When Enmity Is Not Enough
Apparently, Ken Krekeler read a lot of webcomics that sucked. So he decided to make one too.
My Nemesis seems to be a pastiche of a lot of other things, without a well developed plotline or believable characters. It starts out being a story about a guy writing a webcomic. It then fairly quickly skips around to different parts of the world and then turns into a comic about a guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend.
The over-the-top attitude and characterization of Kal is obviously intended to be humorous, but it ends up being dull and trite. Having been dumped, the overly angsty Kal then sets off on a journey to find himself.
Pretty much all the jokes fall flat. The artwork is competent, although fairly uninspired – like the rest of the comic.
Ken seems to have talent. But he doesn’t seem to be using it. So, Ken Krekeler, I hope you fucking get shot and die.
Hrm.
I like that you constantly check out and comment on comics that I’ve never heard of. This is one of them. You are right about the art. It’s competent, but I too find myself wanting a bit more from it… something inspiring.
By lucastds on 12.28.05 9:20 pm
I was pretty jazzed to see that the guy goes to the same school as I did, so I was gonna e-mail him, but then I read on and found out he was totally mean and full of himself. I hope it’s an act?
By Ryan E on 12.29.05 1:26 am
I’ve seen some people upset over the review, but honestly I can see exactly how someone will get that impression from the comic. I personally disagree, but the review isn’t exactly inaccurate. I just liked some of the things you hated instead of the other way around. As a story loosely paralleling the author’s own life and with a main character who is shadowy (not defined–easy to replace with yourself), I find it a bit of an interesting perspective on life. The kind of life that sucks.
By Matt on 12.29.05 4:55 pm
You guys are right… Nobody likes a comic where characters grow and evolve. When I read webcomics, I like the same predictable punchlines delivered with the same formulaic plots… I mean, Ken hasn’t even MENTIONED World of Warcraft! He’s practically abandoned the commercial aspect of appealing to gamers, instead focusing on his own unique blend of humor and tragedy! What a fag.
By Brenda on 12.29.05 5:06 pm
I quite like comics where characters grow and evolve.
Kal is not a character to begin with – he’s a two dimensional assemblage of obnoxiousities and super powers. Travelling the world to find yourself is extremely trite, and the “growth” is being handled in an overly heavy handed manner – particularly here.
It would be funnier and more interesting if a huge book called “How to be a Human Being” fell out of the sky completely at random, and hit Kal on the head.
There isn’t any unique humor here that I found. And there’s never anything unique about tragedy at all.
Having a main character that is poorly defined is a flaw, not a mark of good writing. Particularly, it is clearly not Ken’s intention that one should identify with Kal – Kal is a horrible human being (if he is even human) – misogynistic, overbearingly arrogant, self-obsessed to the point of disfunction and mean to everyone around him. The best reading on Kal from a critical point of view is that Ken intends Kal to be a caricature of his own worst points. But the strip is just not well done enough to make it work.
But oh, look, it’s me defending my opinion! Whodda thunk it?
By Jeff on 12.29.05 5:19 pm
Defend away! I won’t argue so much about what you say. As I said, it wasn’t inaccurate. I just see it differently and I like what was done. *shrug*
By Matt on 12.30.05 4:27 pm
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