I’ve been presented with something of a unique opportunity here at Comic Fencing. After reviewing a long string of smaller, newer online comics, I’ve been asked to review one which is culturally significant to the online comic format. Oh-ho. I know I’m supposed to review the comic, but no one said I couldn’t include a commentary on webcomics as a medium, right? (Doesn’t ask Delos about it.)

8-Bit Theatre launched in March of 2001. I started reading in September of 2001. It was my first year of college, and those were the good old days when RPG World was at it’s peak; Inverloch was young, fresh, and exciting, and not yet bogged down with the stereotypical characters that later joined the cast; and TimeScapes actually existed. 8-bit’s popularity had suddenly and randomly taken off; I’m not sure how. Sprite comics were not exactly a new thing anymore, but to many, I suppose the idea still seemed fresh and original because thousands more would be added to the hundred that already existed at the time. (No, I will not try to get exact figures on any of that. This is completely from memory and I don’t need to feel any older.)

8-Bit Theatre, mostly by Brian Clevinger, started out as a side-project for funsies. He took the sprites from the original Final Fantasy and set out to make a comic spoofing old 8-bit games. Sure, the art would just be lame and copy paste and the whole thing would have to rely on his witty writing, but he was a witty writer and could make funny jokes, right? So no problem. At some point (about strip 20), he must have realized that this would make his comic absolutely no different from just about every other crappy sprite comic out there. So, fortunately for the known world, he changed his game-plan.

First of all, instead of spoofing 8-bit games, the comic shifted to be about the characters. Completely tongue-in-cheek characters at that. He stuck with the initial setting and story (the first Final Fantasy) but now the tone moved to mock not early video games, but pretty much anything Clevinger liked. Read that: 80s and 90s geek culture. Now, there are strengths and weaknesses to this gimmick. The strengths being that this is the 2000s and geeks from the 80s and 90s have moved on and would happily use a chuckle over their old obsessions. The weakness is that this is not only a highly specific core audience, but a dated one - the comic is unlikely to appeal to younger readers. Fortunately for Clevinger, almost every nerd who played video games, Dungeons & Dragons, and read the Amazing Spiderman in the 80s and 90s now has a computer and uses the internet. And has probably read his comic.

Even more fortunately for Clevinger, 8-Bit does have appeal beyond that. And that’s because, darnit, he is a witty writer. A dry sense of pacing, a high-style sense of wording, combined with a willingness to not only touch but cuddle with the lowest subjects make his voice pretty unique.

The premise is fairly clever. The world is that of Final Fantasy, and the characters are the player classes from Final Fantasy, and several supporting characters (Sara, Garland, Bikke, Sarda, Bahamut) are straight from the game, but with added personality. Final Fantasy is probably the oldest, driest, most washed-up unidimensional game in which you make a party of “heroes” and follow a series of quests in which you are destined to save the world from some form of doom. Notably, it was also the very first of such games to use the party format. The very first of the story RPGs. I guess we should cut it some slack. 8-bit adds a twist to the un-likely hero story. The four Light Warriors for this version of the classic game are the least qualified or inclined people on the planet to save the planet. They are the most pathetic, horrible, unidimensional characters you will ever come to love. And they are:

Fighter: Loves swords, whether hitting things with them or otherwise. Has the intellectual capacity and ideals of a kindergartener.

Black Mage: Loves wanton destruction, the more evil the better. Is fortunately not very good at it. Thinks he’s smarter than the other characters and therefore thinks they’re not on to his constant plots to betray and murder them in horrible ways.

Thief: The kleptomaniacal elvin prince who supposedly can collect royalties on the use of fine print. While his schemes to collect wealth are usually no less bizarre than the other characters’ plans for anything, they generally tend to work. He’s the only Light Warrior who has any semblance of intelligence, and he has an ego the size of the planet he’s so busy not saving. Naturally, to counter-balance this, his failures are by far the most embarrassing.

Red Mage: Thinks this is all a game, and he’s the best power-gamer out there. Usually manages to make no sense at all with an equal chance of this working out well for him or working out completely horribly. Also, wishes he was a girl.

