Doubt and Trust

This may seem obvious but many writers can forget this; a narrative needs a hook at the start in order to keep the reader coming back. Sometimes that hook is an interesting premise. The hook maybe a mystery that keeps the audience asking questions. Maybe the hook is a group of characters that just work well off of each other. With this being a comic it could be that the art is so breath taking that it just sucks you into the world. Luckily Nyapapa's nuzlocke Doubt and Trust do all of those this well.

Myths of Unova

I know I'm in the minority when I say this, but my favorite Pokemon generation is gen 5. Why is something I may take about in the future, but one of the big reasons is because of the story and character. While it is nothing special compared to a lot of stories, Black and White are very deep compared to other Pokemon game. Character also have more depth to them with Cheren and Bianca being the only friendly rivals I've ever really liked. With my love for Pokemon Black and White you may be able to guess that one of my favorite nuzlockes is of generation 5.

Fire Red: Hard Mode

Pokemon games are easy assuming the player has played RPGs before( I got a friend of mine to try pokemon for the first time and she had a lot of trouble with it). Because of this fact, some Pokemon fans do self imposed challenges as they beat the game. One of the most famous examples of this was when someone going by the screen name Nuzlocke made some added rules for his play through of Pokemon Ruby. The rules were that he could only catch the first Pokemon he found on a rout( if he fails to catch it then no Pokemon for him), and if a Pokemon faints then that Pokemon is dead and must be released. Nuzlocke made a webcomic chronicling his adventures. Today we will be looking at his squeal series when he used the same rules for Pokemon Fire Red.

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.

The GaMERCaT

The best kind of parody is one made of love, not hate. When it's made out of hate most of the jokes boil down to 'this is stupid', but win it's made out of loves the writing changes. The writer has an understanding of the property. Any jabs at the property are more akin to a cousin teasing you about something stupid you did back in grad school. The GaMERCaT is one such webcomic.

The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob

An important contrast for the first act of the hero's journey archetype is the difference from the real world to the fantastic world. The normal world is set up only for the hero to get a taste of a more adventurous life followed by the full on embracing the new life. The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob is one of those stories. It is also the comic's main joke.

 Bob is an incredibly normal person who likes his life and doesn't really care if he gets more out of it. But one day an alien landed on his roof and his life spiraled from their. Bob has ended up on many supernatural adventure. While most of the adventures involve aliens, other forces like unicorns and genetic experiments have been the center of some stories. And once the problem has been revolved with Bob's help, Bob goes back home to open up his newsstand the next day. That's basically it.

This is a humor based comic with a narrative broken up into multiple story arcs. The humor of the comic mostly stems from Bob being incredibly normal and staying very normal throughout all of the wacky adventures he goes through. I personally find the idea of this very ordinary guy going through all of this crazy incredibly funny. What doesn't work as well are some of the running jokes. Not all of them are bad. I find the fact that Bob's roof always gets destroyed to be hilarious, but some of the fourth wall jokes just hurt. Also the early comic pages were made for Pennsylvania State University so some early pages are just in-jokes.

The stories are not complex, but they don't have to be. These are just random adventures Bob and his friends happen to go on. It is a lot like a classic Greek story in that way. Bob is just going through his own adventure(his normal life) when weird stuff happens during it, but he overcomes it and continues on his way. One thing that differs from Greek tales is that his misadventures effect his normal life. For example that genetic experiment I mentioned earlier becomes his adopted daughter. The cartoonist Jim Cleveland also loves reusing characters whether they were important or minor. 

I feel I should quickly bring up Dr. Jean Poule. She is Bob's boyfriend and is such a great character. The comic doesn't do a lot of drama, but when it does the stuff focused around Jean is when its at its best. Also the back-and-fourth she has with Bob is very cute. She's my favorite character and I just wanted to talk about her a little.

The art is black and white throughout. It can be difficult to get use to, but it is possible. Backgrounds and character models are overall simple, but the image is always clear and you can always figure out what the image is. With that being said the art can shift to a much grander and complex image. 

If I had to describe The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob I would call it simple. The characters are simple. The stories are simple. The art is simple. But at times the character, story, and art can become much grander. This comic is a fun science fiction run for anyone wanting something simple out of it. If you want to read the comic I would recommend starting at beginning by clicking here. 

That's it for today. See you tomorrow.

Solstroia

A story shown over time(like television) has a different challenge then something with the whole story shown at once(like a novel); it has to convince the audience to come back at the next part. Webcomics must also jump this hurdle. For gag-a-day comics this is easy. The comic just has to make a joke. It does not need to remind people of the plot or character motivation. A comic with an ongoing narrative has to worry about something like this if they care about making shore the audience is not lost. Sadly today's comic Solstria is not an example of how to do it right.