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.