These and the supporting characters are completely static, such to the point that they are most frustrating. This is, in fact, one of Clevinger’s favorite jokes. Hundreds of story-lines start to lead to the development or reform of these characters, only to anti-climatically have them revert right back to their old selves, often worse than ever. Recurring jokes, much? Yeah, all of them are. How else do you fill up over 1000 text-heavy comic strips? But the recurring element is part of the beauty of the gags. He spaces them out enough that you forget about them for a while, only to bring them back in such a way as you know you should have seen it coming. Ackbar, for example, is a recurring con-man who sells the characters…not what they need to proceed. Black Belt, for example, was also a recurring joke. The only competent warrior in the entire cast, he would randomly appear to defeat the current boss threat, and just as easily disappear. You see, he has the gift of getting lost in paranormal space, rather than the usual gift of appearing in the nick of time that heroes have. Some of the recurring jokes mature over time. For example, Fighter begins the story in a quest for the Armor of Invincibilty. About strip 200, he finds it. And it will return… Also, early plot holes in the comic were explained away by “a wizard did it.” Come episode 421, we are introduced to Sarda, the wizard that did it. And this is just a handful of jokes to give you an idea.

What I’d like to know is how he manages to pull off such a steady level of humor so consistantly… It’s just not fair that all people were not created equal.

Oh dear, I’ve yet to mention the art. Yes, oddly enough, in this sprite comic the art is good. Clevinger’s secret? He’s not actually using sprites from Final Fantasy. A lot of the sprites used in the comic are direct replicas of the ones in the original games, but many more have been created to give the characters extra poses and expressions. (Also, the four “real” Light Warriors are replicas of sprites created for the playstaton remake of the original game.) Furthermore, a lot of original sprites were also created - all of this reportedly created by Kevin Sigmund. Clevinger’s girlfriend Lydia Tyree occasionally produces fully original art for the comic. Clevinger puts it altogether with clipart or google found images for backgrounds and visual reinforcements. While not an amazing or refined piece of art, the 8-Bit comics are certainly functional and support the text-laden pages. I feel comfortable calling this “comic art.”

I imagine the end is near, for 8-bit. I mean, they finally have all four orbs and are at the final castle. All we need now is the final boss fight. And after seven years, I imagine Clevinger can’t wait. I expect he’s always resented this little hobby of his. It was all good fun until it completely overshadowed his beloved brainchild and reason for launching the site: Nuklear Age. When he finally did finish getting his tongue-in-cheek superhero novel together, it…really didn’t do so well, while 8-bit continued to shine. Many conventions will fly him in from Florida and put him up at a hotel just so he can reassure fans that Black Mage will always like to kill people. Poor guy. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for you, Clevinger. It’s called Atomic Robo. Even if it didn’t get you an Eisner, it’s also doing pretty well.

In closing, 8-Bit Theatre is NOT for all audiences, but after over 1000 installations, it’s still fabulous at what it does. Everything Clevinger does in this comic is horrible and awful, but you love it, and you love him for it.

Rating:
“8-Bit Theatre”
http://www.nuklearpower.com/
By Brian Clevinger

review by Sly Eagle

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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This comic reminded me of a few guys I know. Guys that are not in college (be it by completion or not attending) and living with their mommas while they still haven’t found a real job. They’re looking, they say, and if you ever saw them say so without their faces towards a screen with a remote, controller, or keyboard at hand, you might believe them.

They’re not real nerds. Nerds fixate. Nerds connect to a fandom or genre and devote their lives to it. These guys don’t have the attention span for something like that. They just latch on to whatever’s in front of them at the moment. Unless, perhaps, it’s either not pop culture or it’s R Kelly.

I think, if they read this comic, they’d enjoy it immensely. They’d probably prattle on about how good it was…long after you’ve given them every polite hint you know of that you have no idea what they’re talking about and you’d rather not fix that.

Fortunately, they are not reviewing this comic. Unfortunately, I am.

Intelligence Cleaner Agency, by D. Bethel (I’m presuming there’s only one actual person behind this comic), is one of those Big Idea comics that seems to fall just short of coming together. The Big Idea is that the ICA is the secret agency whose job is cleaning up after those pesky other secret agencies who should have a hard time keeping themselves secret due to a penchant for blowing things up. The website goes for the “immersive” experience by having the comments be from the main characters point of view and the whole set-up brought to you by the conceit that due to the Patriot Act, the ICA is being forced to make their files public and has chosen to do so through a comic. No, it doesn’t quite add up, and that, unfortunately, is the real theme of ICA. The characters have “dossiers” and the storylines are broken up into “declassifications. While this all gives the site and comic its own identity, it never manages to seal the deal, leaving most of the big ideas floating in the weight of their own merit and never tying the package together. It doesn’t help that the site itself is cluttered and confusing.

