#broken off

Lawrence Weiner 

I've hesitated to review Dovecote Crest by Bridget Underwood and Hailey Bachrach because it is, basically, on an indefinite hiatus.  I also went to school with both of the creators and saw the original one act play that the first story of the comic is based on, so perhaps I'm a little too close to the work.  Despite its unclear status, the webcomic does contain two completed story lines and many little bonus comics and pinups and sketches.  I think it's worth a look.

Despite my obvious bias, it really is an interesting premise.  Set in Arkansas, it follows a group of Civil War reenactors who perform the Battle of Dovecote Crest for tour groups.

The first story is all about Charlie Grant and Jeremy Lee.  I don't know much about Civil War history but their last names did make me snicker.

Charlie dreams of better history than what she's doing right now, while Jeremy is really into Charlie but is far, far too softspoken to mention it.  

You get to see the art progress at a rapid rate, from this

to this

This is actually one of the first webcomics I ever followed religiously.  There are so many great characters, including Charlie's college roommate Tess and the irrepressible Ben, who get a lot more time in the second story arc.  

Underwood is still doing fantastic art, designing characters and animating and drawing really, really good Pacific Rim fanart that she puts up every now and then on her tumblr.  Dovecote Crest was a great beginning to her work.  It has a lot of heart and while the stories are simple, they have great energy and dialogue between the characters.  I found that the little moments in this webcomic stood out the most to me.  

Fishbones by Jisuk Cho and Yuki S. is a gangster comic.  Well, mafia.  As someone who has seen The Godfather and Goodfellas, it's pretty neat to see that genre expand into webcomics.  It started as Cho's National Novel Writing Month novel and is now being slowly converted into graphic novel format.  Unfortunately, due to busyness in Yuki's life, it has been on hiatus for a while with no end in sight.  

It's a good webcomic though.  Fishbones is set in the 90s in New York and follows the friendship of Ferris, a massive nerd, and Demos, the nephew of a mob boss and a fairly apathetic kid.

Ferris is the one in glasses.  He gets beaten up a lot.  Demos tries to help him out.  Grumpiness ensues.  They're both very, very grumpy characters in different ways, so it's interesting to see why they're friends with each other.

It has a lot of really funny moments, and some pretty scary ones, too, especially when Ferris starts realizing what his family is involved in.

Baby Ferris is really cute.

My icon is from a webcomic, so why not review it first!

Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name by Tessa Stone is not updating anymore.  Also it got taken down from it's website and is only on the creator's DeviantArt in pieces. The author is doing other things currently and has been AWOL from social media since about 2011.  

BUT.

Back when it was updating, it was something majestic.  This was back in the beautiful years of 2010-2011, right when I was starting to find the magical world of webcomics.  I can't quite remember what my gateway webcomic was (I'll be reviewing a few possibilities in the future) but HINABN was the thing that first got seriously stuck in my mind.  The art?  Let me tell you about the art.  No, let me SHOW you the art.

Yeah.  Look at that candy-colored nightmare.  Beautiful.

The story was detective noir without the blatant misogyny, only the cool dudes being friends and solving supernatural mysteries.  The cool dudes were Hanna (arguably an uncool dude) and a zombie that got a new name every panel because Hanna was hyper and the zombie didn't recall his name.  And then there was Conrad, the hipster vampire.  He did not want to be there but he was there anyway.  

They solved crimes involving vampires and ghosts and strange ticking men.  Everyone in the comic seemed to have a lot of secrets (except Conrad).  There was going to be danger in the future, dark backstories brought to light, many things explained.  I would be tearing up but I'm stronger than that.

*nose-blowing break*

Anyway, this was pretty much me taking a trip down nostalgia lane.  There is hope, though, if my spiel convinced you that this comic is truly glorious (hint: it is glorious)!  The first chapter (which isn't on DeviantArt, sadly) is available for the low, low price of a $4 tangible comic up on 4-dimension Entertainment (along with other Hanna merch).  I will be buying it shortly after I post this because I actually can't imagine life without it.  

Hanna's enthusiasm is infectious, the zombie's unflappable calm is a great counterpoint, and the bright, cheery art just emphasizes how dark HINABN's world is.  It's an excellent read, even if it never reached a conclusion.  It probably inspired the first little seed in my brain of, 'where can I find more of these webcomic things?'