The Webcomic of 2005
I had every intention of actually posting an "Of 2005" review for each day of the week, but I've been fiddling around with my new computer hardware for the past two days (wrote Tuesday's on Monday), and that has consumed me wholly. And by "consumed me wholly," italicised, I mean that it's driven me to drink and cry, simultaneously. And by "drink and cry, simultaneously," normal typeface, I mean I'm not funny. Anywho . . .
Something Positive.
For those who, perhaps, expect me to always flout everything popular and mainstream, and to only tout things independent and esoteric, you should . . . Who are you? What? Why are judging me? Stop judging me! I WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED! [Insert Unoriginal, Suburban Teenage Angst-ridden Linkin Park Lyrics Here]
Yeah, S*P is huge. It's got the kind of fanbase where R.K. Milholland—the artist and writer—can go, on somewhat of a lark, "Hey, guys, give me money and I'll quit my job to do the strip full-time," and the response is, "SURE! Here's thousands of dollars!" So, by no means am I breaking the ground of some virgin territory by saying that Something Positive is good. Everybody knows that, but I felt it necessary to repeat it.
S*P has a brand of unashamed, straightforward comedy that you don't find on cable networks or Hollywood films: it's too honest for the FCC. God forbid the FCC ever claim authority in the realm of the Internet. Some people may say I just mean vulgar and perverse when I say "honest," but I say unto them that if you have some sort of moral reluctance to admitting that the nature of mankind is anything but ugly, then I'd probably be right to pronounce you an ostrich-in-the-sand. S*P is funny in ways that you don't want to admit to finding funny because it makes you an "indecent" person, and it isn't that breed of stupid bullshit that Howard Stern shits out his mouth and labels "rebellious," in order to bury people in controversy so deep they don't notice that he's not clever.
There is no controversy to hide no-talent, trite, juvenile humour behind on the Internet, because it's a land where you're half-a-minute from porn at any given moment, and lesbian teenagers with dripping clits or throbbing cocks—or both—are awaiting to regale you with their stories and pictures in your email inbox, on an hourly basis. So, there's this convenient filter of jaded apathy and overall boredom with disgusting perversion that exists and separates the Something Positives from the "ha, ha, show me your tits" comedy; I know that if enough people on the Internet are frequenting a site and staying around, it's got some merit. Usually, when it's just cock-and-balls, there are so many more sites of that popping up every instant that the crowd just continually meanders forth, never sticking to the same well of insubstantial worthelessness that long.
This is what happens when you go to a realm where capitalistic marketting isn't the linchpin of success: popularity actually means something, represents something aside from the amount of funds one puts forth to draw people to your product. Anyway, I digress . . .
Something Positive is funny. It's usually got an original joke to tell, which is refreshing in today's oversatured humour markets (See: Newgrounds). More so than mere jokes, though, it's a well-told story, or series of stories, about well-rounded characters. It's not quite a Faulknerian work of literature, but it's got depth to the characters that is more than what you find with the archetypical cardboard stand-ups webcomics tend to present as characters.
Milholland weaves stories about characters with realistic lives, but not photorealistic. They're still living in a webcomic-world where things happen that would never happen in reality, and allows for the telling of ludicrous jokes. Yet, when he feels like it, he can draw the comic in a direction that elicits real pathos for the characters, as well, and it doesn't seem fake. It's not just some comic where the artist wants to jerk the reader between laughing and being depressed like a jarring ride on a see-saw of bipolarism. The story of S*P has a very natural quality about it.
The writing is what truly makes it for S*P, to be honet. The art is interesting, but it's not engaging. Milholland has created a style that is distinctly his, but the influences are not so well-hidden. It reeks of a ton of comic strip influences, Charlie Brown and Foxtrot and Beetle Bailey/Wizard of Id or Hagar the Horrible. It's a style which is very apt for comic strips, because it's not so different that it's alien to the reader, but, instead, conveys the familiarity most readers seek in comic strip art. No one will ever say, convincingly, that comic strips are a condusive medium for Visual Art—not art-art, at least. In the century-ish that comic strips have existed, they have not really evolved that far visually, artistically speaking. So, in a way, the writing is what makes it for every good comic.
Milholland succeeded beautifully at being artistic enough in his drawing to not be drab or amateuresque, while, also, not being too off-putting or avant-garde. Some webcomics try too hard to be revolutionary in their visual style, and it inevitably leads to the comic falling flat as the artist runs out of ways to advance the visual style while keeping it up to par with its own standards, all without losing the continuity of the strip (see: Mac Hall). Comicking—be that a word or not—is a medium where templates, stencils, and tracing is acceptable for good reason. Try writing a coherent story in everchanging languages, and that's how hard it is to make a coherent comic with everchanging art.
Back to the writing: it's great. S*P can be described, truthfully, as a "wordy" comic, but that's fine, for me. Milholland clearly has something to say, through his characters, and I find it interesting and entertaining. He has four panels to make a point, so who am I to fault him for using a lot of words to do it? He usually has a very interesting double-layer of comedy and reality going on, so you tend to get both jokes and social commentary. The jokes aren't just there for jokes sake, they're there to help support the view of the world as presented through the lens of S*P. Or, maybe not, and that's breathing too much meaning into a webcomic, but I prefer to see it that way.
In the end, Something Positive is the Comic of 2005 because it's been going for four years, and it's yet to get redundant or old. It's still got its charm, and I hope it keeps it. Too many comics hit a plateau and stagnate, without ending. Of course, Milholland has stated that S*P has a very finite timeline, so I don't think he'd let it get to the point of being an on-going, repetitive comic. I remember it either beinga five-year or ten-year project . . . One way or the other, it'll probably be the best it could possibly be in the time it's around, because I trust Milholland to keep it that way. Rock on, Milholland. Rock on.