In the same vein, the stories tend to be half-baked and never quite pull together. We follow Agent Eben07 and his partner Ninja Dan (seems the surefire way to make your story more appealing is to add a Japanese character - failing any real idea of what makes a character Japanese, a “ninja” will do) on a series of missions to clean things up. For the most part, we have to accept the unexplained or elaborated upon mission as the plot device to keep the story moving (or, even more cynically, as the excuse to have a “story” in the first place). They are occasionally joined with the token female agent Janester who is, uh, very token. It has entered my mind that these missions may perhaps be references to movies I’ve not seen and video games I’ve not played. I’m going to assume there are jokes here, and that since I’m not up on James Bond or Metal Gear Solid, I just don’t see them. However, I have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the storyline involving that did not amuse me in the least, even though I got the references. A reference for reference’s sake won’t get a chuckle out of me. I suppose the spontaneity, rather than the applicability, is supposed to be funny. But because it absolutely is not applicable, my brain draws a big old “Does Not Compute” and I proceed to stare blearily at the inanity of it rather than balling up in stitches like my br–I mean, those guys I know would.

What I can glean from the story is that the ICA was founded by Eben07’s ancester Abel, a man who is easily and unexplicably 300 years old and who has recently left the organization. Abel wants Eben07 to help him “clean up the ICA.” The rest doesn’t seem to relate. Perhaps the intelligence was cleaned out.

The art did not fit the tone of the comic. I’m not sure why, but it felt disjointed to me. Maybe this was because while the story was so random and spastic, the artwork was a decent example of action cartooning. Not a great example of comicing, though. Don’t expect anything exciting from the layouts other than some where the order is hard to follow. This is plainly PS7, maybe CS. It suffers from a couple PS quirks, actually. One, the panel lines tend to be blurry - good old stroke on the center line with, I’ll guess 3 pixels. I’d suggest stroking inside or outside. For some reason, that seems to clean up the blurriness once you compress the file. Same thing with the bubble lines - try using 2 pixels instead of 1. That one plagued me for a year. The other problem is the over-sharp font. I’m not sure what’s causing that, as it doesn’t happen on about half of the comics. Both these things should be fixed to match the linework. All things told, I have no major problems with the art, but I’m not feeling inspired by it either.

As a final thought, I have to wonder why Eben07’s weapon of choice is a plunger-gun. A mop would be so much better.

I’m going to give this one 2.5 stars because I know there’s an audience for it and I know it probably delivers for them. May God bless and keep them both far away from me.

(A final note for clarification: The Geek knows a great many little things. The Nerd knows one thing that is Great to him.)

Rating:
“Intelligence Cleaner Agency”
http://www.eben07.com/
By D. Bethel

review by Sly Eagle

(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)

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Allow me to begin by straight up saying that I am not in favor of comic “competitions” such as Zuda. In fact, I’m strongly opposed. I suppose that, at least with Zuda, at least you, the comic artist, are merely selling yourself short instead of dropping your pants and bending over, as you would be in entering any of the Tokyopop competitions. I understand the allure - seems like easy exposure, maybe a chance at a publishing deal, but truly, these sort of “competitions” only serve to garner cheap content for the only real winner: the big corporation. Unlike Tokyopop, DC comics does offer compensation for possessing your submission, so if your original comic is worth only $500 flat to you, by all means sell it. All of it. [Edit: It was brought to my attention that I missed a crucial sentence in the contract - you <i>do</i> reposses your work at the end of the competition.] Maybe you’ll get lucky and get a little more than you bargained for. Probably someone else’s comic will be more popular than yours and that’ll be that. (But I don’t know. If this one’s an example of an “instant winner,” maybe you do have a chance.) You’d be doing yourself not a favor but plain old justice if you took that long march down the submission/rejection publishing highway and got to keep your copyright and royalties when you finally landed that publishing deal.

So, I just want to be clear that by reviewing this comic I am not supporting the Zuda competition. [Edit: Although I will now admit that it is the most fair one I’ve seen for comics creators.]

