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The Webcomics Weekly #12: Turkey Hangover Edition(11/27/18)

By | November 27th, 2018
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Webcomics Weekly is back in your life with new and old strips as you likely nurse a turkey fueled tryptophan hangover. We have a couple of new strips, “Alice Elise” and “Law and Sausages” which couldn’t be more different from one another. “Alice Elise” focuses on a mysterious weird little girl named Alice. “Law and Sausages” focuses is a educational webcomic about the legal history of the United States. Oh the variety afforded to the medium of comics. At the sametime we have the continuing adventures of “Blood Stain” as Elly remembers that creepy scientist looking for an assistant. The “Order of the Stick” continue to adventure. And “Sam and Fuzzy” continue to surprise as they deal with Grrbils.

Alice Elise
Episodes 1-3
Updates: Saturdays
Created by Nicky Soh
Reviewed by Bodhi

Creator Nicky Soh’s new fantasy webcomic “Alice Elise” starts with a car moving on a spiral path down a hillside. The car contains preteen Alice and her parents who are taking her for a visit to her conservative grandparents. Later Alice will take a fall of her own–a fall that mimics the descent of the first panel and one that will literally drop her in front of Hell. Yes, this Alice too will fall down a hole.

This is a gorgeous comic to look at: sumptuous colors and clear-line art. The art made me think of “By Night” from Boom! Studios: there is that same balance between dramatic and cartoonesque. Soh uses character expressions to move from humor to horror and to surreal and this is a comic where there are tones of all.
I do feel, however, the recap panels at the start of each new episode could probably have been skipped.

Since only the first three episodes been uploaded, the story at this moment is a little short on explanations but it more than enough makes up for it in the third episode: the carnival surroundings and the officials at the gateway to Hell are imaginative and a riot. Soh shows his quirky side too: who knew the entrance to Hell had advertisements?
Actually, on second thoughts, that one makes a lot of sense.

Soh’s dialogues are a bit workmanlike and the story, till now, has not stepped off the beaten path. But I have hopes for the fourth episode of this charming comic and although clearly the strength of its creator is evident in the art-side, there’s every chance in hell the story might yet surprise you and me.

Blood StainLineTapas
Chapters 16-20
Schedule: Once a Week on Line/Tapas otherwise currently on hiatus
By Linda Sejic
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane

This batch of strips, unsurprisingly, deal with the fallout of Elly losing her job as a waitress. Working through that downside isn’t too bad actually as it lets Linda Sejic show how Elly has actually matured (just a bit) through the experience and experiment with comics a bit more. The latter being some of the more interesting stuff found in this batch of strips.
Chapter 16 is titled “Chewing,” as Elly keeps replaying and repeating the various justifications her former boss gave her. The actual process is only found in the first two panels of the 16 or so panel strip. Sejic turns down the opacity of Elly’s repetitive thoughts, fading them into the background and making them one with everything within the panel. It’s an effective choice as it creates the impression that they’re still hanging over head even as Elly’s sister enters the frame. Even in this non touched up art Sejic’s skill for making drawing affecting eyes comes through, even if Elly also looks a tad like grumpy cat in a couple.

How those repetitive thoughts are represented is a recurring motif in this batch of strips as Elly slowly thinks back to Vlad and his help wanted poster. Panels from previous strips fade in and out as she works through if she wants to and has the confidence to get this assistant job in chapter 18. Comparing this section of the comic to the ones found on Line or Tapas, it can feel like the section is over lettered. And visually it is on DeviantArt, the vertical space in panels are taken up entirely by Elly’s interconnected stammering. The lettering is slightly redone and smoother on the other sites, however, those moments also lack the staccato quality of the original art. It is visually overwhelming but it helps to represent the characters struggle and her arc within the strip. Is Elly belting out “I Have Confidence” ? No, but it’s in that range.

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This batch of strips also marks the return of Vlad proper. The first third or so of the final strip is taken up by Vlad’s physical comedy, and it works. The look of annoyance and cat like smugness to solving his dirty hands problem is a good way to remind readers and setup his character. The strips final panel is a similarly effective comedic stinger to the revelation about Elly’s lack of internet. The image screams awkward silence.

