Webcomic Review Month 2013: Manly Guys Doing Manly Things

So, I don't think anything weird happened online in the past two days unlike last time but I could be forgetting something, heck I had to triple check all my old webcomic review posts to make sure I hadn't already talked about this one. Probably because I've seen friends post links to various pages in the comic for a few years now yet I must not have started following it until last year and I think that's because, much like Thursday's comic, I looked at it, expected something kinda bad and then was pleasently surprised to be completely wrong.


Manly Guys Doing Manly Things by Kelly "Coelasquid" Turnbull

Commander Badass is a time traveling navy seal from the future but these days he runs a temp agency for helping macho men adjust back into every day life. Hilarity ensues.

Yep, I've been around the internet long enough that a title like "manly guys doing manly things" reminds me of  MRA people and that plus the fact that I normally don't get a lot of video game humor (simply because I don't have time to play the games and get the jokes) made me stay away from the comic for a long time. But thankfully when I went through the archives one day and read all of it I discovered that I was quite wrong, not only was it funny but it was able to have guys be macho without being sexist, awesome! A lot of the humor works since it's more based on a situation set up in the comic than based on some reference  yet the comic manages to also fit in a few running gags and even a full arc without losing steam or interest. And it holds up on a reread which I always think is a good test for gag-a-page comics, it's a pretty funny comic and I think a lot people with nerdy interests would find it amusing (assuming they haven't already checked it out, it seems to be one of the webcomics that just about everyone heard of or run into at least once).


Manly Men Doing Manly Things can be read on it's website and sadly does not seem to be in print at this time.

2012 "M" Comics
2011 "M" Comics

Webcomic Review: XKCD

Believe it or not I do of another webcomic that starts with "X" but since it's being rewritten now (or at least I think that's the plan, it's been quiet for a few months) this is the only one I've got up to review today. And XKCD of the unpronounceable name doesn't really need much of an introduction since it's one of the most widely recognized webcomics out there (heck, my dad reads it!) so on with the show!

XKCD
As the banner on the website proclaims, this is a strip comic about "romance, sarcasm, math, and language" although I would replace romance with science myself. This is a comic where the more familiar you are with more traditional nerdy pursuits (math, science, literature, classical nerds as my friends and I call them) the more you'll enjoy this comic since it assumes you either already know what it's talking about or are willing to look it up to follow along. I actually haven't read through the archives and it's not necessary here, most strips are independent and usually there will be a link if it's a call back. So, if you don't mind some really brainy jokes and aren't reading this already check it out, make sure to see the alt-text!

Trying out something with the fonts today since the text normally looks a little small to me, if you like it more/less please tell me!

Webcomic Month day one!

So, welcome to the first day of webcomic palooza review month!* As I mentioned earlier, the basic idea is to review a different letter of the alphabet each day and then a couple of odd categories at the end, but it won't be nearly so neat. Also, for the series that I really love to pieces I'll provide a full review on them (that is, a paragraph on the good, the bad, and the art, like a regular review) but for the series I read but feel less enthusiastic about I'll just write up a blurb (also, journal comics are really hard to give a full review on, like bibliographies, so they'll probably get shorter ones too). I really want to give coverage to as many series as possible, hence why I'm doing it this way, so hopefully no one feels slighted if their favorite series doesn't get enough attention from me.

Now, onto the reviews!

2 Gamerz
Currently the story has undergone cerebus syndrome but this webcomic starts out as a series of unconnected pages of gaming humor. It's been done plenty of times but I still usually found something to giggle at on most pages. Recently however the story is trying to have an actual plotline going and I'm not enjoying it. It's a pretty standard and cliche ridden story (heavily anime and manga inspired) and if it's trying to be a parody it's failing, if it's trying to be a good original story it's failing as well. Your mileage may vary of course but I hope they go back to the gag a page idea soon.


2 Masters
I'm not quite sure what to make of this story after I re-read it before reviewing it. When I first tried it out it seemed like an interesting set-up (a world with two very different, and not inherently good vs evil, gods who granted different powers to their followers) and I was interested in seeing what impact these characters would make on the world and how they would change it. Now it seems to be more of a always-chaotic-evil god's followers vs the always-lawful-good god's followers (who aren't terribly sympathetic either) and the conflict and characters come off as much more flat now. I'll keep reading it for a little longer (as soon as I figure out some way to predict the irregular updates) but I'm really hoping the characters become more rounded out soon.

Hmmm, not the most positive reviews to start off on but I don't follow any other comics that start with numbers or symbols. Also, in 2 Masters' defense, it suffers from a problem that a lot of webcomics do. For a proper manga/comic, usually most of the background/reason for the plot/basic characters are introduced within the first volume which is between 120 to 200 pages long or about five month's worth of updates. For a webcomic however, one that updates five days a week can put out that much work in seven or eight months, for ones that update only once or twice a week that amount of material can take a few years to put out (the most recent page of 2 Masters even states that the first volume of the work is finished after 10 years of work, 8 years of revising the story and then two of actually posting). A lot of the comics I follow (manga and web-based) are also very plot heavy so those take even longer to set everything up so that's why I might sound more critical of younger stories, I can see that they have real potential to do something clever but I honestly can't tell if the talent to pull it off.

Tomorrow will be brought to you by the letter A and three or four mini reviews, anyone care to hazard a guess which ones they might be?