The Night Owls, by Peter Timony and Robert Timony, is listed as a historical period comedy. The Night Owls is a detective agency that operates at night and deals with supernatural mysteries. Ernest Baxter, the leader of the operation, is the bookish type who has a large working knowledge of supernatural myths and is reportedly allergic to sunlight. Mindy Markus is his violent female sidekick, and Roscoe is the comic relief–erm, gargoyle from the Bronx. The story supposedly takes place in 1926, which, sure, is a popular year for jazz agers and private investigators. However, from the look of the art, the pacing and tone of the story, and the kind of characters, I’d place this more as vintage 1976, Saturday morning. Certainly some research has been done here, but the “20s” just seems affected, especially in the use of slang. We’ve got the sepia look going on too, sure, but all I could think of was the Hanna-Barbera cartoons and their imitators. This is teen rock band, not big band stuff. Now, to be fair, it’s very unfair to liken The Night Owls to Scooby Doo. For one thing, the linework is much more 70s comics than 70s cartoons. While episodic, there’s still a single storyline running through which we find out more about the characters. We’ve got “real” ghosts and monsters, not just guys in goofy masks (okay, mostly…). But it’s all quite silly. The vampires and demons are just goofy, and while a werewolf does mutilate three random women, this is hardly presented as tragic or horrible. So what if Roscoe killed and ate a poor old woman’s cat? It was all in good fun!

The art’s pretty straightforward. Ink, gray flat-coloring turned brown for effect. It looks like a generic 70s comic book. The comic would definitely benefit from having more of an artistic identity. One way that might help would be to increase the authenticity. There are a lot of busty broads wandering around for a period that favored the slim look. Also, I’m pretty sure the Apache would be wearing modern clothes by this point, but if you really want to draw them in traditional native american clothing, why not put them in traditional Apache clothing rather than your run-of-the-mill “Injun” costuming?

I won’t say The Night Owls is a bad comic. I was able to read through the full archive in one go without experiencing pain or misery or sleep. But it was just a quick read that didn’t really stick much. Stuff happens, sure, and the writer assumes you have at least a fourth grade reading comprehension ability and lets you pick up on the bloody, blatant obvious clues on your own. The characters are developed in that you find out more about them as the story progresses. But I found so very little to care about and nothing interested me, so I certainly won’t be coming back for more in my spare time. Although Mindy bothered me. Girls can be “strong” in ways other than being impulsively violent, right? Right? …no? *sigh*

It was good for what it does - keeping the kids occupied on Saturday morning so mom and dad can sleep in a little on their day off.
Rating:
“The Night Owls”
http://zudacomics.com/the_night_owls
By Peter and Robert Timony

review by Sly Eagle

(7 votes, average: 2.71 out of 5)

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Calamities of Nature, by Tony Piro, is probably the most uninspiring comic I’ve reviewed for the fencers yet. So, for me, this’ll be a short review.

Four loserly funny animals with one-word personalities live in…I guess modern America. And go on statically-drawn wacky adventures, which generally involve…one character being dumb and the other one being sensible to no avail. The, uh, adventures tend to be things we’ve all seen before. Repeatedly.

It’s like current Garfield, only stretched out over nine panels and lacking a punchline. Seriously, most of these comics have no punchline. They don’t even try. When the characters aren’t standing around not being funny, they’re standing around not being socially aware. Hint: if you’re trying to push social awareness, try saying something that not everyone in the media is already saying. The most exciting thing about the comic is it’s anti-Christian sentiment, and even that is just parroted from other general anti-Christian sentiments (and only exciting because supposedly, as a Christian, I should feel mocked), complete with lack of realistic example…or punchline. Has this guy ever had an original idea in his life? I mean, he makes an entire story arc based off of a guest strip. Wait…this one might come close… The mad scientist stereotype isn’t completely clueless! Haha, get it? No?

Oh, there’s art, isn’t there? Pretty flat and colorless for being in color with 2-tone shading. Again, nothing Garfield hasn’t already done. It’s not bad, it’s just not good either.

I have no idea why this comic is called “Calamities of Nature.” But do I think all the characters should be parrots. Then there’d be self irony. Intentional, rather than unintentional. The evolution of the horse exhibit? Are you serious? Even hardcore evolutionary scientists admit that that chart is propagandist bunk and intentionally misleading. Notice how it shows ONLY the forleg canon and hoof for each species, a tooth, and an artist rendition? Yeah, there’s a reason for that. It’s called “the rest of the skeleton.”

Uhm, I give it a star for being a comic on the web? But that means I need to give a star to the grass I’m watching grow… Fine, I’ll give it two stars because he actually drew it himself and the site’s decent.

Rating:
“Calamities of Nature”
http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/
By Tony Piro

review by Sly Eagle

(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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They be sayin’ that comedy be harder than drama. This be the new world lubbers sayin’ it, whar they forgot the difference be quite simple. Tragedy be when the men die at the end, comedy be when they get married. Drama be when they die an’ get married.