Laws and Sausages
Chapters 1101-1105
Updates: Twice-Monthly
Written by Greg Weiner and Zach Weinersmith
Illustrated by Dennis Culver
Coloring Assistance by Marissa Louise
Lettering by Henry Barajas
Reviewed by Elias Rosner

“Laws & Sausages” is an educational webcomic about the US law, government, & its assorted history, literature, philosophy & how it operates in practice. WAIT! Don’t check out yet! It’s more interesting than it sounds! I promise!

The mind behind “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal” and his Poli-Sci professor brother, Greg, have come together to bring us a very funny and very informative comic that makes complicated and dry topics easily accessible. Chapter 11 is all about the creation of the constitution after the failure of the Articles of Confederation and even if you consider yourself an expert on this convention, you might learn a thing or two about what led up to it.

The interplay between educational material, usually espoused by Greg, and the comedic representations of the events of the past keep the flow of the comic breezy without trivializing the important bits. The examples provide a good balance of understandability and humor, thanks to Zack’s character’s scheming personality. There isn’t much in the way of outstanding visuals, however Culver’s artwork is perfectly minimal. Backgrounds are usually chalkboard green while characters are usually only the upper half of their body.

As this is a text-heavy, informational comic, his characters don’t need to be dynamic but he manages to imbue them with personality through clever posing, when the occasion arises, and a decent set of expressions. It’s not perfect — it can come off as stiff at time and the lack of dynamism could be distracting — but the dialogue’s wit and brevity, considering the topics, more than makes up for it. If you’re in the mood for a good laugh and some separation of powers talks, this is a premiere place to learn.

Order of the Stick
Pages 26-30
Updates:Varies
By Rich Burlew
Reviewed by Robbie Pleasant

In all honesty, three out of these five chapters involve Elan being naked because no clothes means no armor check penalty. It’s an extended gag, but we get a good amount of humor out of it, such as the horrors of the Tumble skill in the nude or Roy and Haley having a conversation about Elan’s sword or his, well, “sword.”

Speaking of Haley, we also get a good gag about just how greedy a rogue she can be. Every party has the player who will sneak into the room and loot it all before the rest of the party arrives, and in this case, it makes a good joke about all the different ways it’s clear she thoroughly stole everything before the party arrived. Why do they still have to believe her? Because she’s got a very good Bluff skill. It’s just another way the D&D game’s mechanics come into play in this webcomic.

Finally, we get the start of another random encounter, with a Mind Flayer. Is the joke about it not wanting to eat Elan’s brain too obvious? Maybe. But I laughed anyways. The appearance of the Mind Flayer (or Illithid, or “Squid thingy”) is a nice use of a monster familiar to anyone who knows about D&D, and the use of a tentacle-faced creature adds a bit more to the monster designs we’ve seen in the comic.

As always, the art is simplistic but effective. The stick figure arms and round faces with simple but effective expressions make the comic easy on the eyes and help the story stand out, and even then we still get nice little details, like a “please close door when you’re done being secretive” sign on the back of a secret door.

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At this point we know more and more about the characters, so we get to see them bounce off each other more. It remains a good, entertaining read, and the story is carried along nicely from joke and encounter to the next joke and encounter.

Sam and Fuzzy
Help Wanted parts 21-25
Updates: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
By Sam Logan
Reviewed by Dexter Buschetelli

“Sam and Fuzzy” continues to be a charming series. It is not a strip that subverts your expectations, it doesn’t contain deep subtext or social commentary, it doesn’t touch you on an intimate and personal level. It is simply an irreverent romp that keeps you chuckling throughout; and, sometimes, we need that.

As the boys and their new companion Dev are still dealing with the “harmless and adorable” Grrbils we learn more about the Chateau Mort-Noire 1961 their leader has acquired. Logan’s dialogue is at its best here, describing the wine as “harvested from a cursed, unmarked burial ground,” “crushed on a labor camp by enslaved, impoverished orphans,” “brewed by an insane monk in a haunted asylum for violent criminals” and “bottled…in a really bad year!

It is in moments like this, and in Dev’s stepping up to save the day by hugging a hideous, transformed, monster grrbil–which is drawn in a beautifully grotesque manner–where this series truly shines. So break out your best bad wine, pour a glass, lean back, breathe in the notes, and enjoy another helping of “Sam and Fuzzy.”


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