Brian Roney’s webcomic reviews

When I Am King (first strip) (completed, nudity, drugs, sex, violence, vulgarity, animation) is a rather old (for the internet, that is) completed comic and deserves another remembrance. It is a completely wordless (and thus remarkably international) comic about an Egyptian king who wakes up desiring a flower, and has a remarkably bad day. Along the way, the “infinite canvas” of the web comes into play- most strips involve horizontal scrolling, a few involve vertical scrolling, and several actually open the strips into different frames of a single window to show how time flies in different areas. There’s also several animated gifs used for emphasis. When I Am King has 5 chapters, with a total of 63 strips.

The wordlessness of the strip occasionally feels a little weird, but after a few strips it’s remarkably intuitive. The symbols used to indicate what the characters are saying are remarkably clear, and conversation really isn’t a big part of this strip, as most of the strip just follows the current character around without much conversation. It’s also rather interesting to read the strip and realize just how well symbols by themselves communicate. Comic artists who fear that they’re writing more than cartooning should read When I Am King to realize just how much can be communicated without writing at all.

The art is rather simplistic and iconic, which makes the clear communication of the character’s emotions and intentions all the more impressive. When a character’s face consists entirely of an oval, two dots for eyes and a line for a mouth, it’s hard to have the detail to show complex emotions, but it’s there. The simplistic art style never hurts the strip, and the later chapters add complexity to the strip layout that is amazing, creating strips that twist and turn and display real works of art.

When I Am King is remarkably vulgar. I don’t really know how to describe how vulgar it is without giving away spoilers, but let’s just say that it’s really bad. The sex scenes are remarkably open, there’s vomit and bathroom humor… it pretty much hits it all. Do not read this comic if you’re offended by much.

When I Am King actually received much critical acclaim in 2002, when it came out, winning a Web Cartoonist’s Choice Award (for Best Use of the Digital Medium), being covered by Wired magazine, The Comics Journal, and mentioned in many other places. In general they seem to consider it a remarkable underground-style comic. To quote the Comics Journal - Demian5 “treats the underground staples of sex, low humor, and drug experiences with wit and artistic virtuosity.”

When I Am King is an excellent comic if you enjoy underground comics. It’s simplicity, low word count and short episode count means that it’s a very quick read. If you’ve spent this much time reading the review, reading the comic should be easy. Go give it a read.

I get to do another multireview post, because Jason Shiga has several completed comics under his belt and available on his site. He has even more that are unfortunately not available online, and I’m not aware of him doing any more art, sadly. What’s there, however, are some of the most interesting stories I’ve read, and stories that I gladly come back to time and again to read. Regardless of the story, the characters feel real, the logic makes sense, and the tension is thick, making reading the next panel a necessity. Fleep and Bus Stop have a lot of monologue in them, but Shiga’s writing is so excellent I wouldn’t dream of calling this too much text.

Bookhunter (completed, violence) (while there’s two formats available, “read book” is probably easier) is a story about a book forgery mystery. But in this world, book theft is of the utmost importance. SWAT teams, federal agents, car chases, action scenes, shoot outs, even librarian ninjas. Seriously, librarian ninjas. It totally works. This is one of the most interesting action comics I’ve ever read. Jason takes this world to the logical extreme-the bookhunters clearly value books over human life, and book thefts are treated with the paranoia and preparation you would expect of a dangerous terrorist.

More than the action, though, the investigation and the mystery itself are extremely well done. The story is set in 1972, so the only equipment available is from that time period. The library records aren’t computerized, and all the equipment feels legitimate (I have no personal experience with library technology in 1972, so I can’t say for sure). Following along as the main characters piece together the mysteries and solving the crimes is a blast, and make me wish for a CSI: Library. Definitely give Bookhunter a look.

Fleep (completed, lots of math) (”read scroll” is probably easier for this one) is the story of a man trapped in a telephone booth, with no memory of how he got where he is, no way to get out, and very little equipment to do much of anything with. This entire story takes place with a single character in a phone booth and yet is one of the most gripping dramas I’ve read. The main character knows a lot of math and physics and uses these abilities to slowly deduce things about his situation. There’s no strange world trick on this one- it’s a person legitimately thinking through the problem presented to him and trying to figure out how to save himself.

Every few years I get the urge to read Fleep again, just because it’s so well done. I like to think of myself as a smart person, but stuck in the same situation as the main character there’s no way I’d think of even a third of what he manages to try. There’s no cheating, either, with calculations behind the scenes and “And then I discovered this”. All the calculations are done completely up front and are logical conclusions. I am amazed every time I read this story how powerful math can be. Give Fleep a read.

Bus Stop (completed) (I prefer “read book” for this one) is a sad story of obsession. The main character believes he can deduce things about the people around him just by watching them at a bus stop. This comic is his journal as he keeps track of these observations and the things he figures out. Partway through some new twists are explained, and the reason why he obsesses about the bus stop is revealed, leading to even more obsession and investigation. I always feel sad reading this strip, because the lost dreams of the main character are so very clear. He has a goal, he understands what he’s losing to pursue this goal, and he has decided it’s worth it. I have to respect that dedication, even if I can’t support his choices.

