Sunday, March 20, 2011

Webcomic Review: Steampunk Soiree, Strays, String Theory

Sorry this is going up late, forgot I had work today so between that, homework, and the 24 hour otakus help Japan podcast (which was pretty awesome even if I missed some of the best guests) I've been a bit busy. Guess it's a good thing that these will be shorter reviews tonight huh?

Steampunk Soiree
A newer webcomic that still seems to be finding it's feet, the story here focuses on thieves August and Berkely going on jobs and their unwanted guest Eva (long story that would spoil the first chapter) may be a main character as well. Honestly that's it so far, the comic only premiered last July and hasn't been able to hold a very consistent schedule due to school work, but I do like what the comic is doing so far. The title proclaims it as steampunk yet so far that's just been the background of the story (and that's a good thing, I prefer stories that use genre as a setting, not as something that defines the plot) and none of the characters are exceptionally chatty so there's no way of knowing if there will even be an overall story arc yet. But I do like the art, I like the characters, and I think I like where the story is going so I'll recommend it anyway, here's to hoping it gets more regular updates soon! (also, it has the coolest domain name ever)

Strays
Another comic that's still in it's early stages (actually, like Everblue the synopsis of the comic on it's website mentions things that haven't yet happened in the comic, oops?), this fantasy story revolves are Meela, a young lupian (she looks like a human with a wolf's tail  but they seem to be separate species, there are another human/animal looking hybrids in the story as well) who recently lost her brother (her only family member) and is on her own. She runs into Feral, another lupian who is a mute bounty hunter, and is currently following him around and bothering him and, besides the odd nightmares she's been having recently (which are definitely not flashbacks to her life, although her backstory so far looks just as gruesome)  are the only things of note so far. The story seems to be setting up a pretty big plot but so far almost nothing has been explained or revealed yet (and with a once-a-week update schedule it could take a while to get to this point). So I do recommend the story (the art in particular is very pretty looking, I suspect the creators are anime fans) but with the warning that it could take a while before this story really gets going, fingers crossed that it's pretty soon!

String Theory
2057-2060 in an alternate Earth where the Cuban Missile Crisis went terribly wrong is our setting (not that you can tell yet from the story), it's a little hard to describe the story so far without spoiling the first chapter. So I shall be vague and say that it involves a mad (and not-very-nice) scientist named Dr. Schtien, an intern named Delia, and an explosion. The update schedule on this series keeps throwing me off so I'm having a hard time remembering all the plot so far but it seems to involve government conspiracies and grudges, huzzah for politics, and if the Cuban Missile Crisis is mentioned in the setting then that must be important somehow to the plot. The comic hasn't given me any motivation to stop following it, it's just that the erratic update schedule is making it hard for me to get enthusiastic about it (heck, I thin this is supposed to be a full color comic but a lot of times the comic is updated in only black and white). I think that this could be an amazing comic, just prove me right please! 


Huh, hadn't realized beforehand that all three comics came under the "okay so far, awesome if it keeps going!" header tonight, bit odd. Not much else to say about all of this (except that I had the Wolf's Rain opening stuck in my head while reviewing Strays) so I'll be back again tomorrow with more reviews!