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BravestOfTheLamps posted:The earlier Octopus pie comics are really better, because the more constrained art fit the scale if storytelling. I dunno, I don't think octopus pie would be quite as good if it was about a group of middle aged bald people who all live in a flat across the street from a fish cannery.
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Feb 14, 2016 00:35
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I just read Sin Titulo in one sitting. What a great comic, thanks a lot for the recommendation! I think I mostly understood what the story was trying to convey, with Wesley kind of representing all the awful, traumatic things humans do to each other, working as a contrast to the serenity/purity of the place otherwise. There's a funny combination of Plato's 'ideal world' and Freudian-ish 'dark depths of the psyche' -mindset going on, combined with the idea that perfection requires some kind of balance and getting off-balance is dangerous. However, there's one detail that I really didn't understand on my read: what was the purpose of the weird mask monster? It appeared both times while the main character was sleeping, but there didn't seem to be any specific reason for why it appeared then and there, nor can I think of any pausible metaphorical reasons for its existence apart from maybe it representing fear, but that wouldn't really make sense. It's even weirder with the bit where Sladislav draws the mask on paper and lets the main character see to his past. I'm aware that the point probably isn't that everything would be 100% understandable but the rest of the comic felt like it made sense so that left me confused.
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Feb 14, 2016 02:18
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Hempuli posted:I'm aware that the point probably isn't that everything would be 100% understandable but the rest of the comic felt like it made sense so that left me confused. I interpreted that as the protagonist was the "masked monster" all along. When he looked at himself in the past while wearing the mask, that became the reality of it and so that's what he now remembers. That mask didn't exist until Sladislav drew it right in front of him but now that it exists, it's as if it had always existed (it's truly real or whatever). That's why he remembers it before it was made. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 03:36
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I'm basically in constant awe of how good Octopus Pie is.
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Feb 14, 2016 04:02
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Pavlov posted:Yeah I read the author comment. Let's hope they go more LoTR than Narnia. I don't normally bet on people knowing how to write good subtlety though, especially about JESUS. I don't blame you. Webcomics don't have a great history with using real world religions. It'd be nice if we could a restrained and thoughtful way to incorporate religion into speculative fiction tho. Scifi tries to get away with it by saying "oh we've evolved past the whole thing  " while religions in fantasy stories usually don't come in more flavors than "I pray to the sun god and get cure light wounds 5x per day" or not-Spanish Inquisition burning the heretics/witches. It''d be interesting to explore more how having a world where gods are sometimes provably real and get involved in global affairs affects how society functions.
Nuns with Guns fucked around with this message at 04:11 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 04:08
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Nuns with Guns posted:I don't blame you. Webcomics don't have a great history with using real world religions. Unfortunately that would also depend on the people consuming that work to be restrained and thoughtful about religion.
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Feb 14, 2016 04:23
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Nuns with Guns posted:I don't blame you. Webcomics don't have a great history with using real world religions. The Vlad Taltos books do a pretty good job of that.
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Feb 14, 2016 04:32
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Pavlov posted:Unfortunately that would also depend on the people consuming that work to be restrained and thoughtful about religion. fair point... and given her newest page has like 200+ comments I'm not optimistic on that level  Tunicate posted:The Vlad Taltos books do a pretty good job of that. Googling the author of these books makes me suspicious  but friend tell me he is legit good so I guess I'll have to check those out
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Feb 14, 2016 05:28
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Nuns with Guns posted:Googling the author of these books makes me suspicious Dude's weird, but not in that way. Raised by Hungarian labor organizers, and a die-hard trotskyist. He also wants to avoid grinding any of his personal political axes in his novels, so he made a rule that he'll only put his personal beliefs into the mouths of characters who are (A) secondary, and (B) disliked by the protagonist. Tunicate fucked around with this message at 05:35 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 05:32
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Nuns with Guns posted:I don't blame you. Webcomics don't have a great history with using real world religions. I really liked Avatar the Last Airbender's depiction of spirituality in a fantasy setting.
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Feb 14, 2016 06:00
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mycot posted:I really liked Avatar the Last Airbender's depiction of spirituality in a fantasy setting. You know, I love avatar but I feel like sometimes its inconsistent with its spirituality then again that is pretty consistent with the multilayered factions of individual sects, so I suppose I can't really fault it when it allows for people to bend plants and blood and lightning
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Feb 14, 2016 06:36
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Those first two were just more difficult extensions of bending the water in them, like earthbending -> metalbending. Lightning doesn't seem to follow too logically but I guess it's high energy plasma?
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Feb 14, 2016 06:46
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Nuns with Guns posted:fair point... and given her newest page has like 200+ comments I'm not optimistic on that level As unofficial Steven Brust cheerleader, I both completely disagree with every one of his views and loving love everything he's written. I would go so far as to say that Steven Brust is the best living fiction writer.
