LNH/REVIEW: Kid Review's Roundup - April 2014

[Scott Eiler]

On 5/2/2014 9:34 PM, Andrew Perron wrote:

> Possum-Man: Relinquished #10
> "The Fox and the Possum"
> A Classic Legion of Net.Heroes [LNH] series
> by Mitchell Crouch
>
> "I don't think I can quite get into the conflict between Pos
> and Vixen's viewpoints, mostly because I don't understand Vixen's, on
> two levels."
>
> "First, there's the standard 'your presence causes destructive battles
> to happen' argument that she puts forward. This is a conflict that's
> shown up in superhero comics a fair number of times, as a direct
> challenge to the idea of the superhero. It works in many contexts - it's
> straightforwardly true for a lot of the GRIMDARK PROACTIVE HEROES!!, and
> I remember a good Spider-Man comic where he ruminated on how many of his
> villains have some link to him. But it doesn't really work here. I mean,
> Pos is right - Duck McMuck didn't exist because of his superheroing, and
> wasn't going to stop until Pos made him. And for heaven's sake, this is
> someone who gets kittens out of trees and entertains small children! It
> seems like an entirely overblown argument, and I don't think it's
> supposed to be."

gee, Kid Review, I accept all your critique on the argument, but I got 
the impression it *was* meant to be overblown.  Like a reaction against 
the "You Will Create Your Own Enemies!" trope.

> "The problem is - and I freely admit I may be misinterpreting here -
> that Possum-Man doesn't seem to think about the possibility of trying to
> answer these questions. It's just 'Well, she's opposed to me, and she
> won't change her mind, so I guess we gotta fight'. Of course, it's
> entirely possible that this is Pos's usual ditziness and he'll start
> investigating once someone points that out. But the ending just feels
> like it's setting up a permanent conflict that doesn't get resolved
> because one of the participants doesn't do the obvious thing."

Ain't it great when Our Heroes don't do the obvious thing, though?


> Powernaut 1912 #4-5
> "You Challenge Ares the God of War!" and "We Shall Shoot At Each Other!"
> A Superhuman World [SW10/WWW] webcomic
> by Scott Eiler
>
> "And so, Powernaut 1912 comes to a close. And I quite enjoyed the
> experiment! I like the full-page webcomicking, I like the sudden shift
> from 'real-life adventure' to 'unreal-feeling mythological contest', and
> really, the reason I wrote this review was to say: I love the design of
> 1912 Athena. Seriously."

Why thank you.  The series *did* respond to a challenge "The Wonderful 
Breaks Into The Mundane" (or words to that effect), and I had great fun 
writing the Powernaut in my accustomed Powernaut style after the 
break-in point.

And it's about time someone *didn't* make Athena a kindly big-breasted 
golden-haired babe in magic armor.  I had fun making Ares go native too. 
  Now *that's* a War God I'd be proud to retcon into my fiction. 
(http://www.eilertech.com/stories/duopol1.htm and its sequel duopol2.htm 
both have prominent War Gods.)

But I'm more than ready to return to fun zippy six-panel weekly web 
comics.  My own recent experiments with Free Powernaut Comic Day 2014 
indicate, even *that* kind of comic can make people's eyes glaze over if 
they are challenged to read more than one strip at a time.  I sense that 
Powernaut 1912 was more esoterica than crowd-pleaser.


> Ripping Off King Arthur #178-181
> A webcomic [WWW] series
> by Arthur Spitzer
>
> "Oh snap the Mechanical Author! Er, Mechanical Webcartoonist. The point
> is: OH SHIT Y'ALL. One of the best metafiction-based Big Bads in RACC's
> history is returning! As is its creator, Dr. Net-- er, Dr. Vivian N.
> Tropolis!"
>
> "ROKA has had several callbacks to Saviors of the Net already; most
> notably, Jesse Cashew. In SotN, he was the Ultimate Savior, the man who
> ultimately saved the world from the Mechanical Author. Here, however,
> he's just a kid - a kid who found the severed head of Satan himself!"

I did not know this old history of the character.  I merely enjoyed 
Jesse Cashew for his part in *this* story.  And I got Arthur a fan when 
one of my friends on Facebook said, "Everything's cooler in a bottle" - 
and Arthur had just put the severed head of Satan in one.  8{D>

> "But there is a similarity - both of them made a dark deal, to become
> someone admired by all. What does this mean? Will history repeat? And
> what does Max Ruetra, lately trapped in a body controlled by Rippy Offy
> the living webcomic, have to with it?"

Never mind history *repeating*.  I'm more excited that this story might 
go *anywhere*.

I think that's a general rule for any fiction series.  My most popular 
Powernaut strips were in 2011, when that strip *could* go anywhere. 
Ever since then, we all know how it ends.  Sadly, I'm stuck with that - 
at least for now.  The premise of Powernaut comics *was* to explore the 
past.  But I do have plans for a 2012+ comic.  I wonder if I have to 
accelerate those...?


-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

When you *are* the leader... whatever goes wrong... whether you did it
or not... *you* are held responsible. - Barack Obama

I know. - Archie Andrews

- from Archie #617, March 2011, scripted by Alex Simmons.