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Yes! You tell her, girl!
 (From Loserz. Click on image to see full-sized image.)
Well, Loserz has continued down the path I predicted, with Jodie and Alice getting into a fight, and Eric chosing his friend over his girlfriend. However, while I might have desired to see Jessica tell that manipulative class-conscious little twit off... I didn't have my hopes up.
So imagine my delightful surprise to load up Loserz and find that our favorite red-head of the series has actually had the courage to tell off her "best friend" and to do so using some delightfully offensive (but well deserved) language.
I'm not much for swearing. I think it's overdone. I mean, you hear "f--- this" and "f--- that" all the time, to the point that it just doesn't mean anything when you hear "f---" (hell, I've heard 4 year old children on the street telling each other to "f---" each other... it sickens and saddens me that a little kid is so used to hearing that language that they have no problem using it in everyday speech). Swears are supposed to have impact, meaning. If you overuse that language all the time... then that impact is lost. It's just another word.
Unfortunately, I'm not exactly the best of people concerning this. One of my friends has a sad tendency to swear (though considering she's in a bit of pain more often than not, it's understandable) and after I've been with her a bit I start swearing more. And then my other friends pick up on it from me... and it just migrates through our group until I'm scolded on it and I try to stop. Still... I try not to use it in everyday speech. Jessica, from Loserz, does not seem the type to use it most of the time.
I mean, look at the expression of shock in her best friend's eyes. They're hollow voids. She went from cheerful gloating to "wtf did I hear?" (Yes, I know wtf could be considered an edited down swear, but I cheerfully replace "f---" with "fig" which is tastier and delightfully fruity language so... *grin*)
No doubt Jess and her "best friend" will get into a fight over this, and Ms. Social Conscience will tell her off, expecting Jess to crumple. But something tells me that it won't be so simple. We choose our friends for several reasons - proximity, similar interests, loneliness... but first and foremost because we like the person. I've not seen much about Ms. Social Conscience that makes her all that likeable.
Further, Jessica has seen signs that this "friend" dislikes Ben, a guy she is interested in... and also knows that her "friend" manipulated the entire fight between Alice and Jodie. What's to stop her from doing the same between her and Ben? Is this truly someone she wants to spend time with?
I'd be most amused to see Jessica end up a "Loser" like Ben, Jodie, and Eric. Seeing that she doesn't sleep around, I could easily see her "friend" turning her other shallow friends against her and making her an outcast. I've seen such things in the high school environment... and few people can stand long against a concerted effort to shun someone until they succumb to peer pressure. Unless, of course, you have a couple good decent friends standing behind you and backing you up.
So here's to Jessica... who would make a delightful addition to the regular Loserz cast... and showing that sometimes, it's better to have the courage to stand against your peers than just be another follower. She can and should do better than the "friends" she currently hangs with. Even if they're "Loserz". *wink*
Robert A. Howard
------------------------ The "short" end of the stick?
 (From Shortpacked. Click on image to see full-sized image.)
Is Robin truly that naive? I mean, come on... she has to realize what those tag lines are about... she's just teasing her new "roommate" (I hope). Amber, on the other hand, seems to have wisdom far beyond her years... in catching the thoughtful expression on Robin's face and interpreting it before Robin strikes.
Now if only she had earplugs handy to block out Robin's comment....
Unfortunately, laughs aside, I'm not that drawn to Shortpacked. It's not that I don't like Willis's work. He's a talented artist and a skilled storyteller. But... when talking to a friend about this, he suggested part of the problem might be that David has written himself in a bit too narrowly to interest me. Sure, working retail is something we've all done.
I could easily see Shortpacked being almost a Dilbertesque comic about the inanities of working retail, dealing with idiot customers, insane bosses, and braindead coworkers. But... well, part of the problem is that Willis has too much love for toy stores or something. It just feels... off, somehow. Like a puppydog that is trying too hard to get you to love it. You look at it, you feel for it, you pat it on the head, and then you walk away with a slimy hand and wondering where the restrooms are so you can wash your hands.
