My latest Amazing Arizona Comicsstrip is up at Nerdvana -- "Food Coma at the County Fair!" -- starring June Monsoon and Sam Brero. See it here!
And stay tuned for more comic book reviews, coming soon!
Showing posts with label webcomics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label webcomics. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Friday, April 04, 2008
WWWednesday: The Trek Life
WWWednesday: The Trek Life
website: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/treklife.html
by David Reddick
"I'm just a Red Shirt in the Star Trek episode of life."
When I read that line, I became a fan of David Reddick's The Trek Life. I've confessed in many previous posts now that I'm a Trekkie, but I must elaborate that I'm a very selective Trekkie. I've yet to embrace Deep Space Nine, and I have't seen every episode of Enterprise yet. While these confessions may seem sacrilegious to my more faithful Trekkie peers, I insist that they make me the better fan. Some facets of the Trek Universe are still unexplored to me! Don't you remember when you watched those episodes or read those books for the first time? I'm still there, man, and since Trek has become a finite franchise for the time being (at least on the air), I'm stretching out the experience for as long as I can.
Similarly, I hadn't read much of The Trek Life before today. I'd read a strip here or there on StarTrek.com, but I found many of the strips pandering to the fanbase. I mean, yes, Klingons are perpetually angry and Orion slave girls are perpetually hot, so does that makes them perpetual punchlines? This was my first impression, and I was wrong to jump to such a hasty conclusion. I took the time to read The Trek Life in significant chunks today, and I've developed an appreciation for writer/artist David Reddick's commitment to source material, specifically in regards to its applications to real life. His Trekkie protagonist, Carl, is in some strips a fanboy's Dilbert, balancing his obsessions in the workplace, and in other strips a fanboy's Charlie Brown, suffering from the fair share of hard luck that comes with such a, er, focused lifestyle. Star Trek is really used as the fulcrum for a grander scheme, with a frontier as boundless as space itself.
Hence, my appreciation for that line: "I'm just a Red Shirt in the Star Trek episode of life." While one would have to be a Trekkie to understand Carl's sentiment, a layman could use context clues to determine its oppressed (albeit fatal) undertone, and thus relate to it. The beauty of Trek's more familiar alien races is that each of them represent a facet of humanity, perhaps in a way that Gene Roddenberry sought to exploit in his own fable-oriented way. In one strip, when Carl decides to dress up like a Tribble for Halloween, his purpose is clear: like the Tribbles, his desire is simply to be there, to immerse himself in all that is the Enterprise. Hey, I can relate, buddy. I've been on the bridge of the Enterprise. The chair has power.
But I digress. Ultimately, The Trek Life is a palpable exploration of obsession in its finest form, which is something everyone can relate to whether they admit it or not. For one, it's a Trek life. For another, it's a football life. For me, for today, it's a Trek Life life. Such are the perks of boldly going where I haven't before.
website: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/treklife.html
by David Reddick
"I'm just a Red Shirt in the Star Trek episode of life."
When I read that line, I became a fan of David Reddick's The Trek Life. I've confessed in many previous posts now that I'm a Trekkie, but I must elaborate that I'm a very selective Trekkie. I've yet to embrace Deep Space Nine, and I have't seen every episode of Enterprise yet. While these confessions may seem sacrilegious to my more faithful Trekkie peers, I insist that they make me the better fan. Some facets of the Trek Universe are still unexplored to me! Don't you remember when you watched those episodes or read those books for the first time? I'm still there, man, and since Trek has become a finite franchise for the time being (at least on the air), I'm stretching out the experience for as long as I can.
Similarly, I hadn't read much of The Trek Life before today. I'd read a strip here or there on StarTrek.com, but I found many of the strips pandering to the fanbase. I mean, yes, Klingons are perpetually angry and Orion slave girls are perpetually hot, so does that makes them perpetual punchlines? This was my first impression, and I was wrong to jump to such a hasty conclusion. I took the time to read The Trek Life in significant chunks today, and I've developed an appreciation for writer/artist David Reddick's commitment to source material, specifically in regards to its applications to real life. His Trekkie protagonist, Carl, is in some strips a fanboy's Dilbert, balancing his obsessions in the workplace, and in other strips a fanboy's Charlie Brown, suffering from the fair share of hard luck that comes with such a, er, focused lifestyle. Star Trek is really used as the fulcrum for a grander scheme, with a frontier as boundless as space itself.
