The Webcomics Weekly #140: The March to 150 Begins (6/8/2021 Edition)

Webcomics Weekly returns with a look at “Sequence,” “Within,” “Mara” a set of webcomics that you could use to say all kinds of things. As well as continued coverage of “Lavender Jack” season 2. All of this though is prologue to the march to entry #150.

Zany, wacky stories of multiple universes are like a drug to me. I’ve watched and rewatched the multiple universe seasons of “Fringe.” And of course I’ve read countless superhero comics across the ages that feature elements of a firmly canonized (too often retconned) multiverse. I am also a fan of quirky storytelling that can make you laugh, but there isn’t a lot of sci-fi that does this. Enter the comic Sequence by writer artist kisreel, which has a bold, unique approach to the multiverse. Leoline Montes is a missing child on his home universe but is really secretly part of the Remfaire’s Multiverse Society, a multiversal police organization and is basically a secret interdimensional agent. The organization he belongs to has some echos of “Torchwood” from the Doctor Who universe. And Leoline is in some ways a type of much younger Captain Jack Harkness because of his ability to gleefully embrace danger with a cavalier adventurers attitude.

Leo shows up in Central Illinois where he disappeared and reappears to his concerned neighbor. He nonchalantly acts as though travel through dimensions is the most normal, commonplace thing in the world which makes his character and the comic that much more endearing. In this comic nothing is as it seems which makes the story interesting and makes the characters pop against the flattering background of an intricately and meticulously created multiverse and developing story. His neighbor turns out to be the host of an adversarial entity and Leo figures it out fairly quickly. But rather than destroy him, he keeps him alive and decides to work with him because he says he has “good vibes” from him. Earth 111 where he’s from is becoming unstable and Leo wants to bring this entity in for questioning to the prime universe, where his employers are. The creature enlists Leo to find a human woman, Emerson Song who is hiding in Chicago, not far from where they are.

Emerson has her own things to worry about. She makes a list on her phone with the title “Getting my life together” which includes going to therapy, swimming and getting enough sleep. Leo meets up with Emerson and he explains to her and the old man, that most problems he investigates occur from people crossing over between universes and describes them as invasive species. But Leo himself is crossing over between universes. He explains to Emerson that she is a homegrown mutation. They travel to the “main sequence” which is the very first universe and also where Leo is employed. There are plenty of quirks like Leo’s four armed friend who is named Trotenthal at 100% cram every of rain, because some people from his universe attach the weather for case to their names.

Kirseel does some innovative things with backgrounds in this comic. The artist toys with focal point in one panel, making the background out of focus. Also the shading is utilized rather uniquely as well with some things being shaded as though the person looking at the subject of the panel is opening and closing their eyes. Also black spaces between panels is an interesting way to divide up the action of the story. I was pretty impressed with the detail of the backgrounds which are utilized more often than your average webcomic. Colors pop in this comic, wether they are bright pastels or shades of browns or more earthy tones. Overall the artwork is polished and engaging.

Though it is in its infancy I believe Sequence has the potential to be a breakout hit in the sci-fi genre on WEBTOON. It’s got the right yin-yang mix of worldbuilding, character development, and plot. Too often one of these elements gets out of control and obscures some or all of the rest of the elements of narrative. Some sci-fi focuses too much on worldbuilding. Other works put too much into characters. And most commonly some sci-fi creators get lost in details of the plots. This comic appears to be harmoniously achieving a balance and is not allowing the work to be pulled too much in any of these directions. I look forward to future episodes which are released every Tuesday.

The second season of “Lavender Jack” really begins to cook in this batch of strips. After finishing the last bit of exposition for how Mimley and Ducky do what they do, by taking advantage of the class stratification in Gallery, episode 52 ends with a bang as the dirigible we’ve been following explodes and ironically ties everything together. From there game is afoot as the Black Note makes their presence known at the Mayoral debate.

Episodes 52-53 are functionally more tablet setting, but it’s the execution that makes them entertaining. Mimley and Ducky are out on reconnaissance missions with Mimley going upstairs and Ducky down. We meet mayoral candidate and faux-working man ‘Gilded’ Eddy Delany and his ideas that the working class and lower would be insulted at economic aid and social programs “handouts” and instead deserve the dignity of going quietly into that sweet good night. Club owner Mister Summer is also introduced who Schkade draws with a cynical eye and not too dissimilar to Mimley. As episode 52 progresses the reader works their way downstairs to meet Ducky and see how the other half live (it’s probably more accurate to say the other 80%). This transition takes advantage of the medium specific attributes of a Webtoon and literalizes it to a degree as we go down the stairs and class ladder.

Episode 52 is features a mirror motif, including a nice quasi spread-dolly through the party that finds Mimley and Ducky. The first version of this image with Mimley immediately evoked a comparison to the dolly from Wings 1927 or from The Last Jedi direct homage, because nothing says connotes decadence as grand and skillfully executed imagery of excess. Even when the moment is mirrored with Ducky the image is teaming with excess, but of a different energy.

