The Webcomics Weekly is back in your life with their seventieth edition, marching ever closer to finally getting to make that Fellowship of the Ring joke. This week lettering, character acting, and a nice execution of a well known genre take center stage. We have continuing coverage of “Agents of the Realm” and “The Otherknown,” along with another dip into “Tiger, Tiger,” and a look at “Yuna & Kawachan.”
Agents of the Realm
Pages 188-198(Ch.4.5)
Schedule: Tuesdays and Thursdays
By Mildred Louis
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
With the conclusion of a chapter comes a little interlude looking at the Other Realm. These interludes are a nice change of pace as they shift the perspective from the present Agents to the group that came before them on the other side. This latest glimpse gives us another look at Folami and Camiel during a happy moment, as the latter proposes since retirement means they can finally live for themselves. With what we know is happening to the other Agents, and marriage proposals pretty much highlighting you’re a week from retirement, this seems fleeting but is a wonderfully executed moment.
Readers have spent roughly more than two thirds of the total page count thus far with the core cast of Agents on our side. That is an understandable move, they are the main cast, but it also makes these interstitial chapters designated as ‘X.5’ feel important or relevant. They create a recurring mystery of sorts, meant to tease and confound the reader at the larger world at play. Unlike an Abrams styled mystery box, however, Louis has done the crucial thing that makes these units of storytelling read as dramatically relevant and engaging: made these characters appear human. This is the process of efficient writing and the slow accumulation of pages, we’ve had roughly 10 pages with the Other Realm and Floami thus far. Chapter 4.5 more than triples the normal length at 18 pages total. But these first 10 pages as Folami and Camiel agree to spend their lives together some more only work because of the previous 5 pages in chapter 2.5. That 5 pages setup and allude to the tension with work and their relationship to one another, which beautifully come to a head as Folmai gingerly and begins a rehearsed speech before realizing something larger is at play. Once again, the body language in this sequence does more work than the words on the page.
Louis page construction for pages 189-191 is fantastic, with each page following the same basic structure visually tracking the ring/box in the bottom third of the page. Those panels slowly expand until they finally kiss on 191 and it becomes as moment out of time. There is onomatopoeia bursting through a dissolved background, suddenly confetti appears, and there is a little caption block stating what Floami’s answer was. Which than plays into the couple bickering as couples do at times.
I routinely praise Mildred Louis ability to do character acting, there are just so many delightfully well executed moments. These intestinal chapters however show off how efficient and layered she is as a writer and plotter, building a wonderfully effective dramatic moment on the back of 10 pages spread across a 190 pages and months of traditional publishing. I am curious what the reaction was like when this section was first being published what the reaction was like.
The Otherknown
Chapter 1, Pages 48-57
Updates: Wednesday/Saturday
By Lora Merriman
Reviewed by, Jason Jeffords Jr
Wow, one week till the end of January 2020. It seems like time flies whenever you’re reading Webcomics! You are reading some right? Granted if you aren’t we talk about some great ones here, yet we can’t talk about every single one. That in mind make sure you spend some time finding and reading Webcomics! Now onto the story known as, “The Otherknown.”
During the previous pages of “The Otherknown” a large ship rattling crash occurred, yet we had no idea what exactly transpired. But this week’s pages show us what happened, and how scummy Demeck is. Sadly, said crash was a huge pipeline that fell upon Reeds’ father, Judd. But, as any good father would do Judd acts as if it’s no big deal and makes sure that Reed and their guest are okay. The way Merriman writes each character in “The Otherknown” feels human and realistic as if they could exist in our world. This can be seen in the family esque feeling the workers have with one another, and even with Demeck feeling like a scummy real-life CEO.
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This realism rings true especially in Chandra’s interaction with Demeck. Being the age of only 12, she still has the “kids say the darndest things” attitude. Demeck keeps his nonchalant demeanor of not caring about his employees which causes Chandra to tell him off about them not being his slaves. Alas, this seems to strike a nerve, but we know Demeck only cares for money and will only help his workers for more money, not for their health. As serious as these pages are, Merriman does end it on quite a funny note.
