26th Leg: A Lesson is Learned, But the Damage is Irreversible

There must be a certain amount of irony that with the event of this week, and I'm exploring a comic with this title.

It's really in keeping with the surreal tone of life lately.





Comic: A Lesson is Learned, But the Damage is Irreversible
By: David Hellman and Dale Beran

Setting and Elements: Surreal, Modern Life
Content Type: Satire, Philosophy

Art Medium: Digital Tablet Art
Art Style: Loose realistic, Painted Colours

Is About: I honestly don't know. (Kidding) It's basically a surreal reflection of modern life and issues. Kind of the stuff your subconscious would tell you in dreams, I suppose.

Website: http://http://www.alessonislearned.com/
Frequency: Irregular
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
The art alone is very eye-catching and vastly different from the usual list of style offerings you find on the web. (See why distinctive art styles are always a good thing?)

The site presentation has its own individuality, with a rather large logo, blog and comic sandwiched in between. I find the huge logo and downscrolling a bit annoying though, especially reading through the archives with it loading on every page.


The Concept:
This is a comic that comes the closest to fine art. The skeptical would probably attribute it as the comic equivalent of the Tate Modern. You either don't understand the art or you do (or at least, pretend to, understand it).

Personally, ALIL feels more like one of those bizarre dreams you get where you fight of giant prunes with broadswords, or something like that.


The Art:

I remember being intrigued by the art style. It was something of a culmination of fine art painting and digital graphics. Think oil or acrylic painting done with a tablet and you pretty much have what ALIL looks like. Very distinctive, very eye catching.

There's an incredible wealth of lush detail, especially in the backgrounds. I also get the feeling that the panels are heavily referenced; the human figures frequently look almost stylised photographs. sometimes.

Looking at the comic, it seem really more like a series of paintings in comics form rather than a comic. This page alone would looks quite acceptable hanging from a display unit in a modern art gallery as from a humble html page or the great WWW.


The Writing:
If I said I understood it completely and it is insightful and profound, then I would be lying and you should all be throwing tomatoes or something at me.

To be perfectly frank, when I read this comic, I feel like I'm in one of those bizarre dreams that I get most of my best ideas from (don't diss dreams, they're great fun for creative inspiration). You know, one of those dreams where you get a series of event that play out, and where everything seems perfectly normal even if the flow of events aren't exactly... logical?

And when you wake up, you have no idea what it's all about, but you have a nagging feeling that dream that dream is trying to tell you something you can't quite get?

That pretty sums up how I felt while reading ALIL. It's not like the other comic I visited a few legs back (Buttercup Festival, in case you need a reminder.). Both I'd classify as 'surreal' but these are different kinds of surreal comics. In Buttercup Festival, I'd say that the humour or punchline is surreal. In ALIL, the entire sequence of events in the comic is surreal, and if you take it at face value, it does not make sense at all.

It does tend to make you think outside of your usual mental sphere though, and perhaps the lack of definition in the content is the whole point. Kind of like abstract art; You don't really know the meaning of it. You can only take a guess or make one up for yourself on what you want it to mean.

The same goes for the blog posts beneath the comic.


Problems:
It's ironic that the first thing that comes to mind as a problem with the comic is the site design. More specifically, the HUGE logo that takes up the whole screen at the top. It's irritating to have to scroll down so much every page. I'm a lazy reader, I know.

The other problem I can see is that not everyone is going to get this comic, and most likely it'll end up either inspiring the reader or making them go "WTF? What a load of pretentious cr..." and shut the browser window.

*grin* No matter how I try, I keep going back to the fine art analogy, don't I?

Overall:
Definitely something very interesting and new. I don't profess to understand it, and it both disturbs and intrigues me. I don't see it becoming a regular read, but I think there's something interesting there it how it pushes the boundries of what a webcomic can be.


The Next Leg:
Looking through the bowl of candies that is the link page, I settled on The Thieves of Thalegore. Mainly because I found it amusing how my eye consistently read it as: "Theng-ga-lore".

