Welcome back, one and all, to The Webcomics Weekly! After a much needed winter break, we return in the new year with four returning favorites and two new comics, one political satire, the other about space bird people. (This is why I love webcomics.) 2019 may only be a week in but we’re gonna make sure it’s an even better one for our webcomic coverage. On a quick aside, thank you all for following us into the new year. We’re gonna try to make it a good one.
Bad Machinery
December 16, 2009 – December 24, 2009
Updates: Completed
By John Allison
Reviewed by Bodhi
Happy New Year to all from here in John Allison’s “Bad Machinery” where we open with Shauna celebrating her twelfth birthday with presents from her family and friends. And Sonny who may not have been the bestest friend in the past few updates redeems himself by … well, you’ll just have to see for yourself, won’t you?
Reading the strips it’s surprising to notice just how early Allison had seeded the comic with material for later storylines: the Gehry posters in architecture-obsessed Shauna’s room point to one such storyline far in the future, for example.
In the current updates the story starts following multiple threads: the girls do a presentation in class about Elena Nabokova aka Mrs. Biscuits, the boys are still trying to solve how to best help Tackleford F.C. and we meet a character pretty well-known to the readers of the Giant Days universe: Erin Winters, the reporter.
Art-wise, “Bad Machinery” keeps doing what it has done so well in the past: simple but effective lines with choice facial expressions: notice Erin Winters’ green eye-shadow and alligator-ish grin. Shauna’s confused and penitent face after delivering an out-of-character remark.
Next time: we meet PHYLLIS (the caps are justified, you’ll see), Mrs. Biscuits go full X-Files, and Lottie finds an idol.
The Croaking
Chapters: Prologue – 2
Schedule: Saturday
By Megan Stevenson
Reviewed by Michael Mazzacane
A title like “The Croaking” may conjure up ideas of what happens the morning after some heavy drinking. This webcomic is not about that, after reading the first three chapters (a prologue and chapters 1-2) I’m not entirely sure how the title ties everything together. What the comic is really about is an elite military academy run by not-Thanagarians. These bird people may not be those Space Bird People, but creator Megan Stevenson leans into the inherent racial/class divide that property is known for. With the military academy acting as a microcosom for the larger society of various bird people as tensions flair with the arrival of a Crow, the lowest born. Megan Stevenson sets up the Veronica Mars like playing field well in these first two chapters. The Crow’s roommate, a well-meaning, cute, naive, Osprey, named Ky is a good point of view character whose status allows him freer movement throughout the school.
For all the racial tensions that simmer throughout the strip, I think it’s actually supposed to be friendship maybe gay romance story at heart. In the prologue chapter, Stevenson play Ky and Scra’s first meeting as a total meet cute. They even go on a fly together that is pretty much out of Superman: The Movie. It is worth noting that the prologue is written from Scra’s perspective, which is good for efficiently narrating certain aspects of the story world and setting of Ky to be our naïve protagonist. The use of dueling perspectives is something I hope the strip does in the future.
There is some slight inconsistency to Stevenson’s art in these first three chapters. It isn’t major but more a matter of them clearly having the character sheet for Ky, and the main cast down pat, while anonymous supporting characters have an unfinished roughness to them. Overall Stevenson’s artwork is fine with strong fundamentals.
The biggest short fall is the heavy white gutters in these strips. They are simply too big. While there are certain panel combinations that work with it, most of the time it falls flat and was left wondering why there was the need to scroll so far. It can be effective, see the mobility time trial in chapter 2, but that is one brief instance.
Continued below“The Croaking” is playing with some heavy ideas, and mostly able to balance them in these opening chapters.
Dungeons & Doggos
Pages 79-83
Updates: Fridays
By V Lee Illustrations
Reviewed by Robbie Pleasant
Who would have thought that buying a pouch could be so entertaining? I suppose when the merchant is an opossum (which, I might add, establishes that opossums are also intelligent creatures within the webcomic) and the players are excitable dogs, it absolutely could be.
While the majority of these few pages are mostly the characters being their adorable selves (both in and out of character), there are some clever jokes in there. The opossum merchant’s wife being named Fanny Pack, for instance, is an amusing little gag. We also get more of Tonka being amusingly excitable, even over bags, and frankly, he’s just a very good dog.
But there is more story introduced, a little bit at a time, mostly featuring the treachery of the innkeeper, Susie. While it could be a regular con job, there’s rarely been a D&D player who let themselves get conned without getting revenge on the perpetrator, so we’ll likely see Susie again soon. But the amusing little discussion over the term “wild goose chase” gets set aside as plot points are revealed, and we may be seeing a full campaign story soon.
The artistic shift between in-game and out-of-game continues to grow, as the in-game art has gotten even more impressive. In addition to far more use of shading and details, we also get some good artistic touches in the background, such as a Bag of Holding hanging in the back of the bag shop, its design clearly recognizable from the player’s handbook.
