Web Comics

This week I read the web comic Stand Still Stay Silent, which is the first web comic that I have ever read. What drew my attention to this particular comic was the premise of its story, which is a post apocalyptic adventure with norse mythology elements. I had never come across something that had mixed these two very different themes together and thought it had the potential to be something really unique and interesting. After reading the first one hundred and fifty or so pages I have mixed feelings about it. My biggest critique I have with Stand Still Stay Silent is how slow the pacing of it is. Pretty much everything that I read was establishing the world, its history and its many characters. Despite this however I found the world to be unique and interesting enough for me to continue reading, this is in no small part due to the fact that the environments are really well drawn and illustrate a cool world that I want to be engrossed in. Its a slow read but has the potential to be a great epic fantasy story. One other minor issue I had was the way the characters faces were drawn. A lot of them looked very similar to one another and made it difficult to follow what was happening with which characters. Maybe its just me and I need to spend some more time with them, after all these characters haven't been given much to do up to the point that I have read.

I was impressed to find out that new pages of this web comic are released daily, especially considering how well crafted each page is and the scope of the graphic novel format. Its an immense undertaking. Im not sure why but while I was reading the comic it reminded me of Avatar The Last Airbender. I think tonally most of all it feels similar. The artist also seems influenced by manga and anime by the way it looks stylistically, like Avatar. Over all though I plan to continue reading Stand Still Stay Silent because I thinks its world will be worth investing in and I hope the stories pace picks up.  

Symbols used in Authority

Based on the first volume of Authority it seems like the creators are using symbols taken from other iconic comics and characters with some other real life symbols in the mix. For example part of Jenny Sparks costume is a union jack shirt, while in a different scene she is wearing a shirt bearing a symbol that resembles the logo for V for Vendetta. There are also two other characters that appear like imitations of Batman and Superman, Midnighter and Apollo. At this point in the story I'm not quite sure if this is intended to be a spoof on superhero comics or if it is simply using iconic symbols to help tell a unique interpretation of a superhero story.  

I was able to connect with this story so far based on the fact that it has many familiar elements found in almost all superhero comics. The cast of characters seem diverse and interesting while also being visually similar to superhero archetypes. However having only read the first issue, it is hard to tell where this story and its characters are heading. Is it more than what it appears to be on the surface?

I will say so far I enjoy the familiar feeling it has. The villain, Kaizen, has a very Fire Lord Ozai, from Avatar the Last Airbender, look and feel to him, which I find funny and cool.  

If I were to adapt this in to another medium, I would try to make it in to a television show. Im not sure if I would change anything based on what I have read so far.