Author Topic: Comic of the Month  (Read 58228 times)

thorny

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #135 on: February 01, 2022, 01:30:25 PM »
Whoops help it's February! And I'm supposed to be presenting Freefall, aren't I?

And I'm afraid there's no way I'm going to be able to read all the way back through looking for possible content warnings. I don't think there is much, though; somebody else who's been reading this please correct me if I'm wrong. Here's what's off the top of my head, and I think it's all pretty mild: (note one addition made later this same day)

Spoiler: show
Some bits of not-very-explicit nudity

Strong implications of, though no actual depictions of, sexual activity between two different species (both characters of equivalent intelligence and consenting.)

Some -- species? are robots a species? Bowman's Wolves certainly are -- are effectively enslaved at at least some points in the story; including significant mind control.

The alien has, ah, a different moral structure; so actions generally considered immoral are depicted to some extent from the viewpoint of a sympathetic character who thinks that they're fine -- oh, these are actions involving property, not involving bodily boundaries.

Addition, after re-reading some: predator acting like predator towards cute prey species (nothing graphic, and not towards anybody with names.)


Otherwise -- Freefall's pretty solidly in the science-fiction genre. Spaceships, colonized terraformed worlds, robots, genetic engineering, a genetically-engineered engineer, a definitely non-human alien. Much of it is funny but there's some serious subtext, and sometimes main text, about prejudice and equality and about other human (and other species') oddities. Gender and human racial equality seems to be taken for granted, and characters don't have the Exaggerated Figures of many comics. There's not much discussion of LGBTetc issues, but I haven't seen anything against it either; for most of the characters gender and orientation don't seem to be relevant; there's some pairing off, but no Everybody Must Be Paired, and some of the combinations that are given don't really seem to come into sexual or gender categories at all. I find the characters interesting as well as the themes. The artwork's pretty simple; this is not the place for oooh wow look at that page! There's an active forum.

Updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; pretty consistently; and ongoing. Has been running since 1998, so there's quite a lot of it, even though the pages are short. Jumping into the middle is unfortunately likely to be pretty confusing. There is however a "binge speedreader" tool that loads lots of pages all at once, even on my slow connection; in black and white, but I think the early pages were in black and white anyway.

Link to the speedreader:
http://tangent128.name/depot/toys/freefall/freefall-flytable.html#1

Link to the index: (some archive links are to groups of pages, not one for each page)
http://freefall.purrsia.com/archives/newarc.htm

Link to the current page:
http://freefall.purrsia.com/





« Last Edit: February 01, 2022, 05:43:44 PM by thorny »

Jitter

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #136 on: February 03, 2022, 01:00:08 AM »
Oops forgot to tell you Thorny, I’m reading Free Falling now. I’m not necessarily a fan of the 1 joke per strip format, but the overall story is interesting. And I of course like Flo very much!

I do however like Skin Horse despite the format. It’s not a problem as such, but some of the jokes feel a bt forced or out of context, which breaks the flow of the story (in both titles).
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Vulpes

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #137 on: February 19, 2022, 10:00:52 AM »
I think you captured the gist of Freefall, thorny. I've been reading it for a while, not sure when I binged the entire archive, but at some point I decided it was worth it to know what the heck was going on. It's funny (in a low-key, not belly-laugh, kind of way), thought-provoking if you let it be, and the characters are relatable, even if you don't share their morals (I'm looking at you, Sam Starfall). It's quirky, I suppose that's why I've stuck with it while abandoning some more artistically-drawn works. Also very reliable! I can be pretty sure I'll get my MWF Freefall fix.
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RanVor

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #138 on: March 01, 2022, 05:29:21 AM »
Oh, shoot, it's March already! O_O

Give me a few days to prepare my contribution, okay? I have to go to work soon, so I don't really have time to think about it right now.  :(

Jitter

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #139 on: March 01, 2022, 11:14:32 AM »
@RanVor no worries! Let’s hear it a few days from now!

I still have a lot of Freefall archive to go through anyways :) I like it a lot now! Very thought-provoking and fundamental considerations. Thank you thorny for sharing it with us!
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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #140 on: March 01, 2022, 07:58:57 PM »
I still have a lot of Freefall archive to go through anyways :) I like it a lot now! Very thought-provoking and fundamental considerations.
Agreed. Today, in a context not relevant here, I suddenly remembered, sought out, and referenced the "the highest compliment to a ninja" quote ... turns out it's from 2005. O_o
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thorny

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #141 on: March 01, 2022, 09:26:22 PM »
I seem to be re-reading Freefall; a result of directing other people to the bingereader and then falling into it myself. I haven't made it back to that ninja scene yet, though I think I may be coming up on it soon.

