The Doe of Deadwood

The Doe of Deadwood is a webcomic by Songdog, spinning a story of a doe that does not wish to die and so makes a deal with a devil, a gnarled tree in a haunted forest called the deadwood.

An animal fairy tale featuring no humans, only talking animals. The titular Doe is a strange, red eyed solitary creature. At the beginning of the tale she comes to the attention of a newly arrived flock of deer who are curious about this lonely stranger.

In exchange for prolonging her life, curing her illness and making her immune to injury the tree devil demands to be fed with bodies of dead animals, which the doe must procure. Unfortunately the best source of bodies nearby happens to be the herd of deer that lives next to the forest… setting up the major conflict and moral quandary for the protagonist.

A comic that probably would not have been created outside of the online medium, the Doe of Deadwood is a very unusual tale for anyone used to Disney style talking animals. You won’t find any musical numbers or happy hijinks, these talking animals live in a very real world of predation and suffering, and react accordingly with their human-like intelligence.

Raining Knives

A twin murders his sibling. But then he comes back…

A webcomic by Moth

Raining Knives

A twin murders his sibling. But then he comes back…

Dylan and Jeremy Fletcher are 17 year old twins. Identical, yet completely unlike each other in personality. Quiet, introverted Dylan feels eclipsed by his more outgoing, popular and extroverted brother. The story begins with Jeremy disappeared and Dylan harbouring a secret – he is responsible for his brother’s absence, as he killed him in a moment of impulsive rage.

The police have no leads and Dylan is not a suspect, as the story begins Dylan is quietly mourning his brother and stewing about what he has done.

And then he begins to see a familiar figure in the distance…

A modern ghost story exploring sibling rivalry and the border between teen age and adulthood, Raining Knives is a medium length, full colour completed webcomic available on it’s own site.

Apparently the author created a previous version of the story but the current one available on the site is a reboot – this is a common thing in webcomics, as an author’s skill improves they become dissatisfied with their early pages and wish to bring them up to their current standards. More often than not this results in burnout and an abandoned comic as retreading grounds is not as interesting and the labour of love becomes a chore. So congratulations to Moth for persevering. Particularly since the story is complete, another rarity for webcomics!

An engaging mystery story with excellent artwork awaits you if you choose to read Raining Knives

Unsounded

The best webcomic you aren’t reading

Unsounded, by Ashley Cope is a long running fantasy webcomic that updates 3 times a week. It features full colour professional quality artwork and has a deep, engaging story and characters. And since it is only advertised by word of mouth, chances are you are completely unaware of it.

The artwork in webcomics in general is no longer as dire as it used to be in the early days, but even from the beginning the professionalism of the artwork quality in this title has stood head and shoulders above it’s peers, and like many webcomics the artwork has improved in the course of the telling, but already having started from a very high standard it has only grown more intricate and detailed.

The page you see above is not exceptional, all of the artwork in the story is on the level of a high quality European album.

Unsounded stars Duane Adelier and Sette Frumaggem. Sette is a young girl with a tail and a temper, a bratty thieving little goblin that many readers find hard to relate to. Duane is apparently a more engaging sort. A well spoken, civilized wizard tasked with protecting this little sharp toothed brat.

That is, until you find out he’s a zombie. A member of the living dead. A revenant. An ex-wizard, pining for the fjords. With an unfortunate hunger for the flesh of the living, that he mostly keeps under control.

Mostly.

How Duane came to find himself in this predicament is only one of the many plot threads that are eventually revealed in this unfolding story.

Aside from the two main protagonists, a varied cast of characters joins them as the story progresses.

Mathis and Matty Quigley and Uaid

Father and son, the Quigleys are fleeing from Duane’s mother country of Alderode. Silver haired “Plats” belonging to one of the castes of Alderode known for their magical talent and drastically shortened lifespan. Matty’s mother created Uaid, a giant golem made out of the corpse of a baby ogre from the old world.

Emil Toma and Elka

A couple of Crescian “FBI agents” working directly for the Queen of Cresce, Alderode’s big continental rival. Toma is a country boy married to a big city aristocrat after a heroic rescue. Elka is a no-nonsense battlemage.

Lady Ilganyag and Murkoph

From the ethereal realm of the Khert where the memories of the past and future dead are stored these two strange creatures observe our protagonists. Murkoph is a sadistic and violent zombie, perhaps something similar to Duane himself. Ilganyag is a mysterious senet beast, last of her kind or perhaps a unique creation.

