The Webcomics Weekly #68: A Webcomic Called “Flesh Kernel” (1/7/20 Edition)

The Webcomic Weekly is back in your life for the first time in 2020. This week Elias is covering a comic called “Flesh Kernal” and that’s all I’m going to tell you. I am certainly “Not Drunk Enough” to spill the beans. We also have continuing coverage of “Agents of the Realm” and “The Otherknowns.”

It’s funny, nearly 200 pages into “Agents of the Realm” and the structure of this comic hasn’t really come up, beside allusions to various anime-manga tropes around the nature of getting the team together. When we last left off, Norah asked the Good Doctor Blackwater a very important question: Why are the Agents from the Other Realm crossing over and being turned into those monsters they’ve been fighting? With the the follow up: is that going to happen to us? The good doctor doesn’t handle this line of inquiry all that well, the normal lies of omission the presence of an evil “fore” (or is it “Force”?) and pretty much hopes right on out by the end of the page.

The events preceding the start of this chunk of pages turned into a really nice cliffhanger, their follow up not so much. The page design an everything was technically fine, but existential dread over turning into a monster isn’t really the series strong suit – although it does help play into Adele’s vanity a bit though the reaction is entirely understandable. That sort of drama is a bit obtuse. Where the remaining pages of chapter 4 go is more in the series wheel house as they try to figure out how to deal with this thing they don’t fully understand. The answer they come to is by dealing with it together which means getting the Green Power Ranger, I mean Jordan on their side. Which involves some lying on the part of Kendall.

The only Agent the Bad Doctor Blackwater seems to want Jordan avoid. Much like why the Monsters are former Agents, the reasoning isn’t apparent. Louis does a fantastic job highlighting the distance between Jordan and Norah which makes the opaque reasoning work. Norah is isolated overall in these pages as her friends vouch for her and wonder how someone could thing Norah is such a dastardly heel.

Once again Louis’ voice specific letter colors helps everyone’s complements-digs ring through clearly. Eventually Jordan is won over and we get a big group hug, much to Norah’s chagrin. This is the kind of moment that works like gang busters in “Agents” it isn’t the existential threat that is interesting it is if this group of people can figure out how to work together that is.

Louis doesn’t sugarcoat the moment either by having Norah audibly point out this isn’t a call to suddenly be “friends.” They don’t know each other, but they’ve been fated into this mess so they better work together and figure it out. That little wrinkle of a group hug doesn’t automatically make them all friends is a nice touch of realism.

With a new year comes new comics and do I have a strange one for you all today. “Flesh Kernel” has the ethos and look of a Fantagraphics or Comix series, wrapped in a story that doles out its answers only after inundating us with questions. It’s something that, on a week to week basis, could be difficult to follow due to information loss. I open with this critique because it’s a deliberate choice that Cancrizans is aware of and comfortable with but may turn off potential readers. It is a necessary component of the narrative, however, as the lack of concrete information and understanding places us in the narrative position of our addled main character Wilt.

We know just about as much as Wilt does at this point, thanks to the copious amounts of drugs he does as well as the alien flatworm god living in his brain case. . .sort of. The pieces of what’s going on aren’t all there yet but the intrigue about those answers is high and what we can put together is compelling and fascinating. These most recent updates of ‘Terms & Conditions’ give us a bit more to chew on, being the chapters from a book about a 24th century Jungian theory about a collective unconscious that is more about connections than ideas.

The way Cancrizans presents the ideas of Xladislax Novaq is surreal but easily understandable and each page is like falling down a waterfall of visuals. Colors too are wildly varied though unshaded, which, rather than flattening the world, expands it and deepens it. It’s a surreal presentation, with characters that bounce thanks to the minimal linework, mostly providing outlines, and the visuals that drag on the subconscious, seeped in the visual language of the underground sci-fi world.

