Week Fourteen

I read “What the Birds Know,” a web comic. I was a little skeptical at first. I wasn’t quite sure of the time period at first because the characters used modern language but were in a more medieval setting. Their relationships were very modern as well. The way that parents acted towards their kids wasn’t exactly how adults treated their children in medieval times.

However, I enjoyed the story a lot. The eggs were really weird at first and I wasn’t sure on how it was going to go. And I couldn’t understand the relationships between the three girls at first, especially between the bossy one and the blond one. However, their backstories did explain a lot. It was a very interesting concept: having the jelly creatures turn you into part of the other dimension. Since the story was so intriguing, I kept reading.

A long time ago, I read my first web comic. It was called “After School Military Activity.” It was by a korean artist. The cartoon depicted a korean high school class that needs to fight as soldiers when Korea is invaded with weird alien spheres that kill people. It was a fairly captivating piece. The story was told documentary style. The characters would in an interview with the narrator throughout parts of the story. The artist was very good at showing how war transformed people. The students started off with emotions ranging from skeptical to excited. When the war ended and all the killing spheres were shot, the students were all weary and depressed. I recommend it.

I think everything is moving towards self-publication. Web comics will become very popular in the next several years. I know of one web comic that got turned into a manga because the story was so good. Web comics will get artists and writers discovered. It’s the beginning of a new part of the industry.