Recommended Reading

Hi, everyone. I just wanted to drop a quick post to let you know what I've been reading lately.

The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon: After having read the first volume of Scott Pilgrim, I am beginning to think that Jack Cannon is the best webcomic tribute to Scott Pilgrim I've ever seen. It's funny and freewheeling, with colorful, dynamic artwork, and it's got relatable characters in over their heads with weird events.

Marooned: You may recall that I reviewed Marooned not quite a year ago. I'm still reading it. The new storyline that began last week is a great place to jump in: all you need to know is that Captain John and Asimov the robot have been stranded on Mars and are presently surviving under the hospitality of Martians. Still wondering if it's your kind of comic? Check out my review.

Moon Town: Another sci-fi comic from Wishtales Publishing, Moon Town's artwork continues to blow my frigging mind. You've got a run-in between a rookie security guard and an ore miner on a lunar colony, and in the most recent chapter, you've also got a gigantic moon squid. Things are a little slow at first, but just pay attention to the gorgeous artwork and keep reading ahead. You'll get to the moon squid soon enough.

Axe Cop: Axe Cop is the latest big comic to hit the internet. It's the adventures of a superhero cop with an axe, drawn by a professional artist and written by his five-year-old brother. Like Dr. McNinja before it, it's an affectionate parody of superhero comics that will have you in hysterics at how stupid awesome it is. You probably read it already, but if this is your first time hearing about it, go check it out.

Odori Park: After stumbling across Odori Park a couple of different times, I found myself coming back on my own. It's an East-meets-West romance between a Japan-native bookkeeper and an American ESL teacher, told in newspaper-strip form. It's family-friendly, it's got sharp humor, and it brings the A game with its artwork. Check it out and give it some love.

Tuna Carpaccio, P.I.: Slow to update, but when it does, man is it good. I've also reviewed Tuna Carpaccio before, so rather than recapitulate all my previous praise, I'll just point you to the review. If you're willing to wait around for the next Dresden Codak, and you like a good gumshoe adventure-comedy, Tuna Carpaccio is also worth waiting for.

I always feel kinda like a salesman when I finish a post like this, but if time is money, that's what I am. Except I don't get paid for this.

Alls I'm sayin' is, these comics are worth my time, and maybe they're worth yours too. Only one way to find out, right? Check 'em out.

Review: Tuna Carpaccio P.I.

Tuna Carpaccio is many things. First, it is a dish made by thinly slicing fresh raw tuna and serving it with a savory and often spicy sauce. Second, it is a webcomic by Josh Dunlap and Tony Chavira. Third, it is the main character of said webcomic.

It may be still other things. I'll let you know if I discover any more.

Albacore Melt Carpaccio, better known as "Tuna," is a private investigator in a city of crime and mayhem. He's hard-headed, hard-hitting, and hardly competent. Even his secretary Pamela is more skilled at detective work than he is.

Tuna, however, is entirely oblivious to his own incompetence. He cracks cases with fisticuffs and copious property damage. He fancies himself on par with the city's Police Detective, Aurora Malta, even though his investigations (and I'm being generous with the term) constantly interfere with hers. Despite her low opinion of him (which she makes clear in no uncertain terms), he relentlessly hits on her. Tuna believes he is the sharpest detective in the shed--and he ignores all evidence to the contrary.

Carpaccio's primary adversary is the elusive mob boss Jose Maria De Jesus, but the road to the Hispanic crime lord is strewn with recurring "theme villains" in the vein of Dick Tracy or Batman. These include psychological psycho Ink Blot, zombie hipster Dead Beat, the bowling monarch King Pin (my personal favorite), and the Christmas criminal Coal Miner, whose slugfest with Carpaccio stretches out in a ridiculous infinite-canvas showdown that is sure to give the creators headaches when they're putting together a print collection. In these side excursions from the hunt for De Jesus, the comic both satirizes and revels in the bad-puns-and-punchouts villain-of-the-week style, but in a recent surprise move, all these crooks Carpaccio's put behind bars turn out to be relevant to the plot. It's one of many nice touches that make the comic such a kick to read.

Another is the art. Josh Dunlap's style is evocative of film noir, with a little animated-cartoon thrown in for flavor. It's got an inky look to it, with gritty backgrounds, sharply-rendered characters, and loose linework splashed with black shading. Fight scenes are rowdy, cacophonous affairs, the comic keeps things dynamic right down to the panel layouts, and characters have signature fonts for their dialogue. In less-competent hands, this would be a cheap gimmick, but from Pam's longsuffering all-lowercase lines to King Pin's regal script, it's a nice touch and an important part of the comic characterization. In short, Tuna Carpaccio looks good.

But don't let him know I said that. It'd go straight to his head.

Tuna, oblivious as he is to his own incompetence, can't help but remind me of Michael Scott, the bungling boss from The Office--which brings me to my only major criticism of the comic. Both Tuna and Michael have no idea how truly unproficient they are, and they make us laugh even as we cringe at their ridiculously unprofessional behavior. With Michael, however, you actually feel sorry for him: you get the sense that he actually cares about people, and his only real vice is that he cares more about getting people to like him. Tuna, on the other hand, more often you just shake your head and mutter, "I cannot believe this guy."

At this point in the story, to be perfectly honest, Tuna is a serious cad, and I'd be hard-pressed to name a redeeming feature beyond his right hook. He's persistent, I'll give him that much. But that's not much to hang your hat on when you're persistently bad. In essence, what I'm saying is that even though the art is great, the characters are funny, and the plotline packs more twists and turns than a retro dance move, it really loses some potential when you strain to sympathize with the main character.

Still, Tuna Carpaccio is well worth your time to check out, and it's going to be well worth my time to follow in the future. It's a comedy comic with a quirky sense of humor (I can guarantee you've never seen a comic with as bizarre a beginning as this), and it's very slickly executed. For all his vices, Tuna is hilarious and his misadventures are entertaining.

Tuna Carpaccio is a quality comic. See if it's your style--give it a read.

A Brief Intro to Tuna Carpaccio, P.I.

Slated for review tomorrow is Tuna Carpaccio P.I., but before I deliver the review, I wanted to make a few opening remarks. When I first heard the title, I imagined a four-panel gag strip starring an anthropomorphic fish detective--a sort of film noir Sherman's Lagoon. Tuna Carpaccio, however, is no such thing.

There aren't any anthropomorphic ocean-dwellers, for starters. The entire cast is human (or, in the case of a few weird villains and one supporting-cast bartender, more or less human). Second, the format: it's a long-form-comic detective-adventure comedy with a slightly gritty veneer. And while I went in with a few reservations, I must admit that many of my expectations were either exceeded or subverted.

Don't judge this book by its cover. Tuna's got more than a few surprises up its sleeve. Tune in tomorrow for the full review.