Bus Stop is at its core a study in what we can learn from people just by surface observation- no interaction, just watching. It’s fascinating the things that can be figured out if you’re dedicated (and creepy) enough to try.

Meanwhile (completed) (violence, gore) is one of very few well done interactive branching comics on the web. Every once in a while a choice must be made, and two branching lines go to the sides of the screen. Clicking on one of these nodes opens up a new page, and a new part of the story to follow. There’s really not much I can say about Meanwhile without spoiling at least parts of it, but there’s a great mystery involved in Meanwhile that the user can solve. Each branch through the story can teach you new tricks and new solutions to apply to the story until the whole world is laid out to view.

Incidentally, I’d suggest the chocolate ice cream. It may not be as satisfying, but it’s more interesting.

Inverloch (first comic) (some violence and gore, finished) is a comic that I just came upon today, but I loved the archives. It’s a dramatic story, no laughs to be found, but the story is well done and the art is stunning. My timing of finding the strip is a little amusing, since I believe the comic is scheduled to end in a few weeks (it’s roughly finished, it’s just doing epilogue at this point). Updates are a page-style sized update (although less panels per page than most of the other page-based updating comics I’ve reviewed), and there are 757 pages in the archive.

Inverloch is primarily the story of Acheron, a Da’kor, a race of shorter, fuzzy, clawed, horned people who are known to be aggressive and hostile towards the other races, humans and elves. Acheron, however, is not aggressive, and when he meets an elf in the forest, he talks to her. They become friends, and discover that she has lost a childhood friend, Kayn’dar. Acheron decides to go find this person, and in so doing discover why this feels so important to him, and the secrets that have been hidden from him.

Acheron picks up various traveling companions on his way, and every once in a while I was almost willing to accuse the characters of fitting into a cheesy roleplaying party composition, but it never quite crossed the line. The characters develop quite well, and the tension in between them at different points leads to fun interactions. The only gripes I have about the character interactions is that the racism point gets played on a little too often and people get angry/calm about the subject a little too fast, and the initial “strong female” character doesn’t get quite enough development for the “strong” part, but those are certainly minor points out of all the rest of the good. The drama between the characters drives a lot of the strip, and the subtle interplay between them as they ferret out each other’s secrets is fun to watch.
Inverloch is the first webcomic I’ve read where after reading through the whole story, not only did I feel completely satisfied that it was a story well done, but I wanted to read it again immediately. Part of this is because of the secrets that are revealed throughout the story that explain so much of the background, but none of them are required to enjoy the comic the first time through. A second read through the archives had just enough new information to still be interesting the whole way through.

Also, the art is beautiful by itself. The fact that a good story comes along with it feels like a bonus. Some of the strips are silent, as the characters move into positions or walk through town without a conversation, but I didn’t feel cheated, since the art itself tells a lot of the story and is wonderful to look at by itself. The art is a cel-shading style, with extras like foreground and background that fit seamlessly, including focus that gives a sense of perspective and depth. The elves and da’kor both have consistent and logical anatomy, and their distinctiveness is shown well.

Again, there’s no funny here, so if you’re looking for a humorous strip, you can skip this one. But if you want a good dramatic story, Inverloch is a great strip. You should read it.

A Miracle of Science (main site) (first strip) (finished, mad science, minor violence) is a finished story, 435 full comic pages long. The first half of the comic is available as a book from Lulu.com, although while the front page claims the second half is coming, I haven’t seen any updates on that status. This doesn’t matter a whole lot to the review, though, since the entire comic is online.

A Miracle of Science is placed in 2148, in a universe where Mad Science is a psychological disorder, called SRMD- Science Related Memetic Disorder. Those who have the disorder become increasingly unstable and creative scientifically, and pursue stereotypical mad science goals such as conquering the world. The Vorstellen Police were created to deal specifically with mad scientists- they’re trained to manipulate the psychological triggers in mad scientists that make them predictable, and once the mad scientist is disabled, their research can be used for good purposes. This allows the world to have interesting scientific breakthroughs, even if they seem… a little Mad (like the orbital cannon, which puts a person into a cannister and fires them from a giant cannon to get them onto orbiting space stations).

A Miracle of Science follows Benjamin Prester, one of the top Vorstellen Police officers, as he is forced to partner with Caprice Quevillion, an officer from Mars, which is a group-mind intelligence. The two of them are attempting to track down a Mad Scientist who is manipulating AIs to do things they shouldn’t be doing.

I’m a little biased in favor of mad science, I’ll admit, but A Miracle of Science does it very well. There’s just the right touch of “everybody knows what the rules are, but are also aware that these rules can change”. Mad Science has rules that it follows, and these rules are close enough to the stereotypical Mad Scientist that most readers will feel very comfortable with accepting them. All the rules that are used are filled in through sideplots, flashbacks, or explanations before they’re actually used in the main plot of the story, so there’s no feeling of deus ex machina. All the conclusions and deductions by the characters (this is primarily a mystery story) are completely reasonable, although are also not necessary to follow to greatly enjoy the story.

