Webcomic Review

[The Enigma]

Thank you so much for the Weregeek recommendation, guys (well, CarpeGuitarrem). It is really rather brilliant. I like the characterisation and different layers of the story. Although the hunters/weregeek plot is just odd and seems like a mixture of:
1. the author wanting something beyond the "real life" stories and the roleplaying stories.
2. the author playing too many games leading to her belief that the real world should be more like them.
3. trying to avoid "just another gaming comic" syndrome - even if it is, at least, not about video games (mostly).
4. an awkward hangover from the start of the comic that can't entirely be abandoned because (I assume) a part of the readership likes it and the author's kind of invested in it.

Mostly it makes me wish my vampire LARP group could be cajoled into goth clubs after games.

[Podmark]

Is it wrong that I now kinda want a Sharkpool comic?

[BlueBard]

Is it wrong that I now kinda want a Sharkpool comic?

Yes.

[BlueBard]

Today's Wednesday Roundup:  What did we learn today?

Dr. McNinja gives us a demonstration of the calorie-burning effects of eye lasers.  To think all this time people have been wasting with bariatric surgery when they could have had a laser implanted...

Gutters provides us with a short history lesson.  You'd think DC would have mentioned something like that...

Over at Girl Genius, we learn Pinky has a brain.  And some darn good moves, too.

There's a free flying lesson at Myth Adventures.

Miss Match gives a practical lecture on moral relativity over at Evil, Inc.

PvP teaches us a bit about journalism and legal issues and how to avoid nasty lawsuits.

And today Weregeek teaches me that there are limits to my geekness... 'cause I didn't really find that funny.

[BlueBard]

Go check out today's Gutters and then come back here:

http://www.the-gutters.com/comic/7-tommy-patterson

Now we can discuss it!  I'll hide my comments in a spoiler tag so I don't ruin it for you.

Spoiler

I love the irony here.  The X-men rode the zombie trend for awhile, now they're jumping back on the vampire trend with the buzz around Twilight, True Blood, and other vampire-related media.  Logan's rightly tired of the X-men following every re-trend that comes along, but his response is to jump onto the Origins trend.

Granted, this isn't the first time the X-men have tangled with Dracula.  I recall the Dracula-Storm thing years ago.  It wasn't a great storyline, pretty much a standard Dracula-spectacula with added mutant action.  I'm curious whether this will be a departure from any Dracula stories Marvel has done before, or just another bloodsucker.  But not curious enough to spend money on it.

I'm really enjoying watching Gutters put a spotlight on some of the (*AHEM*) odd decisions being made in mainstream comics these days.  I haven't enjoyed any of them nearly as much as that first one, but I have appreciated the subtle irony underneath the broad parody in these comics.

[BlueBard]

Today's Gutters is hilarious!

http://www.the-gutters.com/comic/18-corey-kramer

[BlueBard]

Haven't posted in awhile, mainly because there hasn't been a whole lot notable to post about.

So, I thought I'd post about that!

Gutters started out really strong, but lately it has stunk on ice.  Poor artwork and lame gags.  Literally gagging, if you read Monday's installment.  A large part of this has been due to convention schedules, it seems, so I'm hoping they go back to the brilliant satire and great artwork that made me recommend it in the first place.

I'm trying to follow Weregeek, I really am, but lately it just isn't grabbing me.  For one thing, it's currently following a Shadowrun storyline.  Now, I like cyberpunk, but I can't stand Shadowrun and the Weregeek version is even lamer than the real thing.  Before that, it was basically gamers sitting around talking about gaming.  For the most part I haven't found it witty or funny.  The author really needs to get back to the weregeek premise and maybe the Vampire LARP where the storyline shines.

A lot of Webcomics update on Wednesdays, so hopefully tomorrow will see good developments. 

[GhostMachine]

I'm a former Shadowrunner, and I wish they'd get that storyline in Weregeek over, too.

[The Enigma]

I kinda like Shadowrun, but it is easily the most boring and predictable of the games they've got in Weregeek. Even more than D&D, which I didn't think was possible! I'm kinda hoping to see more in-character romance leading to out-of-character sexual tension. Whether Pete's going to deliver on that, time will tell.
Also, I still enjoy it more than the stuff about the weregeeks, which seems to be terribly out of place in an otherwise entirely realistic comic. Every time it comes up, I find my suspension of disbelief horribly shattered.

[BlueBard]

I kinda like Shadowrun, but it is easily the most boring and predictable of the games they've got in Weregeek.

