Still recovering from the trip. It wouldn't be so bad, but I had to go to work the day after getting back, so I'm kind of wiped. Until next time kiddies.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Next two weeks will be nothing
The reason is two fisted. One, stupid work schedule is eating time. Two, going to Cedar Point. If you've never been, and love rollercoasters, GO! It's completely worth it. So the next couple of weeks will be a bit blank, I'm afraid.
Until then kiddies.
Until then kiddies.
Friday, August 3, 2012
The Eishtmo vs Need for Speed World
NOTE: I don't have any ideas for a webcomic article this week, so instead, I'll repost a review I did elsewhere. Enjoy.
I've been playing a lot of MMOs recently. Champions Online, Star Trek Online, World of Fucking Tanks, as well as an old slew of browser based MMOs (Look up, but don't play, Astro Empires sometime). All of those games, though, I downloaded and played on my lonesome. Need for Speed World, however, was something others had to convince me to try because, well, I'm not much of a racing game fan. Just outside of my wheelhouse, as it were. Still, it's not a bad game, and I do play it despite it being about 6 months later. Just not as much as other games.
I will clear up something about this game: It isn't STRICTLY pay-to-win. Oh, do not doubt that buying, with real cash, high end cars and parts will give you one hell of an edge in this game, but it won't mean you'll WIN anything. This game takes some skill and practice to get anywhere. I've beaten much faster cars because the drivers were reckless or stupid or both with my free-to-play cars on a number of occasions. I have also been completely blown out and outclassed by those same cars with different drivers, leaving me in the dust very easily.
I guess this should be expected given the nature of the game, which is about collecting and racing cars you will NEVER own in real life. EVER. The cars they have available runs the gambit from classic cars, to modern super cars. There's even a bloody SUV in there somewhere, though why you'd want such a thing in a racing game is beyond me. The F2P cars available are a good mix and there are some really good cars there, but you have to grind in game cash to get them. A LOT of in game cash in some cases. Millions in game dollars cars are available but you'll maybe make a 1000 bucks a race, so it might take a little while to save up for them. Oh, and you have a limited number of garage slots, and you have to pay for more of them. Honestly, it's about as restricted as the other MMOs I play, so no big deal.
Graphically the game is, well, beautiful. Gorgeous in fact. Even at medium settings (which mine is at by default) it's just amazing to look at. The map, based on a previous NSF game (I don't know which one, sorry), offers a wide variety of different locations, each based on real world cities and neighborhoods. There's a region that looks like Vegas, another that looks LA and NY, and other classic settings. There's a golf course, an amusement park, a farm area, docks, you can even drive through a docked aircraft carrier. And all of it looks wonderful.
Which is funny when you'll be spending most of your time buzzing past at 170 mph. The real issue is, to me, is how DEAD everything feels. There are NO pedestrians (probably to prevent Carmeggedon). Oh, there are a few NPC cars, but even you're bolted to your car, unable to exit, with a stiff person in the driver seat who gives not a fuck if his convertible flips over at 150 miles per hour and rolls around the ground. It also means you can't get out of your car to really LOOK at the various landmarks and structures. This is especially annoying when sections that a car COULD go through, are blocked off by unmovable cones of impassibility. I will say they FINALLY added a free camera view (V key) so you can look around a bit. But only a bit, I'm afraid.
The cars look beautiful as well. As I said, you can get a wide variety of cars ranging from a 70's Dodge Charger to various Lamborghinis. Each one can have their paint done in a variety of ways, and have various parts added to it. Change the wheels, add a lowering kit, tint the windows, put on various pinstripes, numbers and other things, making your car, well, your car. That said, some stuff is hidden behind a pay wall (window tints cost money unless you randomly get them as prizes for races), but most of the basic stuff is available to F2P players. That said, I did have some odd graphical glitches with the Dodge Charger, but it only ever seemed to effect it, and I sold it off for another car, so I don't know if it's still there.
The gameplay has three modes. Freeform allows you to putter around the overall map. It's great for getting to know the lay of the land, looking at the pretty buildings, and that's about it. The only real gameplay there is the Treasure Hunt daily game, which is probably the main thing I play at the moment. The hunt is restricted to a particular region of the map, and you must find 15 "Gems" to complete it. Once found, the you get a random prize, which increases in quality the more days you chain in a row, and resets if you miss one. You can PAY to continue the chain, but it's honestly not worth it. You do, however, get experience and cash from doing the Treasure Hunt, and most of my 30 levels have come from this.
