The snow here in the Northeast just won’t quit, covering us with plenty of “Dr. Frost” as it tries to “ROB” us of our heat. Only two comics this week but hey, I managed to make a single sentence out of both. Go me! Thanks for sticking around everyone. Enjoy this issue of The Webcomics Weekly.
Dr. Frost
Eps. 13-21: ‘The Psychologist in the White Room (1)’ – ‘Black Wave (Case Closed)’
Updates: Saturdays
By Jongbeom Lee
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
“Dr. Frost’s” second case highlights the ongoing tension between the conceit of the comic and the expectations of its genre. The detective genre aspect of “Dr. Frost” comes out in trying to figure out what’s going on from the clues presented while the human drama comes from how the characters will navigate those answers and react to the results. In order to keep the tension high and the action moving forward however, “Dr. Frost” has to try to justify its exaggerated responses and actions within the reality of the story such that it remains engaging and tense without falling into the realm of unbelievably. The good news is that ‘Black Wave’ treads this line carefully and manages to pull it off through some clever red herrings, bits of character, and a commitment to complexity.
For example, last time I talked about how Frost skirted the line of acceptable behavior. In ‘Black Wave,’ we got a explanation for what he was doing – snooping, which is apparently an actual psychological term – thus grounding the action more in practice, while Seonga and Professor Song’s recriminations of him remind us that while the theory is sound, the actions may have crossed a line, especially to an outside observer who isn’t being brought in on his thinking. It’s a great use of the webtoon’s sophomore arc, showing the faults of our main character and the complications he has left behind in his wake, while also creating a compelling story irrespective of the larger events.
There were also two segments between the arcs: ‘The Psychologist in the White Room’ and ‘The Psychologist in the Yellow Room.’ The former is pure long-term storytelling teasing while the latter is a set of four panel comics featuring Seonga and are very fun. I love me a good palate cleanser in my comics and these are perfect for that after the heaviness of something like ‘Black Wave.’
ROB
Pages: Episodes 1-3
Schedule: Thursdays
Written by Richard Dinnick
Illustrated by Magda Price
Colored by Enrica Eren Angiolini
Lettered by Tyler Smith
Music by Andrew M. Edwards and Blue Police Box Music
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
“Rob” feels immediately recognizable and yet surprisingly novel. “Rob” is a steam punk-ish fantasy series with a title character that the promotional banners describe as a “misfit by choosing, hero by mistake, legend by destiny.” That sounds like pretty much male driven fantasy from the 80s-90s. The art done by Magda Price feels not that far removed from 80s black-and-white boom era fantasy comics, but obviously updated due to contemporary practice. It makes me wish we could see what the strip looked like as a black and white strip. Enrica Angioloni’s colors are fine and unobtrusive. The novelty comes in that this is being serialized on Webtoon and isn’t another Korean translation with a female lead or features obvious use of Clip Studio Paint. None of that is inherently bad, I’m going to be reading “Men of the Harem” next. It just makes “Rob” stand out, it’s the kind of strip Webtoon could use to sell the service to a different audience demo.
The first three strips are solid enough, Richard Dinnick’s writing gives characters a clear voice and they work well enough as episodes. It reads like dozens of other male driven fantasy stories, though this one does have the titular Rob being raised by a female knight and her niece. The creative team makes the right call and does not do a lot of telling, world building is left largely to contextual clues as the series begins to unfold it’s political conflict. None of this conflict is all that original, but the way it is teased out has me on the hook and wanting to read more.
Continued belowOne of the other really novel aspects of the series is the presence of a musical soundtrack, something I haven’t come into contact with since “1000.” The presence of the soundtrack runs into expectations vs. reality, as music it works. As someone who has played a lot of video games with contextual scoring, however, it feels unresponsive and lacking synergy with the visual content. It becomes like the ambient music in “Critical Role,” you don’t really notice it after a while, and then a theme from a video game pops up and you recognize it for a few minutes before it recedes into the background.
It is also worth noting that this is a Legendary Comics production. I didn’t know that was a label that was still producing content.
There is a lot about “Rob” that makes it different, but in that difference the generic qualities come through. If you’re looking for a new fantasy series to read, this one shows promise and isn’t like a lot of the other fantasy strips on Webtoon.
