Article Concept, Construction and Crafting by Havelock
NEKO THE KITTY
A clever comic about a cat, written by a fantastic fellow “Ireland-er” Gearóid Molloy, whom is a well respected member of the webcomic artists inner circle. Its titular character, Neko, is the insightful and mischievous cat of Alice Cooper, an a-typical punk/gothic college student, and her roommate Ellen Brickley, who has used a wheelchair since a traffic accident during the strip’s first extended hiatus. I must warn you it has undergone several dry periods due to writer’s block, boredom and real life intervening over the years. It is now updating regularly twice a week, and has switched from black-and-white to full colour.
The comic follows a punchline a day, although it does features storylines. The story so far has been about Neko’s relationship with Maisy and their children; Keno (who remained with Alice), Aya (who was adopted by the characters in the webcomic Catharsis which I recommend reading), Poe (who was summoned to Surreal U), Muffin (now at home in 9th Elsewhere), and Puddles (apparently renamed Elvis and taught French in Fragile Gravity). Aya was the first kitten to leave, and her adoption marked the first instance I know of where a webcomic adopted a character from another one.
The human characters are often based on real world people the artist knows/knew, but have their names changed and other alterations. The archive is well worth a read and the comic’s community and forum of fans are some of the nicest humans you can meet in cyberspace.
THE PERRY BIBLE FELLOWSHIP
An amazing set of one off story arches in three or four frames. With astounding artistic work and a wry sense of humour, which bounces between blasphemy to bloody brilliance, Nicholas Gurewitch made a little known treasure.
Tragically it only ran for a medium length of time but generated some of the most memorable strips of any series I have read.
FRAZZ
Jef Mallett’s c
reation is one of the few comics I’d recommend to everyone. Someone once told me it was like Calvin and Hobbs, when Calvin has grown up. The same soft introspection and sheer pleasure at the wonders of the world are shown through the eyes of the young students of Bryson Elementary and their independently wealthy and sage custodial engineer, Frazz. I can’t pick out any one strip in particular to sum up the humour and sense of inquisitiveness the strip. Just go read it from the start.
-Havelock “the Cad”