Throughout this episode and the ones prior there has been a running C-plot concerning a dirigible. Episode 52-53 is when all of these threads finally interact with explosive results. One of the real joys of “Lavender Jack” has been how well Schkade creates pace through intercutting various plot threads, but more importantly the ability to juggle and create a coherent sense of space. That spatiality allows for the moment, the panel, when the dirigible flies overhead with Mimley and Summers hearing that dreadful noise to land with the knowledge that something bad is about to happen. That sense of spatiality continues into the next strip as Lavender Jack ease drops on Endo Gall and Delany campaigns deciding how they’re going to work the upcoming debate. Meanwhile the fiery glow of the dirigible unites everything and washes Jack in this pale orange that Jenn Manley rarely uses. There’s just a lot of plainly good visual storytelling going on in this pair of strips that makes the procedural plot mechanics recede and you’re left with just the magic of a comic.

The last bath of strips is centered around the mayoral debate. To Schkade’s credit he does a good job of not making both candidates simply be one note levels of evil. Gall is a lawful evil authoritarian in waiting, but he recognizes the need for humanitarian aid. Delany is less nuanced at this point due to a lack of page time, but the visuals do a good job of giving him a A Face in the Crowd insincerity that reveals his demagoguery. As much as I would want a 10-episode arc of just the debate, that might not be the most interesting or propulsive so the Black Note finally makes their public debut. It’s early days but giving Jack a masked persona to fight opens different avenues of action from the early cat and mouse with Ferrier. This time it’s a chase sequence with a spread/series of quasi-panels in episode 55 that only really work in Webtoons.

“Lavender Jack” continues to be well constructed and with the opening movement out of the way the Black Note’s Symphony of Clarity is ready to begin.

I don’t know if I’d quite put “Mara” in the Sword and Sorcery genre but “historical fiction” feels about as fitting here as sci-fi is for “Amazing Spider-Man.” It’s technically accurate, reminiscent of “Vinland Saga” in its unflinching look at a time-long-gone-by, but it feels so far back that it loops around to feeling like a “Conan” book. In these first ten pages, we’re introduced to the titular character, a young Barbarian named Mara, and her family. Are they actually Barbarians? I dunno but that’s what the summary tells me I should call them so for now, that’s the designation!

There isn’t actually much in terms of concrete details about Mara’s world as of yet, which is a problem if we’re to be invested in the conflict that comes to her village and the characters long-term. I’m sure this won’t be as much of an issue once we’re farther in and have a complete opener under our belt but right now, that lack of information hurts the comic. The opening two scenes – a short conversation between Mara and her father Txiv and the interruption of regular life by a war – don’t take enough time to set the status quo before disrupting it, which is an issue regardless, but it’s clear that had this all be dropped as one scene, the lack of information would not matter as this is meant to be a formative event for Mara. It is likely the creators chose to do this in an attempt to get to the good part before too many weeks go by.

However, the content of these pages is effective and has gotten me invested in where we’re going. Woo’s art is the right level of detailed and the minimal dialog allows their art to do much of the heavy lifting emotionally. The page where Txiv has to leave Mara and her mom to go fight was beautifully economical in its storytelling through clever paneling and framing. The action isn’t the most intense but it’s still brutal and indicative of the tone the series will be taking from here on out. I don’t love the brown color palette but if the idea is to evoke a dusty or rocky region or a region in late fall, then it is doing its job well. It’s also available in four different languages, which is awesome and deserves a mention.

All in all, “Mara” has yet to get to the point where it seems to want to be but the path there is looking to be a good one. There’s a lot to like about “Mara” and while it hasn’t fully hooked me yet, I’m certainly not looking to stop reading anytime soon. Now if only it had an RSS feed…

The protagonist of “Within” continues to slide even further into dreams in chapter 6. His dream self (or is it someone else?) continues to chase red butterflies through the mysterious dream house he keeps visiting and is disturbed when the butterflies come apart as he handles them. At the end of the chapter, he briefly encounters the fancy suit-wearing bug man again. The bug man is ripping apart the butterflies and while this seems awful, the significance of both his actions and the dissolving of the butterflies is unclear.

Meanwhile, Redhead is just as disconnected and strange in “real” life. He visits his friend Jay’s studio and seems to black out when he experiences the hypnotizing sound of rain hitting an umbrella under her “rain machine” invention. Jay continues to be quirky, chirpy, and oh-so-normal, even though she doesn’t even know Redhead’s name. (Nor do we! He’s listed on the cast page only as Redhead.) After the rain machine, Redhead blacks out again as he struggles to tell Jay about his memory loss and the dreams where he’s trying to help the red butterflies and doesn’t seem to know how. (After two incidents of floating off in the middle of a conversation, I’m even more worried about Redhead’s mental health!)

Dreamy and flowy are two words I find myself repeating when thinking about “Within.” Both the art style and the story meander as readers enter the protagonist’s confusing worlds. Reading “Within” is a process of entering this world and empathizing with Redhead as he navigates both a strange real-life and strange dreams. Verena Loisel’s art style is consistently lovely and atmospheric, though at times I wonder what the end game is for Redhead and Jay, and whether there is an overall structure or point to the dream house. Due to the engrossing nature of the art and how easy it is to sit down and read ten or more mostly dialogue-free pages of “Within,” overall I still find myself content to enter Redhead’s world and dream with him.