Summertime! It’s our vacation. What time is it? Webcomics time! That’s right, say it aloud.
OK. OK. Enough referencing a 15 year old made for TV movie. You cam here for webcomics reviews, didn’t you? You didn’t?! Well, that’s what we’ve got for you at the start of this 2021 summer. We’ve got our continuing coverage of “Dr. Frost” and “Adventures of God” and joining them are newcomers “Smity and Majesty” and “Billet Doux.”
All this and and the time of our lives, anticipation, in this issue of The Webcomics Weekly.
Adventures of God
Pages: Episodes 38-47
Schedule: Fridays
By Teo Ferrazi and Corey Jay
Reviewed by Devin Tracy Fairchild
A universe where monocle sporting T-Rexes in Victorian garb sip coffee in fancy parlor rooms, but turn on each other when they don’t get cream in their coffee. A universe where Jesus never sacrificed himself and was able to become the Steve Jobs of carpentry, unveiling a stylish and very expensive rocking stool, in three different stylish colors. A universe where a certain reality TV star is ruler of the free world (and it’s not the one you think). These are just some of the possible universes God visits with the help of a fancy gadget invented by a bespectacled heavenly scientist, the recurring character of Gabe.
In the universe where Jesus remained a not so humble carpenter he is onstage in front of a shameless rip off of the Apple symbol in a classic, pensive Steve Jobs pose, poised to reveal his newest creation. Like in previous issues the crowd gathered are rendered as amorphous blobs of purple silhouetted creatures waving their arms wildly in appreciation. When they are transported from universe to universe they are in front of a sparse squiggly swirl representing in a basic form interdimensional travel.
In the episode “Typo” God basically butt-dials humanity with the nonsensical word “ghyttt” spelled across a deep blue sky in the clouds. God sets out to delete it but His go to number cruncher, who is Gabe (once again) the same scientist from before points out that search engine traffic since his butt-dial has been focused on the cryptic message in the clouds instead of why an all powerful God would allow bad things to happen. The next panel reveals God decked out in all red apparel with the word “ghyttt” on it, reminiscent of a certain former president’s trademark hats and gear. A new and improved New Testament is shown “now featuring GHYTTT.”
As a recurring character Gabe is almost as fascinating as the core characters of God, Jesus and Lucy (or Lucifer). In the next episode God heals Gabe’s sight and after seeing himself in the mirror he becomes fanatical about his appearance and begins working out. But the swoll new Gabe is neglecting his research. Jesus points out that the bees are depending on his research. Jesus is wearing a nightgown and an Ebenezer Scrooge nightcap with the added detail of a pattern of glasses of wine and loaves of bread. Jesus tells on him to his dad who only intervenes when a drunk Gabe demands that God go to the store and get him more beer.
Probably the funniest episode of this batch is when a girl prays to God that her cat would go to heaven and the message ends up in hell with Lucifer. He writes her a letter making it clear that all cats go to hell. But he clarifies that none of them are being tortured, but they just like to watch and the letter comes with a picture of her happy cat curling up in Lucy’s lap. Lucy is almost excessively stylish with a bleached blonde fade and well groomed features. God has an image problem and when Jesus complains to Lucy, he goes on a talk show in disguise as Dr. Lucien of Morningstar University and makes things worse. Later when Jesus confronts him about this he says “what did you expect, I’m literally Satan.” The last panel is God trying to convince Gabe to don a disguise and clean up his image.
In the next episode God absentmindedly promises the same land to the rulers of both “red” and “blue.” Which creates a terrible conflict, until God texts back the leaders “new phone, who dis?” The next episode has newly minted residents of heaven all with conflicting views about Jesus and weird portraits to back them up, the last one being of Jesus as a lizard person. The episode ends with Jesus in therapy, lying on a couch in front of Gabe asking “who am I?” Another new resident of heaven complains to God that he is unfulfilled in heaven because he was most fulfilled doing work. God shows him the fourth circle of hell where residents are tasked with pushing a boulder up a hill for all eternity. The episode ends with Jim suitcase in hand going to another day of work in hell.