“Flesh Kernel” built for the scroll without sacrificing panel flow, with hand lettering that’s not quite even but the kerning is tight and the different modes in which Cancrizans writes are distinct and purposeful. Dialog/narration is standard while omniscient descriptors are written like scribbles in the margins or diagram tags, with a bolder, pseudo-cursive font. It all makes for a read that demands close attention and rewards it with funny characters, despite their assholery, mysteries that matter, and a raw presentation that pulls no punches. Give it a go and see if you can figure out Gnrth’s end game before we get there.

“Not Drunk Enough” has returned for it’s third chapter towards the end of 2019, and to revisit these characters and absurd situations was a blast. Surprisingly, even after well worth 100 pages, this chapter is very accessible to new readers, so if you are one of them, don’t feel intimidated and jump right in.

The story picks ups with main characters Logan and Varker back to familiar grounds, as they crash into Varker’s posh apartment, a completely different setting than what they are used to. The contrast of their newfound monstrosity (additional eyes, limbs, and all) with such mundane surroundings lent itself nicely to compelling conversations and visual storytelling.

Stone has a very unique style to his illustrations. Characters are surely deformed, not only due to the extra appendages, but even more trivial elements are out of the norm. For this particular story it mashes very effectively with the script, where a sense of permanent uneasiness is required.

What is stronger about this series and updates remains the very strong dialogue, not only between the main protagonists, but also among the antagonists. These are characters that know each ther, that balance each other off, and it is rich to see them interact, even if it is about how endearing a house cat is.

All in all, returning to “Not Drunk Enough” was a blast; hopefully 2020 will bring a steady flow of updates as the story pushes forward, as there are a lot of reveals to come.

Welcome back everyone, It feels like a decade since we last talked about Webcomics. You could say we now have 20/20 vision… Okay, no more New Years jokes, because you know what they say: New year, new me.

Last we saw “The Otherknown” Chandra had literally caught Reed by the overall straps after a fast chase sequence. Page 35-47 follows directly after those horrifying moments with the duo trying to calm down after the recent bout of excitement. During the interaction, Reese explains his reason why he initiated a chase by stealing her computer. No one at the site has the energy to do anything such as that, plus I’d be willing to bet he is one of – if not – the only children there. The last person who had such energy was his mother, who he explains had died previously due to Demeck not allowing her to go see a doctor. Told ya’ll he was evil.

Let’s not focus all our attention on Reese though, as Chandra devolves that her mom had also passed. When Chandra was a (smaller) child her mom had died when her ship was attacked, this made Chandra study the ships layout as much as possible to see if there was a chance she was still alive. After these revelations on both characters parts I go back to liking how Merriman has shown them becoming closer during their interactions. I said it awhile back, but I do believe these two could grow into a great friendship, which it seems Merriman is going for.

These 12 pages had a lot of emotion packed into them with a ton of character history sprinkled in. But, it’s not all sadness as Reed says some funny words that make Chandra laugh and the duo started busting a gut. After the heartfelt talk about passed mothers this moment of happiness feels amazing and well deserved. The part that makes these moments even better is Merriman’s great use of lettering. Merriman doesn’t keep the sound effects or the lettering to a set style. Instead she livens the webcomic up by manipulating every aspect of them while barely keeping two the same style. This in mind the art comes out wonderful and this lettering helps catch the eye.

Before we leave, we need to talk about how amazing Merriman’s art is for these pages. During such emotional moments art can make or break the emotion the characters are trying to portray. Yet, this never occurs. Instead her art escalates the moments making them hit you harder. When a character cries you feel it swell up from your gut making a lump in your throat. When the duo are happy and left you can’t help yourself but feel the same. Merriman’s character faces help carry the weight of the emotions that the words and plot evoke.

The amazing art doesn’t stop with how the characters look, as we are treated to our first double page spread! Now I’m a sucker for double pages, and boy golly does Merriman do it well. Amazing art aside, “The Otherknown” pages 35-47 were a hell of an emotional start to the New Year. The craziest part is other things occurred that we haven’t seen ramification for yet. Alas, that is for another week. Start your 2020 off with perfect vision and go read some Webcomics.