Check Out The Rockets On That Builder
I’m continuing on my Koala Wallop review-athon with I am a Rocket Builder by Ben Shur. The comic is actually comprised of five separate comics; A Cave, An Old House, A Large Tree, A Tiny Shack, and The City.
All of them have been somewhat developed, except for A Cave. An Old House is a story about a small bird who is captured by The Pocket Witch. It is an interactive comic, with the last panel usually animated. And when I say interactive, I mean you can spur animations with you cursor. It’s a fun read, and I would like to see how this little bird ties in with the other storylines.
There is only one comic so far for A Large Tree.**Edit** There is more than one comic strip for A Large Tree, which can be found here. It is about a young bird couple, Brad and Janet. We see Brad telling Janet that he is going into the army to be able to afford a family. Then he drops on his knobby-bird knee and begins to propose to his dear Janet, but right then disaster strikes! What happens next, you ask? Only time and Ben Shur can tell.
A Tiny Shack is what I believe to be the masthead of all of the comics. It is about the rocket builder that the site is named after. The rocket builder in question is a young woman, who has yet to be identified. She has purchased a shack in the middle of nowhere, as a means to be able to work on her rockets without distraction. She is kept company by her one-eyed cat, Bones. All we know so far is that she moved out there to begin a new project, and that she is alone in this endeavor. And there is also a curious appearance by the bird from An Old House.
The last comic is The City. This seems to be the place where all of the comics tie into. Which makes sense, because it’s the big city. It starts out with a drunk of a library receptionist helping a strange man look for a book on bird anatomy. Perhaps the same birds found in the previous comics? The stranger asks to use the restroom, and after some confusion, gets to actually use one. But he’s in there an awfully long time, which results in him defacing public property, and most likely the firing of the drunken receptionist.
When you browse this comic, you will see the crossovers from the other comics. The artwork switches up on the newest strip, so I’m curious to see if Ben stays with that style or goes back to the original version he began with.
Right now these five comics seem to be mixed up, garbled up, and all kinds of crazy…up. But I have faith that as these comics progress, they will intertwine beautifully and masterfully, as one hopes Lost will eventually do. I definitely recommend this set of comics, if not for the ingenuity but for the wonderful artwork and the heart that goes into them.
Oh, and if you are looking for more of Ben Shur’s work, check out Cave Monster. It’ll be a good read for ya’.
Thanks so much for the write-up. There are actually several comics for The Tree, and they’re very good, I think, including my favorite. But my weakness for poo jokes is well documented.
By Newbs on 10.31.06 3:30 pm
Man, I was glad to see this posted. I had seen bits of it before (the animated stuff in the Old House), and then forgotten about it – seeing it all drawn together in several interconnected strips is really, really cool.
Also, the rocket builder has been identified – she and the drunk librarian each hold one half of a phone conversation within their respective strips, which pretty clearly match up, identifying them as Emma and Rick. Which I probably wouldn’t have caught if I wasn’t reading the entire thing at once. ;)
By Mr. Myth on 11.01.06 1:23 pm
Wow. I never even noticed the cave. I’m sure it wasn’t there before.
By Archon Divinus on 11.01.06 7:11 pm
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