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The Webcomics Weekly #85: Keeping Us N’SYNC With the Seasons (5/5/2020 Edition)

By | May 5th, 2020
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Welcome back to The Webcomics Weekly!

Ah, May. A month between the endless conclusions of June and the rainy, confused April. A month that’s kicked off with International Workers Day and ends, more or less, with Memorial Day. We’re kicking ours off with a more reserved number of reviews. Sometimes you just need a break and now more than ever, that’s important. So join us for an “A.C.T.” making “A Better Place” with an “Order of the Stick.”

Thanks all.

A.C.T.
‘The Man That Sold The World,’ Part 03
Updates: Varies
By Laura Rimaszombati
Reviewed by Jason Jeffords Jr

Comics/Webcomics are a visual media. I mean, if you already didn’t know that, I have no idea what to say. That in mind, one of my favorite elements with the varying types of comics are when people try crazy visuals or go outside the box. A great story can be told with visuals alone; a great story can be ruined by bad visuals. I love it when people try out visual elements and go out of the norm. That’s when I found “A.C.T.” and fell in love with its style.

“A.C.T.” revolves around inventors Vincent and Jan who’ve been working on a project together for the past four years. After years of work, they’ve finally arrived at pitch day. Their project, A.C.T. is a virtual reality where you can make a second life. As a character explains, “.. like Sims..” Although this plot of them preparing for pitch day is the driving force, the duo’s interactions are the highlight. From the little bit we’ve seen of them, Vincent and Jan seem complete opposite in multiple ways. Yet, they hold great respect for each other. I absolutely loved each moment the two interact, and hope they nail the pitch.

While I’m still new to the style of Webtoons, Rimaszombati style works perfectly with the vertical aspect. Her characters are lengthy and wouldn’t work with a usual styled Webcomic. But, the elongated characters work magnificently for the reading style. The designs are sharp, eye-catching, and popping. Rimaszombati visuals are gorgeous and will catch your attention, making you want to carry on. Not only are her characters and background designs fantastic, but she also uses a minimum range of colors.

This use of only a couple of colors added with her sharp, minimalist art is insanely pleasing. Each moment leaps off the page with the dialogue bubbles feeling the same. Weirdly enough, “A.C.T.’s” art style reminds me of a more stylized cartoon that I would’ve grown up with during the 90’s/00’s. Rimaszombati’s art is what initially drew me and, but her main characters are so damn fun that you want to know more about them while rooting them on.

A Better Place
‘Onto the Next City’ – ‘A Starry Night’
Updates: Thursdays
By Harry Bogosian
Reviewed by Elias Rosner

Since beginning my reviews of “A Better Place,” I’ve griped about the slow pace while simultaneously praising the careful, constant drumbeat of progress and new information. Very few sets of scenes have escaped this tension of paces and purposes.

These pages may be as close to perfect as I can think.

I don’t say this lightly. “A Better Place” is a very good comic, one I wish more people would read for its constantly high level of quality and consistency, but there’s usually something to quibble with. While I’m sure I could find something, I do not want to. The scene begins after Nina, Arma, and Mr. Bun have escaped the City of Staffs. It’s comedic and a nice transition from the jail break of the previous page, with a bright color palette, the choice to jump forward and not dramatize the escape being a smart one since it would have felt like padding and on a page a week schedule, well, I can imagine the impatience it would produce. Quickly, however, Bogosian lets the tone turn somber as Nina presses Mr. Bun for information. Who is he? What does he want?

Why can he control terrors?

Bogosian represents the emotional distance between the two on ‘What Are You’ with their close ups on either side of the page, while reminding us of their physical proximity with the central panels. It’s an effective use of the page that emphasizes the gulf without sacrificing the environment. Lore about the nature of the terrors is put on the table, as the cracks in Hannah’s “perfect” world and her control over it continue to be revealed. The somber nature of the scene continues, but the tone warms as Mr. Bun reveals what he knows and soon the two are chatting, moving from frosty companions to warm friends.

Continued below

And then Bogosian drops a fucking bombshell on us. He’s been teasing this for a long time, and I had some suspicions at this point, but the impact this confirmation has cannot be understated. It’s also so masterfully set up. Remember when Nina was captured by Irtes and he sentenced her to death by terrors? How was he able to control them if not even Hannah can? It begs the question: which is the true face and which is the mask? Are both false or both true? Can we trust him?

Or is he so stuck in his deceptions, he is lying to himself?

Order of the Stick
Pages 221 – 225
Updates: Varies
By Rich Burlew
Reviewed by Gustavo S. Lodi

Love is the realm of the unprecedented surprise. And “Order of the Stick” is the series to follow if you want a constant fresh approach to satire to the most varied of situations and tropes. Case in point: how romance can blossom during an adventure. Yes, really.

Listen, the series is known for its comedy – and that remains absolutely true on this latest update – but it is often that it ventures just a nudge off the beaten path, and shows its readers with the same sharp and insightful dialogue to other types of story.

This column rarely comments on the visual merit of “Order of the Stick” (they are, after, stick figures, intentionally bare-bone in terms of design), but it is joyful to find clever choices even in the middle of such simplistic design. On this case, it is just a hint of color that provides a more profound change in feelings and connections, and it just hits the bullseye perfectly.

Sure, there is still plenty in terms of the nonsensical, fourth-wall breaking humor the series is famous for, and it all connects. But it truly is these offbeat moments that make this update the more special.


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