Welcome back to the Webcomics Weekly. This week Elias is taking us to the circus, the “Sanity Circus”.
Prologue – Chapter 2
Updates: Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays
By Windy aka Tasha Mukanik
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
One of the trickiest things about reviewing very long running webcomics is that the early chapters are often not indicative of where the story is now. That’s true of all media to some extent but it seems to be a particularly acute problem in webcomics, especially early 2010s narrative webcomics. You can read two, three, even four chapters and still be reading the early trial and errors of an artist coming into their own. It’s quite wonderful to experience in real time. Less so when I have to make conclusions and recommendations just based on that.
I bring this up to contextualize my critiques of these early chapters of “The Sanity Circus.” The series launched in 2014, joining Hiveworks in mid-2018 if the dates on the website are to be believed. It is a horror series; or maybe a supernatural mystery series; or maybe an urban fantasy series about a world that’s like our own but different in one important way: demons and magic are real and a part of everyday life. Well, demons are. They’re like bears in this series. Scary, will absolutely wreck your day, and work really nicely as a plot device for putting the main character in danger.
We follow Attley Grimshaw, a young, newsie looking girl with a pet tarantula who suddenly finds herself under attack by, first, said demon, and then chased across the city by her “friend” Posey. Along the way, she encounters Fitch, some violin guy, and so many questions I wouldn’t even know where to begin with the red string. It’s honestly a lot and while I’m very grateful to have both short and long term mysteries to follow, the “everything and the kitchen sink” feel to the presentation is quite overwhelming.
It’s not apparent that this will happen from the get go however. The prologue is actually quite well paced, giving us the broad characterizations of Posey & Attley, introducing us to the otherness of the world, and teasing out just enough intrigue to keep readers coming back. It’s only once chapter one begins that things accelerate way too much, way too fast. Rather than give us more time getting to know Attley or her life, we’re suddenly introduced to a number of new concepts, a bunch of new characters, and a lot of mysterious backstory and motivations that the characters understand but we don’t.
I think the idea was to show an interruption of Attley’s life – think “Percy Jackson” – and also establish why she’s important early on; like how she doesn’t seem to feel fear or why her blood hurts others. To get to the good stuff, as it were. It’s just in doing so, Windy undercuts her story and makes the comic seem like it lacks confidence. We don’t gain enough appreciation for the regular to have its interruption be impactful while simultaneously we’ve spent just a little too long in the mundane for the mysteries to feel like anything but a sudden interruption of the more engaging character work being done.
And it is engaging. Windy’s characters are bouncy and fun, even if they are archetypical at this time, and the questions about Attley’s unique status, what Posey’s deal is, why Attley’s mom is so protective of her, etc. have me wanting to read more. Even while I was frustrated by the lack of answers, or even a slowing down for exposition’s sake, the cartooning kept me laughing, kept me tense, and kept me turning the pages.
I can also say that Windy’s art and coloring improves immensely over time. One look at the latest page shows the vast difference between the simple, somewhat muddy colors of these early chapters and the sharper, more rich colors of chapter 21, though I do like the evocation of “Silent Hill” it creates in chapters 1 & 2. Her shading also gets much better, even over the course of these two chapters. What starts as blocky and unnatural lighting turns into something more natural and consistent, though it’s still overexposed for a while.
That aside, the linework is nice and fluid. I don’t love the thin outlines as it makes the lack of detail lines more apparent and the emptyish backgrounds stand out but the freedom it affords the comic’s motion makes up for it. I love the character designs too, especially the weird eye birds. Those things are creepy and I wanna know what their deal is.
I wish I could more definitively recommend “The Sanity Circus” based on these three chapters. It’s certainly gotten me interested but the mix of a slow intro with too much contextless information tempers my curiosity in those mysteries. Clearly it’s weaving a sprawling tapestry and we’re only seeing a couple threads at the moment. How strong the pull of those threads are will depend on who you are. If you can put up with a slow and somewhat confusing start, the charms of Attley and Posey will be more than enough to keep you invested as the art and storytelling inevitably improves.
