(Just in advance… I apologize if the next couple of installments are late, or erratic, or commentary-free. My wife is due in the next ten days with our first child; I’m pretty busy & distracted, but should be able to post the pages consistently, if with little accompanying fanfare.)
“Insane young man”. Ridiculously overdone, perhaps, but nonetheless, a pretty resonant thread throughout the fictions from my teenage years. Not just the cheap stuff I wrote, but also the slightly-less-cheap stuff I’d read (or, you know, watch / listen to). I think it’s a variant of the “angry young man” scenario, but where that anger perhaps doesn’t get an outlet? Angrier to the point of nuts? Not sure, but it was around a lot, and something I attached to… y’know, as an “author”.
And so when it came time to actually start introducing Pargimus and the main context through which Quitoclam defined him (or which he chose to be defined), I couldn’t shy away from it. I don’t know that I’ve come up with anything close to original in portraying a “confused” young man’s relationship to psychiatric institutionalization, but at the very least I hope I’ve stepped far enough away from the more cliché aspects I originally envisioned, in my own confused adolescence.
There was a building I knew (from reputation only) as a “mental hospital” just down the hill from where I grew up. I never knew what went on in it, but an old girlfriend whose grandfather once worked there mentioned some pretty uncomfortable stories once upon a time. Of course, it’d probably be something as mundane as budget problems that would close such a place before staff misconduct would. The place is probably closed now.
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Q: What do you call a webcomic that doesn’t post when it says it will? A: I don’t know, but I do know this: I’m going to be at least a day late, and maybe two. But since you’re getting this a) for free and b) so slowly ANYway that a day or two won’t matter… what’s the diff?
(The difference is that I’LL know. See, I want to stay true to my word, even if I’m the only one who cares. That sound you hear is me cursing at myself. Yeah, I know — not unlike the process of making comics in the first place…!)
I’ll see you as soon as I can. Cheers — P.
Salvager Kain #6 Start-Date: 25 November 2009
By Paul Sloboda on November 23rd, 2009Posted In: Blog
Hello again, everyone!
This is quick but sweet, to say HEY! I’m back for the sixth issue. You’ll notice the site has been switching around a bit… my apologies if those of you subscribing to the RSS feed have been getting alerts every time I dig in and muck with the naming of pages and coding of style sheets. This is a) all new to me, if you hadn’t already guessed and b) all in the way of actually writing and drawing… y’ know? Still, it’s my online portal, and I’m trying to make it less sloppy. Here’s hoping for progress!
Part of the re-jangling at this point was to make sure you folks would have as easy access as possible to the multiple chapters of the storyline… and for now, I think I’ve got it in a good state. On the left you’ll see drop-down lists for (as of today) the two separate stories I’ve posted: Salvager Kain #5, and the short story “The Greater Affront”. Once the first installment of Salvager Kain #6 goes up — coming this Wednesday, November 25, 2009! — you should see another drop down list for that title as well. And on it goes.
(PART of the reworking here was to simplify the name of “The Greater Affront” so the title didn’t run to embarrassing lengths in my story structure. As easy as it is to come up with a silly title like “The Spittish Chronicles, Volume 11: The Greater Affront” for a minicomic in print, it becomes a different matter for something online where brevity is a blessing. Therefore, I’ve abbreviated the title. Since the light-hearted tale was only ever meant as filler in between chapters of the main story, I don’t suppose most people will care what it’s called, do you?)
So there you have it: the site is back, and will sport the first installment of Salvager Kain #6 up in two days’ time! Be sure to come back and see the start of (wait for it) what COULD be the LAST chapter of Salvager Kain! Will he change by the story’s end? Or, will he die, instead? Anything could happen… but beyond anything else, I promise you some strangeness. See you soon –
– Paul
“God (TM)” is not your usual comic. Sentient cappuccino machines stuck in Guardian mode, singing Min-Mei’s songs from Robotech. Robot Mormons. Intentional pixellation of corporate names & likenesses. Swear words substituted by the repeated face of the friend of the creator. In fact, it’s not so much like your usual comic as it’s like trying to watch tv while your dog chews the remote. You leave it maybe a little scattered but having watched a few things you wouldn’t normally flip to… while thinking just maybe if you had the perspective, you’d see the greater pattern to it (left incisor always pressing for channel 5, 55, or 555, for example).