Continued belowIn the next episode a drunk God dictates to Gabe as he scurries around making the creation, every aspect from the complex evolutionary tree to the stars and the rest of the universe. At the end Gabe says that they have one day to spare, now they can fix all the problems in the world, disease, natural disasters. But God insists they rest and have a spa day with Lucy. God’s getting a pedicure, with cucumbers over his eyes as a little flying angel holds up a drink for him to drink. In the last panel Lucy says “No drama today. Just us girls.” And God says “amen.”
This batch of episodes features more from the core cast of characters than the previous ones. While they explore a lot of familiar themes, they aren’t overdone or tired tropes. I still managed to laugh out loud on numerous occasions. Plenty of visual gags that are intentionally sparse and lacking too much ornamentation. The backgrounds of these episodes are largely solid blue or white because they take place mostly in heaven. The “throwaway” or single gag characters are each unique. The jokes themselves are a little less irreverent than previous episodes, but no less profound. Teo and Corey always keep us on our toes and constantly subvert expectations. This is one wild ride this reviewer won’t be jumping off of anytime soon.
Billet-Doux, Tapas
Episodes 1-5
Schedule: Fridays
By N. Kip
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
In their descriptive tags for “Billet-Doux” (French for love letter) author N. Kip notes that their comic is “slow burn.” Which it is, however I wouldn’t say it’s narratively a slow burn. Episodic structure per strip might not be the tightest, but that feeling of slowness comes from how the strip is structured visually. Artistically, Kip provides a style that isn’t really seen here, with their primarily grey pencil work. How those pencils are contained in panels read like a series of panels with little macro connections that create a sense of unity and flow. As the series goes on, they have relaxed a bit, but in the first two strips read more like a succession of panels than sequential art.
Their art is the main draw for this comic with their expressive and smooth pencil work. Set in the 1920s, N. Kip provides a series of expressive and smooth business attire that plays to the pencils strengths as light hash marks and smoothing create a sense of texture to the fabric. If there is one downside to the use of pencil, it’s the lack of a range of greys. “Billet-Doux” has about 5 tones it plays with which can muddy some panels at times depending on the lighting. Kip primarily uses grey as the gutter space which is more successful in some moments and less in others. Sometimes they drag and blend the panels images into the gutter and other moments it just cleanly cuts off with no rhyme or reason. This does transform gutter space into something more than an all-encompassing void. Throughout the strip is a selective use of color, it leans more in the “Black Magick” Nicola Scott – Chiara Arena style than Frank Miller “Sin City.” These are effective moments that break through the monotony and expectation surrounding Wallace’s life.
“Billet-Doux” is a queer romance focused on James Caldwell as he struggles against the expectations of his Father and his wants to pursue tennis. Kip does a good job contrasting and developing James’ subtle clenches and frictions in his body language when he is around his father. While their strips may not flow smoothly, their art is an effective mood piece that captured my attention.
Dr. Frost
‘Persona’ (8) – (Case Closed)
Updates: Saturdays
By Jongbeom Lee
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
Well, it turns out that while ‘Persona’ may not have addressed Seonga’s grad school choices, it did delve deeper into Frost’s own psyche and provided a tense situation that had less to do with traditional psychological counseling and more with stopping a runaway train. I’ve compared “Dr. Frost” to a traditional detective novel in the past. It’s been a while since I felt that but the ‘Persona’ arc really channeled that energy, with twists and turns and changing expectations, focusing on solving a mystery from a set of clues already there rather than getting to a personal breakthrough. Ostensibly, Frost is there to ensure Anna is not being harmed as she’s susceptible to the kinds of delusions that could make her unable to disassociate herself from her role once the cameras stop rolling.
Continued belowLee ensures this framing is maintained throughout ‘Persona’ and so while we are trying to figure out how Park is hypnotizing his actors and why/how that might cause another death, we’re also keeping an eye out for how Anna is reacting to all this. We’re so hyper-focused on her that it’s easy to miss the real victim here: her co-star. This bait and switch was excellent and despite having an inkling something bad was gonna happen to him early on, I’d been totally fooled into thinking Anna was the one in danger. Instead, she was the safest because while she was easily hypnotizable, her experiences and the counseling she received/continues to receive gave her the toolset to navigate these treacherous waters.