It's not interesting, or funny.  Even today's so-called "twist" was entirely predictable and I fully expect the "Myers" character continue to flip sides like an omelette.

I'm kinda hoping to see more in-character romance leading to out-of-character sexual tension.

That has easily been the most interesting thread running through the series, but the author can't beat it to death or rush it if that tension is going to be maintained.  So I understand why it's being dragged out.

Also, I still enjoy it more than the stuff about the weregeeks, which seems to be terribly out of place in an otherwise entirely realistic comic. Every time it comes up, I find my suspension of disbelief horribly shattered.

Except that the weregeeks stuff is a central theme for the whole series.  The cool part of it is that you really can't be sure that it's not just imaginary, since we never see a weregeek exposed publicly.  The geeks themselves don't seem to be aware of it.  If it weren't for the Hunters, you'd have to conclude that it's just imaginary, or a visual allegory for impulsive/compulsive geek behavior, or symbolic of how people hide their true natures in daily life but manage to express themselves through role-play.  You can't really even be sure that it isn't simply a delusion on the part of The Hunter.  There are a lot of unresolved threads there.

Given how much of the webcomic is about people role-playing as other people, and how the perspective shifts from imaginary scenario to imaginary scenario, I don't find it quite as jarring as you do. 

[BlueBard]

In regard to Sunday's Schlock Mercenary...

Tagon rises to the top of my list as the most bad-arse mercenary in all of fictiondom.  NOT someone I'd ever want ticked off at me.

"Thank you.  Now I have a knife."

And over at Looking for Group today, nothing special except for a not-so-subtle bit of humor regarding the control of sand dragons using a familiar-looking artifact.

Other than that, nothing too noteworthy so far.

[GhostMachine]

http://www.weregeek.com/2010/08/18/ - Heh.

[The Enigma]

I kinda like Shadowrun, but it is easily the most boring and predictable of the games they've got in Weregeek.

It's not interesting, or funny.  Even today's so-called "twist" was entirely predictable and I fully expect the "Myers" character continue to flip sides like an omelette.

I think we agree here.

I'm kinda hoping to see more in-character romance leading to out-of-character sexual tension.

That has easily been the most interesting thread running through the series, but the author can't beat it to death or rush it if that tension is going to be maintained.  So I understand why it's being dragged out.

Again, I think we agree about this too. It's the best bit, which is why I'd like to see more.

Also, I still enjoy it more than the stuff about the weregeeks, which seems to be terribly out of place in an otherwise entirely realistic comic. Every time it comes up, I find my suspension of disbelief horribly shattered.

Except that the weregeeks stuff is a central theme for the whole series.  The cool part of it is that you really can't be sure that it's not just imaginary, since we never see a weregeek exposed publicly.  The geeks themselves don't seem to be aware of it.  If it weren't for the Hunters, you'd have to conclude that it's just imaginary, or a visual allegory for impulsive/compulsive geek behavior, or symbolic of how people hide their true natures in daily life but manage to express themselves through role-play.  You can't really even be sure that it isn't simply a delusion on the part of The Hunter.  There are a lot of unresolved threads there.

Given how much of the webcomic is about people role-playing as other people, and how the perspective shifts from imaginary scenario to imaginary scenario, I don't find it quite as jarring as you do.  

Yeah, basically I see the Weregeek stuff as leftover from the origin of the comic. It was intended to be this cool, mysterious thing that the comic would be all about but basically it was introduced with the author having no idea where it was going - rather like many RPG campaigns, it got derailed when the GM and the players found something better to do in that world. I can't prove that allegation, but the fact that there have been so few revelations about exactly what's happening and the characters all basically ignore it the rest of the time makes me think it's something she slightly regrets putting in the comic in the first place. At the same time, some of the fanbase do like it, it can be read as a (pretty blunt) allegory and there's basically storyline time invested in it - not to mention the name of the comic - so it's probably not disappearing any time soon.
I think the comic actually manages to be unique - jokes about Wonder Woman's costume aside - without needing that extra layer (whether it's just another real world plot thread to contrast the social/romance stuff, or a metacommentary on the nature of roleplayers or whatever)  and has enough going for it without that. Until Pete works out where she's taking it, I think that storyline should be quietly buried. Besides, whichever fan theory she chooses will probably be pretty bland and disappointing.

[BlueBard]

http://www.weregeek.com/2010/08/18/ - Heh.

Yep, that was at least chuckle-worthy

Enigma, I think you have a good point... Weregeek has just about the same focus as your average RPG campaign.  Except there's nobody to derail the plot except the author.

