The Webcomic Overlook #190: Mokepon

It would probably be fair to say that I was too old to get into the whole Pokemon phenomenon. Oh, I watched the episodes when they first aired on the Kid’s WB. I did have a younger brother and sister after all, who, I suspect, actually watched the show semi-ironically.

The magic of the show, too, was that it was one of those rare instances that a young adult or adult can watch a kid’s show without feeling too weird about it. Frankly, I blame Beanie Babies and Tamagotchis… which, for you youngsters, were like NeoPets but way, way more annoying.

However, if you asked me to identify a Pokemon beyond, say, the core 20, I’d probably be at a loss. I would totally fail those infamous “Who’s that Pokemon?” stingers, thus bringing shame to my ancestors. I never played the game on the Game Boy, nor was I part of the card craze, nor am I familiar with the show after Ash, Misty, and Brock disappeared. I don’t remember the name of that lame-o Brock replacement guy. Hell, I was totally befuddled by the whole “Gary F***ing Oak” meme and had to google it just to get caught up. Let me tell you, when you have to resort to “Know Your Meme,” then you know you’ve truly lost the pulse of what makes young people tick these days.

So you’d think that I’d be the totally wrong audience for Mokepon, a webcomic on Smack Jeeves written by someone who apparently goes by “H0lyhandgrenade.”

Au contraire, mon ami! Mokepon turned out to be a surprisingly fun read, full stuff that can entertain even a reader with only a passing familiarity of Pokemon. Let’s dig in, shall we?

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One Punch Reviews #44: So… You’re A Cartoonist? (Second Opinion)

(I’m still on hiatus! However, David Herbert was kind enough to do a review while I’m away. In this review, he tackles previously reviewed webcomic So… You’re A Cartoonist? with a different take than mine. It’s time to get hit up with … a second opinion.)

When I first got into webcomics, I tended to gravitate towards comics that were somewhat based in the author’s real life. So when I found this comic by Tom Preston, or Andrew Dobson, it seemed like something that would interest me, not just because I like diary comics, but also because this is about being someone who makes comics and their own tales of doing what they love.

Basically it’s my comic, Living with Insanity, except the writer can draw and it doesn’t devolve into insane nonsense.

However, one of the first things you’ll notice is that the title doesn’t really work until nearly 18 pages in, where being a cartoonist becomes the main focus. Up until then, it’s about being bullied as a kid, watching shows with his girlfriend and stuff his roommate did in college.


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The Webcomic Overlook #183: Turbo Defiant Kimecan

It’s been almost a decade since I’ve last watched anime. At some point, I think, I just got too old. I began prioritizing artistic and storytelling cues that anime was just not delivering. The characters were just too … young now. The complexions were too smooth and attractive. Nowadays I enjoy visual imperfections that give some character. And, for the most part, the hallmarks of youth — the uncertainty for the future, the need to define one’s destiny, the feeling of invincibility one gets when at one’s peak physique — are now concerns that I haven’t though about for years. Anime and adolescence are intricately tied.

More than anything, though, I think you get to be a certain age where staring at pictures of teenage girls in short skirts gets to be a little creepy. You think “Read Comics In Public Day” is some sort of brave stand against societal norms? Wait until I establish “Grown-Ass Men Read Shoujo Manga Day.”

Westernized manga, though, tends to solve a lot of my most pertinent issues. They retain the art style, the trappings, and the story beats from their Japanese originators. At the same time, they are more likely to mirror attitudes and mores less embarrassing for Western audiences. Take, for example, Ferran Daniel’s Turbo Defiant Kimecan, a manga-style webcomic that hails from Mexico. (For you readers from a primarily Spanish-speaking country, you may be happy to hear that there is a Spanish version of the comic.)

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One Punch Reviews #50: The Goddamn Panty Brigade

So… do I even need to tell you if you want to check out The Goddamn Panty Brigade? I mean … that title. In the best case scenario, it could be about a regular misfit military unit who wear regular clothes, only some jerk drill sergeant stuck them with the most embarrassing name possible to toughen ‘em up. Or it can be about an all-lady Vietnam commando unit clad only in lacy underthings. Or maybe it’s a whimsical fairy tale about sentient panties. Still, would you be willing to admit to your friends, family, or the public as a whole that you’re the guy (or girl) who reads a webcomic called The Goddamn Panty Brigade?

So who are The Goddamn Panty Bridage? Well, as it turns out … they’re Josie and the Pussycats.

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The Webcomic Overlook #172: The Paul Reveres

On June 4, 1942, American and Japanese forces met at a small spot in the Pacific Ocean close to Midway Island. The Japanese were planning on a sneak attack, even going so far as invading Alaska’s Aleutian Islands as a diversion, but codebreakers on the US side figured out Japan’s plan to take over the little island to extend their defense perimeter.

The two carrier fleets exchanged blows for three days, clashing in the air and on the seas. Torpedo bombers from both sides tried to break enemy perimeters to sink the other side’s ships. The tide turned, though, when Admiral Chester W. Nimitz whipped out his Gibson Les Paul and broke out a guitar solo so devastating that four Japanese carriers spontaneously exploded from the sheer awesomeness.

The battle was lost, and subsequently the remaining Japanese fleet retreated. Historians compare this moment to Gettysburg, when Winfield Scott Hancock of the Union Crew owned George “Charge” Pickett in a devastating rap battle.

OK, so that never happened. Historians have always glossed over the impact of guitars, drums, and keyboards in warfare. Never fear, though, fans of military history/pop music mashups. Tina Pratt’s The Paul Reveres exists, where the American Revolution if fought through music… and for some weird reason, I have a feeling that there’s standing bet on the internet somewhere to see who can make the most adorable interpretation of the War of Independence.

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One Punch Reviews #44: So… You’re A Cartoonist?

Have you every run into a bitter person who will talk your ear off about all their problems whether or not you actually want to listen? Will that person rant and rant and rant, and at some point say that they’re speaking their minds, and if no one speak up, then who will? But really, everything they’re complaining about is trivial? And that person is really just goddamn annoying?

Put it in webcomic form, and you get Andrew Dobson’s So … You’re a Cartoonist? This comic, by the way, was introduced me by a message board thread devoted to making fun of Ctrl+Alt+Del, who were bowled over by its horribleness despite being amongst the most jaded webcomic readers on the internet.

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The Webcomic Overlook #157: Blade Bunny

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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