Welcome back to The Webcomics Weekly! It’s been a trying week y’all. Tapas changed their desktop layout and it’s, how shall we put it, hot garbage. Webtoons may have just gained the final leg up over them to become the only competition in centralized webcomics hosting and publishing. But that’s neither here nor there because you’re all here to read about some webcomics. We got some new and old fantasy, something with a title that’s a question, a statement and an enigma, and some good old sci-fi. What’re their names? Why don’t you read on and find out.
That’s right, I’m being coy this week. Look out, it’s a whole new editor!
Aster
Chapter 1, Pages 18-22
Updates: Varies
By Gabby
Reviewed by, Jason Jeffords Jr
Have you ever searched, “webcomic” on Twitter? You’d be surprised how many people tweet about it and how many creators there are that you’ve never heard about! Why do I bring this up? Because that’s how I found, “Aster!” And some other gems. Plus, that’s how I stumbled on the “Tapas” website. I’d honestly never been to that site before. But alas, the day after I found the website, the design changed. The one day I used the old site was quite enjoyable, but the update is horrendous. Nonetheless, let’s hop in!
“Aster” is still in its newborn pages with the most recent update dropping in the past few weeks. As we’re only 22 pages in it seems like Gabby is picking up Salita’s story with more agency. During the previous pages, Gabby introduced our main character and one of their obstacles. Yet, it isn’t until page 18 when someone is in dire need of a Wizard does “Aster” kick it into gear. That’s not to knock slow storytelling moments, as we know I love worldbuilding, it’s just that the previous updates felt too leisurly, giving me less of a desire to come back. Nonetheless, that changes with speed once page 18 hits.
The urgency with which Gabby introduces what that “rogue demon” is about quickly snatches your attention just as well as the newly introduced character snatches Salita. Alas, she doesn’t drop the humor aspect with one moment that’s my favorite so far. That being: describing what makes a wizard with a picture of a shocked Salita, who later declares they aren’t “technically” a Wizard. This abrupt “record scratch” is perfectly timed with the joke hitting amazingly. Then we’re drawn back into the action with the first glimpse of our other main character.
Like the early pages story-wise, Gabby’s art is safe and slow, yet when page 18 hits, her art matches the plot. Gabby starts to introduce more panels overlapping the larger pieces of art that give a sense of speed. This change of pace helps her pages stand out while making me excited to see the evolution of the art.
“Aster’s” first few pages may not catch your attention, yet when the plot of the rogue demon kicks in it easily will. The shift of speed seems to benefit the story/art greatly, which makes me look forward to what transpires next. If you’re looking for a new series that’s still in its newborn stage, give “Aster” a gander!
A Better Place
‘Fresh Air’ – ‘More than Talk’
Updates: Thursdays
By Harry Bogosian
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
First up, Tapas has changed their layout so it looks hyper corporate and bare and I hate it. It’s not all bad but it doesn’t really feel more user friendly, just more sleek. Second, they removed visible tags on the desktop and, as you may have noticed, that’s a big fucking deal for this comic. Third, I can’t scroll from page to page, now being forced to click from page to page which is far more traditional but one of my favorite features of Tapas’s site was the ease with which one could go from page to page. Fourth, the new update has made every page really big but it gets covered way too easily by the top and bottom bars, basically destroying any ease of page reading.
Most of that complaining wasn’t comic related but it’s bad y’all. Feel like what little personality the site had left has been sucked out through a straw. It’s particularly noticeable how Tapas (formerly Tapastic) has changed since 2016 with the episode 71 ‘Holidays.’ A throw-back to the tradition of having a daily December tradition where comics would connect, one to the next, referring readers to creators they had not heard about. Bogosian took that challenge and worked it into the story for a rare moment of vulnerability for Hannah, who cries in the snow she created about how it’s better now. How it has to be. The weight of her decisions clearly pulling her down, and her self-delusion holding her up.
Continued belowThese pages flit back and forth between Hannah, Nina and Theo and they’re pretty dense with panels. I like that because of how thin the gutters are and how it makes each page a solid chunk of comics rather than a brief bite. It is difficult to see the shape of the narrative but I don’t mind it so much. We also have the return of the color pages and Bogosian has gotten a lot better in the intervening months. ‘More than Talk’ transitions smoothly from ‘Go Explore’s’ greyscale with bursts of green in ways that earlier chapters did not. The colors aren’t too saturated or washed out, retaining the verisimilitude of this video game-esque world. I wonder if this will stick around.
If
Pages: Episodes 1-3
Schedule: Sundays
By Keon Tan
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
Webcomics are a bit like video games on Steam, dozens if not more are released every day and it’s impossible to read everything. Sometimes standing out means not being unique but hitting the right reference buttons, which is what the big display image for “IF” did on Webtoon’s main page. Creator Keon Tan has made something hit me right in that early-00 Shōnen battle adjacent anime/manga place.
