Check out the pilot to Lackadaisy!

I've blogged before about Tracy Butler's delightful webcomic Lackadaisy so I think it's well worthwhile spotlighting this amazing animated cartoon she's been toiling on with her team for years now. This not your typical slapdash internet cartoon with limited action. They went all-out to deliver a lulshly-animated and beautifully characterized cartoon for nothing more than seemingly the sheer pleasure of creating. Kudos!

"Now you know the truth and the truth is that the world is a terrible hateful place and everyone suffers alone" Looking at Housepets!

I really enjoy Housepets!

This isn't an April Fool's Day post - it seems I ought to get that out of the way.

Having begun in 2008, Rick Griffin's Housepets! is a mostly-comedic webcomic about the various pets (primarily cats & dogs) who populate the town of Babylon Gardens. Like many series born from comic strip ideas about pets, the animals in this comic speak English, stand on two feet, manipulate objects as though they possessed fingers & thumbs and are generally treated as members of their owners' families, rather than mere possessions.

Unlike most strips, Housepets! attempts to follow through on some of the implications behind a world where pets possess all the intelligence of humans, but enjoy few of their privileges. Er, that is, the series explores these ideas when there's a joke to be mined - it's really not a dramatic saga. Usually.

If Housepets! were only a gag-a-day strip, I wouldn't be posting about it now (or any other time). Heck, I didn't get very far into the series run on my first attempt - but eventually I reached the introduction of King. First introduced as a human named Joel who works with PETA (albeit under some misgivings), Joel is punished by a cosmic being by taking on the form of King; the next few years of the comic essentially revolve around King's arc. While the animals of Housepets! enjoy liberties we in the real world would never permit our own pets to enjoy (I doubt many dogs could manage an allowance), it's still horribly demeaning for a human to live as an animal in this world.

And yet, King has evolved over time, gradually developing friendships with his fellow pets. Although he remains a pessimist at heart (a difficult habit to break, considering the cosmic embodiments of the universe have basically affirmed that yes, he's a pawn), his humility and overall vulnerability render him an easy character to relate to. At the point I'm writing this, King has reached a point where he's probably much happier as a dog - so naturally there's a looming threat on the horizon that he'll become human again, which should make for good drama (also, comedy).

Of course, there are dozens of characters beyond King (King receives a major focus about once a year) and I've come to enjoy their tales as well - but starting with King's introduction as Joel (found here), I've been truly enamored with the series. Three times a week I have Housepets! to soothe my nerves; good deal.

"I rebelled 'cause I was tired of kissin' butt." A quick look at Rebel Angels

Some time ago I made mention of Hell Lost, a webcomic produced by James Turner, the artist best known for Rex Libris. It transpires that since then, the series has been published through SLG as a digital comic which you can purchase from Comixology; in this comic book format the series has been retitled Rebel Angels.

How to describe Rebel Angels? Imagine a comedy series which uses Milton's Paradise Lost as it's, er, Bible, and attempts a visual style which references many famous paintings of Hell (I think I see a Hieronymus Bosch influence?). Being James Turner, it also features vast, meticulously detailed buildings and some lewd humour. There's a lot more violence and profanity than Rex Libris contained - but what do you expect from Hell?

The plot is essentially one great civil war in Hell, as Balthazar is sent by Satan himself to destroy Baal. The cast of demons constitute a wide assortment of odd-looking critters, including a very hyperactive talking sword.

Now, you can read Hell Lost for free on the web - but why not pony up $1 a piece for the comic book version, Rebel Angels? Show the book some love - it's the best way to ensure it continues.

"It's been difficult to arrange assisted living for the undead." The Werewolf of New York review

Batton Lash recently held another Kickstarter project for his long-running series Supernatural Law, this time for a collection entitled the Werewolf of New York. As before, I happily supported the project. However, whereas the last project was to print the sixth volume in his set of Supernatural Law trades (the Monsters Meet on Court Street), this book is considered a stand-alone graphic novel, running only 100 pages (about 60 pages less than the trades) and telling a single story. Unlike the other trades, there's no celebrity introduction - Lash introduces the material himself.

What really sets the Werewolf of New York apart are the production values - full colour from start to finish! The story itself was first published in full-colour in the webcomic version of Supernatural Law thus the printed copy retains the original presentation's strengths. If you've already read the Werewolf of New York online you don't strictly need the book, but if you follow Supernatural Law online, you'll almost certainly want the book anyway.

The story involves one Leon Reed, a victim of lycanthropy who's retained our favourite Counselors of the Macabre Jeff Byrd & Alanna Wolff to defend him over the damages he caused while in his werewolf form. Leon has entered a special rehabilitation program for werewolves so his life appears to be in order - but there's a werewolf advocacy group lurking about who believe Leon's been brainwashed into denying his true self. Is Leon really happier being a werewolf? Also, there's a senile old vampire wandering around in a b-plot (and occasional family plot).