I know, I'm crazy sometimes. Now excuse me, I have a database to wrangle with.

Hotspot #6: The Scurrying of Ants on the Trail

I was really going to write this hotspot yesterday, but then I was so upset that I decided it wouldn't be a good idea. I do after all, have a policy of not posting when I'm anything but calm and logical, and every time I've violated my own rule, I have always had cause to regret it and see a better way I could have done things.

It's been a turbulent week for anything with the word "Keen" in the name. There is of course, the molehill that was the Keenspot Gay-Newsbox thing raging on in Comixpedia and WebSnark. And there was the ruckus over the wrongful termination of a certain popular Keenspace account which was the reason I was too upset to hold a brush yesterday.

Let me repeat that: I was too upset to hold a brush. I was too upset to draw. Despite forcing myself to, the only thing I could achieve out of drawing was a bunch of wriggly sketches because my hand was shaking so much.

And that was really what tore it for me. I'm not the sensitive artist type, but for something to bother me so much I cannot not draw comics is just too much.

So I took a step back and looked carefully at what it was I was upset about.

Then I stopped and started laughing hysterically.

When I was younger, I used to play a lot with ant trails. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this, but colony ants do their communication using chemical pheremones sprayed on the surfaces they travel on to form a trail. The ants then follow the trail and stick to it until it changes.

I used to like messing with them, by disrupting the pheremone trails. Generally wiping a finger across it is enough to disrupt the column. Then at the point where you've wiped the trail, you'll get a bottle neck of confused ants, scurrying around in indignant circles, unable to carry on.

Eventually of course, there's going to come along an ant that realises: "Hey waittaminute... the trails continues just right over there. All I have to do is cross over here without making a fuss and I can be on my merry way!". And so it does. And all the other ants realise they've been scurrying around for nothing and follow suit.

From the point of view of the outside observer (me), all this scurrying was all very entertaining.

And I'll wager from the point of view of anyone outside webcomics... hell, Keenspot or Keenspace, if you want to be specific, all the scurrying about that has been occuring the past week in is every bit just as ludicriously entertaining.

So love him or hate him, Scott Kurtz was right on this one.
Edit: I've been told the above sentence is incredibly vague. Sorry. What I meant: he was right as in this was blown ridiculously out of porportion.

One more thing I'd like to mention: I'm not the type that likes making a fuss. And I realise from the comments made by various people in the Websnark post, and in the livejournal and Keenspace Help Center, this is a quality that may not endear me to many people.

You know what? I don't care. I still prefer to keep my head down and keep going.

But this does not mean I will not make a fuss if I have to. It just means I prefer to find less disruptive ways of doing things BEFORE I turn to the last resort of making a fuss. I prefer to sort out things through emails and private messages BEFORE whining about it on my livejournal or blog and giving it up for lost. I prefer this because I find it a better way of doing things, and speaking practically, it's a lot easier to rectify a problem if your don't tar and feather the person responsible for screwing up before you give them a chance to make up for it.

It's probably too naive and noblistic to survive in the real world, but fuck that. It's the way I do things, and I'll keep doing that as long at it survives and I do.

There's also the issue of crying 'Wolf!'. I'm a final year university student in a very socially active university. I swear, every month or two they have some sort of protest or campaign to challenge some injustice. Whether it's the "Fuck Bush" campaign or "Save the Lecturers" or "Gay Rights" or "Jesus believes in Atheists", I'm sorry to say the frequency of the fuss they kick up has desensitised me to these issues so much I no longer care or participate, even if the issue being campaigned is something near and dear to my heart. Just because it's yet another protest campaign, I stop listening to it. Period.

So no, I don't want to be an ant marching along in the column, but if I have to be one, I want to be the ant that realises the trail is just a finger's width over there, steps over the broken line, and keeps on moving.

Stopover at Fallen Angels Used Books: Making sure you know it's there

Back in my early Keenspace days, (HA! Look at the way I just said that. As if I'm not still very much on Keenspace...)

