Editor’s note: Another guest piece from Anne Thalheimer; she’s continuing her explorations through webcomics, bringing a newbie’s eye to all and sundry. You can submit these too, you know. Contact link is over there to the right.

Now, I like writing critical pieces as much as the next person, and, as I’ve said before, I’m a little new to the webcomix party. So I thought I’d alternate the more critical pieces with something a little more, well, fannish. I’m trying to read widely in the field (so, you know, feel free to point me in the direction of one of your favorites if you want; I’m open to reading suggestions).

I’ve made mention of some of my favorites in earlier columns, like Natalie Dee and Exploding Dog and, of course, this. I’m a fan of Cat and Girl, which I first read in minicomics form, not on the web (it’s weird to be admitting that being a comix geek kind of turned me on to webcomix in the first place, especially in still thinking through David Malki !’s recent article.

I have a few webcomics that I read on a regular basis; I started out reading Overcompensating because I’m a bit of a fan of the autobio. Even if it’s fake. Or kinda fake. Hell, he draws tattoos on his comic self the same way I draw mine on me! Then I got sucked into reading Diesel Sweeties, which I like (especially in airports), in large part because of the weird titles that R Stevens uses for each of the installments. (Full disclosure: these two work down the hall from me and made my company’s wacky holiday party way more entertaining, so I’ll probably always be nice when I write about ‘em).

But when I think of Diesel Sweeties, I think of t-shirts. In an earlier column I advocated supporting the webcomics you read by buying merch (or sending fun party favors), and so I naturally thought of the only other webcomic whose t-shirt I’ve bought: John Allison’s lovely little Scary Go Round. It’s one of my current most favorite things online as well as from Old Blighty (other favorites in that category being Ribena, chocolate vending machines in tube stations, and my friend Lesley).

Scary Go Round is one of the few multi-panel webcomics where I can read loads of the archives and not feel like my brain’s been sucked out through my eyesockets. Part of this is no doubt because I find that the art and the text are both really compelling; vivid, unique art with grand coloring and catchy dialogue (snappy English-isms! Yeah!. I want to keep checking in to see what happens to the characters — the pacing’s perfect and the narrative’s delightfully weird. I’ve been thinking about the folks who report problems forgetting to click and check in on updates of their favorite webcomics; Scary Go Round just isn’t one of those for me. It’s actually one of those webcomics where I linger, looking at the background details (the posters, for example, in the background are especially nice touches). I’m still working through all of the chapters, but I fully intend to make good and read the whole thing. It’s also interesting to see the difference between the work that’s hand-drawn and the work that’s done on the Wacom tablet, since I find the hand-drawn work more visually captivating. One of these days I’ll just suck up the shellacking the US dollar is taking and buy one of his books, because I’d just love to see how Scary Go Round looks in print.

In addition, the website also has a hugely amusing “aboutâ€? section (called “the true truth”) as well as this little gem from the Extras section — you have to admit he’s got killer taste in music).

And I love my t-shirt (& just for you, Mr Lowrey, it’s bloody great!).

Fleen thanks Anne once again for her contribution. Hey, am I the only one that sees a girlfight of Wgnerian proportions coming? Wicked Bob has bewitched both Dark Esther (who has a mean right) and the formerly mini-Winters (who has a five-star gun show and a temper to match); once great friends, they’re now at each other’s throats due to malevolent forces and love of The Boy. Add in a little Armageddon, and nothing good can come of this — except more great storytelling. Also! Remember when I said that Esther had the sweetest smile? Her sorrow here absolutely breaks my heart — Allison’s ability to express emotions continues to astound.

Editor’s note: So I promised you an established, respected creator, didn’t I? They don’t get more of either of those things than David Malki !, the man behind the thoroughly wonderful Wondermark. Malki ! tells us that there’s been something he’s been meaning to get off his chest, and here ’tis.

What if you’d never heard of an iPod, and I tried to explain it to you?

I might say, “It’s like a radio. You’ve heard of a radio, right?”

“Sure,” you might say, “I listen to the radio sometimes, but I don’t like it much. It’s full of commercials for eye surgery and car dealerships, and there’s a limited number of stations, and the music they play is usually crap.”

“Well,” I could then say, “you’ll love this personal radio, because it’s totally different.” Then I would go on to explain the features of an iPod. (Or alternative MP3 player of your choice, that’s not really the point.)

But because I called it a personal radio, you’d never be able to shake that comparison from your mind. “Why can’t I listen to real-time traffic reports on my personal radio, like I can on my car radio?” you might sniff. Or, “Man, I’m glad my personal radio can play video podcasts.”
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Editor’s note: Fleen Guest Columns are still cranking along, with Anne Thalheimer deciding to wade into our little kiddiepool of opinion and spite for another go-round. If you want to get in on the fun, email me (that would be Gary) at a domain that is named very similarly to this here blog. Thank you, and drive safely.