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Feb 14, 2016 06:52
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Dabir posted:Those first two were just more difficult extensions of bending the water in them, like earthbending -> metalbending. Lightning doesn't seem to follow too logically but I guess it's high energy plasma? Whatever the logic is, I"m completely fine so long as it leads to a cool climax. wiegieman posted:As unofficial Steven Brust cheerleader, I both completely disagree with every one of his views and loving love everything he's written. That is a heavy task to carry, but I'm totally willing to look into it if it's pulled off well enough
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Feb 14, 2016 07:34
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Plethora posted:It's great living in Prague because no one talks about how great the city is. Prague is the only place I associate with genuine happiness, wish I still lived there but congrats that you do.
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Feb 14, 2016 08:29
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Nuns with Guns posted:Whatever the logic is, I"m completely fine so long as it leads to a cool climax. Just don't start with the prequel side-trilogy that he wrote as a self-indulgent Three Musketeers Tribute, with a great stylistic match for the longwinded archaic tone of Dumas.
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Feb 14, 2016 09:23
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Pick posted:Prague is the only place I associate with genuine happiness, wish I still lived there but congrats that you do. Thanks, and same. It's full of people who have seen the worst society has to offer (Nazi concentration camps, Soviet occupation, etc) and they survived it by sheer determination and moxy. They've earned happiness. I'm immigrating here from the USA since, well, the USA isn't the most welcoming of places if you're not rich. Anyway, Floraverse!  http://floraverse.com/comic/try-try-again/421-here-goes-nothing-p11/ To be honest, I don't really care for the story or the weird kinda-furry-but-not-quite characters, but look at that page layout! I always feel like I can learn something from it. Edit: Almost forgot the link Mr.Chill fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 09:59
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Tunicate posted:Just don't start with the prequel side-trilogy that he wrote as a self-indulgent Three Musketeers Tribute, with a great stylistic match for the longwinded archaic tone of Dumas. If you want a first Brust book, start with Jhereg or Yendi.
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Feb 14, 2016 10:20
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I remember liking those books as a teenager, they're probably fun if you're not looking for anything literary. Now I'm wondering where I put them. BravestOfTheLamps fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 10:31
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Nuns with Guns posted:There's also some mystery going on know about what exactly the mage girl is under her mask, which is intriguing (be careful not to flip to the main webpage because latest update is super spoilery!) That being the one where the author goes "HA! You thought you were reading a fantasy comic, but actually it's a JESUS comic about how all these fantasy people persecute Christians! Here, have a Bible quote!, right? I wish you'd just said that from the start. It would have saved me a lot of time reading it.
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Feb 14, 2016 11:34
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What do you have against Christian themes? That seems rather bigoted.
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Feb 14, 2016 11:59
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Jedit posted:That being the one where the author goes "HA! You thought you were reading a fantasy comic, but actually it's a JESUS comic about how all these fantasy people persecute Christians! Here, have a Bible quote!, right? I wish you'd just said that from the start. It would have saved me a lot of time reading it. What the hell man What's with this reaction How does this stop being a fantasy comic What gave you the idea that they are persecuted, I was reading it as the mage being some sort of monster
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Feb 14, 2016 13:24
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Are you thinking of a different comic or something? There's been 1 page so far after the reveal that the secret behind her mask is some sort of divine entity which feels way too short for how strongly you're reacting.
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Feb 14, 2016 13:34
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Jedit posted:That being the one where the author goes "HA! You thought you were reading a fantasy comic, but actually it's a JESUS comic about how all these fantasy people persecute Christians! Here, have a Bible quote!, right? I wish you'd just said that from the start. It would have saved me a lot of time reading it. It's not like we don't have a wildly successful fantasy series that helped set the bar for the genre's standards that expertly merged Christian mythos with Pagan imagery or anything, beloved by generations of kids and adults regardless of religious beliefs. I mean, there's no way those two could be merged into something everyone can enjoy, right?
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Feb 14, 2016 13:39
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Plethora posted:It's not like we don't have a wildly successful fantasy series that helped set the bar for the genre's standards that expertly merged Christian mythos with Pagan imagery or anything, beloved by generations of kids and adults regardless of religious beliefs. I mean, there's no way those two could be merged into something everyone can enjoy, right? Well yeah, but although that one was beating you over the head with obvious imagery by the end it never went as far as directly quoting the bible.
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Feb 14, 2016 13:51
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Renaissance Robot posted:Well yeah, but although that one was beating you over the head with obvious imagery by the end it never went as far as directly quoting the bible. Complete with providing the reference in the mouseover text. The screed that follows is very clear that the author wants her story to be a new Narnia, and while she says you can ignore the religious allegory if you want it's a little hard to do that when your book is written like a loving Chick tract. And while I admit I'm somewhat PO'd about being suddenly suplexed by Jesus, I don't think I'm being unfair in that description. Right before this scene it had an honest-to-God "mean guy realises how wrong he was to hate Christians" moment. Jedit fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 14:12
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I would read a comic about Jesus suplexing people.