Hence, my appreciation for that line: "I'm just a Red Shirt in the Star Trek episode of life." While one would have to be a Trekkie to understand Carl's sentiment, a layman could use context clues to determine its oppressed (albeit fatal) undertone, and thus relate to it. The beauty of Trek's more familiar alien races is that each of them represent a facet of humanity, perhaps in a way that Gene Roddenberry sought to exploit in his own fable-oriented way. In one strip, when Carl decides to dress up like a Tribble for Halloween, his purpose is clear: like the Tribbles, his desire is simply to be there, to immerse himself in all that is the Enterprise. Hey, I can relate, buddy. I've been on the bridge of the Enterprise. The chair has power.
But I digress. Ultimately, The Trek Life is a palpable exploration of obsession in its finest form, which is something everyone can relate to whether they admit it or not. For one, it's a Trek life. For another, it's a football life. For me, for today, it's a Trek Life life. Such are the perks of boldly going where I haven't before.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
WWWednesday: Samson the Cat
WWWednesday: Samson the Cat
website: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/grug/samson/series.php
by Edward J. Grug, III
I love my cats, and I don't feel like saying so threatens my masculinity. Further, despite my rampant desire to eat as many different kinds of animals as possible (thank you, Brazilian barbeque), my cats have taught me that animals have personalities and emotions. Although I acquired Amazo and Adora a few months apart, and Amazo came from the pound while Adora had already been somewhat domesticated, I've essentially "raised" them the same. Still, their respective personalities have developed over the years into two totally different identities, to the point that I can identify who might've puked based on where the mess is. Also, and this is the primary empathetic indicator for me, cats seem to go to great lengths to get comfortable. Watch a cat flop about on a blanket for ten minutes before settling into an apparently comfortable position and dare yourself not to assign their process some semblance of conscious emotion.
Of course, domesticated cats like mine are perhaps the most spoiled animals on the planet, so the fact that they have the time and place to flop about in such a way might place them at an unnatural advantage.
Edward Grug's Samson the Cat definitely betrays emotion: envy, anger, arousal, and of course, curiosity. I discovered Samson during my weekly web-surfing for comics, and I found his portal through Webcomics Nation. Samson currently stars in six exclusive adventures, ranging from several pages' worth of material to a simple few panels' worth of the set-up/punchline formula, and though I was initially put off by the introductory story's crude language -- not that I'm against crude language, but that its use seemed to be the punchline, like, "Look! Farm animals are swearing!" -- I found the rest of the series supremely chuckle-worthy. "The Picnic" and "Content Kitty" were the most brief but the most clever of the batch, proving that Grug's best storytelling style is the one-two punch, rather than his more ambitious multi-parters. Still, as I've explained, I think I understand cats, so I'm familiar with their tenacity, too.
The most interesting aspect of Samson the Cat is Grug's art style. His creature characters remind me a lot of what I saw in Social Vermyn (which seems doomed to Infinite Reference since it was the first webcomics I reviewed), utilizing heavy outlines and computer-generated hues. Yet his backgrounds are distinctly and purposefully childlike, drawn with textured crayon-like lines. The coloring is practically messy, not in a distracting or unprofessional way, but definitely in an unsolid stroke. In that first strip, "The Band," the look contrasts the animals' crude language, which may have been the cause for my initial discomfort. Since the rest of the strips are somewhat more playful, the style very much grew on me, though the last strip, "Bathtime," is void of this colorful detail. Grug's line work is competent, but I think his illustrative strength lies in that contrasting style.
So, the bottom line: Samson the Cat is essentially what Jim Davis' U.S. Acres would have been like if a truly pissed Garfield had been unleashed on their unsuspecting way of life. You do remember U.S. Acres, right? Well, good -- because Samson is just a little bit better . . . and he obviously flopped around a bit to get there.
website: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/grug/samson/series.php
by Edward J. Grug, III
I love my cats, and I don't feel like saying so threatens my masculinity. Further, despite my rampant desire to eat as many different kinds of animals as possible (thank you, Brazilian barbeque), my cats have taught me that animals have personalities and emotions. Although I acquired Amazo and Adora a few months apart, and Amazo came from the pound while Adora had already been somewhat domesticated, I've essentially "raised" them the same. Still, their respective personalities have developed over the years into two totally different identities, to the point that I can identify who might've puked based on where the mess is. Also, and this is the primary empathetic indicator for me, cats seem to go to great lengths to get comfortable. Watch a cat flop about on a blanket for ten minutes before settling into an apparently comfortable position and dare yourself not to assign their process some semblance of conscious emotion.
Of course, domesticated cats like mine are perhaps the most spoiled animals on the planet, so the fact that they have the time and place to flop about in such a way might place them at an unnatural advantage.