In sifting through the range of comments from my previous column, which went from informative to snarcastic (thank you, Dan) to just plain weird pretty quickly, one comment in particular seemed especially prescient for what I’d planned for this second column. It stated that experiencing something was, in the poster’s opinion, a much more important endeavor than defining or debating the parameters of the work in question.

Arguably, the way in which someone experiences anything is influenced not just by the context in which it is experienced but also by the person in question (potentially considerable as the sum total of prior experiences) who is experiencing it. An important and unique part of experiencing a work is the individual connections you make, the things you think, which ultimately influence how you react to the thing in question. What if those things—experiencing something and defining what things about it make that experience what it is–aren’t mutually exclusive?

Though this situation isn’t specific to webcomics, I’d like to bring it to bear on a general consideration of webcomics reading. To this end, I decided to use one of my recent favorites, Bryant Paul Johnson’s Teaching Baby Paranoia (henceforth TBP; lazy academic’s prerogative), as a virtual lab rat.
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Editor’s note: This is the first of the Fleen Guest Columns; this came about because we were put in touch with Anne Thalheimer, who has some interesting views on comics, art & suchlike, and was amenable to writing them up for us.

Anne, by the way, has studied comics at the graduate level, written a book on gender/comics issues, has written on comics for Popmatters, and works in that [web]comics-friendly Mecca of Northampton, MA. Want to join in the fun? Throw us a suggestion, we’ll ask you to send us some copy; just like the Op-Ed page, if it doesn’t require too much fixin’ we’ll run it.

Both Natalie Dee’s work (which she calls “comic art�) and Sam Brown’s (which he calls “stick figure art�) are interesting to me for a number of different reasons. I enjoy the similarities in their visual styles; the simple lines, bold colors, and the “cute� feeling they both evoke. I also like the seeming dissonance between this “cute� look and the fact that Dee’s work often as not is peppered with profanity and Brown’s is, well, there’s monsters and fangs and bloody folks. These are not necessarily bad things; as a reader, I actually find the dissonance they create kind of engaging.

Brown’s work is particularly savvy in this sense, as he creates pieces from titles readers email him, and so you click on the title and the image opens, and you’re left to wonder how a certain title sparked the image that you’re seeing. You see the title, and then the picture, and you’re left to make the connection. Dee’s work does something similar when looking through her archives as sometimes the connection between the image and the title is readily apparent, and sometimes the title itself is what makes me laugh, as it provides a new frame through which to view the work, which shifts how I think about what I’m seeing.

That said, in all the times I’ve seen Natalie Dee’s and Sam Brown’s
work appear on this site, there’s always a comment or two asking, either, Are they webcomics? or, what I think might be the real heart of the question, Are they comics?
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Editor’s note: This is the first of the Fleen Guest Reviews; this came about because Scott Thornton suggested that we review some particular comics in under-represented genres, and he seemed enthusiastic enough about it that we suggested that he write ’em up himself.

Scott, by the way, is an Australian malcontent living in Melbourne. Aged 25, he began his interest in sequential art via TinTin and illustrated zines and likes to focus on genre fiction webcomics. He is currently working on the weekly webcomic blog, Zhi, which is some good reading. Want to join in the fun? Throw us a suggestion, we’ll ask you to send us some copy; just like the Op-Ed page, if it doesn’t require too much fixin’ we’ll run it.

Webmanga has traditionally gotten a bad rap from the mainstream webcomic community (case in point: look at Combustible Orange‘s characterisation of Fred Gallagher as a sex-crazed pervoid). If all you read is slice of life webcomics, every otaku is a possible bishie-obsessed stalker. If you’re unsure about manga then Daniel Kim’s Clone Manga is an expose of his talent, it comprises a smorgasbord of his short stories. Most of them have a bent towards the supernatural and fantastical and from the site the reader can slowly digest them at their leisure.

Kim’s art isn’t ultra smooth or slick and it’s more ma! ngaesque or manga influenced with a more realistic use of scale and softer linework. It’s a haze of black and white, and likewise the various narratives within the confines of Clone Manga are fantastical shadowy meanderings of the human condition. Thus, it’s a westernised translation of manga and for the beginner this makes it an informative entry point into what looks like esoteric madness.

If you’re looking for standout stories then, frankly, Paper Eleven is the centrepiece of Kim’s website; it’s a convoluted and lovely exposition of a classic fairytale that pieces together slowly. Likewise, Penny Tribute is another example of Kim’s reissuing of the western fantastical within Clone Manga’s mangaesque atmosphere; it takes place in a menagerie of characters in a forbidding castle. However, if you’re tired of all the emo, here’s a lighter touch in Tomoyo42’s Room, both in artwork and doujinshi style silliness.

Still, if all you’re after is a quick gag during your lunch break or you speak L33T as a second language then you won’t find what you want here. If you’re after new visions of sequential art, then this is a good place to start your examination of the art that dare not speak its name within the webcomic pixelsphere.

Fleen thanks Scott Thornton for his contribution. Read his blog!