Too much of a good thing ruined the stew . . . I guess?
Something Positive.
For those who, perhaps, expect me to always flout everything popular and mainstream, and to only tout things independent and esoteric, you should . . . Who are you? What? Why are judging me? Stop judging me! I WILL NOT BE CONTROLLED! [Insert Unoriginal, Suburban Teenage Angst-ridden Linkin Park Lyrics Here]
Yeah, S*P is huge. It's got the kind of fanbase where R.K. Milholland—the artist and writer—can go, on somewhat of a lark, "Hey, guys, give me money and I'll quit my job to do the strip full-time," and the response is, "SURE! Here's thousands of dollars!" So, by no means am I breaking the ground of some virgin territory by saying that Something Positive is good. Everybody knows that, but I felt it necessary to repeat it.
S*P has a brand of unashamed, straightforward comedy that you don't find on cable networks or Hollywood films: it's too honest for the FCC. God forbid the FCC ever claim authority in the realm of the Internet. Some people may say I just mean vulgar and perverse when I say "honest," but I say unto them that if you have some sort of moral reluctance to admitting that the nature of mankind is anything but ugly, then I'd probably be right to pronounce you an ostrich-in-the-sand. S*P is funny in ways that you don't want to admit to finding funny because it makes you an "indecent" person, and it isn't that breed of stupid bullshit that Howard Stern shits out his mouth and labels "rebellious," in order to bury people in controversy so deep they don't notice that he's not clever.
There is no controversy to hide no-talent, trite, juvenile humour behind on the Internet, because it's a land where you're half-a-minute from porn at any given moment, and lesbian teenagers with dripping clits or throbbing cocks—or both—are awaiting to regale you with their stories and pictures in your email inbox, on an hourly basis. So, there's this convenient filter of jaded apathy and overall boredom with disgusting perversion that exists and separates the Something Positives from the "ha, ha, show me your tits" comedy; I know that if enough people on the Internet are frequenting a site and staying around, it's got some merit. Usually, when it's just cock-and-balls, there are so many more sites of that popping up every instant that the crowd just continually meanders forth, never sticking to the same well of insubstantial worthelessness that long.
This is what happens when you go to a realm where capitalistic marketting isn't the linchpin of success: popularity actually means something, represents something aside from the amount of funds one puts forth to draw people to your product. Anyway, I digress . . .
Something Positive is funny. It's usually got an original joke to tell, which is refreshing in today's oversatured humour markets (See: Newgrounds). More so than mere jokes, though, it's a well-told story, or series of stories, about well-rounded characters. It's not quite a Faulknerian work of literature, but it's got depth to the characters that is more than what you find with the archetypical cardboard stand-ups webcomics tend to present as characters.
Milholland weaves stories about characters with realistic lives, but not photorealistic. They're still living in a webcomic-world where things happen that would never happen in reality, and allows for the telling of ludicrous jokes. Yet, when he feels like it, he can draw the comic in a direction that elicits real pathos for the characters, as well, and it doesn't seem fake. It's not just some comic where the artist wants to jerk the reader between laughing and being depressed like a jarring ride on a see-saw of bipolarism. The story of S*P has a very natural quality about it.
The writing is what truly makes it for S*P, to be honet. The art is interesting, but it's not engaging. Milholland has created a style that is distinctly his, but the influences are not so well-hidden. It reeks of a ton of comic strip influences, Charlie Brown and Foxtrot and Beetle Bailey/Wizard of Id or Hagar the Horrible. It's a style which is very apt for comic strips, because it's not so different that it's alien to the reader, but, instead, conveys the familiarity most readers seek in comic strip art. No one will ever say, convincingly, that comic strips are a condusive medium for Visual Art—not art-art, at least. In the century-ish that comic strips have existed, they have not really evolved that far visually, artistically speaking. So, in a way, the writing is what makes it for every good comic.
Milholland succeeded beautifully at being artistic enough in his drawing to not be drab or amateuresque, while, also, not being too off-putting or avant-garde. Some webcomics try too hard to be revolutionary in their visual style, and it inevitably leads to the comic falling flat as the artist runs out of ways to advance the visual style while keeping it up to par with its own standards, all without losing the continuity of the strip (see: Mac Hall). Comicking—be that a word or not—is a medium where templates, stencils, and tracing is acceptable for good reason. Try writing a coherent story in everchanging languages, and that's how hard it is to make a coherent comic with everchanging art.
Back to the writing: it's great. S*P can be described, truthfully, as a "wordy" comic, but that's fine, for me. Milholland clearly has something to say, through his characters, and I find it interesting and entertaining. He has four panels to make a point, so who am I to fault him for using a lot of words to do it? He usually has a very interesting double-layer of comedy and reality going on, so you tend to get both jokes and social commentary. The jokes aren't just there for jokes sake, they're there to help support the view of the world as presented through the lens of S*P. Or, maybe not, and that's breathing too much meaning into a webcomic, but I prefer to see it that way.
In the end, Something Positive is the Comic of 2005 because it's been going for four years, and it's yet to get redundant or old. It's still got its charm, and I hope it keeps it. Too many comics hit a plateau and stagnate, without ending. Of course, Milholland has stated that S*P has a very finite timeline, so I don't think he'd let it get to the point of being an on-going, repetitive comic. I remember it either beinga five-year or ten-year project . . . One way or the other, it'll probably be the best it could possibly be in the time it's around, because I trust Milholland to keep it that way. Rock on, Milholland. Rock on.
Too much of a good thing ruined the stew . . . I guess?
posted by c.Jay Wrong at
5:37 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home