Wolff & Byrd are actually edged out of the book in this one - it's Leon Reed and the werewolf advocates (People for the Rights, Interests and Concerns of Shapeshifters or "PRICS" as secretary Mavis Munro calls them) who carry the bulk of the volume. Like most of Lash's Supernatural Law books the art, plotting and humour is well-balanced, with some clever wordplay ("I'm concerned that our client's dark cloud has a silver lining") and satire of contemporary culture (in this instance, it sends up "gay rehab" therapy using werewolves). There isn't really an opportunity for Lash to show off his talents as an artist-mimick, unfortunately (although there are some creatures who appear to be inspired by Gorillaz).

Lash is already making plans for yet another Kickstarter project to keep Supernatural Law in the public eye. I'll certainly be there to keep supporting it!

Review: Lackadaisy volume 1

For all my interest in comic books and comic strips, I have to confess the webcomic revolution has mainly passed me by; occasionally I find a series which seems interesting, but I find it hard to develop a keenness to check the site for the next installment and gaps between the arrival of new pages erode the momentum of the story for me.

However! Fairly recently an article at Comics Alliance alerted me to the existence of Tracy J. Butler's Lackadaisy, comparing the series to Blacksad. As an avid Blacksad, I was intrigued. After an afternoon spent reading the webcomic archive, I was hooked.

Set in 1927 St. Louis, Missouri, Lackadaisy is a speakeasy operated by Mitzi May, who inherited the establishment after her husband's death. However, the business has seen better days. Fast-talking and just barely competent, Rocky Rickaby is trying to help keep Lackadaisy's lights on, assuming the job of obtaining their illegal stash of alcohol. This places Rocky in the forefront of violence with rival establishments, which is a problem since Rocky is not a gunman - he's a violinist. Fortunately, Rocky's soft-spoken loyal cousin Calvin has an explosive dark side. Is that all you need to know?

Oh, right. They're all cats.

So far there's just one print volume of Lackadaisy; despite bearing a copyright notice dating back to 2006, there's only so much content in existence. The story being told within Lackadaisy moves at an interesting pace; lackadaisical, you might say (ha, ha! don't hurt me). By the end of volume one, about 48 hours have transpired for the cast; since then, the website has added perhaps 24 more?

Lackadaisy has a vast cast of characters and takes its time establishing them and their relationships to each other; as noted, the Lackadaisy establishment has a history, one which is gradually developed: there's just barely a few pages in which one character, the assassin Mordecai Heller appears, but he's established as a quirky, violent yet cultured man; Lackadaisy employee Ivy Pepper is presented as a fun, vivacious character... but there are hints to her troubled history with boyfriends who wind up in the hospital; band leader Zib just barely tolerates working with Rocky; Slovakian bartender Viktor Vasko is the one Lackadaisy character suited to the violent world they live in, but the years are catching up with him.

Although the comparison to Blacksad caught my eye, it was ultimately the series' dialogue which kept my attention; it would have been too easy to let myself glaze over the pages of material and just the strip's sequential storytelling chops first, but the clever wordplay demanded close attention; attempts at period dialogue run throughout the series, but Rocky receives special attention for his harried jabbering, occasionally pausing to wax poetic. Further, the voices of the many characters come through as distinct as their grammar reflects their class, upbringing or ethnicity.

While Blacksad populates its detective noir world with many types of animals, comparisons to Lackadaisy are no doubt encouraged because John Blacksad is himself a cat. Both series' use the funny animal characters in a period setting to help diffuse what could be much more bleak material. However, Blacksad is still a noir and an air of futility and failure infuses everything in Blacksad's world. While Lackadaisy does feature violence and its repercussions (repercussions are unavoidable thanks to the aforementioned gradual pace), primarily it's written for comedy. You know, for laughs, son. If I must compare Lackadaisy to another funny animal comic, I would prefer Usagi Yojimbo: both tell stories of drama and comedy side by side.

Considering Butler has revealed she didn't attend art school, I'm very impressed with the end result: she's no Rob Liefeld (although she has made the comparison). I'm fascinated by how she uses the unique body types provided by her cat people to reveal character. In the above image, note how Calvin's head and ears tilt back while he attempts to hide his face from Ivy. The postures characters adopt while speaking, the way they manipulate objects and how their faces contort all help to establish character, as much or moreso than the dialogue.

If Butler does have a failing, it's in the art of speech balloon placement. Although she has some interesting ideas about overlapping speech balloons to indicate voices being drowned out:

...She struggles with balloon placement in back & forth conversations such as this:

The balloons need to be closer to each other on the page or the reader will simply read all of Zib's balloons on the left before starting Rocky's balloons on the right.

This collected edition of Lackadaisy includes various bonus sketches and gag cartoons. The strips themselves are presented in sepia and run for 68 pages, usually featuring three rows of panels per page. Strangely, three rows per page is not the standard format in the website version - in fact, there is no standard format as many pages go beyond three rows. Consequently, some of the "beats" between pages play out differently in the collection than they did on the website, but it's something only a person who's read both would notice.

Lackadaisy. It cures what ails ya.