Yes — not your usual comic. The title alone should make this clear. Though it’s abbreviated as “God (TM)”, the title in full reads: “God™ © 2XX8 *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. All rights reserved. God and all related characters, titles, names and documents are trademarks of *** ***** ****** ******* Incorporated. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions in this deity with those of any living or dead person or institutions is intended and any such similarity which may exist is purely coincidental.” Sort of sets the stage, doesn’t it?
But don’t let this betray what I’m trying to say here — I love it. It’s pure dadaist fun.There does seem to be an intentional narrative to it — many pages of the story’s first part introduce the protagonist, Joeb Kim, an “ordained minister in the Sacred Order of Accounting”. But even this introduction is in a scattered order, pairing panels of Joeb’s future nervous breakdown with scenes from his mundane visit to a coffee shop. And then, it just starts to go off on its own journey; where you’re going, you have NO idea. It’s like driving through a field at night with the headlights off by your uncle that no one really knows how he’s related to you, and you’re scared you might hit something, but then you realize it’s not a car you’re in, but a helicopter, and it’s the far side of Jupiter and what’s there to hit there, anyway? Best to just enjoy the ride.
That’s possible because Elan seems to know just how far to take the randomness before returning you to something familiar. Whether that familiarity is found in returning us to the main character or teasing us with one of many present-day cultural references he’s bastardized into this new world, what matters is that Elan seems able to take the temperature of how much to meddle with the mix of surrealism to keep things both fresh and sane (more or less).
Other random points:
• It’s my favorite of his art styles to date. The style is well suited for color, but works when he’s willing to go monotone in sections, for selective (and effective) emphasis. The montage of styles in Part 3 is useful for his expository history lesson, but I look forward to seeing more of the beautifully illustrated world drawn around Joeb Kim.
• I love the voice of the unreliable narrator.
• The usage of low-resolution pixellation in the comic is a brilliant touch. I’m sure more than one person will think it’s a problem with their browser. He employs this approach on a number of corporate names and logos, and it seems to walk hand in hand with the contractually obscured nature of the comic’s title. Legally, I’m sure Elan couldn’t stretch the copyright concept of “Fair Use” far enough to use the real St*tb*cks logo in every instance he has it obscured in the comic… but artistically, why would he want to? If copyright laws don’t allow him to do it, it’s their shortcoming he’s illustrating, in their bold and clunky pixellated matrices. Elan’s work is crisp and clear in all its high resolution. By contrast, the obscured logos convey the concept of wealthy corporations, one assumes wiling and able to defend their copyrights… but just as likely seen as cheap, as if not having paid full price for speedy bandwidth. It also give a sense of mystery to these entities, especially for the ones not legible at all (at least yet) — what’s behind the veil of squares?
All in all, it’s a hell of a start, and having heard hints of where he’ll be taking it, I can’t wait to read rest. The first three parts are online now, and more will come.
Standard Disclaimer: I’m a creator, not a critic, and what the heck do I know?
That being said, it’s time I jumped into the opinion pool, at least to blog favorably about other comics I enjoy. Don’t know how often, don’t know how eloquent, don’t know to what response… but this much I do know: I’ll only review comics.
Just a little FYI — my apologies if the look of the site changes *as you’re reading*, on any given day. First and foremost, I’d prefer to be writing & drawing comics; second to that, I need to learn how to hammer the site into shape for you all to get the most out of the comics experience. And so… daytime testing will occur. Relax, you won’t need a hardhat.