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The Ancient Times has officially begun.
If you enjoy keeping up to date on all the latest happenings from over 2000 years ago, then wait no more! Come check out the newest online publication dedicated to showcasing myths and fairy tales with a journalistic flair.
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Hello there, reader(s)!
It’s been almost a month since my last post and I thought some, a few, one of you might be wondering what happened to me.
The truth is I’ve been busy working on a new blog, which will serve as a way for me to try experimenting and stretching my proverbial wings. As I’m still a novice in the blog game, I hope you’ll bear with me during the inevitable fiasco and any constructive advice you have to give would be more than appreciated.
I will still be sharing my ideas on webcomics in the Infernal Reviews, but now I’ll have an extra blog on the side (there isn’t, like, a cap on these, is there?). The new blog, which will feature more creative comedy, will open its doors this Monday, April 1st!
Yes, I know that’s April Fool’s Day.
No, this isn’t a joke.
…
I’m serious! There’s gonna be a new blog and everything.
Fine, guess you’ll just have to wait until Monday to see.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Hello reader(s). Forgive me if my updates have been a bit… sporadic. I came down sick last week and it’s going to take a while (and some strong medication) to recover. However, I wanted to leave you guys with a comic that I absolutely love and wish to share with you all.
Therefore, to wrap up Furbruary (YES, I know it’s March), let me proudly recommend…
Set in mid-Prohibition St. Louis, Lackadaisy Cats follows a boisterous band of bootleggers as they battle to bolster their bleeding business, the eponymous speakeasy Lackadaisy. In this regiment of rogues runs Rocky Rickaby, a frenetic fiddle player with a Cheshire grin and machete eyebrows, his upright yet volatile cousin Freckle, and Mitzi May, the current owner of the Lackadaisy, who became a widow under mysterious circumstances. Internally, the Lackadaisy is threatened by wavering allegiances, while outward pressure from rival gin joint Marigold, owned by the oily Asa Sweet, who has no qualms about employing less than legal means to get what he wants, rises. In a time when blood and alcohol flow in the back-alleys of the city, the staff of the Lackadaisy find themselves required to commit similarly unsavory acts just to stay afloat.
The art for Lackadaisy is gorgeous, with clean lines, soft edges, and breath-taking detail. The comic’s coloring is limited to sepia tones, but the art is so incredible and it matches so well, that it detracts nothing from the enjoyment. Even with the monochromatic palette, there are occasional splashes of color that help add vibrancy and import to scenes. The shading is masterful, the character designs are memorable, and I even hazard to say that the characters are never off model. Be it soulful, tragic eyes, manic grins, or razor eyebrows, every character has some feature or other that etches them into the reader’s memory. The fact that the characters are drawn as cats, however, does not affect the story; here the characters are people that are simply portrayed as cats. Tracy J. Butler, the mind and pen behind the comic, has gone on record to say that she draws her characters as felines simply because of the ease of expression they have and the fun she herself has in drawing them. There are indeed several bonus pieces in the comic’s gallery that prove she can draw people as well as cats. Here’s the kicker, though… Miss Butler is self-taught. While a part of me muses that her art is too good to be self-taught, the other 98% says “Who cares!? It’s beautiful!”. And that’s all I can say about the comic’s art; it’s beautiful.
The characters themselves may look good, but are they good characters? In a word, yes. In two words, hell yes. Every character is unique, flavorful and as easily memorable as their appearance. While the comic has a diverse cast and every character gets a spot in the limelight, the bulk of the comic, at least so far, revolves around Rocky, Freckle and Mitzi.
Rocky is just as likely to break into verse as he is insane laughter. Despite his happy-go-lucky attitude and propensity for trouble-making, there are hints that perhaps Rocky’s endearing madness belies a frightened soul on the run from some hidden tragedy. Whatever his inner demons may be, Rocky loves his younger cousin Freckle, who he often leads into trouble, as well as his dowdy, pugilistic aunt. Despite the perilous nature of his employment, Rocky is hopelessly enamored of his employer Mitzi and willingly endangers himself for her sake. In such cases, he often relies on his gift of gab to see him safely through one situation and into the next.
Calvin, or “Freckle” as his cousin calls him, is a young, quiet fellow who had aspirations of joining the police force and being a respectable member of society. However, his volcanic glee at using firearms led to his dismissal. He’s in the middle of unemployed sulking when his cousin Rocky comes storming in one day with a rather shady job offer. Desperately in need of employment, but outwardly averse to violence and the criminal lifestyle, Freckle now finds his life charging in a direction that he never expected.