RanVor

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #142 on: March 14, 2022, 06:04:15 AM »
Uhh, hello everyone! I'm terribly sorry for taking this long, haven't been having the best time lately and I couldn't focus enough to post. I hope you're not too mad at me.

The comic I wanted to contribute is...

Title: BLONDE SUNRISE

Author: Someone called Mana, apparently? There's not a lot of information available.

Genre: Fantasy/drama/mystery/...? I don't know, what are genres even?

Rating: I'd say T.

Status: Ongoing, updates Mon/Fri. When it's not on hiatus, that is. Currently at just over 1000 pages.

Synopsis: In the town of Creston, elite units of hunters protect the citizens from vicious monsters, most common of which are lycans (werewolves). One night, a rookie hunter Leonard Derrin meets a lycan girl named Daine (not Diane) who tricks him and turns him into an omega lycan under her control. From then on, Leonard is forced to cater to the whims of his new mistress while hiding his affliction from fellow hunters. And as he gets introduced to more and more of the werewolf society, he starts to discover that maybe the lycans aren't so bad, actually. Meanwhile, a series of brutal attacks sparks an investigation that slowly, but surely causes everyone's dark secrets to begin to unravel...

What I like about it: MYSTERY! Nearly every character has something to hide, the more prominent ones have multiple layers of secrets. Perspectives change as more facts are revealed and by the halfway point, it becomes hard to tell who's a good guy and who's a bad guy anymore, or if there's even a distinction. One of the long-running subplots has recently been resolved, but there's still so much that is not known. The dynamics between the characters shift as they react to revelations, some bonds are broken, others emerge stronger than before. It's all very exciting and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Also, plenty of meme-worthy facial expressions. That's gotta count for something. ;D

Content warnings: A caveat here is that I had stopped reading this comic for over a year and only returned to it recently, so there might be things I don't remember.
- Violence and blood, though not too often and not particularly graphic. That said, murder plays an important role in several subplots.
- Parental abuse and references to bullying.
- Occasional swearing.

Art: Serviceable. It's not terrible, but won't be winning any awards anytime soon for sure. Here's my favorite page, visually:


Random trivia: The protagonist is illiterate at the beginning of the story, and only learns to read and write later on. This is represented by all writing being blurred whenever his perspective is shown.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2022, 06:11:03 AM by RanVor »

Róisín

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #143 on: March 14, 2022, 06:51:21 AM »
RanVor, this looks interesting. It may be awhile before I have time to read, given the levels of overwork and chaos going on in my own life at present, but at some point I hope to follow it further.  And I very much hope that your life becomes a bit easier for you!
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Keep Looking

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #144 on: March 14, 2022, 10:47:25 AM »
Ran, this comic looks really interesting! I'll be sure to check it out
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thorny

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #145 on: March 14, 2022, 11:45:40 AM »
Thanks, RanVor. And no, nobody's mad at you!

Vulpes

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #146 on: March 15, 2022, 08:12:28 PM »
Ooooh, I think I stumbled on this some time ago, was intrigued, but didn't pursue it. Thanks for the reminder, I'll try to find time to check it out!
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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #147 on: March 16, 2022, 04:53:35 PM »
Ran, I was bingeing last night, and will continue on. Very intriguing, how the setting seems to turn upside down and inside out all the time!
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RanVor

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #148 on: March 16, 2022, 05:42:14 PM »
Ooooh, I think I stumbled on this some time ago, was intrigued, but didn't pursue it. Thanks for the reminder, I'll try to find time to check it out!
Believe it or not, I stumbled upon it by total accident while voting for SSSS on TWC. I didn't believe it could be any good, but I decided to check it out on a whim and before I knew it, I was 500 pages in.

Remember my old Emilalli-ish fanfic "I Know How Much You Love Cinnamon Buns"? It was based on this comic.

Ran, I was bingeing last night, and will continue on. Very intriguing, how the setting seems to turn upside down and inside out all the time!
I know, right? ;D

Jitter

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Re: Comic of the Month
« Reply #149 on: March 16, 2022, 06:55:03 PM »
Yeah I remembered your crossover fic immediately when I took a look at this :)

Interestingly, Freefall and Blonde Sunrise have some similar themes around what constitutes a person or who are to be considered people even if they are not human.
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