One of the things I really liked about this arc is that while it ends up being “lighter” than ‘A Solar Eclipse Between Two People,’ it remains just as complex and serious. Director Park is misguided (really fucking misguided) but not malicious while his crew is either oblivious or conflicted about Park’s methods regarding drugging cast members! I read this as he only drugged actors who were struggling to get into the roles, as he believed in method acting so much that he was willing to do anything to get others into it. It’s a tragedy on many levels, and thankfully Frost is able to stop it from being an even bigger one by stopping Anna’s co-star from killing himself with a real knife.
‘Persona’ ends with Frost contemplating something Anna said while we get a small denouement with regards to the movie & Park’s fate after he is arrested. It’s a somber ending and somehow feels less closed than usual but that may be the point. This was not a traditional case and the complexities are tough to neatly wrap up. It forced Frost to confront bits of himself he hadn’t thought about in years and, perhaps, will force him to grow as well. We also got a lot more Pavlov and that alone makes me put this case high up in the ranks.
Smity and Majesty
Episodes 1-7
Updates: Sundays
By Nekucciola
Reviewed by Mel Lake
In “Smity and Majesty,” a good-for-nothing pretty boy prince from a magical kingdom crosses the tracks into enemy territory and immediately gets stuck. He may mean well but his preconceived notions about the kingdom he’s been sent to bolster ties with pisses off the locals, including the voluptuous blacksmith who helps him get home. It’s a fun take on several classic story setups and makes use of cliches like the fish out of water, the hapless prince saved by a peasant, and of course, the swapping of typical gender roles for blacksmiths and blond-haired members of royalty.
Before I move on to talk about the artwork (so fun and colorful!) or the story (also so fun!), I have to quibble about one thing: the title. The “majesty” in “Smity and Majesty” refers to Prince Vain, whose name is right on the nose. The “smity” in the title is…? Is it supposed to be “smithy” because the other character, a mute blacksmith, is a blacksmith? I searched the internet for “smity,” thinking it entirely possible that as a geriatric millennial (I didn’t make up that term, don’t @ me), I’m blithely unaware of a Gen-Z humorous phrase. But I couldn’t find any explanation other than an urban dictionary reference to “smity” being a hardworking brown-noser. While this description does fit Valka the blacksmith’s character somewhat, it’s not as clear as “smithy” would be. So as much as I love the series’ logo, the title grates my cheese.
But! The story and artwork in “Smity and Majesty” are definitely charming. The magical kingdom of Saint Mirakel looks like it came straight out of a shojo manga and its neighboring country of Metallit looks like your standard sword-and-sorcery D&D setting. Vain and Valka’s character designs borrow from shoujo manga conventions as well, with the handsome long-haired Vain looking every bit like a bishounen prince. And Valka, although she’s depicted as a very strong, muscular lady, has the type of curves you would expect in a manga character. In fact, the whole story had a very “Slayers” vibe, which sent me down an internet rabbit hole and forced me to realize that “Slayers” is over twenty-five years old, which means readers of this review may not have even been born yet while it was airing in Japan. Ahem.
“Smity and Majesty” started on Webtoons Canvas and recently made the switch to originals. Due to entirely predictable shenanigans on the part of bumbling prince Vain, he and Valka are on the run from both their kingdoms. Episode seven introduces two new characters, bounty hunters sent to find them. And while the events of the plot may not come as a total surprise, I’m still looking forward to seeing where the story takes our unlikely duo because the two of them are just so darn charming. “Smity and Majesty” is a fantasy-inspired story with a big heart and though Prince Vain may not be the shiniest sword in the … box of swords? … he’s so earnest that I can’t help but root for him and Valka to make the most of their adventure. Geriatric millennials and their tastes in anime aside, clearly the sword-and-sorcery comedy formula works, since it’s being used as an effective template for this series.