Mitzi May is the current owner of the Lackadaisy, which she inherited from her recently deceased husband Atlas. There are rumors, however, that Atlas’ death was more than just a simple hit from his competitors and that perhaps Mitzi may have been involved. Whatever the truth, Mitzi struggles with a secret, all the while fighting to keep her husband’s empire from crumbling. As the comic progresses, she comes head to head with Asa, who wishes to see his competition drown. Due to her seductive sultriness, Mitzi finds herself surrounded by numerous suitors, including Zib, current employee and former band-mate, and Wick, old friend and local mining magnate.
The rest of the cast is just as enjoyable and varied as a good deck of cards. There’s the surly slav Viktor, the murderously meticulous Mordekai, Atlas’ goddaughter and trendy flapper Ivy, and so many more. There is a gorgeous Characters page which seems to grow as more characters are introduced. Even one time characters get quick blurbs, which further goes to show just how much love and attention is put into designing every one of them. That’s what the comic boils down to, I think; the characters. There is a plot here, but the story is more character-driven than plot-driven. It’s a character drama/comedy series, where every scene features the cast playing off of each other and with such brilliant characters, how could it be anything but brilliant? The setting is just as detailed as the characters. Miss Butler strives to make the comic as historically accurate as she can (talking cats not withstanding), and, for the most part, she succeeds. The dialogue is excellent and is just replete with a vocabulary as colorful as the individuals speaking it. Speaking of vocabulary, my god is this comic a treat in the word department. For my inner lexivore, this comic is a veritable feast, a whirlwind of wonderful words and idioms. Just look at the page titles and the glossary page. This is the comic that brought the word “Ishkabibble”, among many others, to my attention and, for that, I must thank Miss Butler.
With spectacular art, fantastic characters, and perhaps the greatest vocabulary list you’ll never find in school, Lackadaisy Cats is by far one of the best webcomics across which I have ever had the pleasure to stumble. I cannot recommend this comic enough. There’s a love present here, an attention to detail and characterization, hand in hand with a sense of mad glee. The Twenties aren’t just roaring, they’re laughing maniacally.
Lackadaisy Cats is written and drawn by Tracy J. Butler. This comic, including all images used here, belongs to her. Despite the cute and cuddly appearance of the cast, the comic does feature scenes of gore and violence and is thus inappropriate for young children. The comic updates… sporadically, but it does so with a number of pages at a time and oftentimes has special bonus art between comic pages. These bonus pages can be found in the comic’s Gallery page. The first arc of the comic is for sale from both Amazon and 4th Dimensions Entertainment (who also feature The Phoenix Requiem), but numbers are limited so don’t quote me on that.
Happy (Day After) Saint Valentine’s Day, beloved readers!
…
Some of you forgot the holiday is named after a saint, didn’t you? Oh, commercialism, you’ve done it again.
Anyways, to commemorate this day centered around courtly love and discount chocolates, I present you with this webcomic about two lovers, deeply enamored of one another, determined to be together despite overwhelming opposition and disparate backgrounds.
…
NO! Not Romeo and Juliet…
Written and drawn by Bill Holbrook, an old player in the comics game, since 1995, Kevin & Kell is a family sit-com comic centered around Kevin, a uncharacteristically bold rabbit who works as a sys-op, and his new wife Kell, a strong-willed business-wolf who works as a professional predator in a world of sentient animal people. Sharing their household are Lindesfarne, Kevin’s adopted hedgehog daughter from his last marriage, and Rudy, Kell’s surly teenage son. The couple also have a baby together (BIOLOGY BE DAMNED!) but since its birth is a bit of an early arc, I won’t spoil it. As a wolf and rabbit falling in love and starting a family is otherwise unheard of in their world, the family has to deal with all manner of prejudices and biases as well as the typical travails of family, school, and work life, usually through the use of classic newspaper-style comedy.
The art for K&K is wonderfully charming, bringing that nostalgic feeling of reading the Sunday paper and going straight to the funnies. Initially all in newspaper black and white, the comic begins shifting into color around…. this strip (sorry, they use a calendar archive without strip numbers). Shortly after, the comic transitions into a full color palette. The comic follows the usual paper comic pattern in regards to paneling and layout, even updating with a special extra length strip every Sunday. The only real issue I have with the art is that on occasion, particularly when there’s a dramatic closeup to a character’s face, the art can get a little messy and confusing, resulting in characters looking rather odd and more than a little freaky. Also, I’m not sure why, but I sometimes get the feeling that certain characters like Kevin and Rudy are drawn either by different people or in different styles than, say, Kell and Lindesfarne. As a whole though, the art is great and does the job nicely, especially for a strip that updates as often as it does.
