The Mansion of E
The Mansion of E (first strip) (daily) is an epic fantasy story of… hmm. Well, it’s epic fantasy. It starts with Sylvester and Mortimer and Rosemary Ripley, three humans in a world of strange and fantastical creatures. Sylvester and Mortimer take care of the Mansion of E, a mansion so full of strangeness that it’d take a lifetime to understand even how to survive in it. Rosemary arrives and prompts a small quest that turns epic. There’s very few jokes, and a lot of reading, but there’s a fantastic world here for people who enjoy that sort of thing. The Mansion of E updates daily and has 1,495 strips in the archive.
You’re probably going to see the word “epic” appear a lot in this review, because that’s really the best way to describe this strip. As the strip goes, more and more characters are introduced, to the point that it’s hard to remember all of them. They’re all distinct visually and generally have their own plots to distinguish them politically, and the author generally has links to their last appearances if it’s been a while for people to remind themselves who’s visible. But there’s thirteen people in the cast page, and that’s a drop in the bucket for how many characters there really are. Most of them know of the others in some way, and they generally have some political feelings regarding them, leading to some rather epic political maneuvering.
Along with the epic, The Mansion of E is also… a bit slow. Strike that. The Mansion of E is glacial. I’ve commented that action strips are generally a bit slow, but Mansion of E trumps them all and isn’t even an action strip. Imagine the busiest day you’ve ever had. Now add a few people interacting with you and having the busiest day they’ve ever had, too. Now chronicle every little conversation and situation you go through throughout the day and post it in webcomic form. This is approximately what The Mansion of E’s pacing feels like. On the plus side, it’s also the most interesting day you’ve ever had, too. There’s a lot happening in this strip. Even if every strip doesn’t advance plot (there’s full weeks of scenery display), the strip never slows to the point that I felt that nothing was happening. I always felt that things were happening, we’d just get back to them in a minute. Or a year or so. But we get back to it eventually.
The fun thing about having an epic strip like this is that the world, the mythology, and the characters can be built up to places that most strips can’t ever get to. When a character makes an offhand comment with a word that we’ve never heard before, it’s clear that there’s a backstory there. And we’ll get to see it, eventually. Things are filled in, backstory is fleshed out, information about history and what’s going on is laid out. And slowly, the world advances.
It’s a fascinating world. I would love for more stories to have these kinds of mansions- filled with toys and devices and buttons and levers that all do interesting things. Mansions with connecting tubes and events and tunnels… with elevators and an ecology all by itself. I love the kind of world that feels like there’s new amazement around every corner, and The Mansion of E provides. As long as you’re patient enough, a rich world will be displayed for you.
The Mansion of E is not for everyone. It’s generally not funny. The art isn’t wonderful (although it grew on me), and there’s not enough drama or action for it to be all the strip has to offer (there’s some of both, admittedly). There’s quite a bit of politics. But mostly what the Mansion of E provides is a rich world to explore. It was rich enough that I spent several hours reading through the archive, waiting to see what happened next.
If you’re interested in a fantastic world with a rich mythology, give Mansion of E a try.
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