From: Nuclear Delight

Though I’m sure having punches thrown in every panel is enough for some people, sometimes the story just has to slow down. These are some solid suggestions to keep your art from looking like a newspaper comic strip. I think I would even add one: if the characters are talking a room, choose something else that’s interesting in that room to focus on for a panel. Keep the conversation going on off-panel. Not all re-establishing shots have to be wide-angle.

Then there are our opinions about superheroes. Adam is content to shun the idea of enhanced humanoids solving crimes and punching each other in the face, but I personally disagree. Even if I find that most of the current writers for the subgenre have all gone insane and focus more on half-baked stories about rape and flimsy crossover nonsense, the idea of a masked freako swinging in and slapping baddies across the teeth appeals to me.

I just wish that people would remember that these stories are supposed to be fun.

Thankfully, we have the internet at our disposal. Free from the pressure of editors and sales figures, artists and writers can take their ideas to the mean streets of the World Wide Web without fear. The end result is often a disaster, but this article isn’t about the disasters. This is about The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks and The Non-Adventures of Wonderella by Justin Pierce.

I think these comics stand out because they understand the silliness of superheroics and express it differently. Superhero Girl, for example, is a slice of life story with capes and masks. Superhero comics today are guilty of trying to be more ‘realistic,’ a term that’s now synonymous with ‘gritty and sad.’ Realism doesn’t always have to be bleak, though. You know what else is realistic? Taking home a stray cat, looking for a job, going to parties, reconciling with your brother; life has its ups and downs, and focusing on the downs is a sign of insanity.

Not Pictured: Pride

Then there’s Wonderella, which wins points with me because it’s weird. With a far more sardonic sense of humour, Pierce’s comic jabs at the idea of a world populated by super-powered costumed vigilantes. This is particularly seen with the title character being amoral, insensitive, and incredibly apathetic towards the worries of the world. Wonderella doesn’t want to save the world; she just wants a footbath and a hard drink served to her by a monkey butler. It’s like taking Garth Ennis and Darrick Robertson’s The Boys and repurposing it as a gag strip.

Once again, smut saves the universe

Let’s talk art styles. Just as modern superhero comics’ artists aptly portray their flashy and melodramatic tales of wonder, Hicks and Pierce do the same justice to their works. Superhero Girl has a very elastic and charming style that channels the carefree essence of the story. Wonderella, meanwhile, has a very static and simple look which won’t win points with everyone, but I find that it conveys strangeness of the comic well and is better for it.

So there you have it, two superhero webcomics that will hopefully whet your appetites. Hopefully these will entertain you while the mainstream comics industry prints out another seven million pictures of a pastel-coloured dominatrix angrily gnashing his or her teeth.

I actually did have this kind of flash of realization this morning. Though it was more about the fact that my cup holder is the perfect size to hold my blueberry muffin.

From DeviantArt.

The fellow who runs this page took a look at my Blogspot account (promotepromote) and
had inkling that I know something about webcomics. I apparently do, if my Bookmarks in
Firefox are any indication. Hence, he’s called me in to do monthly contributions to this particular
sector on the internet.

Let’s get this ball rolling. Allow me to tell you about an online comic I happen to have a
positive albeit strenuous relationship with, a comic that latched itself to my heart from page one
and gives me warm and fuzzy feelings inside while also draining me of all my blood on random
occasions. This is Gunnerkrigg Court.

Artist-writer Tom Siddel’s story tells of a young red-head named Antimony Carver
attending the titular Gunnerkrigg Court, an academic fortress where mad science and dark magic
roam freely. The school lies on the edge of an enchanted forest, colonies of robots stomp the
halls, and ancient spirits and gods fraternize with the locals freely.

What’s that? Sounds standard? I haven’t told you about the clockwork birds or the
haunted bridge or the laser cows. And now I won’t, not until you learn some manners, young
man.

I’m going to come right out and rain on this parade before I let the sunshine in. My
problem with G.C. (abbreviations ahoy) is that the writing has developed a tendency to trip over
itself and fall down a cliff named Exposition into a mud pile named Melodrama. This bothers me
because it’s a path I’ve seen other webcomics go down before, where the focus of humour and
quirkiness gets replaced with characters speaking woodenly and awkwardly about their feelings
and painful pasts.

Balls to that, I say. I remember the days when Gunnerkrigg was all about this:

Nowadays, though, I’m seeing more of this:

It burns my ass. Tone shifts only work well if they feel organic, like if there was an
intention to do so. I’m not sure how far ahead Tom’s planned, but I do hope this was part of the
plan. Otherwise it just feels like I’ve been here before.

I’m being mean. I enjoy Gunnerkrigg Court. The characters are fun and some of them
develop really well, and the stories that don’t mutate into Melrose Place meets American Gods
are a joy to read. As bog-standard as the idea of “a weird school” goes, G.C. is separate from
its contemporaries in terms of tone. Even when the writing takes a left turn, it doesn’t always
remove the reader from this elaborate and bizarre world.

On top of that, Tom Siddel’s quirky-gothic aesthetic is unique, and his art style has
grown. Characters no longer look like they evolved from a cubist painting; depth and dimension
is given, while also keeping its weirdness and cartoony feel.

I can criticize the way the comic twists and turns now and then until I’m red in the
fingers, but I can’t do it for long. Gunnerkrigg Court is fun; it’s strange, it’s cute, and any
reservations I have are immediately blown aside by the presence of Doctor Disaster.

See you next time.

• From May Contain Content.

I’m always up for promoting Canadian artists. Hark! A Vagrant is an eclectic mix of literary, historical, and real life humour. Not all at the same time though.

A lot of the jokes seem to end one panel away from the punchline but, I swear, it makes them funnier. Must be why Miss Kate Beaton is up for the Shuster Award this year.

• From Hark, a vagrant: 294.

I’m a big fan of absurd humour. But what seals the deal is the woodblock printing style used. Bully!

• From Root Hog Records.

• From jana007.