A battle adjacent Shōnen manga is essentially what “IF” is. The title appears to be short for imaginary friend as our lead Hiroshi discovers he can see not just his but other kids friends as well. What do these kids do with their imaginary friends? Make them fight each other of course! Stylistically Tan’s comic feels like a cross between Hiroyuki Takei “Shaman King” and Takao Aoki “Beyblade.” Tan obviously doesn’t work with the kind of detail and screentone heavy material like Takei, but the reveal of Kid with the Purple Tie’s Friend, a giant marionette puppet, at the end of episode 3 feels visually indebted to “Shaman King.” The character design and figure work is closer to Takao Aoki’s work. The characters that matter have immediate distinctive qualities and everyone else looks generic but not in a boring sense.
This strip does the thing that is my pet peeve for Webtoon strips, overly long gutter space that interrupts the flow. Which is a bummer because on a panel by panel basis and in terms of panel content, Tan’s work is effective and sound. I just wish the gutter space was shortened so everything was tighter. The fight between Zane and Cooper’s friends is visually interesting and well-paced, but the gutter space chops up the flow. In fairness the gutter space is to Tan’s favor at other points, like the montage of Purple Tie challenging Hiroshi to a fight. This montage is a series of one panel gags where the gutter space helps to represent the passage of time so that at the end of the day when school is over Hiroshi freaks out at Zane’s sudden appearance.
“IF” hits the right reference buttons, it feels a bit generic at only three episodes but this is the kind of strip I could show my manga obsessed cousin and he’d love.
Order of the Stick
Pages 201 – 205
Updates: Varies
By Rich Burlew
Reviewed by Gustavo S. Lodi
“Order of the Stick” is back in full form, right from the first strip of this five-chapter update. Back are the commentaries on broader social and political aspects, this time around the faith in higher powers, divinity, and religion as a whole. For as men assume to understand the gods, they often overestimate their capacity to also engage in nonsensical activities.
These strips then segue into what may be an expansion of the Order, or at least the odd new member that may or may not stay with the team for long. With an introduction that had been gestating for a while, the final pay-off is very amusing, especially on the manner that the “Order of the Stick” utilizes table-top RPG tropes to make fun of it.
The remaining strip of this chunk continue on the tradition of subverting the usual team dynamics and interactions, and even more the solution of problems and challenges the part goes through. There is that perennial sense of fourth-wall breaking, that is sometimes hinted at, and sometimes used widely, that makes the “Order of the Stick” always fresh.
Continued belowWith the right combination of in-jokes about RPG, and the broader, more relevant social commentary, this update was a great return to form of “Order of the Stick.”
Trekker
Pages: 1-12 “Trekker” Book 2 ‘Smuggler’s Blues’
Schedule: Mondays
Written and Illustrated by Ron Randall
Lettered by Ken Bruzenak
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
“Trekker” moves out of the pages of “Dark Horse Presents” and into their own monthly series. This makes for an obvious change of pace when it is recirculated as a web strip. That efficient page by page pacing I commented on in the last review is changed. ‘Smuggler’s Blues’ is still a one shot so this isn’t a decompressed comic by any means, but there are some noticeable changes in the first four pages. The titular Trekker is no where to be found except in disembodied narration. Randall spends the opening page building out the tone of New Gelaph, when paired with the narration it becomes the seedy modern city of many hardboiled detective stories. I’m not a huge fan of the effect he used to create the haze of New Gelaph, the dots are a bit too big and the extra black throws off the readability. However there is a naturalism to the random assortment of dots that make up the hazey sky that stands out against the slick screentone effects elsewhere on the page.
The shift in perspective isn’t the only major change, Randall goes noticeably bigger in terms of panel size throughout these 12 pages. The fourth page is a single page splash, throughout the other pages he now uses one panel to take up a third of the page. That ability to go bigger, for emphasis or sheer aesthetic value, is the most noticeable difference between this story and the last one. The other one just didn’t have the page budget to allow for it.
Randall shifts the perspective in this opening set of pages. Readers are now introduced to Mercy St. Clair and have an idea for her character. In these first 12 pages, while we get her narration, much of the comic is built around other people’s view of her. Our first image of her is a heavily shadowed partial silhouette that is an eye line match for Detective Langstrom, who is immediately shown to be attracted to her. Meanwhile Paul from the last strip sees Mercy walking away.
‘Smuggler’s Blues’ is a good example of what a change in page count and format can do for a series. The first strip was a good, generic, sci-fi bounty hunter strip with just enough novelty and depth but not too much to get in the way of its 8 page increments. Now with a full 24 pages to play with Randall is able to build out the world more for the continuing adventures of Mercy St. Clair.