The story also follows the newspaper template of similar comics, e.g. Foxtrot, and the like. A family of lovable oddballs that deal with various problems (realistic or otherwise), as their personalities play off of each other’s or those of the other characters. At this point, we’ve looked at a couple of comics featuring anthropomorphic characters, but they did so sans explanation; the characters in those comics are simply talking animal people. This is, of course, perfectly fine, they are, after all, comics, a sister media to cartoons and no one questions why Felix the Cat, Bugs Bunny, or Mickey Mouse can talk. They just do and they just happen to be drawn as animals. Kevin & Kell, however, is one those series that feels it needs to explain why the cast is a bunch of animal people. In doing so, the comic gets a bit convoluted and more than a little out there, but one could argue that that’s par for the course when a series lasts as long as this one has. Personally, I thought that particular plot-twist was as a bit of an ass-pull. I also consider it the exact moment Kevin & Kell jumped the proverbial shark, but, then again, that’s just me.
The comedy is good, especially in the earlier parts of the series. However, there are only so many different spins on “animal stereotype” jokes out there and, as years’ worth of strips goes by, they end up feeling somewhat tedious. It’s not just the animal jokes, either. Much of the comedy is done through the characters sitting in front of a computer employing visual jokes dealing with the nature of a sys-op’s job or just the internet in general, which kind of limits the audience’s enjoyment to people who know these things. Then again, it is a webcomic, so it’s probably a safe bet that the people reading the jokes will get them. Still, the parts of this comic that I found funny, I found really funny, even with the overused jokes.
The drama – and the comics does have drama (what family doesn’t?) – is a little hit and miss, depending on the situation, but overall, it’s very strong and compelling. You have your predictable typical high-school drama (bullies, exams, teen romance, etc) for the kids and adult drama (work issues, in-laws, exes, child-rearing, ad nauseam) for the adults, but there are also extremely compelling and fresh issues, like characters undergoing life-changing surgery in order to be truer to themselves, friends falling apart due to said changes, taboo romances, social norms being challenged, and struggles to find acceptance in a hostile world. Sadly, such enticing drama is undermined by the fact that the main characters and their friends never seem to face any real, lasting consequences. No matter what the problem is, it’s always resolved, even if only temporarily, a few strips later. This is an entire world where people fall victim to the food chain all the time. I’ve lost count of how many people get eaten in the comic (as a source of comedy, no less), but nothing ever befalls the cast. Problems get resolved with disappointing ease, usually through a contrived convenient turn of events and if there’s an antagonist that isn’t associated with the cast, they usually end up eaten with nary a mark on or against our main characters. All of this weakens the conflict. There can be no drama without a sense of danger for the characters or something important to them.
There’s something to this comic (trust me, I’ve read. It. All.), but I myself can’t place what it is. It feels like just when you’re getting bored with it, it introduces a new character or plot twist just to keep you interested… and, by Jove, if it doesn’t seem to work. The comic can even feel a bit mean-spirited considering how nothing bad truly befalls the good guys while the bad guys are always punished, oftentimes with sadistic ease. The more I read this comic, the more I felt it come across as false; the teens don’t face any issues of sexuality or pregnancy, doubly odd considering they’re animals. The problems they do face are more like elementary or middle school issues. The animals have their own society, but, oddly enough, it’s still virtually identical to a suburban human culture, which I felt gave us a lot of wasted potential. Still, the moments that ring true in this comic, truly funny, truly dramatic, are what kept me reading and I recommend it if only for those.
Kevin & Kell is written and drawn by Bill Holbrook. This comic, including all images used here, belongs to him. There is an About page summarizing the setting of the comic as well as a Cast page with bios on the characters. Kevin & Kell updates daily.
Like, ohmygod, readers! So good to see you! This is, like, another Infernal Review.
*ahem* Anyways, I think most people can pretty much agree that, in general, adult life is full of drama. Childhood, on the other hand, is equally full of happiness. But what about adolescence?
Well, that’s just a Bittersweet Candy Bowl.
Written by Veronica Vera of Australia (previously the United States [previously Ecuador]), Bittersweet Candy Bowl features a plentiful cast of anthropomorphic characters in middle/high-school as they lead their lives and deal with the typical problems of adolescence, i.e. impending changes, burgeoning sexuality, romantic interests/rivalry, insecurity, and unexpected mishaps. What follows is a series of chapters full of equal parts laughter, happiness, romance, and sadness.
