When I Am King

When I Am King

Demian.5

Fantasy?

R (And I Mean That!)

When I Am King is a webcomic classic. It has been noted by some of the greats of comics, including Mr. Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud.

The art is an enhanced stick-figure theme, and it is "silent." But the whole site is slick. This is the first comic I had ever encountered that used the computer format to its advantage. Flash is used in some places, as are computer-illustrated scenes. For the most part, though, the frames are static. This doesn't keep the comic from being interactive. To read the comic, you must scroll frame by frame. Sometimes you must scroll up, sometimes forward, sometimes down, sometimes a combination of all three. The anticipation created simply by scrolling is almost rediculous.

As for the story, an Egyptian king goes out for a walk, loses his loincloth, and must find a new one so that his guards will recognize him. It sounds simple, but the artist managed to shove in full-on nudity, sex, beastiality, drug use and child abuse. You won't believe how graphic stick people can be.

The comic is finished, and takes maybe an hour to read. I have no complaints to add, but I want to reiterate: SEX! NUDITY! DRUGS! BEASTIALITY! If you have a problem with any of these, don't read this comic!

A Couple of Resources

Here are a couple of excellent resources for those who want to go beyond simply searching for webcomics to read: Comixpedia and The Webcomics Examiner.

Comixpedia is a large website began in 2003 that features webcomics in blogs, news features, reviews, forums, and a large, Wikipedia-style index. The site is a little difficult to navigate, but there is a lot of content to see. The news and reviews are nifty, but in my opinion it is the index that is the crown jewel of Comixpedia.

As of this post, Comixpedia boasts 2114 pages of “legitimate content” in its index. Content can include a summary of the comic’s plot, character descriptions, and details of specific storylines. The downside of this content, just as on Wikipedia, is that any information on any given webcomic can be edited by anyone who joins Comixpedia. However, Comixpedia is much fussier than Wikipedia about who is allowed to be an editor on their site. And I am impressed with the obsessive details that some of the pages contain. Fanboys and girls do have a tendency to double check their facts when discussing their favorite entertainments.

If I was new to webcomics I would take a few hours to peruse Comixpedia and its index, if only to prove how pervasive the webcomics following is.

The Webcomics Examiner is an online literary magazine about webcomics. Articles include reviews of webcomics and webcomic genres, roundtables featuring webcomic authors, and interviews with creators of webcomics. The Examiner does its best to highlight the artistic side of webcomics, pushing the idea that webcomics are a legitimate art form and not simply an online pastime. I like that the magazine stresses that “we are in the midst of a new golden age of comics.” As a webcomic enthusiast, that message makes me giddy.

There are a few nifty features on the website. There is a glossary of commonly used terms in the webcomic world that a newcomer may find useful. Anyone can submit content to the site, much like any other literary review. Specific articles are easy to find by content or by publication date. The only downside of this site is that articles are not published often. As of this post the latest article was published November, 2006. But the articles are intriguing, and the content is useful. I highly recommend The Webcomics Examiner to anyone who enjoys webcomics and craves literary critique.

Tips to Finding Good Webcomics

There are quite a few sites that feature lists of webcomics. Wikipedia has one, and The Webcomic List is one of the most thorough. But lists take time to sift through. The easiest way to find good comics is to look through the links of a webcomic artist you enjoy. Good artists know good art. Also, if a comic artist has a particular style that you enjoy, chances are high that the artist also enjoys that style and will feature comics of a similar vein in his or her links list.

If you find a webcomic, don't read two or three of the first posts and then decide it isn't worth reading. Remember: for most webcomic artists, the comic is or began as a hobby. Most comics that I read were started with little or no idea how the story would develop, and little practice drawing the characters. The first few months of most comics aren't impressive. Bad art and weak dialogue abound. Try to read through a year's worth of the archives. If the comic still doesn't appeal to you, then maybe it is worth dropping.

El Goonish Shive

El Goonish Shive
Dan Shive
Pg-13
Fantasy

I’m reviewing another Keenspot comic this week, and then I will move on to another domain.

