We’re making up for a shorter episode last week with a podcast chock full of webcomicky goodness. First up, a segment where, as mentioned earlier, we put two comics head-to-head in a “we swear this isn’t a review” contest to see who pulls off the “this title could only exist in webcomics”. The competitors:
Who emerges as the winner? The fans and readers, that’s who! These are two amazing comics that we are lucky to have received and which, without the magical medium of the Internet, we might never have seen otherwise. While Ratfist actually wrapped up this past week, Battlepug rages on, and as mentioned in a previous news post, a Ratfist collection, complete with bonus content, is coming later this year courtesy of Image Comics. Do us all a favor and pick it up while you keep reading Battlepug to help ensure we keep seeing awesome experimental stories like this on the Web.
Leading us into the second segment is an audio ad, the first we’ve received in at least a year! This one points us towards Gene Gardens (9:45), a comic that is hard to find online but whose Kickstarter you can readily assist with. Help creator Shawn Granger raise the funds to produce the Gene Gardens graphic novel by clicking any of the previous links.
And the second segment is full of Digital Strips News Minuteness, so much so that there is nothing Minute-y about it. You can find all of those stories on the site (save the one about Daniel Lieske’s app for The Wormworld Saga), some of which even have conversations already ongoing. Jump in and let your voice be known!
- Help Fund The Bean Vol. 1: Riddles and Shrooms
- Bearmageddon
- Drawing Breasts Is Tough (But Fun) Business
- Comic-Con: Retailers/Publishers Decide Maybe Digital Distribution ISN’T The Devil
- Escape From Planet Nowhere Returns September 4th
- Webcomic Interview Round-Up
Our review is brought to us by the coolest of subterranean adolescent crimefighters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, more specifically a remix of the title screen tune of the NES video game of the same name, titled, “Go Ninja, Go” (16:40). Bringing that same sense of adolescent wonder is a fun tale of steampunks and real world teenage angst.
- Shadowbinders (18:55)
Three other comics are mentioned while we suss out the review.
- My Sister, The Freak (28:40)
- Awkward Zombie (29:15)
- Wasted Talent (29:18)
While uneven, Steve and I agree that this comic packs promise and personality. Check it out and let us know what you think!
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Thanks for your review! We appreciate your input and suggestions. I do have some comments/clarifications for you. 1. Good job pronouncing my name. 2. It is all digitally done. 3. Mia will be as important to the story as Rhen (more so actually) which is why she is there 4. We completely agree the action could be better. Time is short. Thom works a 9-5, and we do 2-3 full colored pages a week (a several hours per page on average). We have 2 small children and they come first. We are always looking to improve and will try to make the action better. 5. I agree the character development is slight right now. The story is in the very early stages and the characters are no where near developed yet. They will be fleshed out more as the story progresses. 6. It was “Pride and Prejudice.”
Thank you again for taking the time to read it. Feel free to check it out again in a couple of years, after it has had more time to develop.
Trust me, when it comes to the “All Heart, No Pay” nature of blogging and creator-owned work on the Web, I know that it comes down to doing what you can, when you can. I appreciate you taking the time to address our criticisms and wish both you and Thom and best in the future!
One of your comments about the Trapped in Another World (TiAW) stories irked me. I agree that it’s been done to death, but I also believe it can be done well (I’m trying this type of story now in my CampNaNo novel). I will say that I disagree with your point that characters who fall into that other world are Mary Sues.
I don’t know why people are so quick to label characters as Sues based on the situation or a trait presented rather than the execution. Sure, if they are only ever fawned over and babied and they can do no wrong in said other world, then yes, I’ll agree they’re Sues. Don’t just label every protagonist in a TiAW story a Sue just because that seems to be what the majority of those characters turn out to be. I’m amazed at how quick people are to cry “Mary Sue” at a character for the silliest reason. She’s beautiful? Sue. She’s in a world not her own? Sue. She has a name the author admits to liking? Sue. The reader doesn’t like her as the protagonist? Sue. Regardless of the character’s personality, how they interact with the rest of the cast, or how the character is presented as a whole, people seem to enjoy just looking at the superficial traits of the character and making their decisions based off that.
If anything came off as rude or any other negative connotation, it wasn’t my intent.
Don’t worry Res, you aren’t rude or negative at all. In fact you raise some good points.
Mary Sue is like porn, you can’t define it, but you know it when you see it. And, like porn, everyone has different levels they’ll tolerate/enjoy. And certainly, people call a lot of things Mary Sue that aren’t. It’s become a term that people use in an attempt to seem smart (which I may be guilty of here).
And while you’re certainly correct that not all TIAW characters are Sues, look at the original, Alice. I doubt Lewis Carrol wanted to be a little girl. But I do hold to my contention that it’s a line writers need to be very careful about crossing. If you come across as Sue, even if you don’t mean it, you lose credibility as a writer.
Taking a regular person and throwing them in a fantasy world doesn’t automatically make a character a Sue, but it leaves that taste in the mouth, and if you don’t quickly come up with a good reason for that character to be there that taste starts to get overwhelming…
This is an interesting topic. We may have to do a show or a blog post about it.