In Here There Be Robots, a pitiful ditty by the brothers Gregory, no one be getting married, aye. And no one be dyin’ that I can tell, which be a fair queerness when we be singin’ about a port called “Deathtown.” Mayhap the doctor be killin’ th’pirates on that thar beach, but not before me eyes, so it not be countin’ as good ole’ murder, says I.

We got us a pair o’ aliens from th’stars rather than th’other side o’ th’sea. One be scrawny an’ brainy, while the other be ox-oafish, ‘cept as in the standard humorous variety o’ this duo, it be the big, dumb one that be actually havin’ any sense. In th’firs show o’ plot twisting, they crash-land in th’secret hideout o’ three bloodthirsty robots. So, here be th’robots, but why be they robots? They be standard humorous villains who be led by th’random megalomaniacle one and his two stupid side-kicks - one be large an’ oafish, the other small an’ zany. They be random humor types, not robots, says I. Robots be mechanical an’…robotical. These be no more artificial than th’rest o’ th’cast. Th’aliens twist th’plot again an’ set off th’ robots’ secret bomb, which fer th’next twist o’ plot (aye, I prefer dagger twistin’ - be less painful, says I), ends th’lot ‘o blaggarts up in modern times (1700s). Here, they meet up with th’pirates. Or rather, one pirate, being Tom the Pirate, who be predictably a mix o’ th’Sea Cook an’ Captain James Hook himself, although in physical idisycrocies only, as he has the smarts of both fine gents squared and then negated. Now, some be findin’ th’ village idiot entertainin’, but me, I jes shoot ‘im so I c’n finish me grog in peace.

So we got aliens, robots, an’ pirates, only with nothing that resembles aliens, robots, or pirates as they should be. Some crafty bloke named John Vorhaus said somethin’ t’the effect o’ comedy be truth an’ pain. Here be no truth, an only th’ pain o’ wishin’ you’d sailed elsewhere. Now, some lubbers I know, would find an alien an’ a robot wearin’ “pirate” clothes an’ break-dancin’ fer th’right to live’d be th’end all o’ wit. My brother’d be one o’ them. As fer me, there ain’t enough Dominican rum in all seven seas fer me t’so much as crack a smile. I’d be passin’ out straight-faced, I would.

Th’riggin’ on this ship t’aint as disastrous as th’tub itself. Grotesque linework ‘n choppy panel borders, yet th’grit be harf-arsed with th’black’n'white that be cleaner’n a London lass’s kirtle. Aye, sketch me a bonny wench from th’Spanish Main - th’color o’er skirt don’ matter, jus’so long’s I be seeing it’ been used more’n once, iff’n ye be knowin’ what’m sayin’. (And if you don’t, I’m saying you’re over-contrasting your scans. Leave some gray in there.) But even so, matey, not only can th’lad draw, he does draw, which is more than th’lot o’ ye scurvy cut’n'pastey squiffs can say, aye. Th’lad’s also got some keen ideas on fresh layouts, although many a time ‘e gets tangled up in not knowin’ what t’be puttin’ in’th panel, arr, n’then I don’ follow what ‘e be sayin’ so well. An’ iff’n y’suggest that be ’cause I be addled as the pirate Tom, th’words’ll be your last, so I swears on m’mate’s grave. Aye, I killed him too.

Th’strange thin’ ’bout this boat, an’ I don’ got any advice fer ye on this’un, is tha’ e’en though th’backgroun’ be fully drawn, there still be this odd feelin o’ flatness about it. Mayhap the lack o’depth be there to remind us that these be single-dimensional (aye, e’en half-dimensional) characters. Just in case we couldn’t be tellin’ from the writing.

I admit, this joke, tha’ were funny. But that one line in one-a them “Family Guy” shanties… Tha’ were funny too. But am I goin’ t’listen t’th’whole thin’ agin t’hear th’one line? Not on Davey Jones’s locker.

(Okay, so the short of it for those who don’t feel like muddling through my piracy: I found this comic immensely stupid, and wouldn’t have read it if I weren’t supposed to review it. This is probably because I am over 23 and don’t have a Y chromosome. Just because I’m not the comic’s intended audience doesn’t mean it inherently sucks. It’s a typical genre piece, nothing amazing or special, but enjoyable enough for fans of the genre. So I give it two and a half stars.)