Edward Grug's Samson the Cat definitely betrays emotion: envy, anger, arousal, and of course, curiosity. I discovered Samson during my weekly web-surfing for comics, and I found his portal through Webcomics Nation. Samson currently stars in six exclusive adventures, ranging from several pages' worth of material to a simple few panels' worth of the set-up/punchline formula, and though I was initially put off by the introductory story's crude language -- not that I'm against crude language, but that its use seemed to be the punchline, like, "Look! Farm animals are swearing!" -- I found the rest of the series supremely chuckle-worthy. "The Picnic" and "Content Kitty" were the most brief but the most clever of the batch, proving that Grug's best storytelling style is the one-two punch, rather than his more ambitious multi-parters. Still, as I've explained, I think I understand cats, so I'm familiar with their tenacity, too.
The most interesting aspect of Samson the Cat is Grug's art style. His creature characters remind me a lot of what I saw in Social Vermyn (which seems doomed to Infinite Reference since it was the first webcomics I reviewed), utilizing heavy outlines and computer-generated hues. Yet his backgrounds are distinctly and purposefully childlike, drawn with textured crayon-like lines. The coloring is practically messy, not in a distracting or unprofessional way, but definitely in an unsolid stroke. In that first strip, "The Band," the look contrasts the animals' crude language, which may have been the cause for my initial discomfort. Since the rest of the strips are somewhat more playful, the style very much grew on me, though the last strip, "Bathtime," is void of this colorful detail. Grug's line work is competent, but I think his illustrative strength lies in that contrasting style.
So, the bottom line: Samson the Cat is essentially what Jim Davis' U.S. Acres would have been like if a truly pissed Garfield had been unleashed on their unsuspecting way of life. You do remember U.S. Acres, right? Well, good -- because Samson is just a little bit better . . . and he obviously flopped around a bit to get there.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
WWWednesday: Social Vermyn
WWWednesday: Social Vermyn
website: http://www.socialvermyn.com/
by John Hageman, Jr.
Despite my obsessive compulsion to buy comic books and comic book related merchandise (I just found the Justice League Unlimited Fire/Ice/Green Lantern three-pack and DC Superheroes Penguin and Orion at Target!), I haven't made the commitment to follow any webcomics yet. I really don't know why; webcomics are completely convenient and when presented properly can offer the most innovative art and storytelling of the entire medium. Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned to accept that webcomics are the beginning of the end for the beloved printed page; sure, newspapers and magazines still exist, but the likes of Matt Drudge and Perez Hilton are the proverbial Thomas Edison to print's smoke signal appeal. It's only a matter of time.
In short, Dr. Egon Spengler was close. Print isn't dead -- it's undead, lumbering forth like a zombie unwilling to accept its grave fate and looking for unsuspecting flesh to devour.
So, welcome to the first WWWednesday, my feeble 52-part attempt to embrace the future. The following disclaimer will precede every Wednesday review, to explain my intentions:
Every Wednesday, A Comic A Day boldly diverts from the printed page to read and review a different webcomic, examining at least its first, previous, and current installments. If you have a webcomic you'd like A Comic A Day to review, please e-mail me with a link to and a synopsis of your work. Put "Review my webcomic!" in the subject line so I don't mistake your request for spam . . . unless your comic is really called "Assuring Her Pleasure," in which case, tell me more!
My first WWWednesday review spotlights Social Vermyn because I sat next its creator John Hageman, Jr. at the last Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, and he was kind enough to trade a few of my K.O. comics for a nice 11" by 14" drawing he'd been working on all weekend. I've already read quite a few of his strips thanks to our friendship on ComicSpace, so I thought revisiting his material would be an easy way to kick off this deviation from my norm. Thanks to John's timely good humor, I was right.
Social Vermyn chronicles the adventures of a potty-mouthed albino ferret named Victor who braves a nine-to-five desk job by day and bar hops at night, berating his friends for their shortcomings and judging the world for its social injustices . . . so its appeal for a twentysomething audience isn't too hard to understand. Despite Victor and friends' cute, cartoonish expressions, Social Vermyn isn't for kids, not that they'd understand the trials of fitting one's lunch in the staff lounge fridge anyway. The biting cynicism that surrounds John's exaggerated situations trumps the cuteness of his characters and is Social Vermyn's real strength; that his little heroes are rodents only epitomizes the fact they represent some of the basest tendencies of humanity. In other words, when its foremost character has to dodge a murder wrap with a little S & M-themed community service, you can rest assured Victor won't be seen on any given newspaper's comics section alongside Snoopy any time soon. I don't think that bothers his creator any, either.
