Achewood has always been excellent. The first year or so is kind of minimalist, but still incredibly enjoyable. Once the normal cast got set, though, it really took off. It's had its ups and downs over the course of its now lengthy life, but I'm pleased to say that I think Achewood is right now in the midst of a mini-renaissance. When discussing Achewood, the most prominent characteristic is of course the unimaginably unique voices that the author, Chris Onstad, has developed for each character. While it is true that the different players, their varying dialects, and their improbable interactions are the best part of Achewood, I particularly enjoy trying to make a composite of each character to get at the person of Onstad himself. If I had to take a guess, I would say that Onstad is most accurately portrayed by one character in Téodor... the mildly overweight, music-loving cook.
The mini-renaissance [i.e., the past two strips in long-form color format] has been focusing mostly on inner thoughts of Téodor, his past, and his candid inner thoughts. It might be much to call these strips touching, but they are affecting in a way no web comic has ever been. The main themes seem to be remembrance of things past, assessing an importance to an unimportant detail of something from memory. The distinction between these strips and the normal Achewood strip is emphasized by the color, which is fantastic. The formatting is slightly non-linear for both. I really just can't express how amazed I am by these two simple strips, just check out 1/11 and 1/14 for yourself. And the best part - there are at least two more to come.
[Also in a mini-renaissance: the vlog Rocketboom hosted by adorable and consistently hyper-intelligent Joanne Colan... more Joanne the better, I say.]
No comments:
Post a Comment