Except Shortpacked is a bit cleaner than puppydogs. Still, it tries. It truly does... and the comic is well drawn, it's got cute little storylines... and it just isn't igniting my interest.
Perhaps part of the problem lies with the refugees from It's Walky. Robin was an interesting addition to the comic. It made some sense, though Robin's talking about being able to kill a person in under a second just... fell flat. Mike, on the other hand, just gives Shortpacked an unpolished sharp edge that hurts when you hold it wrong and doesn't do anything to enhance it. Hell, he died, and yet here he is, unexplained and unrepentant. I doubt we'll ever find out what's behind Mike's ressurection as the only character that he has any tie to is Robin, and I can't imagine him admitting to her what happened.
Of course, another problem is that there's been no real storyline to the comic. There's been a couple short runs, like the "protection plan" that the boss came up with... but no real roots have grown in the four months the comic's been running.
Then again, Shortpack only updates 3x a week, and David is also doing new Roomies strips as well as a continuation of It's Walky. So I'll stick around a while longer and hope that some actual storylines evolve.
Robert A. Howard
P.S. - Also, my pervert of a roommate needed today's comic explained to him. That says something... the thing is, does it say something about him, the comic, or me?
------------------------ I knew I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue...
 (From Gossamer Commons. Click on image to see full-sized image.)
Gossamer Commons is an interesting dichotomy among webcomics.
Close to 9 months ago, Eric Burns (writer of GC) started up Websnark. Well, actually he started it in January of 2004, but in August he first talked about webcomics and put on the reviewer's hat. In doing so, he unleashed a genie, and has become one of the names of the Internet. When you talk about finding good webcomics, you suggest new people to check out Websnark, as Eric knows good comics.
Eric's roots, however, lie in the same path as mine: a failed webcomic artist/creator. He's never forgotten that... and he has some interesting stories to tell... and just insufficient artistic skill to draw his stories. (God do I know that feeling...) Finally, the creative bug bit, and he had a story that just begged to be told... and rather than risk his own slings and arrows (doubt, disdain at your own artistic ability, anger at being unable to draw those images that are in your mind), he decided to go with a partnership with an artist collaborator. Not just someone to draw his script, but someone to contribute, to suggest how something might look better, to work with to create a greater whole.
And so Gossamer Commons was born, the brainchild of a critic/creator and an artist/creator. Despite a slow start (slow enough that the first "update" was a mega-update comprised of a week's worth of strips in one, so to get closer to the "action" of the comic), the comic itself has build a strong foundation and a storyline that promises to be interesting.
*chuckle* As a writer, I can't help but think of how I'd have changed the start. I'm a novelist... and we write with the idea of hooking the audience quickly, and then letting the line slack, let the reader get a little head and then yank it again to get that hook in firmly. I can't help but think the comic might have worked better starting a little forward... possibly with Malachite in the apartment itself... and then flashing back to the start of the day.
Indeed, I remember hearing some complaints about Gossamer Commons is that it started too slowly. People weren't sure where it was going, or what it was about. And that's sad, because GC promises to be that which I enjoy most: a storytelling comic. *chuckle* Eric might like comics that are "funny" more often than not, but at his heart he's a storyteller, and that shows with his comic.
We've not seen enough to be sure of where this is going. Is this going to be a "Changeling" style story from the World of Darkness games, with Keith Onzeker being enchanted to see the world of the fae and dreams coexisting in the mundane world? Is Keith going to be stepping out of his world and into a fantasy world similar to Eversummer Eve? Or (more than likely) is it going to be some strange blending of fantasy and reality that I have no insight on, because I've not seen deep enough into the mind of Eric Burns: writer/creator, and thus can't effectively guess at what he's thinking?
In any event... I see a lot of promise in Gossamer Commons, even if it starts a tad slowly. But I don't see it as a slow start, so much, as a firm foundation with plenty of roots to grow from. Check it out! I'm sure you won't regret it.
Robert A. Howard
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