And just to top things off, there’s a sweet little Christmas comic where they get dice bags as gifts. Because you can never have too many dice.
In the Dell
Episodes 7-11
Updates: Mondays
By J Salvadore
Reviewed by Dexter Buschetelli
It was inevitable it would come to this. One can’t review comics in the world of 2018 whilst avoiding politics. Though in previous reviews this contributor has found series that dabbled in political themes and commentary, most were subtle, or allowed them to be part of the background. “In the Dell” is anything but.
Created by artist J Salvadore, of “Super Emo Friends,” “In the Dell” makes no bones about its subject matter…except for all the bones of the animals. That’s. . .a whole other thing.
The Dell is a small valley populated by forest and farm animals, some of a more prickly demeanor than that of a porcupine, which is an animal that has yet to show up in this strip–seems like a missed opportunity. Their new mayor, Mr Pigley, looks. . .familiar. He sounds familiar, too. It’s almost like this comic is about. . .something. . .vague. . .can’t quite put my finger on it yet.
Mr Pigley is in the Dell to make it great again, which seemingly involves a great deal of self-indulgence and posturing. I know there’s some sort of metaphor here but perhaps Salvador will make that clearer through future installments. For now, Pigley is spending his term telling a bird to chirp insults at his fellow animals, encouraging speciesism among his constituents to be aimed at his own mate, rolling on snakes in the swamp he promised to drain, and being pandered to by half of the media.
I still can’t get over how familiar all of this sounds. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Regardless, “In the Dell” is a fun stab at. . .something. . .or someone. . .but Salvador is too sly with his commentary and it flies right over this writer’s head.
Lost Nightmare
Pages 4.11 – 4.18
Updates: Completed
By Julia K. (a.k.a. Miyuli)
Reviewed by Gustavo S. Lodi
As Ink continues in the woods between the realms of Nightmare and Dream, the story really picks up by offering not only one, but two mysteries tying the plot together. In an exciting update, “Lost Nightmare” is back to world building, after a bit of a dull moment on the previous pages.
Continued below“Lost Nightmare” is at its strongest story-wise when it focuses on their main characters exploring the world, learning about it and taking its audience with them. Although some characters are a bit more ‘in the know,’ like the Boogeyman, most of them have only bits and pieces of a larger puzzle so only by interacting and venturing into new lands can they understand what is happening.
This time around, mysteries are both personal – a predicament with Jasper’s eyes – and broader – a creepy cosmic event. They mash together to form an interesting whole, and one that Ink and the fox twins have yet to better comprehend.
Art, as usual, is great. Miyuli continues to use colors deftly, especially in situations where different character pallets clash with each other. By keeping those choice relatively constant throughout the series, it becomes iconic to see some of the interactions, in a very visual, well-defined way.
All in all, it feels like “Lost Nightmare” still has several layers to be removed until readers fully understand what is going on. With compelling characters that are growing as the adventures progresses, this remains a series well worth the price of admission.
The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn
Chapters 34-37
Updates: Wednesdays
By Tri Vuong
Colors on Chapter 36 & 37 by John C. Newton
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
While these chapters feel more unfocused than the previous four, thanks in part to splitting the flashback between updates, this aimlessness suits the tone of the arc. ‘Stardust and Soliloquies’ has set itself up as a more somber fare than the previous two, one that concerns itself more with Oscar than before, while still remaining tightly focused on the new supporting characters. Chapter 34 in particular offers a host of tantalizing clues about Oscar’s profession and past while also revealing part of what makes Edmund special.
I keep returning to the humor of Oscar and “Oscar Zahn” because we are now a far cry away from the constant barrage of wisecracks of arc 1 or the situational humor of arc 2. It is tempered now, coming out in small moments and in the flashbacks, replaced instead by the wistful musings of Edmund and the Hydronauts. That is who they are, as well. World-weary and, while not humorless, they are older than Charles, who had his youth burning in every word he spoke and every action he took; it’s not surprising that the tone of the arc would reflect the moods of the focal characters and, as Oscar has shown, he too fits how others perceive him. . .to some extent.
On the technicals, there is a new colorist for the chapters, who brings a very different feel to the comic. At first, the colors don’t quite mesh with the art. Chapter 36 feels muddier than previous chapters, accentuating the weaknesses of Vuong’s linework and shading. That chapter in particular is the weakest of the bunch, with too many close-ups, which kills the pacing.
However, chapter 37 remedies all that, with a beautiful ambiance to the colors, making the otherworldly sea shine with pinks and blues. Vuong balances the shot composition much better too, while also introducing two new twists and roadblocks to the narrative. It seemed that chapter 36 was a necessary stumbling block as Newton adjusted to the narrative, allowing Vuong more time to focus on the other aspects of the comic.
The die is cast and the first real problem of the adventure upon the Cassiopeia is here. What’s next will be interesting to see.