The latest series of strips appropriately begins with an embittered commentary of corny Christmas parties and spirals into a Dickens-esque parody of dysfunctional family gatherings, defunct pop culture trends (using a Geico caveman as the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals how vapid this decade has become), and the dangers of toiling a literally dead end job. John's art is crisp and well colored, and his comedic timing is well-paced in the context of his month-long story, but the proofreader in me must critique the occassional typo and the way they unfortunately distract from the totality of each weekly installment. Though each installment of the "A Vermyn Christmas Story" series is twice the length of John's first strip, with almost three times the dialogue, a simple spell check would assure that his story holds up as surely as his art.
In conclusion, Social Vermyn is the perfect introduction to webcomics for cynics looking to pass a few idle minutes of their work day with a good laugh. Though Victor's predicaments and commentary are often a little extreme, and the comedy a little too dark for the light-hearted fare often found in the newspaper, this albino ferret's sarcastic perspective is enough to make anyone stifle a laugh for their boss's sake -- which is just the kind of social injustice these vermin were created to combat in the first place.
website: http://www.socialvermyn.com/
by John Hageman, Jr.
Despite my obsessive compulsion to buy comic books and comic book related merchandise (I just found the Justice League Unlimited Fire/Ice/Green Lantern three-pack and DC Superheroes Penguin and Orion at Target!), I haven't made the commitment to follow any webcomics yet. I really don't know why; webcomics are completely convenient and when presented properly can offer the most innovative art and storytelling of the entire medium. Perhaps I'm too old-fashioned to accept that webcomics are the beginning of the end for the beloved printed page; sure, newspapers and magazines still exist, but the likes of Matt Drudge and Perez Hilton are the proverbial Thomas Edison to print's smoke signal appeal. It's only a matter of time.
In short, Dr. Egon Spengler was close. Print isn't dead -- it's undead, lumbering forth like a zombie unwilling to accept its grave fate and looking for unsuspecting flesh to devour.
So, welcome to the first WWWednesday, my feeble 52-part attempt to embrace the future. The following disclaimer will precede every Wednesday review, to explain my intentions:
Every Wednesday, A Comic A Day boldly diverts from the printed page to read and review a different webcomic, examining at least its first, previous, and current installments. If you have a webcomic you'd like A Comic A Day to review, please e-mail me with a link to and a synopsis of your work. Put "Review my webcomic!" in the subject line so I don't mistake your request for spam . . . unless your comic is really called "Assuring Her Pleasure," in which case, tell me more!
My first WWWednesday review spotlights Social Vermyn because I sat next its creator John Hageman, Jr. at the last Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco, and he was kind enough to trade a few of my K.O. comics for a nice 11" by 14" drawing he'd been working on all weekend. I've already read quite a few of his strips thanks to our friendship on ComicSpace, so I thought revisiting his material would be an easy way to kick off this deviation from my norm. Thanks to John's timely good humor, I was right.
Social Vermyn chronicles the adventures of a potty-mouthed albino ferret named Victor who braves a nine-to-five desk job by day and bar hops at night, berating his friends for their shortcomings and judging the world for its social injustices . . . so its appeal for a twentysomething audience isn't too hard to understand. Despite Victor and friends' cute, cartoonish expressions, Social Vermyn isn't for kids, not that they'd understand the trials of fitting one's lunch in the staff lounge fridge anyway. The biting cynicism that surrounds John's exaggerated situations trumps the cuteness of his characters and is Social Vermyn's real strength; that his little heroes are rodents only epitomizes the fact they represent some of the basest tendencies of humanity. In other words, when its foremost character has to dodge a murder wrap with a little S & M-themed community service, you can rest assured Victor won't be seen on any given newspaper's comics section alongside Snoopy any time soon. I don't think that bothers his creator any, either.
The latest series of strips appropriately begins with an embittered commentary of corny Christmas parties and spirals into a Dickens-esque parody of dysfunctional family gatherings, defunct pop culture trends (using a Geico caveman as the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals how vapid this decade has become), and the dangers of toiling a literally dead end job. John's art is crisp and well colored, and his comedic timing is well-paced in the context of his month-long story, but the proofreader in me must critique the occassional typo and the way they unfortunately distract from the totality of each weekly installment. Though each installment of the "A Vermyn Christmas Story" series is twice the length of John's first strip, with almost three times the dialogue, a simple spell check would assure that his story holds up as surely as his art.
In conclusion, Social Vermyn is the perfect introduction to webcomics for cynics looking to pass a few idle minutes of their work day with a good laugh. Though Victor's predicaments and commentary are often a little extreme, and the comedy a little too dark for the light-hearted fare often found in the newspaper, this albino ferret's sarcastic perspective is enough to make anyone stifle a laugh for their boss's sake -- which is just the kind of social injustice these vermin were created to combat in the first place.
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