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Feb 14, 2016 14:28
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Nuns with Guns posted:I don't blame you. Webcomics don't have a great history with using real world religions. Despite the earlier negative comparisons, Unsounded seems to be doing a reasonably decent job of it so far, though the only god who's been shown to be provably real in there is ironically the one hardly anybody believes in.
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Feb 14, 2016 14:45
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"If it was Muslims or Jews it would be okay, but Christians? How dare they?" 
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Feb 14, 2016 14:45
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i would argue that even narnia was obnoxious with its portrayal of religion; you have the good righteous christians and then the evil human-sacrificing (brown) non-christian people down to the south and east whoops i'm not sure what it is but the story concept of christianity as good just generally doesn't seem to inspire writing interesting to anybody who isn't already pretty invested in christianity
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Feb 14, 2016 15:11
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Tollymain posted:i would argue that even narnia was obnoxious with its portrayal of religion; you have the good righteous christians and then the evil human-sacrificing (brown) non-christian people down to the south and east whoops The only strongly Christian webcomic I can recall off the top of my head is that Nazi centaur thing, and only because the obvious contrast of subject matter there makes me feel a skosh unsettled.
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Feb 14, 2016 15:19
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Tollymain posted:i would argue that even narnia was obnoxious with its portrayal of religion; you have the good righteous christians and then the evil human-sacrificing (brown) non-christian people down to the south and east whoops Lord of the Rings?
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Feb 14, 2016 15:23
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Oxxidation posted:The only strongly Christian webcomic I can recall off the top of my head is that Nazi centaur thing, and only because the obvious contrast of subject matter there makes me feel a skosh unsettled. Nazi or Nazy?
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Feb 14, 2016 15:25
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ConanThe3rd posted:I would read a comic about Jesus suplexing people. 
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Feb 14, 2016 15:25
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Everyone has different tollerance for what can be considered "shoved in your face/down your throat" but to compare this to a Chick Tract seems unfair. Yes, this is a rather direct reference to Christianity as good, but unless you object directly to the thesis "Christianity is good" I don't see how you can accuse the author of anything worse than wearing their influences on their sleeve.Tollymain posted:i would argue that even narnia was obnoxious with its portrayal of religion; you have the good righteous christians and then the evil human-sacrificing (brown) non-christian people down to the south and east whoops Are you sure you don't mean LotR? I don't remember those, altough it's been a while since I read Narnia. That one had the lion sacrificing himself for the safety of his people to resurrect later paradoxGentleman fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 15:27
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Tollymain posted:i would argue that even narnia was obnoxious with its portrayal of religion; you have the good righteous christians and then the evil human-sacrificing (brown) non-christian people down to the south and east whoops People would probably be a lot less reflexively dismissive of "Christian fantasy" if the track record of the genre held any real promise of more knotty Lewis-style theology and not just another morality play of fantasy anti-Christian persecution and intolerance, which while a core theme to Christian mythology is also IRL basically the sound of a Goldman Sachs exec shrieking about class warfare. A Wizard of Goatse fucked around with this message at 15:45 on Feb 14, 2016 |
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Feb 14, 2016 15:39
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A Wizard of Goatse posted:People would probably be a lot less reflexively dismissive of "Christian fantasy" if the track record of the genre held any real promise of more knotty Lewis-style theology and not just another preachy fantasy of anti-Christian persecution and intolerance, which while a core theme to Christian mythology is also IRL basically the sound of a Goldman Sachs exec shrieking about class warfare. Well it appears that the author agrees with you and is trying to fix the problem according to their little explanation in the latest page. Personally I find that commendable.
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Feb 14, 2016 15:43
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Tollymain posted:i would argue that even narnia was obnoxious with its portrayal of religion; you have the good righteous christians and then the evil human-sacrificing (brown) non-christian people down to the south and east whoops I honestly don't remember that in Narnia. I DO remember the hilariously self-critical sections, particularly the entire last book where a donkey and baboon dress up like Aslan and trick his followers into doing what they want, which is an obvious metaphor for lovely Christians pretending to know God's demands and abusing the hell out of the public. Not to mention the number of times Aslan fails his people and everything falls to garbage, showing that not even deities are perfect. It was critical of ALL religions and theological philosophy, actually.
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Feb 14, 2016 15:46
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ConanThe3rd posted:I would read a comic about Jesus suplexing people. I want to say I've seen that a few times and the novelty wears off pretty quickly.
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Feb 14, 2016 15:46
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ConanThe3rd posted:I would read a comic about Jesus suplexing people. http://jesuschriststory.com/ Jesus Christ: In the Name of the Gun
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Feb 14, 2016 15:51
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