*name subject to change

Book Review: Gamer Girl

I don't think I had checked this book out before but I do remember seeing it around the local library a couple of times over the years but never checked it out since I'm not really a gamer. Sure gaming is fun but I can't multi-task and knit at the same time so usually I don't game (well, that and my brother lost the charger to the DS and I'm not sure where the PS2 ran off to). But hey, it's a book about a nerdy girl, I think I'm obligated to at least try it out.

Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi

I really like the cover here since it really relates to the story yet someone who was causually browsing can probably figure out that the girl on top is the gamer girl and the girl on the bottom is her avatar. Plus it's an illustration and I just prefer illustrated covers, they seem to allow for greater flexibility, ie, more of a chance that the cover is actually going to match the work.

Summary: Maddy isn't too happy with her life right now but since her parents did just divorce (forcing her, her mother, and her little sister to move out of Boston to a small town with her grandmother) it's fairly understandable. She cheers up when her dad fulfills his promise to buy her the computer game Fields of Fantasy for her 16th birthday and she uses it not only as inspiration for a comic contest but also as a respite from the bullies at her new school.

The Good: I remember ranting during Geektastic that every time anime/manga pops up in a modern day YA book it's either a really general anime reference or Ranma 1/2*. This book actually mentions a lot of current day manga offerings and, while that will date the book in the long run, it was really nice to see proof that our protagonist really is a fan instead of having to take the author's word for it (and I also had to giggle at how Svetlana Chmako made a cameo).

The Bad: There was one thing about the divorce that did bother me in this book and it was how it's implied in the end that the divorce happened because of Maddy's dad and only because of his actions. Like I said earlier, my parents divorced (heck I was even Maddy's age when it happened) yet it wasn't either of my parent's "fault," they just grew apart and I feel that the story used the blame game to avoid really getting in deep about the divorce. Whenever I come across divorce in a novel actually, if it occurs during the story time frame it's always one of the parent's fault and that really feels like a cheap cop out to me. Other than that, Maddy whines a lot, her school seems rather cliched, the romance was fairly predictable (but I predict almost all romantic subplots anyway) and the ending felt a bit like bad fanfiction but it was the divorce issue in the book that really bugged me.

So, not the best presentation or really idea but I have to give the book at least a couple of points for making the protagonist actually come off as a real world nerd. Hmm, speaking of Svet, I should have a review of her latest series in a couple of weeks although I had some issues with that series too...



*I'm not kidding either, I have seen Ranma 1/2 used so many times. Seriously, by this point I'd love to see any other 1980s anime reference and would probably hug someone if they referenced one that had a better plot than Ranma.

Book Review: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder

This book has turned out to be one of my favorite books of the year, totally up my alley, so much so that I read most of it with a headache and didn't regret that move in the slightest.

Yes those are 20 sided dice on the cover and I suppose that's supposed to be the dress sewn for LARPing, see why this is just up my alley?

Summary: Jess will freely admit that she's a nerd and would rather listen to audio-books while sewing her newest skirt than hanging out with her former BFFs turned wanna-be punks. So instead of moping around Jess starts to pay more attention to the people around her, see whose friendly, and debate whether being a D&D gamer is even nerdier than being a mathlete.

The Good: Whenever I read a post about characters and covers and "connecting with the auidence" I would roll my eyes and go "guys, I've never found a character whose like me, it's all it's cracked up to be." So it was a huge shock to realize that Jess thinks almost exactly the way I do. This isn't a girl whose going to stand by her friends as they use her or go out with a bad boy when it's clear he's no good, she goes screw it, I'm off to make friends with the band kids! The way the various teenagers were portrayed really rang true to my experiences as well; from the incestuous family atmosphere of the band kids was a dead ringer for my cosplay friends, to some kids being much more philosophical than they would first appear, to the rather blase attitude towards sex most of the characters have (neither being grossed out by the idea or making a rather big deal out of it), finally it was a bunch of high school kids who actually thought the way that, well, nerdy high school kids do.
The Bad: I thought that Van's ending wasn't quite right, I was expecting a bit more fire and bluster from him, and the romance with Henry also felt a bit flat to me. For Henry and Jess it seems like it was crush at first sight and then that it just developed very quickly and smoothly, just a bit too quickly and too smoothly than how it usually goes. Neither were very big but they did nag at me a bit as well as the resolution with Jess's original friends. I wasn't sure if I wanted her to be friends with them again or to stay seperated but actually that seems a lot like real life as well (on the one hand they were jerks but on the other hand they weren't jerks all the time for years and years). One last thing is that the book feels more like a slice-of-life anime or tv show than a plot centered book which is what dominates the YA market (heck, the closet thing you get to slice-of-life are memoirs and those are non-fiction) so I can see a lot of people expecting more drama out of the book and being disappointed when it doesn't come.

Something I'll be adding in here, ITWNY reminded me of a few other series and I'll try to do this in the future as well.
Genshiken: Slice-of-life (pretty accurate to life I'm told) look at what a Japanese anime club is like, same sort of laid back atmosphere but replace D&D fights with the frequent new fanzine quests.
Weregeek: Very similar to ITWNY, guy becomes nerd, guy gets involved in all sorts of awesome tabletop and LARP games (and since this one is a comic the games become mini arcs and are much more interesting than just reading about them).