Races are the most common and easy event. There are two, Sprint and Circuit. Sprint goes from point A to point B as fast as humanly possible. Circuit buzzes you around a defined course for 2 or 3 laps. These can either be against the AI for lower prizes but better chance of winning (unless you're me, I suck against the AI for some reason), or other players in game. As you level up more courses are opened up, and the tracks become tougher and longer. So much so, you'll find yourself using the various consumables to get ahead, but these are really limited in supply, and you either get more from the random card you get at the end of a race, or by buying card packs (which are random) so it's almost not worth using them. Otherwise it's a lot of fun playing these, but it seems people prefer the lower ranked tracks for some reason. I have no preference here, as both have their fun aspects.
Finally there's Pursuit, which also comes in two forms: Pursuit and Team Escape. Standard Pursuits are single player only and involve running from the cops in various forms. There's no end goal besides getting your cool down bar to full strength. While it's fun to cause mayhem in Pursuit, honestly I never got that excited about it and don't do them much. Team Escape is multiplayer only, and there is an end goal. I don't do these often because they really do need teamwork to pull off. I've done it once, I think, and generally avoid it otherwise. It's the hardest challenge in the game, I think. Like the races, more open up as you level up, but at a much lower rate.
The game seems to play well enough, but there are a LOT of bugs in this game I've noticed. From login bugs that lock up your experience (sorry, Reputation) bar, to that weird graphic bug. Weird things happen with this game, and I don't often know why. When things are running smooth, it runs great. When it doesn't, well, it doesn't. Worse, I think the game has a lot of cheaters in it. Not just the wallet warriors (they're playing the game as designed after all), I mean people actually cheating to get more Boost (pay currency). Before it was taken down for "maintenance" (about 5 months ago), the freeform global chat was FULL of scammers, spammers and cheat advertisers. This drowned out the community so badly they took down the global chat entirely and still haven't returned it. Yeah, it was THAT bad. Once I got spam messages from a cheater guy, and I couldn't BLOCK HIM. That's right, the ignore function flat out didn't work on him. Buggy game is buggy, and without the freeform chat, there's basically no community within the game itself, or none that I've really seen.
Overall, if you like racing games, this is probably the best one you'll find for free. It is very responsive (you can use a gamepad, just plug it in, triggers run acceleration and break FYI), and each car feels different in how it handles and moves. It might take a while to find a favorite, but once you do, you'll be happy. Best yet, the game, despite being from EA, doesn't seem to require Origin, at all, so download and go. I putter around with it, and they have reasonably frequent give aways (I've gotten two cars in the last two months, for free, for example), and they do cycle the pay cars in and out, encouraging people to buy whatever is new and fashionable. It's a fun game, and while I like other games better, I like starting my morning to the sound of engines.
Until next time kiddies.
I've been playing a lot of MMOs recently. Champions Online, Star Trek Online, World of Fucking Tanks, as well as an old slew of browser based MMOs (Look up, but don't play, Astro Empires sometime). All of those games, though, I downloaded and played on my lonesome. Need for Speed World, however, was something others had to convince me to try because, well, I'm not much of a racing game fan. Just outside of my wheelhouse, as it were. Still, it's not a bad game, and I do play it despite it being about 6 months later. Just not as much as other games.
I will clear up something about this game: It isn't STRICTLY pay-to-win. Oh, do not doubt that buying, with real cash, high end cars and parts will give you one hell of an edge in this game, but it won't mean you'll WIN anything. This game takes some skill and practice to get anywhere. I've beaten much faster cars because the drivers were reckless or stupid or both with my free-to-play cars on a number of occasions. I have also been completely blown out and outclassed by those same cars with different drivers, leaving me in the dust very easily.
I guess this should be expected given the nature of the game, which is about collecting and racing cars you will NEVER own in real life. EVER. The cars they have available runs the gambit from classic cars, to modern super cars. There's even a bloody SUV in there somewhere, though why you'd want such a thing in a racing game is beyond me. The F2P cars available are a good mix and there are some really good cars there, but you have to grind in game cash to get them. A LOT of in game cash in some cases. Millions in game dollars cars are available but you'll maybe make a 1000 bucks a race, so it might take a little while to save up for them. Oh, and you have a limited number of garage slots, and you have to pay for more of them. Honestly, it's about as restricted as the other MMOs I play, so no big deal.