Rating:
“Here There Be Robots”
http://randompiratecomics.net/webpages/robots.htm
By Jonah and Jeremy Gregory

review by Sly Eagle

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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I have a bit of a confession to make…a confession shocking to hear from someone who often visited the historical sites at the harbor and loved the National Aquarium and many times went with her father to Camden Yards - and enjoyed it. Perhaps even more shocking to hear from someone who favors goth metal. I don’t care for the works of Edgar Allan Poe. What can I say? He was just too…sensationalized for me.

But his little dreamer, Edgar Allan Poo? I can dig this guy.

The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo, whimsically penned by Dwight L. MacPherson and marvelously illustrated by Thomas Boatwright, is a probably fictionalized account on how Edgar Allan Poe recovered his creativity after losing his beloved wife Virginia. You see, Poe has made a mistake. Haunted by nightmares of his wife’s ghost, he prays to never dream again. And, one evening in the outhouse, his prayers are answered, and the part of himself that can dream is swept away in the sewage. Now Poe was dumpy-cute enough, but this, ah, “Poo” fellow, with his Poe looks, but now short and squat, his 1800s manner and sole exclamation of “Oh my!”, is absolutely adorable. He is rescued from certain danger but not confusion by a rat fellow with pointy coat-tails who goes by the name of Irving and begins his adventures in the Land of Terra Somnium (Land of Terra - yeah, so redundant).

Most irksome about this comic was quite actually its choice of hosts: Drunk Duck. Druck Duck has a terribly intrusive set up and very slow loading times. I often ended up with time-outs, and I have high speed cable interent, so I hate to think how people with slower internet connections will fare. The customizations to the terribly consticting layout are pleasant enough though. I do like the purple.

More than that, though, or anything else about this comic, I love the pages themselves. Boatwright knows his craft and knows his atmosphere, which he renders masterfully throughout. Let’s see…what have we got? Inks, definitely scanned. Colors…Hm. I’m going to guess this was actually done in a computer. I’m guessing Corel painter. Looks like water color washes. With lots of texture. Eeeeeee, I love texture. But there are parts where the color overrides the ink to give the appearance of light, and I don’t know how you’d do that without digital compositing. It’s a glorious effect. Similarly, we sometimes have colored ink lines, which needs to be done in a computer to look like this. He gets bonus points for unobtrusive visual effects in the sound effects. The panel layouts are edgy and refreshing, not too overdone, although occasionally the boxlessness makes the order a bit unintuitive. On a side note, the lettering, done by one Thomas Mauer, is completely unnoticeable - which is to say “perfect.”

The mood of the art is more mellow and dreamy than gothic, but it does boast a darkness more suited to 1800s London than 1800s Baltimore. The dialogue certainly goes for 1800s whimsy. From the opening potty humor down to the Zelda homage, this is meant to be a child-friendly comic. But it’s a refreshing kid’s comic, simplified without being dumbed down. And for starting with potty humor, it’s pretty clean. Poo’s journey through dreamland, sorry - Terra Somnium, follows the classic children’s literature adventures. Meet lots of new people, see lots of new places, but don’t dwell on any of it. If you want to dwell on anything, you’ve got Poe. Yes, he’s not just there to use the can. While Poo is Alice, or Link, or Bone, Poe is pretty much himself, dwelling on thoughts of the beautiful woman who died young. In losing his dreamer, he’s now defenseless against the King of Nightmares. We hear from Poe in interludes as he faces down the King of Nightmares, or rather is faced down by, while Poo and his new friends Irving the rat and Terence the fiddler crab deal with the King’s followers, who happen to be an array of mythological beings. Boatwright draws these familiar creatures in his own unique bent, so while we know what these mythical beings are meant to be, we easily accept Boatwright’s version in this world. In the same manner, the young artist Poo must also face the classics, and does so by challenging them to a duel. While enthralled for a time, he finds his victory in escape. He is his own person! He does his own work in his own way! He is an individual, a free spirit. Or perhaps I am looking into this too much. Anyway, while Poe gains inspiration for The Pit and the Pendulum, Poo’s swordplay improves against centaurs and cyclops and he tries living in a haversack for a bit. He also meets Nevermore, king of ravens.

While some references were a bit blunt for me, I thoroughly enjoyed this comic. The surreal wasn’t that out there, and it was grounded well by the illustration. Nothing drew me out of the story (except the rude “time-out” errors) and I only had a few minor quibbles. So, having no obvious deductions from the work itself, sure, I’ll hand out a five and eagerly await the next update.

Rating:

The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo
http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Surreal_Adventures_of_Edgar_Allan_Poo
by Dwight L Macpherson
art by Thomas Boatright
lettered by Thomas Mauer
review by Sly Eagle
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)

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