I’ve talked briefly about how anthropomorphic characters are common in media, but sometimes lead to odd questions. A common 
one is the Goofy/Pluto Conundrum; if Disney’s Goofy is a talking dog, then why doesn’t Pluto, Mickey Mouse’s pet dog, talk as well? This opens the door for a plethora of questions, more than a few of which concern slavery and/or mental condition. Though not, according to the creator, a “furry” comic, BCB falls into that same trap by presenting a world where people just happen to be cats and dogs… who own other, very much intelligent, talking animals as pets. Needless to say, the same questions are raised. The comic, for its part, doesn’t really answer any of them. It plays with the issue a bit in Chapter 4, but nothing is truly explained, changed, or resolved. It’s used as just another joke, which left me a tad disappointed as I feel something more could’ve been done with this.
The artwork is very hit and miss here. At the beginning, it’s hand-drawn, rough, and very sloppy. According to the writer, it started off as more of a hobby than an actual attempt to make a comic. It does improve dramatically (no pun intended) as the chapters progress, but it does take a while. On the other hand, I really like the newer art; its cleaner, crisper, and more expressive and I like how different chapters or scenes feature distinct color filters. There are a few chapters inserted into the older ones that are drawn in the newer style, which give the readers starting off from the beginning something nice to look at every so often, but, unfortunately, this also makes the sudden reversions back to the older style even more jarring. Ms. Vera readily admits that the early art is rather bad and recommends that new readers start at a more recent chapter. She accepts it. She’s moved on. We should, too.
In regards to writing, the comic is a lot like Degrassi crossed with your typical, overly silly, slice of life manga. The comic is replete with absurd moments of comedy, many of which are truly hilarious. At the same time, these silly moments are broke
n up by sudden bouts of angst and drama. Personally, I’ve never really cared for school drama series like Degrassi or Glee. My reasoning is, while I did have a relatively peaceful high school experience, I certainly don’t want to relive it. Despite my preferences, however, the primary characters are interesting enough to carry the drama. On that note, I have to admit that I kind of find Lucy, the main female, to be a bit of a mean, chronically unsympathetic character. We’re meant to feel for her and see this as a way of hiding her insecurities, but the few issues she has are minor to nothing compared to those of other characters, yet she constantly does awful things towards her friends. Honestly, sometimes I think she’d match her character better if she were drawn as a female dog instead of a cat (see what I did there? That’s wutchu might call a “double entendre”). Personally, the character I find most compelling is Paulo, the wannabe ladies’ man with a heart of gold and hidden depths. That’s the benefit of having a large cast, though; if you don’t care for one character, there are always others to get behind.
That said… these characters talk about and do things that are way too out there to be completely believable. Teenagers are vulgar, no doubt about that, but these ones act more like your stereotypical college students than the middle-schoolers they’re supposed to be. A lot of them also have colorful vocabularies for their age, which, coupled with the heavy sexual content, makes this comic completely inappropriate for children and young readers. Nothing ever really happens on screen, mind you, but I’d still say the comic’s geared more towards college-age and young adult readers. However, your mileage may vary on this one.
My personal tastes aside, I can honestly say that there are hidden gems in this comic (once you get past the roughage). Funny and absurd, with a side of heart-touching, I do think a lot of casual readers would find something to like about this one. If you have a taste for angst-ridden, teen soap operas, give this one a try.
Bittersweet Candy Bowl is written by Veronica Vera. This comic, including all images used here, belongs to her. An “About” page, featuring descriptions of the cast, as well as their first appearances, can be found here. Any questions for the author can be asked on her Formspring account.The comic currently updates Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Hey howdy hey, reader(s)! Welcome back to Infernal Reviews!
As a race, we are fascinated by animals and always have been. We learn from them, tell stories about them, and imbue them with magical powers. In them we see ourselves sometimes, and so we make them more human in order that we might relate to them more. Even today, we have our Peter Rabbits, our Garfields, our Bugs Bunnies, and our Mickey Mice.
On the internet they’re just called “Furries”.
At it’s root, the term can be used to denote either anthropomorphic animal characters, or fans of said characters. As with all things online, the nature of the fandom is too deeply stratified and contentious to analyze in just one post (I’d probably need a whole blog and a lifetime of research for that). However, regardless of why or how, the use of anthropomorphic characters in webcomics has become fairly prevalent and, like all media, there are some good ones and some… not so good ones. It is this kind of comic to which we turn our gaze this month. Now my friends, let us begin our furry experience with…
…
Written by Ellen Natalie, Furry Experience follows the lives of three college-aged roommates living in Utah Valley. Like a young, furry version of The Golden Girls, the three have variously distinct personalities that can’t help but clash a bit. As they each try to make it through their college life, work, romance, family, religion, and opinions on sex inevitably lead to both drama and hilarity.