Graphically the game is, well, beautiful. Gorgeous in fact. Even at medium settings (which mine is at by default) it's just amazing to look at. The map, based on a previous NSF game (I don't know which one, sorry), offers a wide variety of different locations, each based on real world cities and neighborhoods. There's a region that looks like Vegas, another that looks LA and NY, and other classic settings. There's a golf course, an amusement park, a farm area, docks, you can even drive through a docked aircraft carrier. And all of it looks wonderful.
Which is funny when you'll be spending most of your time buzzing past at 170 mph. The real issue is, to me, is how DEAD everything feels. There are NO pedestrians (probably to prevent Carmeggedon). Oh, there are a few NPC cars, but even you're bolted to your car, unable to exit, with a stiff person in the driver seat who gives not a fuck if his convertible flips over at 150 miles per hour and rolls around the ground. It also means you can't get out of your car to really LOOK at the various landmarks and structures. This is especially annoying when sections that a car COULD go through, are blocked off by unmovable cones of impassibility. I will say they FINALLY added a free camera view (V key) so you can look around a bit. But only a bit, I'm afraid.
The cars look beautiful as well. As I said, you can get a wide variety of cars ranging from a 70's Dodge Charger to various Lamborghinis. Each one can have their paint done in a variety of ways, and have various parts added to it. Change the wheels, add a lowering kit, tint the windows, put on various pinstripes, numbers and other things, making your car, well, your car. That said, some stuff is hidden behind a pay wall (window tints cost money unless you randomly get them as prizes for races), but most of the basic stuff is available to F2P players. That said, I did have some odd graphical glitches with the Dodge Charger, but it only ever seemed to effect it, and I sold it off for another car, so I don't know if it's still there.
The gameplay has three modes. Freeform allows you to putter around the overall map. It's great for getting to know the lay of the land, looking at the pretty buildings, and that's about it. The only real gameplay there is the Treasure Hunt daily game, which is probably the main thing I play at the moment. The hunt is restricted to a particular region of the map, and you must find 15 "Gems" to complete it. Once found, the you get a random prize, which increases in quality the more days you chain in a row, and resets if you miss one. You can PAY to continue the chain, but it's honestly not worth it. You do, however, get experience and cash from doing the Treasure Hunt, and most of my 30 levels have come from this.
Races are the most common and easy event. There are two, Sprint and Circuit. Sprint goes from point A to point B as fast as humanly possible. Circuit buzzes you around a defined course for 2 or 3 laps. These can either be against the AI for lower prizes but better chance of winning (unless you're me, I suck against the AI for some reason), or other players in game. As you level up more courses are opened up, and the tracks become tougher and longer. So much so, you'll find yourself using the various consumables to get ahead, but these are really limited in supply, and you either get more from the random card you get at the end of a race, or by buying card packs (which are random) so it's almost not worth using them. Otherwise it's a lot of fun playing these, but it seems people prefer the lower ranked tracks for some reason. I have no preference here, as both have their fun aspects.
Finally there's Pursuit, which also comes in two forms: Pursuit and Team Escape. Standard Pursuits are single player only and involve running from the cops in various forms. There's no end goal besides getting your cool down bar to full strength. While it's fun to cause mayhem in Pursuit, honestly I never got that excited about it and don't do them much. Team Escape is multiplayer only, and there is an end goal. I don't do these often because they really do need teamwork to pull off. I've done it once, I think, and generally avoid it otherwise. It's the hardest challenge in the game, I think. Like the races, more open up as you level up, but at a much lower rate.
The game seems to play well enough, but there are a LOT of bugs in this game I've noticed. From login bugs that lock up your experience (sorry, Reputation) bar, to that weird graphic bug. Weird things happen with this game, and I don't often know why. When things are running smooth, it runs great. When it doesn't, well, it doesn't. Worse, I think the game has a lot of cheaters in it. Not just the wallet warriors (they're playing the game as designed after all), I mean people actually cheating to get more Boost (pay currency). Before it was taken down for "maintenance" (about 5 months ago), the freeform global chat was FULL of scammers, spammers and cheat advertisers. This drowned out the community so badly they took down the global chat entirely and still haven't returned it. Yeah, it was THAT bad. Once I got spam messages from a cheater guy, and I couldn't BLOCK HIM. That's right, the ignore function flat out didn't work on him. Buggy game is buggy, and without the freeform chat, there's basically no community within the game itself, or none that I've really seen.
