The Webcomics Weekly is back in your life and this week we’re going to the countryside on a slice of life adventure about rediscovering yourself and the friends made along the way.
Sun House
Episodes 1-5
Schedule:
By Parakid(story and art) Juju(story)
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
It’s funny how in a world filled with webcomics the little ways you end up running into them. I had never come across “Sun House” before on social media. The only reason I came to discover it was I bought some prints from the artist, Natalia aka Parakid, at a convention recently. This series was linked on their social media and after buying these wonderful watercolor slice of life prints how could I not take a look at this.
The setup to “Sun House” is your fairly standard. Max is a disaffected mid-level white collar looking worker alienated under capitalism. The kind of guy who lives 5 minutes from work and still manages to be late. After one more disastrous presentation he is unceremoniously fired from that job and falls into depression. Well, deeper depression, he was already depressed. Eventually his Mom can’t take it anymore and ships him off his Aunt’s farm in the countryside. From there well depression is worked through, the self is re-discovered, and new friends are made. The core themes and setup to “Sun House” is tried and true.
The reason to check out this series is Parakid’s art. My normal complaints about webtoons still stands, the gutter space is too large. The panels themselves have a certain disconnected quality to them that gets in the way of the flow. And yet, individual panels are just great to look at and make it worth checking out. The art captures the idyllic tone of slice of life stories. When the panel flow is better it pulls together the juxtaposition of modern life, alienation, and natural beauty. Parakid’s figure work and expressions are also central to this strip working as well as it does. The story beats and writing are all solid if standard, but the depth of expression in Max’s face gives everything a much-needed depth. Good cartooning can make good comic great. This might not be great but is a strong example of the power of art.
