The Webcomics Weekly is back, ready to bring you new comics, returning comics, and everything in-between. . .well, we try, anyway. This week, Mike continues to take a gander at a surreal and serious section of “Agents of the Realm,” Gustavo returns to “Raruurien” and is brought low by beauty, Elias makes a mention of memoirs with “300 to 30” and Dexter deins to deny the destructive and diabolical power (sorry, ran out of D-words) of “Sam and Fuzzy’s” character creation. Onwards, my friends, to adventure and comics!
Agents of the Realm
Pages 103-113 (Ch. 3)
Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays
By Mildred Louis
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
Mildred Louis does a couple of things just really well in this batch of pages. Paige Fierro has a plan for their project, base it on local mythology. Previous pages have setup Fierro’s organizational skills and steely demeanor, which is honestly a nice change of pace from the cast so far. Louis however uses that demeanor to land a bit of a gag when Norah wonders what her part and say in this group effort is going to be. On page 104, we’re greeted to three panels that just follow her thought process on how to proceed, it isn’t much mostly just some subtle shifts in the eye and brow, before a nice big “sigh fine.” The lettering and the little shifts in expression build that sense of time and thought, and makes the final panel land quite well.
Which brings us to the other thing Louis does well, the lettering. We now have four main cast members, not counting the doctors Blackwood. To help distinguish them, Louis letters each of them in their own unique color. The font is the same but the color isn’t, which makes reading and distinguishing voices very easy. It also builds a sense of visual tension as Norah becomes increasingly surrounded by her soon to be friends’ words, with orange, turquoise, and pink word balloons surrounding her and emphasizing her own changing expression in a three panel sequence.
Honestly, even if this wasn’t a magical girl story, Louis’ writing and craft would make this an enjoyable slice of life strip. But it is a magical girl story and things get surreal for Norah after she decides to take a nap and finds herself on Platform 9 ¾ or “The Space Between” with it appears to be Folami (from Ch 2.5.) Only Folami has replaced the armor for a more regal costume. It appears she has been trapped in this place for a very long time, which would mean once again being days from retirement and finally settling down tropes strike again! Louis walks the fine line between being too Lynchian and surreal and just enough that people can pick up on what is being put down. The lettering plays a key role here again first in giving Norah’s frustration added oomph as they wonder how you could get a migraine while sleeping. It comes into play again to cue Adele waking Norah up, her calls to consciousness slowly creep in and begin to overwhelm the panels until it is too late.
In between all this lettering propelled drama is a striking single panel, as Norah gets frustrated and a little freaked out Folami embraces her and the moment just hangs. It hangs for several reasons, it is the final panel on the page and silent. This makes it unique to every other panel in this sequence. Hopefully Norah remembers Folami’s advice about taking this responsibility seriously, it looks like things can go bad if you shirk it. In the meantime, she’s late for the museum and I can feel the judgmental stare of Paige Fierro from here.
Raruurien
Pages 103-109
Updates: Mondays & Thursdays
By Ann Maulina
Reviewed by Gustavo S. Lodi
These latest pages, which completes the journey of the titular family to their new destination, might be some of the most beautiful of the series so far. And that is saying something, for “Raruurien” is usually a work of top craftsmanship and attention.
While light on plot, this update utilizes mostly silent pages and panels to progress the story and finish the journey aspects of the adventure. There are two instances that shine the most while doing that.
Continued belowThe first one, and this might speak louder to readers that are parents, is the realization that children often grow faster than we can handle it, and that they sometimes may be more like their parents than what we give them credit for. There is a page in “Raruurien,” where the memories of the past and the observation of the present mash into a single image, only told apart by different color pallets. It is a gorgeous work of design, framing, individual drawing, and colouring.
The second is at the very end of this update, when “Raruurien” has its first double-page spread, as the turns on the road take the family to the edges of a sprawling vista. It is just. . .breathtaking. “Raruurien” has proven time and time again that it stands out as web publication, to the sheer level of details and imaginative design it offer. This singular page may be the pinnacle of that assessment.
All in all, a largely slow-paced, light on plot update, but that more than makes up for it on the visual department alone.
Sam & Fuzzy
Trade Secrets parts 16-27 + Pig Fig and Friends
Updates: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
By Sam Logan
Reviewed by Dexter Buschetelli
Banana-nana-nana-nana-bananabaaaaaaat! *Proceeds to do the Batusi*
The latter half of “Sam & Fuzzy” sees it once again at its outright goofiest, one of its strongest and most defining characteristics. For all the heart and charm that lies beneath the surface, that outer coating is still goddamned delicious. It is icing on a cake. It is chocolate surrounding peanut butter. It is the candy coating surrounding the chocolate core of an M&M.
