatively small amount of money could be for success at that nascent stage.

The Xeric Foundation accomplished all that. The Foundation was able to give many grants to self-publishing comic book creators and local charitable organizations. To date, those grants have totaled more than $2,500,000, and those funds were split equally between the two aforementioned categories.

When I began the Xeric Foundation back in 1992, things were very different. The Internet — and web-based publishing — was in its infancy. This has changed, radically, and the Xeric Foundation needs to change accordingly.

The advent of essentially free web publishing has forever altered the way aspiring comic book creators can get their work out into the public eye. With this in mind, I have decided that it makes sense that the Xeric Foundation will no longer provide grants to self-publishing comic book creators, and instead devote all of its available grants funds to charitable organizations.

It kinda disheartening. I’ve reviewed a few webcomics that have received the Xeric grant. Knowing how tight finances can be for many creators, I have no doubt that the extra help was much appreciated. Ah, well.

(h/t Robot 6)

One Punch Reviews #49: Birth of Venus

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If you’ve only followed superheroes through the big screen movies, you may be surprised to find that their comic counterparts have had pretty brutal storylines. We are long past the “Comics aren’t just for kids anymore!” to “Don’t set foot in a comic shop without your parent’s permission.” Particularly heinous are comics where Sue Dibny (Elongated Man’s wife) gets raped by supervillain Dr. Light and Jeph Loeb’s Ultimatum, which included heartwarming scenes like The Thing crushing Dr. Doom’s head and The Wasp getting eaten by a cannabilistic Blob.

And I haven’t even gotten to the far more gruesome stories written by Garth Ennis and Mark Millar. (In fact, in one of the stories, a supervillain gets revenge on the hero by impregnating his daughter with his gay son’s DNA … and if anyone tried to abort the fetus, the girl’s womb would collapse. Ungh.)

Long story short, it seems that the modern superhero comic market seems to be targeted exclusively toward juggalos. In comparison, Birth of Venus, where the superheroine gets her powers as a side effect to rape, is pretty damn sunny.

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The Webcomic Overlook #173: Unsounded

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Back in the day, when I entertained my wild-eyed dreams of becoming a New York Times bestselling novelist, I used to take part in NaNoWriMo. Oh, but for the riches I would have reaped if I could only write more than 10K words in a month! I even went to a meet-up, where prospective writers would meet at a bar on the first day and talk about the stories they would like to write. Typically, most would be sci-fi, fantasy, or horror stories. If you’ve ever taken a glimpse of the typical NaNoWriMo story, this should be a surprise to absolutely no one. You have to wonder, why would we be rehashing the exact same themes?

There are many theories, but one guy at that meet put it best. He said he didn’t know what kind of story he wanted to write. However, he wanted there to be monsters. Not the allegorical human kind like serial killers and corrupt government officials, which, I am told, is the most frightening kind of all. Actual monsters with bumps and scales and may or may not breathe fire. The ones that are as big as a house. Maybe even bigger. They grab the imagination. They elicit awe and wonder.

I mean, you can see regular human beings every day. You can see the “human monsters” every night on CNN. But big dragons, weird space aliens, Cthulhu-inspired tentacle creatures and other assorted monsters that are larger than they should be? These are the sorts of creatures that can only be brought to life through the power of imagination.

It’s one of the things that catches the eye when you read through Ashley Cope’s Unsounded. She hits us with one big beastie after another. In chapter one, our heroes encounter a large, hulking beast made of earth, rocks, and plant matter. Later on, we see more docile beasties: big dogs that serve as beasts of burden. There are also giant half-frogs, half-robot things that can lift trees with one hand.

However, if the “humans are the greatest monsters of all” theme is more up to your speed, then you’re also probably the sort of person who likes to argue why Gormenghast is superior to Lord of the Rings. Surprisingly, Ms. Cope has you covered.

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Know Thy History: Krazy Kat

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It helps to have friends in high places. George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, which ran from 1913 to 1944, never really caught on with the viewing public. The comic was just too dang weird. But all he needed was one fan: William Randolph Hearst, the legendary newspaper magnate and owner of the New York Evening Journal. He loved the comic so much that he gave Herriman a lifetime contract and complete artistic freedom.

People, that is the sort of fan you WANT to have.

Yet while the public never really embraced Krazy Kat, it was embraced by some of the highest profile artists of its era… perhaps because Mr. Hearst didn’t print the strip with the Sunday funnies, but rather within the more prestigious Arts & Drama section. The quirky, melodious dialogue — which included words and phrases like “nigli-gee” and “Li’l Aingil“and “My gooniss Mr. Poodil dunt step in that puddil” — likely made fans out of literary luminaries such as poet e. e. cummings, journalist H. L. Mencken, and famed beat poet Jack Kerouac. In 1924, art critic Gilbert Seldes devoted a chapter to Krazy Kat in his book, The Seven Lively Arts, making George Herriman the first comic artist to be given serious artistic consideration.

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The Gutt- … er … Harvey Awards 2011

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That other comic award, The Harveys, just published their nominees. (Thanks to everyone who sent me an email about it.) Here are your nominees for Best Online Comics Work:

Clearly I am rooting for Hark! A Vagrant, which I have enjoyed since this site’s early days.

In other categories, Ed Ryzowski was nominated for Best Colorist and Best Artist, both for GUTTERS; THE GUTTERS was nominated for Best New Series; Ryan Sohmer picked up a nom for Special Award for Humor in Comics (THE GUTTERS again!), as well as …

this can’t be right…

Best Writer!?!?!?!??!

What?!?!?

Those creators who “write, draw, ink, letter, color, design, edit or are otherwise involved in a creative capacity in the comics field” are clearly seeing something I’m not seeing.

Other non-GUTTERS nominees with ties to webcomics include Shannon Wheeler (also up for the Humor in Comics award) and Roger Langridge (THOR: THE MIGHTY AVENGER, THE MUPPET SHOW, and Act-I-Vate webcomic MUGWHUMP THE GREAT).

And now our Alliance comes to an end

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Ryan Estrada sent me an email the other day to tell me that his webcomic, Aki Alliance, has finally concluded! I reviewed this one back in November of 2007. It’s been on hiatus several times, and its sporadic update schedule made me wonder if I’d ever see the finished product. (The premise, that a young woman named Aki is on a mission to make friends with all the girls in school, does have finite limitations that sorta demand a fixed conclusion.) So it brings a smile to my face to know that all 200 pages are finally completed! Check out the very kid friendly comic at Ryan Estrada’s site.