Erm, like I was saying, back in my early Keenspace days, new comics came in batches as signups were approved in batches. Add to the fact that signups had been disabled for months and we were on a very long waiting list, it made for a very large batch of comics. Now to get to the point, I was from the (around) June 2003 batch, and among my batch were several comics, but the ones I remember the most clearly are Adrian Ramos' Count Your Sheep and John Fortman's Fallen Angels Used Books.

The latter is what I want to talk about today.



This is the first page of Fallen Angels Used Books. I knew of John's work from his presence in forums, but on actually checking it out, I was incredibly impressed, blown away, and even (only now will I admit this) envious of his ability. The first issue of Fallen Angel Used Books was as ideal a beginning as anyone could hope for, and everything simply promised so much more.

Almost two years down the road now and seven issues later, rereading the archives of FAUB I see lot of things I missed the first time around. I'd thought this was a simple story about prejudice and conflict. As it turns out, there is a lot lot more. This is a very complex story, deceptively straightforward at first, then everything simply gets wierder and wierder.

More than anything, FAUB is a webcomic that makes you feel like you're reading a storybook, not a comic. Even the distinctive art style serves to enhance the urban fairy tale feel. It meanders and takes its own sweet time at telling the story. You feel like you're sitting by a fireside listening to the storyteller spin his tale. For a moment... perhaps a brief moment, you forget yourself and world beyond your computer screen.

The only problem with these kind of stories is that you tend to stay where you are until the story is finished, afraid that if you move you will break the spell. For an ongoing webcomic this is a bad thing, because the story is one of those that needs to be told in entiriety to have an effect on the reader, enough for that reader to go and recommend it to someone else. And as far as I can tell, this story still has a long way to go.

There was a snark not too long ago on websnark where Wednesday White debated whether links and connections are everything. I remember there were some lively comments to that post, in which I mentioned the direct opposite to that school of thought:

People who think if they slave away and produce good work, people will magically find out about their good work, even if said good work is never shown to anyone or displayed outside of the studio and they never tell anyone about it. Then they whine about how it's not fair someone less skilled gets accliam when they can do better. (Well duh!)

Which eventually got distilled down to:

They can't care if they don't bloody know it's there

John's been chafing at the slow growth of FAUB lately. So for the record, this is me making sure a few more people know it's there.

ps: For those interested, here is a guest cover I did for issue 4 of FAUB.

Webcomic Obituaries #1

Spells and Whistles, the creation of Tauhid Bondia. Gained noteriety tangling with Scott Kurtz, escaped, went on hiatus, and came back again. Was ambitious, but died suddenly and without warning.

Teo and Sara, creation of Jorge Hernadez. Was charming and showed great promise. Preferred to die with dignity rather than linger on as an incomplete memory. Will be remembered regardless.

NeTrek, creation of Simon Shepherd. Ended and found a higher calling. Godspeed and all the best, Sij.

Gigawhut?, creation of Brian Maze. Plugged to soon, Found too soon, Websnarked too soon, currently Missing in Action. Have you seen this webcomic?

--Ping

Stopover at the UK Web and Mini-Comics Thing: I have a little blue ticket stuck to my wall!

Just a quick head's up to announce that on March 19th, I will be going to...



... as a visitor. I'm not exhibiting anything, as I don't have the time to organise and get a table and make stuff to sell.

But I will be there, checking out the stalls of all those great webcomics. Maybe I'll get a some Scary-Go-Round mechandise for Mos, and I'll definitely take lots of pictures and post them here. Of course, no one's going to to know who I am, much less recognise me, but hey, I'm fine with that... it's my very first Con after all.

Oh, I should mention that I am also planning on participating in their 24 minute comic event. Originally, I hadn't really decided and was pondering if it was possible to do it with the other people I'm planning to meet up with, so I emailed the person in charge and asked for more details.

Not only did she give me those details... she added me to the list.

I blinked twice, then decided... "Oh hell... why not?"

