Harpy Gee

Young people have a need to rebel. Some rebel against social customs, other rebel against the law, but most just rebel against their parents. Why do they do this? Freedom. Freedom from the rules of a society and culture you don't like. Freedom from an establishment you don't support. Freedom to live your life however and with whoever you want. It is this search for that intoxicating freedom that compelled a young elf girl named Harpy to leave her home behind in search for something new.

 Harpy Gee is a fantasy adventure about Harpy, a young elf who has found her way to a small town called Podunkello were she and her friends go on adventures and fight monsters. Harpy's friends include a young witch doctor named Opal, a slacker knight Ash, and a pessimistic prince named Humphrey. At the time of this post the group has only been on one real adventure together, so much more development can be made in the future. At the moment the group dynamic is Harpy has the leader and muscle, Opal as the book smarts, Ash as the fresh trainee, and Humohrey as the damsel in distress.

Harpy Gee could very easily have the same problem Solstroria has with its updates, but Harpy Gee has two things saving it from this fate. One is that the first story arc can very easily stand on its own, and it is easy to get through. While it takes Solstria a while before the audience really knows about the situation, Harpy Gee's cartoonist Brianne Drouhard quickly sets up the fantasy world within the first few pages. The quick plotting allows the audience to learn all they need to before getting into the actual story arc. The second thing Drouhard does to keep up the audience is post multiple pages when updating. While she only updates once a week, that update feels like its worth more. Conversation are also not cut into pieces which is always a pulse.

The art in Harpy Gee is the only real reason why I even started talking about the art for these webcomics. This is some of the most beautiful art work I've ever seen for a webcomic, especially one that updates regularly. The designs are detailed and stricking. Backgrounds are vibrant when they need to be, but still have a stylized coloring when simpler. Speaking of colors, they are amazing. It almost seems like crayon and marker, but with a great use of shadowing to make it look more alive.

 I want to talk about Harpy before I close everything up because Harpy is an example of an amazing female character. Many female characters in fiction fall into two groups of characterization, complete acceptance or rejection of social norms for women. Neither of those options are good because that just puts women into stereotypes. A good female character is one who neither completely accepts of rejects social norms because that is what real women are like. Harpy loves cute things and enjoys shopping for cloths, but she also ran away from home for adventure and learned how to fight monsters of her own accord. She is her own person, not just a stereotype.

Drouhard has made a wonderful fantasy adventure comic that I hope will only get better over time. In case you haven't guess by now I cannot recommend Harpy Gee enough. To start on this new adventure just click here. Have a fun ride and I'll see you tomorrow.