Currently Updating: Seven days a week, because I'm mad!
|
My forums need love! <----Drunkeneers forum for discussion of the Drunken Scribblings Castle Tinkerbell for weird stuff and the Tinkinators webcomic fangroup----> |
|
Prismatic Vodka #68 Wednesday May 31st 2006
"Home at last!" copyright 2005 Rik Davnall, all rights reserved
Rik_the_Riff@hotmail.com - email me!
Days left 'til Rik's birthday... 14
Well, that's almost it for Battlestar Prismatica. Friday's page should wrap things up nicely.
That's the plan anyway. And yes, I do mean Friday; Zobbo will return to his own (biro art)
comic where he belongs on Sunday, so I'm wrapping up chapter 3 a day early to get started on
that. I'm going to do a week, maybe two, of Zobbo only while I build up a little bit of a buffer
for Chapter 4 part 1.
I'm very happy with today's comic, particularly the space stuff in the middle two panels. The
fact that I managed to get two jokes in (even if one of them is lame), is also remarkable,
given my lack of aptitude for comedy. It's meant to be Zobbo speaking in the first panel, by the way; it doesn't really matter, but MCG would probably say 'Earth' rather than 'Terra,
which is what most aliens call Earth.
It's not often I write about webcomics in this rant (well, other than the Drunken Scribblings...),
but I've discovered a bunch of good ones recently and I realised I really ought to start.
First up: Mystic Revolution, which is kinda a punked-up, light-hearted .Hack//Sign, with
less mystery about the game and more about the players. Some sparkling humour whenever Our
Heroes, a slightly psychotic ex-moderator and a dorky ninja, have to interact, plus a pretty
well-delivered URST (UnResolved Sexual Tension) romance.
Echzeon... well, this sounds harsh but it's not all that memorable. As in, I can't remember
much about it a week after reading it. It's serious and angsty, and the heroine kicks ass
with a very big sword. I clicked the link 'cuz the newsbox image had the slogan 'I lost myself
inside of someone else', which very much appeals to the whiny emo lurking inside me. If that
sounds like your thing, click away (at a guess, I'd say it's like a slightly more serious
Errant Story).
Post Nuke Comic may not have a very imaginative name, but it's one of the best-thought-out
post-apocalyptic adventures I've ever read. Our nameless hero wanders the frozen desert of
a nuclear winter like a cross between Mad Max and an eskimo, encountering scoundrels, mutants
and other lost souls. The art is amazing, though the writing is occasionally clunky (particularly
in the chapter where the nuclear apocalypse is described in detail). The plot is just beginning
to get going, too, with the appearance of a random alien in the dude's dreams...
Sharing a Universe is about an Elven princess adjusting to life in New York. I should hate it,
but the heroine is just clued-in enough to avoid being annoyingly dumb too often, and lovable
enough that you can let her get away with it from time to time. Not particularly convincing
in a lot of ways, but a nice bit of light-hearted fun.
Last but not least, Okashina Okashi (Strange Candy), which I haven't finished making my way
through the archives of yet, is sublime. Beginning by abducting a bunch of misfits from Tokyo
Tower by means of a big glowy light from the sky, it takes a wacky trip through a bunch of
anime-themed worlds where Our Heroes face all sorts of strange adventures. Of particular
note is the Shojo-themed world where, at one point, the force of a character's bish-sparkles
alone is enough to save the day. Beautiful art, spot-on satire, and writing just clever anough
to give the cast of stereotypes a little depth. Kinda like Mixed Myth for anime stereotypes.
I've also watched some anime since Monday; Higurashi no Naku Koro ni episodes 5-8, in which
the events of episodes 1-4 are seemingly completely disregarded in favour of telling a similar,
yet distinctly different story. It's less directly scary than the first four episodes, though
the opening scene of episode 5 scared the hell out of me (I have this thing about self-inflicted
injuries where they freak me the hell out). I think I prefer these four episodes to the first
four, and not just 'cuz I'm a wimp. The 'human' side to the story (as in, Keichi's interactions
with the four - or five - girls) is more complex, and I think the ending is more powerful for
it.
What else was there? .Hack//Roots 8 came out yesterday. Every episode of this series so far has
been more promising than its predecessor, and 8 is no exception. The promise embodied by the
events (the episode is - appropriately - entitled 'Starting') is remarkable, and a complete
turn away from the previous .Hack structure. They may actually find the key in the next
episode! It certainly seems that something strange is going to happen, from the image of
a black-skinned, terrified Haseo in the preview...
There's also a weird one I've been lent called 'Requiem from the Darkness' (also known as
'100 Stories'). It's kinda like Paranoia Agent meets Mushishi; very much a 'rural Japanese
medieval fantasy' setting, plus weirdness. The three mysterious figures who appear in the
first episode remind me very much in some ways of Ai's companions from Jigoku Shojo, and
seem to have vaguely similar roles. However, for some reason I just can't like it quite as
much as similar shows; I think it's because it starts too deeply into the weirdness; unlike
Paranoia Agent or Boogiepop Phantom, there's no time to say 'yes, this is the real world
and Oooops! there's a hole in it'. You're just shoved straight down the hole with no time
to catch your breath. In that sense, the pace is a little off, and pace is vital to horror,
be it anime or otherwise (good pacing is one of the things that makes Higurashi great).
I think that's it for today... oh, anybody got a high score of higher than 6,211,750 on
Windows Pinball? I've been playing it far too much of late...
Wub, Rik
The Drunken Scribblings are hosted on ComicGenesis, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.