Carpe diem. Seize the day! This is just going to be so much fun.

Stopover at Shivae: A gem hiding in plain sight!

I was surfing around Onlinecomics.net recently, trying to think of an idea for my next Comixpedia column, when I caught the sight of an intriguing thumbnail in one of the sponsor links.

So I clicked it, and pretty much found a gem of a webcomic I'd missed.

Remember me mentioning something about comics that hook you from the first few pages? Add Shivae to the list.

This comic is one of the rare ones that do not have any humans in the cast. It's also one of the rarer fantasy webcomics that do not borrow from Tolkien, and has its own original world. Lastly, it's also one of those comics where there are protagonists and antagonists, not good guys and bad guys. Shades of grey.

All those score a lot of points in my book.

Add to the delicious colouring work, the pretty art and the charming storytelling, you have something I really and highly recommend.

I'm sorry to say though, after the first few pages, I noticed the Keenspot banner on the top and my first reaction was: "Huh? It's on Keenspot?"

Now, before you wonder why, I mean no belittling of Keenspot by this... I'm just surprised that it is in Keenspot, that's all. Not because I don't think it deserves it (it certainly does, it's an excellent comic). No, I'm surprised because I read a lot of Keenspot comics, and for some reason I somehow missed knowing about a comic that I wish I had found much much earlier.

The archives indicate it's been there for a long time, and it's apparently done by the same person who does Alien Dice. Admitedly, I don't read Alien Dice, but I've been following Keenspot comics since what... 2000? And I could have sworn I've gone over the listing in main page many times, and although I don't read all of them I thought I knew the Keenspot lineup. Yet somehow... I missed seeing this comic among the lot.

In fact, if it wasn't for Onlinecomics.net's thumbnail system, I may never had stumbled across this gem hiding in plain sight. And somehow that disturbs me that I found it from a webcomics directory instead of the Keenspot site.

If anyone from Keenspot is reading this, I have a suggestion: You know, the mouseover thing on the Keenspot front page is all very cool and all, but how about and extra page with just simple thumbnail links where you can see all of the comics lineup at once? It's not that hard to do, you don't have to even replace the front page, but I think it'd be more effective. Pretty please? Of course, if something like this already exists, and I missed it, please do direct me to it, someone.

But anyway, just goes to show, no matter how many times you look at something, and how much you think you know about it, you can never quite see the whole of it.

It does make me wonder... How many more comics are there out there that I will love and would dump my current read list for instead that I just haven't found?

Argh, like Gianna says: So many comics, so little time...

25th Leg: Ascent

Comic: Ascent
By: Sylvan Migdal

Setting and Elements: Fantasy World, Magic, Wartime
Content Type: Story, Humour, Satire

Art Medium: Digital, Infinite Canvas
Art Style: Stylised Cartoony, Thick lines, Limited Colour Palatte

Is About: A world set in a war with a mysterious tower no one seems to be able to ascend. A young mage in training named Prrn meets a young rebel named Oä, and begins to doubt everything he believed to be his life.

Website: http://www.graphicsmash.com/series.php?name=ascent&view=current
Frequency: Every Monday
Availability: Latest Episode Free. Archives Graphic Smash Subscription ($2.95 per month)

First Impressions and Presentation:
I remember Ascent started around the time I was recruited into Graphic Smash. That was shortly after Sylvan ended his old comic Mnemesis and so I actually had privilege of following Ascent from the very first strip.

Now this is the point where the more cynical of you will expect me to start extolling about how wonderful I found it from page one and how much I liked it blah blah blah. Well, if that was indeed your expectation, then this is the point where you would be wrong.

There are some comics that manage to hook me from the first few pages... (The Tenth Life of Pishio the Cat is one of them) And though I really really like Sylvan Migdal as a person, I'm loathe to admit that for me, Ascent did not seem to click no matter how I tried. I followed Ascent for about its first two months... but for some reason I didn't seem to be able get into the story, and in fact, I eventually felt so lost in it, I gave up and removed it from my bookmarks.