Changing topics, can anyone explain to me why today's Gutters is supposed to be funny?  'Cause I'm nnnot gettin' it.

[BlueBard]

Ok, Gutters has officially hit bottom.  I'm so disgusted, I'm not even going to link to it this time.

If I could drop it from a pull list, I would.  Between the lately unfunny strips and subpar artwork and this, I would not want to pay for it if it weren't free.

I am referring to today's installment, a 'costume modification' that makes Superman look like a certain religious figure, right down to the wounded hands.  To lampoon a bad Superman costume, fine, but some lines of taste and decency shouldn't be crossed.

I know the line between funny and offensive can be blurry at times.  And I also know that parody is very likely to skirt that line more often than not.  But I find it difficult to believe that the folks running Gutters aren't very aware how offensive some people would find today's strip.

And now we have irony in the highest degree.  The stated intent of Gutters was to parody the comic book industry.  We often wonder how the comics industry justifies some of the poor decisions they make that are guaranteed to offend their readership.  We don't like it when our favorite characters are mangled by a writer who doesn't get or respect their history, or by an editorial staff whose goal is to produce hype and controversy.  And I thought the guys over at Gutters got that.

Until they produced a strip that was guaranteed to offend part of their readership and that disrespected and mangled an iconic 'character', apparently with the goal of producing controversy.

Shame on them.

[Trelau]

NO. I wholeheartly disagree with everything you said here.
Gutters was on a break, the last few strips were comissions from other artists (hence the not funny part)
And Superman as Jesus is a good joke. His last storyline of him walking through the country to reconnect with the everyday man's problem plus his late history of being written like a perfect innocent pure being with god like power makes a parralel between the two understandable (from the logical point of view i mean). DC makes clear reference to the superman = jesus equation in some of their title. Gutters is just suggesting that they cut to the chase.
As for being offended, dare i remember that all the western world condemned the muslim for their reaction to their prophet's caricature? Apart from the death threat, how is your reaction any different? Why should religion be a topic any different in parody? If he had dressed him like Gandhi or the Buddah, would you have been offended?

As for intending to create controversy...The guy write "least i could do", probably the most successful webcomic out here; he clearly doesn't need any publicity.

[BlueBard]

As for being offended, dare i remember that all the western world condemned the muslim for their reaction to their prophet's caricature? Apart from the death threat, how is your reaction any different? Why should religion be a topic any different in parody? If he had dressed him like Gandhi or the Buddah, would you have been offended?

You know what?  I found that just as distasteful, though I am not a muslim.  So please don't set this up like I'm being intolerant and narrow minded and favoring one religious group over the next.  I don't see any good in making fun of other people's deepest convictions.  I may not agree with them, but that doesn't mean I should stop treating them with dignity.

And let's not take the religion argument any farther.  I would prefer not to have this whole thread shut down.

My point is, the pot is calling the kettle black as far as Gutters calling out the industry's mistakes, IMO.  This was a mistake that's just as bad as anything Marvel or DC ever came up with.

[The Enigma]

It's not like he's been put on the cross or anything. Yeesh, some guy dies and for 2000 years, we never hear the end of it...

Ok, so I don't have any deeply held religious beliefs, but it's just a drawing. It's not hurting you, or shaking your beliefs to the core, it's just making fun of how Superman's being written. JMS LOVES writing characters in a Jesus-type way - there's a huge one in Babylon 5 where

Spoiler

Sheridan dies and is brought back to life. By god (well, the first being in the universe, responsible for life on Earth etc.) and when he comes back he's basically treated like the messiah

- and Sohmer is just making fun of it and the WW costume change.

[BlueBard]

In my opinion, the Gutters strip was in particularly poor taste and I did not find it funny.  Would not have found it funny no matter which religious figure had been chosen, unless perhaps it had been the Rescue Rangers.

Sohmer is well within his rights to post whatever he likes and I'm within my rights to dislike it. 

I am also free to point out that he knew that it would be offensive to a lot of people and did it anyway, just like the comics industry does.

I am free to point out that Gutters was billed as a humorous look at the comics industry... and it hasn't been very humorous.  Today's strip being no real exception.  Even setting aside any religious convictions, it wasn't that funny.  I will freely admit that it was parody.

[The Enigma]

*shrug* it's not hilarious, but then it's a joke that's kinda overdone. And, although it would make as much sense as if it were Odin or Osiris, it wouldn't have the same cultural resonance as the resurrection myth's kinda defunct (except in Christianity).