I picked out El Goonish Shive because the name sounded interesting. Boy, was I right when I thought of the word “interesting.” I have read some strange comics, but this one almost takes the cake.

I’m unsure if I can even describe the comic without giving a lot of the plot away. Elliot, Tedd, Nanase, Susan, Sara and Justin (and eventually Ellen and Grace) are a group of high school students who live in a universe filled with magic, aliens, elves, shape-shifters, government conspiracies and angst. The angst isn’t as bad as I’ve seen in other comics of a similar vein (I’m thinking It’s Walky here, a comic I will review soon) but it is a group of high school students who are the main characters. Somehow angst follows when high school students are involved.

Now here are the interesting parts. The furry-frenzy of the internet is very visible in this comic. There is a lot of shape-shifting into animal forms. Sexuality is played with. There are a few gay or bi characters. Gender shifting (transgender-ing?) is also played with. One of the characters enjoys shifting from boy to girl, and one storyline had all of the characters switching gender for an evening. If you have problems with any of this, don’t read the comic. But I think it is fun. Shive has made anything possible in his comic.

The story itself is a bit contrived. The storylines can last a long time, but actual lead-ins to what is and is not possible in the comic universe are sometimes nonexistent. People and powers pop out of nowhere. There is a lot of “and by the way, I just happen to be an incredible sorcerer” and “you didn’t know that I had the power of flight? Gee, I’m sure I told you.” This was especially true in the past, but Shive has gotten a lot better at writing his comic. He takes more time developing his characters.

Really, this is a high school fantasy/drama. It reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the way the characters are going through adolescence while being bombarded by the supernatural. It isn’t high literature, but it really works as a comic. I may not put it in my favorites list, but I’ll admit that I couldn’t stop reading it. It is a fun read, if only to see what else Shive will put his characters through.

Elf Life

Elf Life
Carson Fire
Fantasy
PG-13 (Because of partial nudity)

Elf Life is a comic that I have wanted to read through for years. I’ve run into the comic more than once, and have heard good things about it. Now that I have read through the archives, I honestly don’t know why I haven’t attached this comic to my favorites sooner. It might be because I’ve never really thought much of Keenspot comics. But that might be snobbery on my part.

Elf Life is about Baughb the elf, a hero of his people who was set adrift in time and managed to find home…about 1000 years in his future. He decides to stay in this time and make it his home. But his world is in danger and it is up to him, and the elves Filis and Airick, to save his people from extinction.

The comic is comedic for the most part. The first couple of storylines are downright silly. However, over time a fantasy epic has evolved with enough adventure and angst to please any fantasy buff. The world features fairies, trolls, goblins, ogres, well-endowed mermaids and humans. Fire has pulled from many elements of fantasy, picking up lore from Lord of the Rings, Dungeons and Dragons, various mythologies, a few modern epic poems, and I believe the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett. (I saw that stone troll police officer!)

Fire’s artwork has not really changed over the seven years he has published his comic, but he does waffle about the best way to present the comic; sometimes it is inked, sometimes there is soft shading, sometimes there is color. But the cross between the manga chibi art and the cartoony art works well, no matter how it is presented.

There are a few problems with the comic.

Sometimes Fire switches to text, either because of technical difficulties, or to move the story along. After having to absorb text and images for pages and pages, the switch to only text can disorient the senses a little. And Fire is a much better comic writer than prose writer.

The archives are a mess. Don’t even attempt to use them as a guide to where you left off. It is better to save the current page you are on to your favorites until you can come back later. Or write down the url if you aren’t using a home computer. I’m not sure why the author hasn’t made the switch to a calendar archive, like most Keenspot comics.

The last update of the comic was December 18, 2006. This doesn’t look good. The story is unfinished, and I am unsure when the next post will be. The plot is definitely dangling.

But the comic is a good enough fantasy read that I am willing to suspend my rules about archives and frequent posts for a while. I’ll check up on the comic in a few months and see if Fire has resumed posting. Until further notice, consider this comic worth reading.