Well would you look at that, it's May the 4th (be with you), and I entirely forgot that I'd said I'd handle Comic of the Month for May! Thanks for the reminder, Jitter.
So, without further ado, my pick for CotM:
Widdershins!From the comic's About page:
"Widdershins is a series of Victorian-era adventure stories, set in the fictional town of Widdershins, West Yorkshire- England's magical epicentre, home to bounty hunters, failed wizards, stage magicians, and more, besides. It's all written and drawn by Kate Ashwin."
I'm not sure what genre to call it... magical-steampunkish-Victorian-drama-mystery with humour?
No warnings necessary - think of this as a palate cleanser to follow Sword Interval, which I totally missed was April's CotM (great recommendation, JoB). It's brilliant, and gorgeous, but not exactly a light read. Widdershins is delightful fluff that still manages to tackle various moral questions. But mostly it's lighthearted, whimsical fun.
It takes the form of individual stories that can stand quite nicely on their own, although they do have a common thread running through them and are best read in order. In each one, Ashwin fills in a few more details of the Widdershins world, characters re-appear, and it helps to know their backstory from the earlier tales. Chapter 10 is currently in progress. The whole thing got going in October 2011, and updates pretty reliably, if slowly; at the moment, weekly.
Why I like it:
Style and consistency of artwork The style is very much comic-book: strong outlines, saturated colours, simple shading, uncluttered backgrounds. And consistent! Ashwin has been at this for nearly 11 years, and her style has hardly changed. Often if you jump from the latest to the first page of a webcomic, you can hardly recognize it. Not Widdershins. Of course the simplicity of the style is deceiving - it's got to be a lot of work.
Characters They're all great. A trouser-wearing, pipe-smoking, Victorian lady bounty-hunter. A garrulous, somewhat clueless wizard. A collection of ineffective goons to work for the bad guys so that the good guys can triumph. They're all great fun.
Story Or should that be "stories"? Each individual story is complete by itself, but they're all part of an overarching story. This appeals to me for some reason. And they're fun stories! Mystery, adventure, humour, magic, self-discovery... there's a lot going on.
Diversity For a story set in Victorian England, it has a wildly diverse cast. Ashwin has ventured far beyond the proper frock-coated and gowned Anglo-Saxons one might expect, and has characters of all skin tones, sexualities, and degrees of conventionality.
A map! I love maps, so I was thoroughly delighted when I discovered that there's a map of Widdershins on the About page.
I hope that anyone who hasn't already found Widdershins enjoys it. It's got a manageable archive so you can do a binge-read without exhausting yourself.