Overall, if you like racing games, this is probably the best one you'll find for free. It is very responsive (you can use a gamepad, just plug it in, triggers run acceleration and break FYI), and each car feels different in how it handles and moves. It might take a while to find a favorite, but once you do, you'll be happy. Best yet, the game, despite being from EA, doesn't seem to require Origin, at all, so download and go. I putter around with it, and they have reasonably frequent give aways (I've gotten two cars in the last two months, for free, for example), and they do cycle the pay cars in and out, encouraging people to buy whatever is new and fashionable. It's a fun game, and while I like other games better, I like starting my morning to the sound of engines.
Until next time kiddies.
Friday, July 27, 2012
The Penny Arcade Kickstarter
I don't like Penny Arcade. So much so I refuse to link to it on this site. I know it's popular, extremely popular, and that doesn't help me like it any better. I've read numerous strips because it seems the go-to strip for when someone wants to post a "witty" reply dealing with video games. The jokes are all the same and tired and often stupid.
So what do I think about their Kickstarter? Oh, you didn't hear about this? Well, simply put, Penny Arcade is trying to raise money (million dollars or so) and will dump it's advertising, ALL it's advertising, if they do. They'll make it, I'm sure, but how do I feel about the entire thing? Well, honestly, it feels backwards to me.
Most comics, the VAST majority of them in fact, do not make money. At all. None, zip, zero, nada. They might get a little money from some advertisers, but not enough to do the comic full time. If anything, many just flat out beg for cash. So getting a steady advertising fund is a big step, one that allows them to go full time. Penny Arcade crossed that line a LONG time ago, and became the single greatest webcomic success story of all time.
So to me, Kickstarter is going back to begging for money. They don't NEED it, of course, they have the advertising, but it feels as if they're taking advantage of their audience. As I said, they WILL get that money, and much of that is because their fans are kind of die hard. And I generally think they're kind of stupid too. That's my bias towards the comic right there, so don't take it too personally.
At the same time, I'm hearing things that might make PA better. Specifically that various publishers have been PAYING them to make comics about their games. This might explain why a lot of those comics annoy me, they're paid advertising. If they hit their goal, that goes away. PA becomes independent again, and maybe, just maybe, they'll start becoming less awful. I don't know if that will happen, but there's a chance.
I'm not sure what to think about this overall. I've idly speculated that PA is making fun of Kickstarter with this (look at some of their benefits), but even that doesn't seem to stick. In the end, I just don't like PA, so this won't change my mind. It will use it's fans to get rid of advertising, but given that most comics would KILL to get that advertising, I can't cheer for them.
Until next time kiddies.
So what do I think about their Kickstarter? Oh, you didn't hear about this? Well, simply put, Penny Arcade is trying to raise money (million dollars or so) and will dump it's advertising, ALL it's advertising, if they do. They'll make it, I'm sure, but how do I feel about the entire thing? Well, honestly, it feels backwards to me.
Most comics, the VAST majority of them in fact, do not make money. At all. None, zip, zero, nada. They might get a little money from some advertisers, but not enough to do the comic full time. If anything, many just flat out beg for cash. So getting a steady advertising fund is a big step, one that allows them to go full time. Penny Arcade crossed that line a LONG time ago, and became the single greatest webcomic success story of all time.
So to me, Kickstarter is going back to begging for money. They don't NEED it, of course, they have the advertising, but it feels as if they're taking advantage of their audience. As I said, they WILL get that money, and much of that is because their fans are kind of die hard. And I generally think they're kind of stupid too. That's my bias towards the comic right there, so don't take it too personally.
At the same time, I'm hearing things that might make PA better. Specifically that various publishers have been PAYING them to make comics about their games. This might explain why a lot of those comics annoy me, they're paid advertising. If they hit their goal, that goes away. PA becomes independent again, and maybe, just maybe, they'll start becoming less awful. I don't know if that will happen, but there's a chance.