Look, I know I’m making a lot of weird junk food references here but the point is that while the best parts of Sam Logan’s magnum opus are the less obvious qualities, the more in-your-face aspects of the series are still deftly executed. “Sam & Fuzzy” is as bizarre as it is humorous, and nothing so far fits the bill of the former and latter as much as Fig Pig.
We rejoin our mad lads of mafioso-ninja leadership dangling from the ceiling in digestive sacks alongside their newfound friend, geneticist Walter Banner. Seriously, never trust someone with the last name Banner. If they aren’t a monster themselves you can be sure there’s one around the corner. And there is one. The cutest, most adorable, most huggable monster of science and corporate advertising the world has ever seen. His squeezable face holds a jaw that could sever you in half and his licks of love containing acidic saliva that can melt your skin off.
Honestly, the madness that produced Fig Pig is evidence that Sam Logan is a genius who should also be locked away in the interest of public safety. Coming up with this is like creating a Furby that bites your children in the night and turns them into zombies. It’s like if My Pet Monster was not an inanimate children’s toy and ate the faces of retail stockers before the madness of Black Friday 1986. And then it defecated on all the Cabbage Patch Kids.
This may very well be my favorite creation of Logan’s within “Sam & Fuzzy.” And that is saying something given that we’ve seen hulking gerbils and horny werewolves.
Sam does, of course, bumble his way into pacifying the beast and saving his comrades. Though, this does little to dissuade his newest client from severely under-paying for the job (and probably leaving a bad review on Yelp!). It does, however, lead to a quirky scene where the duo drops Fig Pig off at the Valle de los Monstruous. As Fuzzy notes, “it feels good to do things.”
It isn’t all sunshine and bird-maulings though, as the dejected ninjas who stole all of “Project 6742″‘s files return them to the original project lead. Who is this mysterious figure that seems to love Fig Pig as much as I do? I have no idea. He’s some character from one of the previous series. But we’re sure to learn more about him in the coming weeks as we continue our coverage of “Sam & Fuzzy.”
Continued belowCataloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooupe!
300 to 30
‘Stormy Weather’ – ‘Burnouts’
Updates: Daily-ish
By Min
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
Comics, or more specifically webcomics, and memoirs often go hand in hand. From the earliest inception of comics upon the great wide interwebs, short, personal tales have been a staple of online comic diets, in part due to the ease with which one can convey complicated and messy emotions, thoughts, or situations in a succinct and easily connectible manner. Or, to put it more plainly, webcomics are custom built to capture snapshots, and thus artistic interpretations, of life.
Why bring this up? Because “300 to 30” is another comic in this long and storied tradition, a mix of “EmiTown” and “Gumballs,” and the glimpses we are afforded within are equal parts relatable, mundane, and thought-provoking. The updates all range in detail and colorization and length from the very simple to the more complex, entirely at the whim of the day and the topic at hand. It makes for an inconsistent read but because of that, the project takes on a deeper level of connection. Min’s workload, state of mind, health, and even their artistic process are laid bare in which updates they chose to color, which aspects get the most attention, and how they sacrifice detail for length in order to convey to us the most about the things they are excited about.
In terms of what occurs in their most recent batch, it is a mix of D&D recap, daily personal journaling, and frank discussions of mental health. ‘Give them to the Needy’ voices Min’s discomfort with their boobs. ‘Stormy Weather’ talks about depression, or in the case of the comic, the storm of Big Sads, and ‘Migraine Min’ is about, well, their ongoing migraine as of posing and how suffering is often used to fuel stories. All end in a comedic take, despite the serious or personal subject matter, enhancing rather than undercutting the points, and I love, in particular, the final panel of ‘Stormy Weather.’
There’s something to be said for the point that suffering often fuels stories, for good or for ill, but more specifically for the next point on what forms of stories are viewed as award winning and, thus, “more important.” While not necessarily the intention of the comic, it is worth considering and discussing why one would find this update more award-worthy than the DnD chapter, when both retain the same approach to narration, comedic timing and expressive figures. But that’s a longer discussion for a different time, as the purpose of this comic is not for us, the reader. It is instead for Min. For them to share their progress, to connect, perhaps, with others and find comfort in community and creation. To have accountability for their goals, one of which is this comic, and to have a body of work to look back at. Follow along with them and you may just learn something about yourself as well. I know I have.
