Normally on the weeks when we have “Dr. Frost” that’s the only recurring comics but this week we have something special! No, not “The Star Seekers.” That’s a new one. Nope, we’ve got an additional review of the Ancient Greek sort. So put on your togas and get your best gossip ears ready and then remember that togas aren’t really a thing in this Olympus because we’ve got some “Lore Olympus” to explore.
All this and an obligatory one hundred and nice in this issue of The Webcomics Weekly.
Dr. Frost
‘The Student of a Genius’ (1) – ‘The Trap’ (2)
Updates: Saturdays
By Jongbeom Lee
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
“Dr. Frost” kicks off it’s 4th season with an odd choice: a two chapter arc followed by a 7 chapter one, which I’ve decided to only cover the first two chapters of this week. I split it this way so that I would have more to cover next time but also because I’m probably going to spend most of my word count discussing the first arc: ‘The Student of a Genius,’ with a bit of hindsight provided by the first two chapters of ‘The Trap.’ To say it’s a doozy is to say the sky is blue.
7 years have gone by since Frost awoke from his coma but we don’t know what he’s been up to in that time. In fact, we don’t even know where he is. He disappeared, the implication being he ran off, and now we have a new focal character: Seonga. She has grown a lot since we last saw her, having completed her study abroad and is now a full-time professor at the university, while Seon has taken over the late Dr. Chun’s position as Dean and Dr. Chun’s son is now a detective with the local police department. This sets the stage for ‘The Student of a Genius’s’ main thrust, which involved Seonga getting called into help with a police investigation around a bombing by a former activist.
It’s a very straightforward story, fitting well within the crime genre, and works to showcase Seonga’s skills and how they differ from her predecessor’s. Seonga was always good with documents but not so great with reading people. We also see how much more confident she is as well as the chips on her shoulder. It’s a great use of the time skip and the perfect way to not only realign the technologies of the series to a more present day but to give plenty of empty holes that can be filled in over time. I really like Seonga being our focal character now and I hope it continues.
Lee has only gotten better at his paneling, really ratcheting up the tension during the interrogation scenes, revealing and hiding information as needed. I’m endlessly frustrated, in a good way, by the small teases he does at the end of the chapters where you think Frost is back only for it to be revealed it’s someone else. I need to know what’s going on with Moon and his machinations! Will Seonga figure it out? Will she be in danger? Will Seon be OK? So many questions! We’ll just have to wait a couple weeks to find out. Or, well, I will. You all can read ahead as you see fit.
Just don’t tell me when Pavlov shows up again after his brief cameo here. I want to be surprised.
Lore Olympus
Episodes 33-38
Updates: Sundays
By Rachel Smythe
Reviewed by Mel Lake
We’ve returned to “Lore Olympus” but other than a few text message exchanges and an appearance in a tabloid together, our main duo, Hades and Persephone, haven’t actually seen each other since their fateful meeting in the Underworld.
In the last set of episodes, Hera has given Persephone the “opportunity” to intern in the Underworld. (Read: she doesn’t have a choice.) Persephone hasn’t started her internship yet, though, so she has to make it through a day of classes first. She’s studying to become a virgin maiden? I guess? At University? The actual specifics of how Olympus is constructed as a city and the Underworld is both a city and a corporation, while the mortal realm is … somewhere … doesn’t matter. To the audience who is invested in the romance, it doesn’t matter. To those who want to see the gorgeous artwork and funny faces and eagerly await the appearance of their favorite mythological entity, it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure that I fit in any of these camps, though. So I can’t help criticizing the worldbuilding, even though it seems completely beside the point. The story is driven by the characters and their interpersonal relationships first and foremost.
Continued belowMeanwhile, Hades’ night with Persephone has made it to the tabloids. Hades hashes this out with his girlfriend-slash-assistant, Minthe, who is basically terrible, and Hecate. I would read an entire spinoff devoted to the adventures of cool-goth Hecate, but here she shows up to tell Hades off for being involved with a teenager and then bounces. Hades apparently didn’t know about the age difference between himself and Persephone, which seems doubtful, but this Hades does seem like a damaged goofball of a god. And it’s an interesting inclusion because it’s as if the author is not letting readers off the hook by having the romance be entirely wholesome. In the original myth, Persephone has no agency at all. Here, she does, but Smythe forces us to see how maybe the agency we think she has is more complicated than it appears. How right is it for Hades, a very old god, to pursue her, if she’s much younger and far less powerful? If he’s her boss? We want to root for them as a pair because they’re both such goofballs individually that they seem perfect together. But even though “Lore Olympus” reimagines the power dynamics from the original story, we’re still reminded of how complicated romance, especially this one, can be.
The Star Seekers
Episodes 1
Schedule: Sundays
Original Story by HYBE
Produced by 153 YLAB and SKSTUDIO
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
“The Star Seekers” is one of several new boy band led transmedia webcomics Webtoon has begun publishing, this time featuring the band Tomorrow X Together. Look, I’m not much of a music person, much less a K-Pop person, so I have no idea who these people are. But I know a thing or two about transmedia and licensing deals, and chief among their logic is you don’t make the precious brand look “bad.” Which is why I perked up at the characterization of the in-universe comic band Star One, which uses Tomorrow X Together as a base, as being worse than bad; they’re nobodies! Sure, the long run of the comic these people will achieve stardom and wealth but at the start they’re put on minimum contracts and forced to take the bus.
Despite all the corporate licensing that undergirds this strip, to the point I don’t have clear credit as to who did the art, this first episode is actually pretty good. Whoever did the art does a fantastic job of laying in the lush detailed manhwa style that is pure spectacle at the start. Which is perfect as it lays the foundation of its “The Wicked + The Divine”-esque scenario of magical musicians and a reflexive gag. The prevalence of magic has led to a tiered system of performers. There are those with magic and those without and after 3 years and 6 months Star One is both not famous and worse non-magical. An added pressure considering that their lead, Soule, is the son of a famous magician.
“The Star Seekers” is an ensemble piece that reflexively uses the performance nature of the musical setting to just put labels on everyone at one point. The creators are also smart enough to not try and throw everyone at us in this first episode, Soule is the focus of this episode and gives it a strong emotional core.
“The Star Seekers” is off to a good start. I wish they had more posted but considering my general cynicism going in, this is better than I’d thought.