I'm not sure what to think about this overall. I've idly speculated that PA is making fun of Kickstarter with this (look at some of their benefits), but even that doesn't seem to stick. In the end, I just don't like PA, so this won't change my mind. It will use it's fans to get rid of advertising, but given that most comics would KILL to get that advertising, I can't cheer for them.
Until next time kiddies.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Wild Webcomic Reviews 165 - 169
Another batch of old reviews as I have nothing this week. It's been hot as hell around here, so comic stuff hasn't been foremost on my mind as of late.
January 03, 2009
165. U.F.O. - I almost swear this whole comic is just an excuse for the artist to draw girls in their panties. Almost. Otherwise it's just a silly romp with lots of people being killed for their 'funk.' Sadly, no, it is not funky funk, it's some weird plot device funk. Yes, I was disappointed that it wasn't funkier. It is moderately funny, if goofy, and despite the lack of true funk, I'll probably keep reading it, assuming they get back to making new comics. . .
TODAY - Well it DID update again, and at quite a good pace until SOMETHING happened in April of this year and nothing since then. It's alright still, just alright, and if it updates some more, it'll be still on my read list but nothing that holds me to it.
166. Hopscotch - Most webcomics seem to settle into some epic storyline with no proper end in sight, or become a long series of gags that go on forever. Hopscotch doesn't. It is a short story in graphic form, and in fact you could strip all the art away and it would still be a pretty good story by itself. It is short, and complete, so worth it if you have an hour or so. I think the guy is an idiot, BTW, but whatever.
TODAY - Nothing further to add on this one.
167. Queen of Wands - This comic was the first creation of the author of Punch an' Pie, which I throughly enjoy, so I had decent expectations going into QoW. And it met them, surprisingly enough. It isn't perfect, there's a lot of backstory/flashback things that are FILLED with words and angst and emo that I really, REALLY could have done without, but when the comic was in the "here and now" it flowed pretty well and made sense the whole way through. I am kind of glad I didn't start reading it when it was active, because I probably would have dropped it after a while, but as a dead comic, I'm fine with it. There is an commentary version of the archives, but I didn't read that (said to be spoiler filled), but I might go back some time just to see what they were thinking behind the scenes. Half wish more comics did that.
TODAY - Still haven't gotten back to those commentaries. Mostly laziness on my part, but again, I wasn't strictly in love with the strip when I read it. Maybe someday.
168. The Call of Whatever - From one dead comic to another, this one with a Lovecraftian twist. This is just a fun little comic, and you really don't HAVE to have any working knowledge of the Cthulu Mythos to enjoy it, but it helps. Even then, there's probably somethings that will go clear over your head. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that it ended when it did. In someways, I would have liked to see it go on, but then, they pretty much played out all the good jokes by that point and it would have just settled into a mud of mediocrity or something worse. Still, it was diverting, and I'm glad I got a chance to read it.
TODAY - Again, nothing much to add on this. Completed comics give me little room over this, unless I go full bore with a retrospective.
169. Shadowgirls - The first thing I see is a naked black man telling me to get out. Thankfully, this is not that kind of comic. It's a superhero comic basically, set in the Cthulu Mythos. I segwayed these last three reviews well, didn't I? Anyway, this is what the Front could have been, it's good, very good. The art is comic bookish, sure, but it's expressive and colorful. The story and characters are well done and well communicated. Heck, the backstory is presented in a believable, not lecturing kind of way that I love. It's good, damn good, even with all the filler/bonus comics strewn throughout the archives (and even those are actually pretty good). Worth my time.
TODAY - Speaking of retrospectives, I did a full blown one on this comic here, so go read that to get my most recent thoughts.
One active (though on unexpected hiatus) comic, and 4 dead/completed ones. Ah well. I will note that this review is the first time I really started thinking about doing this blog at all. My issue with starting it: not having enough stuff to fill it. Yeah, I'm stretching this week, that's for sure. Until next time kiddies.
January 03, 2009
165. U.F.O. - I almost swear this whole comic is just an excuse for the artist to draw girls in their panties. Almost. Otherwise it's just a silly romp with lots of people being killed for their 'funk.' Sadly, no, it is not funky funk, it's some weird plot device funk. Yes, I was disappointed that it wasn't funkier. It is moderately funny, if goofy, and despite the lack of true funk, I'll probably keep reading it, assuming they get back to making new comics. . .
