The Webcomics Weekly #66: Just Pancakes (12/17/19 Edition)

For the final time in 2019, in this decade, the Webcomics Weekly is back in your life! Good news, we have pancakes … and coverage of other stuff like “Agents of the Realm,” “The Otherknown,” “The Din,” but mainly “Just Pancakes”

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before, but Mildred Louis does character acting very well. In the previous batch of pages I reviewed this emphasis on character acting was shifted to a more surveillance, gaze oriented, mode. This batch goes back to a more standard depiction as Kendall proves why she’s going to be voted most likely to succeed when all of this is said and done. Also Louis drops a big o’ll drama bombshell.

The bathroom sequence between Kendall and Jordan starting on Page 167 is excellent craft through its use of the reading line to enhance the comedy. Tonally it is over the top as Jordan melodramatically rings out all the paper towels imaginable to help dry Kendall’s shirt. This is done in a solid three panel strip, nothing super fancy. You simply have the slow accumulation of towels, the increasing expression of anguish on her face, and the exponential growth in “klink” effects that give the strip a wonderful sense of motion. The use of the reading line in the bottom third of the page enhances this comedy as it makes the reader not notice the other half of the page, allowing for the reveal that Kendall is just using the air dryer to fix things even more effective. The use of the reading line essentially hides a panel without really hiding it.

All of this serves the page turn as Jordan screams into her wad of paper towels. Jordan is clearly a riff on the “evil” good person who was separated from the group and turned by the big bad, often through mind control, and our team has to show them the light. Most of the time these kinds of characters come off as moody and shallow, they also tend to look the most generically juvenile (often male) idea of “cool.” Jodran isn’t like that, this whole sequence, the last twenty pages really, have been highlighting her vulnerability. Which makes the moment she realizes Kendall is a fellow Agent delightful because she has found a friend who gets this craziness, even if they don’t see eye to eye at the moment.

When they enter Jordan’s dorm room, the reveal that she has a room all to herself is a fantastic use of space and perspective. Big images mean more is a general storytelling maxim in comics. Jordan’s plain dorm room gets half a page. This half page spread is augmented with a reaction panel by Kendall, using the same technique from the previous bathroom sequence. This helps to build the sense that the room is large – Louis makes these dorm rooms appear to be the size of apartments on Friends. The sense of scale is also due to the use of perspective and putting the reader slightly behind Kendall at an angle and using her for perspective. It’s a really smart way to introduce a new space.

Meanwhile during the team meeting we get some info on the latest round of MacGuffins the squad will be hunting, it’s a bunch of keys. More importantly Norah is asking the real important questions like: what happened to the other Agents? Why does it appear that their predecessors are the monsters they’ve been fighting, and why hasn’t the Good Dr. Blackwater hasn’t told them this piece of info yet? This is a very melodramatic moment, in a good way, powered by some emotional cartooning for Norah.

The answers to these questions will have to wait two week … well more because of the Holidays.

For those not reading “The Din,” this is a complex, layered story about what happens when most of the world’s high-end technology goes haywire and, by emitting a high-frequency sound, is rendered useless. A large portion of humanity has died following the outbreak of the problem and now, years after that, the sound has stopped and the world leadership starts to reconsider reinstating some of that technology.

While it may sound overly sci-fi and even political, chapter 3 of “The Din” is almost like an humanitarian discussion, in the best possible way. The focus is placed squarely on the lead characters and their wishes, and how their shared adventures bring them closer to that or, in some cases, to the realisation nothing will ever be like it once was.

Perhaps the very end of this chapter, with a bittersweet acknowledgment that dreams might also need to evolve, is the most poignant of the series. A sailor may never truly return to his life at sea, but he might still have some moment out n the ocean, if only for a shorter period of time.

On the art department, series creator Karin Rindevall has evolved since the early chapters (and, note, that part of the prologue were done after the initially released chapters). His characters portrayal looks sharper and more consistent, even if colors remain a bit saturated on some situations. It is a minor distraction thought, to what is still a very consistent and beautiful world.

Hoping “The Din” returns from hiatus early into the new year, as the story is at a juncture set for broader changes. According to Rindevall scripts are all but ready, so fingers crossed the adventures of this technology-deprived world return in full force soon.

“Just Pancakes” is both a very polished series and one that looks like it came out of the early internet. A sitcom in a tavern where the logic is predicated on surreality, food puns, and absurdism, each new episode is this meeting of tones and visuals that shouldn’t work and yet it does. There is a beautifully amateurish nature to the whole thing and yet, ‘Just Debts’ shows why it is all a facade, belying a deeper control of tone, story, and pacing.