The story is, of course, that the two officers are trying to track down the mad scientist, but there’s really much more here than that. It’s a story of Benjamin coming to terms with his past, with accepting the strangeness that pervades his life. It’s a story of Caprice getting used to a world where she’s the oddity. It’s a romance, it’s a mystery, and it’s science fiction all over the place. There’s frequent action scenes, and a good healthy dose of humor (I’ve read this story approximately five times now, and I still laugh).

This is also one of the few stories that devotes nearly equivalent time to both the villians and the heroes. Most stories pick one or the other and have interludes, but A Miracle of Science has full-blown plots and story arcs for the main villian, as you see him setting up his plan. I’ll admit that I’ve been more interested in the hero’s story, as I found the main villian to be a tad predictable in his mannerisms (due to the fact that he’s got SRMD). He’s still remarkably creative in how he goes about accomplishing his goals, however, and there’s some wonderful bits in his stories about having a romance with somebody that believes in you.

The art for Miracle of Science is good. It starts black and white, and eventually starts being in full color. Each of the characters are easy to distinguish from each other, and it’s also generally clear when any character is in a special mental state if they have access to that sort of thing. Occasionally the layout is a little cluttered due to extra detail in a frame that wasn’t particularly necessary, but this didn’t bother me too much. Action scenes in particular end up a little cluttered and will take a little longer than other scenes to keep track of everything that’s going on, but there is no great loss to skimming these sections and catching up with the results.

This isn’t a gag-a-day strip, and doesn’t have many cliffhangers. It’s designed to tell a full story, and it does that very well. Occasionally there are remarkably humorous situations, and the drama does ramp up frequently. There’s always a sense that the plot is advancing at a good pace, but not so fast that things are getting left behind.

A Miracle of Science is a good comic, and an excellent finished story. If mad science intrigues you, you should go read it.

Narbonic (main site) (first strips) (finished) was a daily (M-Sa), storyline/plot based gag-a-day strip with a bent towards the surreal. The story stars Helen Narbon, a mostly evil mad scientest who runs a lab of her intern, Mell Kelly, who has a strong desire for weapons of any type (preferably big), and Dave Davenport, who has the near-supernatural ability to take most everything in stride.

Narbonic’s been around since July 31st, 2000, and as far as I can tell has been daily M-Sa pretty consistently in that time. It finished Dec 30th, 2006, and has since started rerunning with “director’s commentary”.

Narbonic is one of the best-thought of webcomics out there by people who read it. www.websnark.com (back when it was reviewing webcomics) had the most to say about it out of all webcomics it reviewed, but I’m not going to repeat the things he said here.

There’s a group of webcomics out there that work with “Mad Science” as a philosophy. Girl Genius and Narbonic both started around 2000, with things like A Miracle Of Science, Mad About U. and even Casey And Andy coming along much later. Mad Science has definately had a fun time of it. Each of the strips have a different take on things- Narbonic’s set is that reality is inherently too complex for the standard mind to understand. Most people ignore the out of place and the abnormal, except for a few people that have a trait about them that causes them to go “insane” and thus notice what is really going on, and in many cases, use that information to create things that would normally be impossible, thus the “Mad Science”. What this trait actually is and how it’s handled is one of the major plots of the comic, so I’m going to try avoiding ruining too much.

The characters of Narbonic are very well defined. Often two or three appearances are enough to get an idea of where a character’s main attitude is heading, and they are all easily recognizable due to differing body types, hair colors, gender, and such. This is not to imply the characters are one-dimensional, in fact, details of people’s attitudes will often be clarified and evolved over time. We learn early on that Dave has a fairly low self-esteem with women, but over the course of the strip, not only due we clarify exactly why and what moments led to that attitude, but Dave gets to think about and change his philosophy (there’s some gender-switching and time-travel involved, admittedly (no, not at the same time)). Much of the humor deals with stereotypes, and both the fitting in, and breaking out of.

The main gripe I have about the archives is that sunday is used for non-story things like guest art, etc. These side-strips are often quite good, especially the “Olde Tyme Narbonic”-style strips, but they’re also often many pages in the archive. I do like that the M-F strips are all on one page, so I can read them all at once, but it makes the multi-page breaks in the archive even more pronounced. It’s a minor nit, and one that shouldn’t prevent your enjoyment of the strip.

The art’s improved over time, and wasn’t horrible starting out. The strip itself has also improved in how it handles mad science and interweaving older plots into new ones. It’s also consistently, and intelligently, funny. Occasionally a joke involves a little thinking, including a few jokes that play with the concept of being a comic strip- at one point a character attempts to demonstrate his intelligence by predicting what everybody else will say in the following panel and responding to them early.

Narbonic was designed to have an ending spot from the very beginning. It’s drawn in plots from the very beginning of the strip and adding details all throughout- every invention, every explosion, every accidental time-travel or blatant death ray has been building towards the ending in a way that’s beautiful to have watched over the years.

Narbonic’s very good. You should give it a try.