TODAY - Well it DID update again, and at quite a good pace until SOMETHING happened in April of this year and nothing since then. It's alright still, just alright, and if it updates some more, it'll be still on my read list but nothing that holds me to it.
166. Hopscotch - Most webcomics seem to settle into some epic storyline with no proper end in sight, or become a long series of gags that go on forever. Hopscotch doesn't. It is a short story in graphic form, and in fact you could strip all the art away and it would still be a pretty good story by itself. It is short, and complete, so worth it if you have an hour or so. I think the guy is an idiot, BTW, but whatever.
TODAY - Nothing further to add on this one.
167. Queen of Wands - This comic was the first creation of the author of Punch an' Pie, which I throughly enjoy, so I had decent expectations going into QoW. And it met them, surprisingly enough. It isn't perfect, there's a lot of backstory/flashback things that are FILLED with words and angst and emo that I really, REALLY could have done without, but when the comic was in the "here and now" it flowed pretty well and made sense the whole way through. I am kind of glad I didn't start reading it when it was active, because I probably would have dropped it after a while, but as a dead comic, I'm fine with it. There is an commentary version of the archives, but I didn't read that (said to be spoiler filled), but I might go back some time just to see what they were thinking behind the scenes. Half wish more comics did that.
TODAY - Still haven't gotten back to those commentaries. Mostly laziness on my part, but again, I wasn't strictly in love with the strip when I read it. Maybe someday.
168. The Call of Whatever - From one dead comic to another, this one with a Lovecraftian twist. This is just a fun little comic, and you really don't HAVE to have any working knowledge of the Cthulu Mythos to enjoy it, but it helps. Even then, there's probably somethings that will go clear over your head. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that it ended when it did. In someways, I would have liked to see it go on, but then, they pretty much played out all the good jokes by that point and it would have just settled into a mud of mediocrity or something worse. Still, it was diverting, and I'm glad I got a chance to read it.
TODAY - Again, nothing much to add on this. Completed comics give me little room over this, unless I go full bore with a retrospective.
169. Shadowgirls - The first thing I see is a naked black man telling me to get out. Thankfully, this is not that kind of comic. It's a superhero comic basically, set in the Cthulu Mythos. I segwayed these last three reviews well, didn't I? Anyway, this is what the Front could have been, it's good, very good. The art is comic bookish, sure, but it's expressive and colorful. The story and characters are well done and well communicated. Heck, the backstory is presented in a believable, not lecturing kind of way that I love. It's good, damn good, even with all the filler/bonus comics strewn throughout the archives (and even those are actually pretty good). Worth my time.
TODAY - Speaking of retrospectives, I did a full blown one on this comic here, so go read that to get my most recent thoughts.
One active (though on unexpected hiatus) comic, and 4 dead/completed ones. Ah well. I will note that this review is the first time I really started thinking about doing this blog at all. My issue with starting it: not having enough stuff to fill it. Yeah, I'm stretching this week, that's for sure. Until next time kiddies.
Friday, July 13, 2012
All in the Interpretation
Man, that was a MISERABLE week. I survived, kind of and am back.
To promptly poke at another webcomic reviewer. I've been following Tangents for a long time now, typically in search of new and interesting comics. Typically, if he (he?) enjoys the comic, I probably do as well, with some notable exceptions (he really doesn't like Sluggy Freelance much). One of my issues though, is when it comes to interpreting comics or short story arcs within them.
Specifically, a short comment (a Secant, love the math reference there) he did a couple weeks ago on one of the best comics out there, Gunnerkrigg Court. Specifically the chapter called Divine, which is a chapter that is a bit strange, and one that deserves some sort of comment (and I skipped it because I had other things to do, sorry kiddies).
Anyway, it's a Zimmy story, who is a secondary character that is very odd in the long run, so the story is a bit odd. Antimony has fallen ill, unconscious even, and Zimmy has come to help. She rumages around Annie's dreams for a bit, punches the problem and calls Annie's dad a jerk. The day is saved and hooray.