This comic is really well put together y’all and I’m sorry if this opening sounded like I was giving them backhanded compliments the whole way through. The visuals have this rough quality to them that, by this point, have been sharpened but. . .okay. Let me give an example.

Mob Psycho 100 is the anime based on manga creator ONE’s webcomic of the same name. The show kept the rough drawing style but upped the artistry to make one of the best looking anime of the last few years. This comic reads like the show’s version of the comic: highly focused humor with an art style that allows for the absurdity of the jokes and the visuals to bolster rather than hinder the comic. There is a clear intentionality to it all and the creators (HadeToons is a collective of three creators and an editor) lean into the style they have, mining it for humor but honing and sharpening the roughness until it shines like a geode.

This is why digital effects such as Ebus’ pink eyes when he eats Meatius Tenderthor’s steak form look so incongruous but are clearly intentional, making the moment is both hilarious and tense. The story being built is engaging and finding out more about the three brothers’ family is something I didn’t know I needed until it was here. Ebus has always been a comedic relief character, the third foil to Wetzel and Shelby’s bickering and banter, but in that moment, the comic elicits genuine worry for his safety.

“Just Pancakes” may have just gone on a winter hiatus but it is far from completed. Catch up in the break and get ready for food, fun, Debt-mentors, and all the absurdity you can shake a meat tenderizer at.

Also, all those butt shots of Meatius? Succulent.

It’s the season of giving and I got you, dear reader, a gift! What’s that you ask as you furiously scan my words to find the holiday gift wrapping. Well, it’s nothing that costs money, nor is it physical, but it’s equally as nice! That’s right, one reader who guessed it! You get 11 full pages this week for “The Otherknown!” I know, it’s an amazing gift! So amazing in fact, that’s hop right in.

Half of the previous page (22) focused on Miss Ajupris and Mr. Demeck entering his office to talk shop. We didn’t go over this as we ended on said page, plus the talk only lasts four and a half pages. So, not a long talk. But, Merriman is able to achieve a good deal of world building in this short exchange—per usual. During this conversation Miss Ajupris and Mr. Demeck go over the details of the purchase of DH-6 (the planet). It seems Miss Ajupris -or the company she represents- doesn’t expect any Chronotite on said planet. But, Mr. Demeck mentions how the company he represents doesn’t believe that and wants royalties for finding the material in the write-up.

The first few pages of “The Otherknown” gave vibes of Mr. Demeck being a sketchy no good guy -which still holds true-, and Miss. Ajupris as his opposite. In the short conversation between the two we learn she can play just as well as he can. As noted this scene is only four and a half pages, as Merriman cuts the conversation short, teasing more for the future. The remainder of our pages focus on our two newest friends, Chandra and Reed Winsome. Two of my favorite people!

Having stolen a scroll from Chandra in the previous interaction, Reed plays a game of catch me if you can. In this we learn that scrolls in “The Otherknown” are in fact laptops. That was a surprise, but a welcome one. Although it seems Reed begins this game in a playful manner, Chandra is pissed and gives chase. Like anyone would. Playing games on a jobsite with a myriad of technology and equipment doesn’t bode well, which the duo learn quite fast.

In our coverage of the previous pages we learned how great Merriman is with making conversations visually engaging, whereas pages 23-34 we learn the same can be said for a chase scene. But before that let’s quickly make note on Miss Ajupris and Mr. Demeck’s conversation. The room that they first walk into is “unique” in its style. Miss Ajupris makes notes of his varied style of decor, which I would agree with. The room looks like a generic villain lair that collects a lot of precious heirlooms.

The room that the negotiating duo talk in is a great looking high-tech office space that has lighting that trickles across each characters face in a fascinating style. Bad guy lighting aside, Merriman creates a great eerie vibe with the lighting and layout during the conversation. The remainder of the page count consists of the aforementioned chase sequence.

Mereiman keeps the chase high paced with panel usage defining the speed. By designing the panels to portray time the chase receives a boost in it’s effectiveness of being fast. One of the best examples being the quick usage of rectangular panels during Reed’s trip. During this the tension quickly builds until it explodes in the following page with panels that in large.

These last 34 pages of “The Otherknown” has been fantastic with me looking forwards towards every few pages. But seeing as it’s the holiday season we end this year on page 34. I look forward to the multiple other pages we’ll go there next year! See ya’ll in 2020!