Something New For The Masses
I received an email through the Fleen contact site from Brad Shur, letting me know that there is a fairly new web comic collective in our midst. The collective is so cleverly titled, Koala Wallop. I’m not sure where Koalas come into play, but I like the name nonetheless.
The collective is comprised of five web comics: Perfect Stars, Dresden Codak, I am a Rocket Builder, Minus, and The Secret Crocodile Adventure Club. I’ve browsed through their sites, and decided to talk about The Secret Crocodile Adventure Club today. I’ll get to the others later this week, if all goes well in Allison Land.
Now on to The Secret Crocodile Adventure Club. With a name like that, I came into this comic with high expectations. It’s a secret club, with adventures. That’s pretty damn hard to pull off. First off, the site is explained as a secret order of crocodiles, which comes with it’s own hierarchy and rules of engagement. Their main enemy is the Michael J. Fox Society to Prevent Parkinson’s Disease. Why? I don’t know. I guess they have something against Michael J.
The archive is broken down into year one and year two. Year one is comprised of numerous croc characters, complete with eccentric personalities and dashing names. I immediately fell in love with these characters, which now reside illegally in my desktop-background folder. The colors are rich and resilient, bringing an eye-catching quality to each character depicted. The quality of the artwork is astounding to me. Stig Greve makes art look easy (but of course, it is not).
The characters themselves a bit wacky and tend to be on the crazy side. A few examples of these odd characters include Saigontime, Bateman and Ronald, and Expiration Date. These are just a few of the fifty-seven character drawings that Stig offers.
The second year of The Secret Crocodile Adventure Club is actually a story that takes place over ten pages of shrouded mystery and laced with combat. Prince of the Mountain is a gripping tale of how on croc, named Shang-Chi, battles a mountain, defeats some foes, and topples an empire with his mighty croc fist. It’s a light-hearted tale meant to amuse even the basest of crocodile forms.
Besides the comics themselves, there is a crocodile mailer you can receive. This is where Crocodile V, Effigia Okeeffeae, rants and raves about such things pertaining to leading a secret, adventure-filled, croc-laden society.
All in all, this web comic satisfies my comic needs in a way that few do: wholly and comprehensively. I hope there is a Prince of the Mountain 2: Electric Boogaloo. I’ll be crossing my fingers till then.
Now this is what I like to see from Fleen. Well done, AC.
Koala Wallop is, to my mind, one of the best of the newer collectives, designed, in Dresden Codak‘s Aaron Diaz’s words, to “better represent the ‘unconventional and also poorly updated’ sphere of the webcomic community.” It succeeds admirably at that task.
By Michael Kinyon on 10.23.06 2:56 pm
I’m impressed by the strip, but the archive is infuriating. The nested scroll bars are tedious, and the lack of any navigation at the single strip level is deadly. My kingdom for a “Next” button.
By K.O. on 10.23.06 3:35 pm
He has one for year two though. Maybe he just hasn’t gotten around to putting one in for year one.
By Allison Cook on 10.23.06 3:39 pm
Thanks for the enthusiastic write-up! Romantic came up with the name; we all instantly loved it… and no, koalas don’t seem like they’re ever going to come into it.
By Newbs on 10.24.06 6:40 pm
I’d been looking over Koala Wallop for some time, I think the emphasis is on arthouse webcomics, which is
I am a Rocket builder is probably one of the better designed webcomics I’ve seen, the ability to change viewpoint is interesting.
Perfect Stars is like Oscar Wilde on speed, Minus is childhood whimsy and darkness all mixed up together and Dresden Kodak makes spacial relativity look real sexy.
By Scott Thornton on 10.27.06 9:02 am
Thanks for the kindness Scott, and also thank you Allison for that lovely write up. No pressure, but we would love to hear what you think of the rest of KW, especially *cough* I am a Rocket Builder.
By B. Shur on 10.27.06 5:35 pm
The word of the Archcroc is definitely one to be review about. Great review I’ll be sure to start coming here to hear about more web comics, and to see what is said about the others I love!
Welcome to the Club.
By Sister Danielle on 10.29.06 12:25 pm
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