Okay, it's pretty simple, but there's a lot of themes going on here. Specifically masks, a LOT of masks. Antimony is constantly projected wearing or holding masks. She's always hidden her true feelings, from the very first time she appeared, to when she received a mysterious call from her father. In fact, the point is made she makes a concerted effort to hide her emotions and feelings whenever possible. Breaking that mask woke her up so I suspect we'll see a much more different character from now on, especially given the comment the author leaves early in the next chapter.
The mask hides what she truly thinks about her dad, her desire to go back to the forest to meet the guy she likes, and the fact that she's been copying her best friend's homework for a couple years now. Breaking the mask came by Zimmy saying something to get her riled up, specifically that her dad was a jerk. At the end, Kat gives her some makeup and Annie says she'll put it on later, another mask that she really doesn't need anymore.
This is actually a pretty interesting character study on Antimony, something that if you had been reading the comic regularly would have been apparent at this point, and if you still didn't catch it, this would make it quite clear. Ah, but it gets better, because it introduces a new element into the mix, specifically Kat, who has also been wearing a couple masks. The first is pretty obvious, as Zimmy points it out that she's been trying to remind people that she's a girl, probably because she's beginning to question her own sexuality in some way. The removal of that mask (in this case, a hairband) may not stick as strongly as removing Annie's, but it's just as important.
The real mask though? Well, this is apparently how Zimmy sees her. That's an image that would make H.R. Geiger proud. What does it mean though? Lots there to dig through, of course, but I think it connects back to Robot and the other machines of the Court referring to Kat as an angel, and while creepy, I can see a kind of angelic vibe behind the design. It also brings up the question of how human Kat actually is. Readers know Antimony is part fire spirit, could it be Kat is part machine? Or perhaps, in a strange way, ALL machine? Her father is a brilliant engineer, her mother deeply connected to the spirit world, perhaps they worked together to create a daughter they couldn't have otherwise. It would explain a great deal about Kat, though not everything, and would make her and Annie's relationship much more meaningful in the overall story of the Court and how it was separated from the Forest. Perhaps these two, each with affinities with one side or the other, are meant to bring them both back together.
But then, I'm often terrible at predicting where a comic will go. Godawful in fact. The thing is, Tangent doesn't focus on any of this. Sure, he comments on the makeup/mask thing, briefly, but doesn't get to the point that the entire chapter is about the mask. No, he focuses on the illness that started this whole thing. I admit, it is very strange, and we're told little as to what caused it, only that it is, perhaps, connected to her father. Personally, I think it has less to do with what her father did, than what Antimony feels her father did (aka: she did it to herself), but there is no clear answer. Tangent focuses on the fact that it's not answered, or even hinted at the source. That's not the point of the chapter though, the point is the masks, the characters, and how they present themselves. What caused the illness may never be properly revealed, though I suspect it will be, the point was simply to get readers to learn more about what was going on inside the main character in a way that was interesting and revealing, and to add another layer of mystery to the table.
Why do we see it so differently? Not sure on that, I suspect Tangent reads a great many more comics than I do, and tries to keep up a writing pace I can't match at this time. It's also possible that my amateur writing sense started tingling as I read the chapter, and I went back and read it again so I could better rattle off my thoughts on it. I don't know Tangent's background, so perhaps he doesn't have the same affinity for this kind of thing, or perhaps he's being too literal in wanting answers now rather than waiting and seeing how the questions change the direction of the comic. Patience is the hardest thing to learn when reading a webcomic, so that might be part of the issue as well. I don't know, what I do know is, I do agree it's a middle chapter, resolving a few old problems, and creating new questions to be answered without being answers itself. The entire book has, so far, been about transition, and this is another piece of that transition. An important one, I suspect, and one that will be felt for the rest of the comic.
Well, enough of that rambling. Until next time kiddies.
To promptly poke at another webcomic reviewer. I've been following Tangents for a long time now, typically in search of new and interesting comics. Typically, if he (he?) enjoys the comic, I probably do as well, with some notable exceptions (he really doesn't like Sluggy Freelance much). One of my issues though, is when it comes to interpreting comics or short story arcs within them.
Specifically, a short comment (a Secant, love the math reference there) he did a couple weeks ago on one of the best comics out there, Gunnerkrigg Court. Specifically the chapter called Divine, which is a chapter that is a bit strange, and one that deserves some sort of comment (and I skipped it because I had other things to do, sorry kiddies).