I haven't read the comic since then, so this will be my second go at it. Lets see if the presence of a now-substantial archive can change my mind.


The Concept:
Being a Sylvan Migdal production, the one thing you'll definitely want to expect is originality. And in that aspect, Ascent does not disappoint.

If you're tired of the usual offering of Tolkien-nesque elf and halfling and merry band of adventurers kind of fantasy story, this will definitely bring you that breath of fresh air you'll be hoping for. The world setting is original, intricate and quirky, deceptively simple yet with layers of depth beneath the apparent simplicity. Think Animal Farm. At first glance it looks like a simple fantasy world. Look closer and you realise a lot of it mirrors and satirises our own.


The Art:
The first thing you'll probably think is that it's, well... Blue.

Ascent is the second comic I've know of that uses only a narrow colour palette of blues for everything in the comic. (The other is the ever-endearing Count Your Sheep by Adrian Ramos). All this said, unlike CYS, the overall feeling you get isn't a comic that's been drawn and coloured blue. Instead you think this is more of a comic drawn in a lot of blue and white on black. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but this is really something you need to see for yourself to understand.

The art style is the same distinctive style readers will recognise from Mnemesis. It's a little hard to describe. The best I can say is it encompasses a lot of flat colours, think lines and melting blacks. The shapes are generally angular and geometric and lends itself very well to animation, which it does make use of quite subtly and cleverly.

I should also mention the fact that Ascent is obviously designed with infinite canvas in mind. And unlike at lot of the infinite canvas dabblers, it works. I see this mainly as because he sticks to only one canvas direction that feels natural, and doesn't try to be too ambitious with the 'wow' special effects. Once again 'subtle' is the keyword here.

One last thing I want to mention is the interesting use of patterns in this comic, particularly in the backgrounds. I've mentioned that the comic is mainly drawn in flat and solid colours: And interesting thing is that the backgrounds are usually pattern-filled to make the flast stand out... and sometimes they're filled with patterns that a normal person would never think of using. I'm mostly surprised at the frequent use of floral pattern fills for city scapes and they somehow work so well you never think about them.


The Writing:
The story revolves around Prrn, the young wizard in training, who finds his everything he believes in challenged after meeting Oä, a young girl orphaned by wizards in the ongoing war.

Slapstick humour and satire is liberally sprinkled throughout, and some of it is just side-splittingly funny (Outlawing menstruation and the 'Friend Zone', for example). The dialogue is generally witty and sparks. The characters are as interesting as their naming conventions (Males can have only consonants and women vowels) and Sylvan does a convincing job of creating an original world.

The story seems interesting, but the irritating part is that we seem to have barely gotten started yet, and although it's presented some interesting plot twists and endearing moments, I can't think of anything I'd like to particularly comment about it, other than...


Problems:
There is a lot of complexity in the plotlines, sometimes so much I can still see why I got lost and dropped the story the first time I read it. I think the thing that bothers me the most about Ascent is that there doesn't seem to be much sense of closure. To explain what I mean, the story just goes on and on, which isn't a bad thing but there seems to be a lot of build-up to something big coming up in the comic soon. To reference Srdjan Achimovich's story tutorials, the content of Ascent so far seem to be straight 'rising action', without the breaking into shorter episodes to make the story easier to follow. The problem is, the build-up does seem to be taking a long time and this can be frustrating to a reader after a while.


Overall:
I'm happy to report my second reading of Ascent more favourable than my initial impression. The presence of the archive does make a lot more sense of the whole story (and I actually know why Ascent is called Ascent now). It still doesn't click with me 100%, but I do find myself liking it and surprised I dropped it in the first place.

This brings to bear an interesting question... would it actually be better to start a comic with a fair-size archive immediately and continue from there rather than the slow release of pages from day one?

Oh, and those jubbers are cute!


The Next Leg:
This actually came from the blog rather than the links page, but I figure it counts:

A Lesson is Learned, but the Damage is Irreversible