Jump Leads, Chapter One

Hey, folks. Jackson here, with an impromp-Tuesday evening update. 'bout a year ago, I started coming across ads for a comic called Jump Leads. I read a handful of pages from the first issue, and it was one of those comics where you recognize it's a quality job, but it fails to grab you. Largely because you read a buttload of webcomics already. But this evening, on a whim, I picked it back up and read all the way through the first issue.

What's the deal with Jump Leads, then? It's reality-hopper sci-fi: a couple members of the Lead Service, a sort of reality enforcement agency thing, go on a live training exercise that goes wrong and strands them in the multiverse. It's also got a fairly humorous tone (the references to pop culture and sci-fi strained the verisimilitude a hair for me, but overall it's good humor), and its protagonists have a familiar comic-and-straight-man vibe going. Meaney is the overenthusiastic numbskull--except that he's got a fairly decent grasp on the rules behind the multiverse, owing to his overenthusiasm. He's very much committed to his career as a Jump Lead. Llewellyn, on the other hand...cynical, detached, not sure what he's doing with his life. Both of them are still trainees--Llewellyn for the fifth time. I found Llewellyn the more interesting of the two, though Meaney is kinda likeable for his youthful energy too. When he's not being annoying, that is.

Overall, I liked the first issue. It's a solid intro story script-wise, nothing too fancy, takes a couple chances but largely a standard setup. Entertaining. The presentation is comic-book-style (a prudent business move, as it makes it easy to produce a print version), and the art is good: well-rendered angular sci-fi machinery, and a good grasp of both realism and stylization. One of my turnoffs on my initial read from a year ago was that the character designs looked kind of monkeyish, but they're very expressive and suited to the humorous tone. An additional fun touch at the issue's end are the pages from the training manual, complete with Meaney and Llewellyn's notes scribbled in the margins. So is it worth a read? Well, it's good quality, and you've heard the premise--you know better than I do whether that sounds like your cup of tea. I know I'll probably head back to read the second issue at some point. Your call, amigos.

The Secret Origins of This Week in Webcomics

Hi, everyone. Let me tell you a story that is long overdue.

My brother and I used to talk about webcomics. Some comic would post up an awesome strip, and we'd be all like "Oh my gosh, did you see Real Life today?" or "Dude, Penny Arcade brought back the Deep Crow!" or "You gotta check out Tuesday's Starslip, man. It totally ripped on postmodern art!"

But then something happened. Somehow, my brother stopped reading webcomics, all except for Girl Genius, which I don't read--and suddenly our weekly webcomic discussions came to a halt. I found myself asking, who can I talk about webcomics with? After giving it some thought, I decided to talk about them with the internet.

The purpose of this blog is a simple one: it's a place where you and I can talk about webcomics with each other. I want to share my thoughts with you, and I want to hear your thoughts. If you found a strip funny and I failed to mention it in the week's recap, drop a comment and give us all a link! If you didn't find a particular strip I mentioned all that funny, say so, and tell us why. Even if you just have some general reflections, go ahead and share those too. Anything's fair game, and webcomics are fun, so let's talk about webcomics.

If you'd like to contact me via email, you can reach me at DeathbyChiasmus -at- gmail -dot- com.

UPDATE: As of May 2011, TWIW is not currently reviewing webcomics in any formal capacity. That said, if you're a cartoonist, feel free to shoot an email and tell me about your webcomic. It's always fun to find new reading material, and I just might find a moment to look your comic over and perhaps give it a shout if I particularly enjoy it.