[GhostMachine]

Okay, that last one was very offensive. But BlueBard is right about Gutters not being very humorous. The last one I even chuckled at was the one with Wonder Woman trying on various costumes of existing characters. And some of them have ranged from just being funny to `I don't understand what this is supposed to be about' to being absolutely stupid.

Evil, Inc has been doing a storyarc involving a gun from an alternate universe that stole that universe's version of Captain Heroic's powers ending up in the regular EI universe. The gun has just been used on Captain Heroic..... http://www.evil-comic.com/archive/20100819.html (The Comic I linked isn't the current one; its the previous one)

In case anyone doesn't read Evil, Inc and is wondering what's going on:

Spoiler

Miss Match, who is the one with the gun, is secretly Captain Heroic's wife (he's a hero and she's a villain, so they have to keep their relationship a secret) and they have a son named Oscar. The green guy present is Elastic Man, who is the EI equivalent of Plastic Man and showed up to stop the criminals but was apparently too late; everyone else is a villain. (In the universe the gun is from, Miss Match was the hero and Captain Heroic was the villain; Miss Match had a skimpier costume and Captain Heroic (not sure what he was actually called - Captain Infamous, maybe - had a yellow and drab green costume with an I on the chest)

My bet is the gun won't work on Captain Heroic or if it does the effect will be temporary, since its from another dimension. Sort of like how Kryptonite from other universes/dimensions is useless against Superman.

[thalaw2]

I hope we don't have to close the thread down.  Please remember to respect the fact that our community is diverse in culture and beliefs.  This forum is not the place to express your opinions about those diverse beliefs it is instead a place where we show mutual respect and should post accordingly. 

[BentonGrey]

Gentlemen, I suggest we all remember what type of forum this is.  Whatever your beliefs may or may not be, do not be insulting to the beliefs of others.  I'm sure that we won't need to close this thread, just maintain civility.  Just to be clear, I don't believe anyone has overstepped the line so far, but sometimes it can be hard for us to foresee what others may find offensive because we don't share their point of view.  Let's just be respectful.

[GhostMachine]

http://www.weregeek.com/2010/08/27/

Spoiler

Should made the Mon Calamari a Rogue and had him stop someone from walking over a carpet or something, uttering the familiar line "ITS A TRAP!" Would have been funnier.

[Alaric]

Thanks to this thread, I've added Weregeek to my ever-expanding list of webcomics I read- and, as of yesterday, I'm fully caught up! This has quickly become one of my favorite webcomics- though, like some of you, I find it works better, for the most part, without the extra layer of fantasy/weregeekery/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. (I did enjoy the Geekmoot, though, and some of the "weregeek" stuff has included some rather good moments... Overall, the comic works better as a webcomic about a bunch of geeks in a more-or-less realistic, if exaggerated, world, though.) Anyway, thanks for the recommendation!

[BlueBard]

In Evil, Inc. it looks like the secret is out.

Spoiler

The gun got damaged and was about to explode.  Miss Match had successfully gotten Captain Heroic away from the gun, but when he saw the gun was about to explode he heroically blocked the blast with his own body.  The last panel of today's comic shows Miss Match hugging Captain Heroic, apparently in view of Elastic Man, Lightning Lady, and at least one or two others.

[GhostMachine]

Yeah, but....

Spoiler

Elastic Man and Lightning Lady had been fooling around with each other behind people's backs some, so it'll be interesting to see how those two react. Would be interesting if those two out themselves to Miss Match and Captain Heroic.

[Silver Shocker]

I thought this issue of Gutters http://www.the-gutters.com/comic/38-chris-jones was bloody brilliant.  No offense meant to fans of Invincible, but Kirkman's definitely got one of the biggest egos in the comics industry as this comic demonstrates.

[Trelau]

Hum...i think i'm either too young or from the wrong country, but i didn't get the reference in today's Order of the Stick

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0746.html

So...hand puppet?

[crimsonquill]

So...hand puppet?

Yeah, and quite a famous puppet for it's time.. this is way before the Muppets showed up..

That's supposed to be Ollie.. A one-toothed dragon who was far more timid then savage.. He was part of The Kukla, Fran, and Ollie Show which aired in the U.S. from the '40s to the '50s (see Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukla,_Fran_and_Ollie ).



Course even for an old fart like me, who is almost 40 mind you, almost missed the reference if not for being quite a fan of puppets myself.

- CQ