The Webcomics Weekly #96: Countdown to the Road to the Prologue (7/21/2020 Edition)

Welcome back to The Webcomics Weekly!

We are back in your life as we march on to countdown to entry #100 of the Webcomics Weekly. This week continuing coverage of “Agents of the Realm,” “Tigress Queen,” “Trekker,” and a check in with “The Resistance.”

One of the interesting things I’ve found reading webcomics is the archive page and how it effects the reading experience. So for the chapter cover we’ve had this picture of Jordan and Mackenzie staring at us for a while. Louis featured their on the rocks relationship – or, well, lack of one – early one. All signs pointed towards them playing some key part in this chapter. Going through the archive page I can see thumbnails of the pages and while it wasn’t a crystal clear, I could see someone in a crystal like they’re Princess Zelda during a final boss fight.

I don’t have the space or the mental energy at the moment to unpack if this was-is “good”(I guess that’s an OK word ) damsling. I’m inclined to find it not all that offensive. There is a certain level of self awareness in how it is handled, with Louis pointing out some of the fundamental rules of superheroing. It is also a plot point that is entirely Jordan’s fault, she was working for the big bad and Mackenzie got caught up in it.

The actual mechanics of how the story got to this keys of Mackenzie place isn’t really the point. It is a chance to finally put the team work and sense of unity that the chapter has been building with the Agents to the test. With Paige in particular getting a moment to shine through the power of arts and crafts and cosplay prop design.

The page design for this exchange sequence is excellent. In particular page 351, a single page spread of Jordan and Ruby. Louis cuts a sharp diagonal reading line that structures everything wonderfully. Most splash pages are built with a very static reading perspective, normally in the dead. They are less pages to read than cool bits of poster art put in sequence and context of other pages for narrative impact. Page 351 is a plainly well constructed page that begins the motif of emphasizing distance between the two parties until they exchange.

Things appear to be ending in a more action direction, but this is an interesting change of pace so far. After chapters emphasizing new found power the ability to use it in spectacular fashion they need to hide it and not act.

A few weeks ago, I looked at the conversion of “The Resistance” to webtoons and I thought I would take a look at it again. As it turns out, AWA has chosen to stop putting the main chapters up now that comic stores are open again, and instead added a five episode mini-series, with each episode focused on a different powered person that will play a part in future issues. It’s a nice bit of context for those interested, and the stories themselves are engaging enough, but the episodes feel superfluous.

Part of the reason I feel this way is C.P. Smith’s artwork. It’s claustrophobic and overly shadowed in an effort to mimic Deodato’s style without the clarity of it. Panels are often repeated so as to accompany the larger amounts of dialog and despite presumably being written and drawn for online, it’s chunked up in the strangest ways. The art in ‘The Mad’ is the biggest offender with regards to the lack of clarity, while the other episodes do a much better job of communicating visually; I just wish it didn’t keep repeating the same static images. There were moments that I’d have preferred a prose chapter about each character over the comic.

The lettering in ‘The Mad’ – ‘The Lost’ is another place where the disconnect can be felt. It’s a very cold, computerized mixed-case font and that clinical cleanliness contrasts rather poorly with the gritty, chaotic art & coloring. ‘The Transcendent’ is the only episode that had a fitting font choice. It’s a shame because the writing is solid and each of the stories has a clear arc with thematic events. As a bonus chapters in “American Gods”-type deal, they accomplish their goal but, in the end, not much else. It’s not a waste of time, it’s short, and it’s free, so if you’re loving “The Resistance” give it a read. Otherwise, you can skip this one.

“Tigress Queen” is in a break for the last couple of months, but there has been one more recent update on the tale of the brave queen in an empire land, with customs as diverse as possible. Unfortunately, this chapter ahead of the break might be one of the weakest of this great narrative.

Most of the update is left to internal palace strife, with the most wicked on the empire’s prince plotting and scheming with his most trusted advisor. Nothing wrong with that, but the duration of that debate does overstay its welcome, and brings the story to a halt.

It does pick towards the very end, when the queen and members of her entourage are back into the spotlight. There is something visceral about her and them, and their visual representation on the page is always a highlight of the book. The way that series creator introduces new concepts of their culture, through dialogue and situations alone, is also quite strong.

It is also on the visual representation that this chapter has its faults: while with the queen and members of her kingdom, the art is top notch as usual. While over at the prince and the palatial dispute, there is a lack of polish on facial expressions and character consistency that is made more jarring by the better quality later on.

All in all, “Tigress Queen” continues to be a compelling read, but the choices of pacing hurt this chapter. Here’s hoping that when the series does return, it does so in its usual full force.

‘Sins of the Fathers’ comes to a violent end as Karch leads Angus and Mercy to one final spot for a final location. Three people enter only two will leave. Karch has largely been a phantasm in this story. Either as one of the schools star pupils or the one who got away for Mercy. He hasn’t been present in the way Randall has written and drawn Mercy and Angus, primarily by giving the reader access to their inner thoughts. That changes on the 32nd page as Randall once again just peppers in enough social context to give Karch just enough reason for being that he is sympathetic on his own and not through the prism of Mercy’s lost partner.

With that piece of the puzzle now firmly in place the final 7 or so pages are a cat and mouse game as three trained killers hunt for one another all smart enough to know what the other is going to do. Randall does some effective staging in this section, it isn’t super fancy or stylish, it is plain and straightforward. He puts us in Angus’ perspective, emphasizes the old mans willingness to die, and uses that to draw the reader throughout the page until we get to the end and Karch is right there. Which sets up a great turn page and evocative onomatopoeia of blaster fire and it appears it’s all over. It isn’t since Mercy still needs to have a heart to heart with Karch.

Once again nothing about the staging or page construction is hyper stylized or formally driven. This isn’t the sword fight from “Lazarus,” but it has a similar emotional heft to it as Mercy and Karch find themselves crossing swords in a situation neither of them wanted or imagined. And because the book has done such a good job building to this showdown, establishing both characters reasons for being, with the extra texture of some meditations on a life of violence, we are left with several pages of showdown where the reader can only vainly wish they throw down their arms. That they throwdown their arms and embrace one another in an attempt to find happiness. Alas they have duty to something greater than themselves and only one of them is getting out of the tubes alive.