When Demeck sees Ajupris (Chandra’s Aunt) and Chandra off, Ajupris ends the interaction with a beautiful closing line. In short, she tells him she has a good friend who is a “wonderful interior design consultant” that specializes in “disaster repair.” This alone is hilarious, yet so true as his room is littered with random things that look horrible when combined. Talking (well writing) about art, the expression Merriman draws for Demeck is hilarious and fits the moment perfectly. Yet, this isn’t the only amazing art in these nine pages.
During the moments of great stress and drama, Reed pleads with Chandra to go and get her Aunt. This terrifies Chandra and causes her to freeze up while she watches everything unfold. Merriman voids Chandra and her surroundings of color, rendering it black and white showing her desperation and fear. Yet, the other half of the panel that is adorned by the other characters keep their color amplifying how Chandra feels. This technique is simple, yet highly effective in its usage.
The next time we go over “The Otherknown” will be the final pages of Chapter One. Oh how far we’ve gotten!
Tiger, Tiger
Pages 138 – 149
Updates: Weekly, multiple days
By Petra Erika Nordlund
Reviewed by Gustavo S. Lodi
On this latest update for “Tiger, Tiger,” Ludovica continues to explore Farpoint, after having made a long journey, emotionally and geographically, to reach it. Her first encounter, as we’ve seen last, was with a theater trope with tales of the apocalypse and end of times, and a deranged man hellbent on stopping their stories. This time around, Ludovico and the stranger actually have a heart-to-heart, to some surprising revelation about the series’s lore and some comedic bits as well.
“Tiger, Tiger” usually surprises with its tonal and plot shift. If the story is becoming to focus on the sea transversals and adventures, it will swing back to more introspective moments. If dialogues look to be more on the personal evolution and confidence of lead Ludovica, readers are thrown back to her obsessions with sea sponges (yes, really). All wrapped in beautiful art, from how cities are designed and the architecture developed, to how each character looks unique, and yet aligned with the broader customs of the cities they belong to.
It is an excellent effort on world building, but without losing sight of character arcs. It is great to see Ludovica become more independent and fierce, and yet see the inner struggles of this personal journey. This series is incredibly investing and thoroughly built, both in terms of the backstory that is being revealed, to how series creator Petra Nordlund manages to keep all plates spinning as the story progresses.
Yuna & Kawachan
Episode 1-3
Updates: Fridays
By Lauren Schmidt
Color Assist (ep 3) by Sami Kerwin
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
Dystopian YA fiction was hot, hot, hot in the mid-2010s, following on the heels of the zombie apocalypse genre. The former hasn’t died out as much as the latter, having morphed into a different existential fear of the future and the looming climate crisis, but both are pretty passe in 2020, so you need to have a damn good hook to fill that “Walking Dead” niche. That’s where “Yuna & Kawachan” comes in.
Is it doing anything particularly new? No. In fact, you could probably recite the events of these first three chapters by heart with just a few cursory details to get you started. But that’s irrelevant to the success of “Yuna.” Schmidt has sold me on this apocalypse in three short chapters. The first establishes the world, the tone, and our main pair’s dynamic. The second provides the threat and some more exposition, while the third fills in some of the gaps, flashing back to before the end. Placing that moment third instead of first is just one way “Yuna” avoids being just another generic post-apocalyptic comic.
There is something inherently uninteresting about the end of the world. This is why the movie version of “The Road” is far less compelling than the novel; it demystifies the end and thus frames the story in relation to before, rather than in the now. “The Walking Dead” skips it entirely, and is all the better for it. I say this because I hope Schmidt chooses to forgo dramatizing the fall in favor of giving us just enough to pump those feels ducts but without bogging us down in the collapse itself. Visually, it reminds me of Faith Erin Hicks’ art, with its simple inking, thick borders that look like there were drawn with charcoal, and flat, well chosen and beautifully lit colors.
I also love the SFX and lettering. It’s a thicker, sans serif font than is normally present in Webtoons. It’s a playful but slightly unnerving font, indicative of people trying to stay positive in the bleakness after the collapse. Also, and this is such a great touch, the dialog balloons’s tails are outlined with the same fuzzy, charcoal-like border as the main comic but the bubble itself is very clean and computerized. They flow into each other almost imperceptibly, adding cohesion to those panels. It’s clear a lot of care has been put into this story and while I’m not sold on the plot itself as yet, I’m all in on finding out where Yuna and Kawachan go from here.
