Remissal.
I would be remiss, that is, if I didn’t mention the Girlamatic launch in somewhat more detail. It’s the latest in the Modern Tales family of subscription-driven webcomics sites: a low, low monthly fee gets you a passel of strips updating weekly in a variety of new fresh flavors. —Girlamatic caused some little controversy when it was first announced; comics shouldn’t build its own ghettos, women don’t need special help, we should judge comics on their merits and not the gender of the cartoonists; that sort of thing. (Oddly enough, a great many of the skeptics, while feeling that congregating comics by the gender [or race, or ethnicity, or religion, or culture, perhaps] of the cartoonist or the [largely] intended audience was a mistake, did not feel that congregating comics by genre—science fiction, gag, autobiographical, pervert suit, etc.—was itself a similar error.) Well, now that Girlamatic has launched (and is no longer vaporware, mere fodder for messageboard speculation), it can be judged on its own merits.
I don’t think it comes off too terribly badly. The gravitas of Donna Barr, say (almost ridiculously self-indulgent, poorly scanned in spots, and in German to boot, but it is Donna Barr, so); the kickass one-two punch of Shaenon “Narbonic” Garrity and Vera “Cartooning Goddess” Brosgol (yes, that Vera Brosgol); Kris Dresen’s gorgeously drawn “Encounter Her”; I’ve read the first fit of The Stiff by Jason Thompson, and it’s going to creep the holy fuck out of you; I like what I’ve seen of Layla Lawlor’s Raven’s Children, so I’m curious to poke around in Kismet: Hunter’s Moon; Harley Sparx is apparently out to do some sort of shonen ai piss-take on Dante, so you know I’m in the front row with popcorn; Andre Richards brings the old skool minicomics vibe; Dylan Meconis (yes, that Dylan Meconis) is bringing Bite Me to the party; and while I can say nothing at all either pithy or penetrating about Lisa Jonte at the moment, she’s in heady company, is she not?
Which leaves us with two of the current roster as yet uncommented. First being Spike, and another of those whereinnahell-did-she-come-from moments. The woman has a gorgeous design sense (a curious shortcoming in comics as a whole) and draws like some unholy combination of Charles Burns and Chris Ware; check out her own website, for instance these beautiful little character studies, and then check back for more Lucas and Odessa. —The second as yet uncommented, of course, is the Spouse: and allow me to set aside any pretence of setting aside any pretence to objectivity, because I do think it’s clear enough without spousal bias that Jenn’s a sharp writer with an ear for witty dialogue, an excellent cartoonist in the illustratorly school, inspiringly cheeky in her symbol-games and pattern-making, with a yen for futures that are lived in and not just dreamed up. Add to which her gorgeous color sense and a world-building skill with perspective (a behind-the-scenes hint: David Chelsea’s Perspective! will teach you everything you need to know), and—well, Dicebox alone is worth a buck ninety-five a month. —Much less everything else, and more on the way.
But! Enough with the hype. We now return you to your regularly scheduled bitching and moaning.
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