Bastion Winalils and the Black Tongues

Bastion is a member of the Black Tongues, a brotherhood of mysterious mage-scientists dedicated to pursuing their scientific endeavors with no regard for laws or, in some cases, ethics. They worship and derive inspiration from Lady Ilganyag

The Frummagem family

Sette’s Da, Nary-a-care is the boss of the Frummagem crime family of Sharteshane, a Dickensian dog-eat-dog dystopia. Sette idolizes her Da but it’s not clear if he values her or not. Other members of the family include the two hitwomen Anadyne and Knock, enforcers for Stockyard Frummagem, Sette’s cousin.

Senet Beasts

Before time itself the gods created the Senet beasts. Immortal and unchanging, they are like living sketches of the life that would come later. Once the current world was started they slowly began to die off, some because they could no longer exist in the new world at all, others killed off by the new creatures that came to be – Humans.

The Khert and the First World

A kind of magical operating system that sorcerers “Wrights”, for “spellwrights” can access by speaking in formal language, allowing them to alter reality by swapping metadata of objects, such as heat or momentum

The Twin gods and Ssael

There are two main religions on the continent, The Gefendur religion believes in a double set of twin creator gods who are responsible for creating both the first world of the Senet beasts and the current human world that replaced it. By contrast, Duane’s religion believes Ssael, a human fought those same Gods after his death, killed them and replaced them in heaven. As can be imagined, this does not go down well with believers of the main religion on the continent.

Sharteshane Alderode and Cresce

The three main nations of the continent of Kassline where the story takes place

Cresce: A magitech matriarcal communist utopia that works, at least on the surface. The state provides for all and with zombie labour increasing productivity and vast deposits of primary materials powering magical appliances and an army of giant robot “constructs”

Sharteshane: Sette’s home is a dog-eat dog libertarian hellhole where might makes right and commerce is the only law. Strongest naval power on the continent.

Alderode: Duane’s nation of origin is a northern state divided in 6 castes and two main religions. A unique magical environment creates strains of humans with varied hair colours and pigmentations, whose lifespans and affinity to magic vary depending on which caste they belong to

The world of Kasslyne where Unsounded takes place is one of the most carefully put together examples of world-building you will find in modern fantasy. A product of decades of online role play and experimentation by it’s author, it holds together in a way almost no other fantasy world does. Fans can enjoy reading the accompanying wiki or bugging the author on social media for answers to their questions, or they can read the comic and piece clues together as more pieces of the puzzle are revealed.

Unsounded can be read in it’s entirety for free here, at the official site. There is also a patreon which gives access to higher resolution pages, extra art and occasionally special perks like including your own characters as extras in the story (They will most likely die horribly though). Print volumes with extras have also been released through kickstarter campaigns, although volume 2 is currently out of print.

Valerian and Laureline are just not very nice people: Valerian Movie review

I am quite a fan of Luc Besson and I have read (though not exhaustively) the original Valerian & Laureline albums his latest movie is based on, so when the movie was announced I was looking forward to another fun sci fi experience along the lines of The Fifth Element.

Then the reviews started to come in and the news was not good. I however decided to give the movie a chance and see for myself, so off I went to the cinema.

Unfortunately, the reviews were right. It’s a stinker. Let’s see, from my perspective, what went wrong.

(Some spoilers beyond this point, although frankly this movie isn’t the kind where you’re being denied any surprises by reading about the plot in advance…)

Continue reading “Valerian and Laureline are just not very nice people: Valerian Movie review”

A Stray 3 mirror

The website for the awesome webcomic Astray3 by Eldon Cowgur has gone offline, and since I took it upon myself to make a backup copy of the site once it went into hiatus, I have put a mirror online at this location

If the author wishes me to remove this mirror I will of course do so, but there is no infringement intended.

(Pages 306-37 missing from the archive, scraper error if anyone has them I’d be happy to add them)

UPDATE: The author has blessed the mirror and provided the missing pages, also the comic is set to return early next year. Yay!

Vexxar review

Vexxarr is an alien member of the Bleen race, militaristic conquerors of a quarter of the galaxy. He is tasked with conquering planet Earth single handedly, and things do not go as planned in this long running webcomic by Hunter Cressall.

Unfortunately for our would be world conqueror, humans prove a touger nut to crack than expected and he is captured, and then the hijinks begin, as the Earth appropriates his ship’s technology and uses it against the Bleen.

The comic is basically a comedy, a sort of character driven sitcom with an overarching plot involving the efforts of the Bleen empire to punish Vexxar for his failure on Earth. While the individual strips always carry a punchline or at least a comedic beat, the overall narrative is serious enough. Cressall makes a point about changes having consequences, as a contrast to the classic Sci fi “sitcom”, Star Trek. Where Trek would always reset to the status quo after each episode, Vexxar’s adventures always incorporate new and increasingly complex elements into the story.

Vexxar’s artwork shows the usual quality progression in long running webcomics, from crude but serviceable to a polished but simple full colour.