Anyway, it's a Zimmy story, who is a secondary character that is very odd in the long run, so the story is a bit odd. Antimony has fallen ill, unconscious even, and Zimmy has come to help. She rumages around Annie's dreams for a bit, punches the problem and calls Annie's dad a jerk. The day is saved and hooray.
Okay, it's pretty simple, but there's a lot of themes going on here. Specifically masks, a LOT of masks. Antimony is constantly projected wearing or holding masks. She's always hidden her true feelings, from the very first time she appeared, to when she received a mysterious call from her father. In fact, the point is made she makes a concerted effort to hide her emotions and feelings whenever possible. Breaking that mask woke her up so I suspect we'll see a much more different character from now on, especially given the comment the author leaves early in the next chapter.
The mask hides what she truly thinks about her dad, her desire to go back to the forest to meet the guy she likes, and the fact that she's been copying her best friend's homework for a couple years now. Breaking the mask came by Zimmy saying something to get her riled up, specifically that her dad was a jerk. At the end, Kat gives her some makeup and Annie says she'll put it on later, another mask that she really doesn't need anymore.
This is actually a pretty interesting character study on Antimony, something that if you had been reading the comic regularly would have been apparent at this point, and if you still didn't catch it, this would make it quite clear. Ah, but it gets better, because it introduces a new element into the mix, specifically Kat, who has also been wearing a couple masks. The first is pretty obvious, as Zimmy points it out that she's been trying to remind people that she's a girl, probably because she's beginning to question her own sexuality in some way. The removal of that mask (in this case, a hairband) may not stick as strongly as removing Annie's, but it's just as important.
The real mask though? Well, this is apparently how Zimmy sees her. That's an image that would make H.R. Geiger proud. What does it mean though? Lots there to dig through, of course, but I think it connects back to Robot and the other machines of the Court referring to Kat as an angel, and while creepy, I can see a kind of angelic vibe behind the design. It also brings up the question of how human Kat actually is. Readers know Antimony is part fire spirit, could it be Kat is part machine? Or perhaps, in a strange way, ALL machine? Her father is a brilliant engineer, her mother deeply connected to the spirit world, perhaps they worked together to create a daughter they couldn't have otherwise. It would explain a great deal about Kat, though not everything, and would make her and Annie's relationship much more meaningful in the overall story of the Court and how it was separated from the Forest. Perhaps these two, each with affinities with one side or the other, are meant to bring them both back together.
But then, I'm often terrible at predicting where a comic will go. Godawful in fact. The thing is, Tangent doesn't focus on any of this. Sure, he comments on the makeup/mask thing, briefly, but doesn't get to the point that the entire chapter is about the mask. No, he focuses on the illness that started this whole thing. I admit, it is very strange, and we're told little as to what caused it, only that it is, perhaps, connected to her father. Personally, I think it has less to do with what her father did, than what Antimony feels her father did (aka: she did it to herself), but there is no clear answer. Tangent focuses on the fact that it's not answered, or even hinted at the source. That's not the point of the chapter though, the point is the masks, the characters, and how they present themselves. What caused the illness may never be properly revealed, though I suspect it will be, the point was simply to get readers to learn more about what was going on inside the main character in a way that was interesting and revealing, and to add another layer of mystery to the table.
Why do we see it so differently? Not sure on that, I suspect Tangent reads a great many more comics than I do, and tries to keep up a writing pace I can't match at this time. It's also possible that my amateur writing sense started tingling as I read the chapter, and I went back and read it again so I could better rattle off my thoughts on it. I don't know Tangent's background, so perhaps he doesn't have the same affinity for this kind of thing, or perhaps he's being too literal in wanting answers now rather than waiting and seeing how the questions change the direction of the comic. Patience is the hardest thing to learn when reading a webcomic, so that might be part of the issue as well. I don't know, what I do know is, I do agree it's a middle chapter, resolving a few old problems, and creating new questions to be answered without being answers itself. The entire book has, so far, been about transition, and this is another piece of that transition. An important one, I suspect, and one that will be felt for the rest of the comic.
Well, enough of that rambling. Until next time kiddies.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Like I said, nothing
I'm beat, and the week isn't over yet. In fact, it's just getting started (I wrote this Wednesday).
See you next week kiddies.
See you next week kiddies.
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