As you can see, the artwork for the comic initially used heavy lines and inking and featured only a black and white palette with no shading for the first eleven pages. I typically don’t care for this kind of art, as it makes me think of coloring books more than comics. However, the comic very quickly begins using both shading and colors starting with the unofficial twelfth page (which even lampshades it). From that point, the comic does develop its style, going from a rough, hand-drawn look to a generally softer one with smoother lines. Despite that, the comic still only uses the most minimal shading, which leaves the pages looking flat and without depth. There’s also this thing where colors on the characters fade in a gradient, which usually doesn’t bother me, except when certain characters look like they haven’t been completely colored in. It may just be a stylistic choice, but that’s what sticks out to me, is all I’m saying.
The comic’s writing is… shall we say, confused? The comic begins by straddling the fourth wall by having the artistic Cat wondering 
how to write a furry comic… like the one that she’s in right now. Which begs the question; wouldn’t a furry comic in a world of furries just be a comic? Are there humans in this world we just haven’t seen? If so, what happened to them? Was it a mass, furry uprising? I, for one, welcome our new fuzzy overlords. The comic takes place in Utah and even features Mormonism, which implies that it’s set in a world just like ours, except that everyone is an anthropomorphic animal. This is sometimes used for jokes, primarily through the use of common animal tropes and behavior, but this just raises even more questions. How do things like human phrases or nursery rhymes come about in a world full of animals? Once you start thinking about it, the comic can come across as more than a little absurd, but, then again, maybe that’s the point.
As far as main characters go, the comic presents us with our typical trio of characters which, as I’ve mentioned, you often see in shows like The Golden Girls; there’s the innocent naive one, the sensible maternal one, and the passionate, livacious one. These disparate personalities are designed to play off of each other and, as is seemingly the case with Ms. Natalie, often represent separate aspects of the writer’s own personality.
Catherine, or Cat as she goes by (yes, the joke is made) is the Rose of the three main characters. Childlike and innocent to the point of naivete, she’s the one who ends up being the butt of someone’s joke most often, usually without her realizing it. Of the three, shes both the most excitable and the most vulnerable, as she suffers from an overprotective childhood and an almost debilitating fear of people. It’s only through spending time with her roommates that Cat is finally beginning to learn how to open up to others.
Ronnie (the rabbit) is the group’s Blanche, though not nearly as promiscuous. She’s the most physically active and rebellious of the three. Due to her strong personality and will, she’s the one most likely to get worked up about something or to get into an argument with someone. Though she can come off a little strong at times, there is a protectiveness to her that drives her to look out for her friends when she feels they need it. A bit of an agnostic, Ronnie has had issues with organized religion in the past, a fact which comes to the forefront now that she lives in a deeply Mormon community.
Dawn (the doe [a deer, a female deer...]), is, of course, the Dorothy of the cast. Sensible and pragmatic, she’s the most adult of the three
and can sometimes come across as the most boring because of it. In reality, though, she has some of the more compelling moments due to how down to earth she is. While her patience does have limits, she cares about her friends and tries to help solve their problems by mediating any conflicts between them, lending advice, or even just listening, all the while having to deal with her own issues, such as an ailing mother struggling with cancer, a somewhat hostile work environment, and the ordeals of an awkward romance.
While not perfect and a little confusing, Furry Experience is nonetheless a fun comic with self-aware humor, excellent, well-rounded characters, and a fair amount of depth. Readers can also no doubt relate to at least one of the characters, main or secondary. It’s certainly a good way to ease into a new theme month.
Furry Experience is written by Ellen Natalie. The comic, including all images used here, belongs to her. There’s an About page featuring links to the characters first appearances. Ms. Natalie also has a Deviantart account where she posts pages from the comic as well as more of her own work.
Although MLK Day is mostly just an United States holiday, it’s important to remember that Dr. King believed his messages of love, tolerance, and courage should not be limited by the borders of a map; much of Dr. King’s philosophy was itself deeply inspired by his travels across the world.
A spiritual successor to Mahatma Gandhi, a contemporary of Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy, and a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is certainly one of the greatest influential figures in recent history. Though his dream is not yet fully realized, in the time since his death it has become more reality than fantasy. In honor of that dream, we are encouraged to do good, to be better, and to remember to do so always.
“Darkenss cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
