The Meek is a comic by Der-shing Helmer, and it's super intriguing. I had come across this comic when it first started, but then stepped back and kind of forgot about it due to being too impatient to wait for updates on something so compelling [read: cliff hangers kill me]. This was a great excuse to catch up on a wonderful comic. Unfortunately, the author/artist has been having health problems so the comic has been on hiatus since January.
The art of The Meek is strong in many ways--good anatomy, good colors, nice mood, great environments, so of course that helps make it an easy read. But more than that, the storytelling so far has been able to give a lot of information about who each character is with very few words and pictures. Within a couple pages, the audience already has an understanding of who a new character is, how they work, and what their motives are. It's all done quite subtly.
At this point in the story, the fourth chapter has just been started. Each chapter up to this point had been focusing on a different character, in completely different areas of the world without knowing yet quite how their stories will intertwine. The beginning of the fourth chapter brings us back the characters that were introduced in the first. That is, Angora and Pinter. What I first found really intriguing about this comic was Angora's unabashed nudity, proving that you can have a naked (and female) character run around without being sexualized. She's some kind of jungle girl who has plant-like hair capable of growing flowers, or so she says. In the second chapter, we focus on the ruler of the country, Luca. He design presents a very serious man who doesn't want to be hassled or annoyed, quick to want war. In in the story, however, we see that there is so much more to him. His relationship with his wife shows him to be less sure-of-himself than he presents himself to be, making an absolutely lovable character. His wife also, in just one scene, became my favorite character. But....(spoiler alert) she dies. And quickly. Her murder looks like it's going to be a major catalyst in the rest of this story, unfortunately we're just not there yet.
And there's the downfall of webcomics. When you're contracted to work on a comic, when you're getting money for it, and when there's a larger corporate body spending money for your comic, you are much more likely to be compelled to finish it. Webcomics take much more dedication just to keep up with, especially since the only money you'd get back is usually going to be from donations made from viewers, any money you can make from merchandise, or possibly getting it printed. And then the downside to the printing is that only the die hards will likely buy it, as many people would not see the merit in buying a physical copy of something that they could read for free online.
I really hope that The Meek doesn't become yet another webcomic to fall into a forever-hiatus and drop off the face of the internet. It's a great read so-far, but mostly it just leaves us hanging at this point. Please, get better soon, Der-Shing!
No comments:
Post a Comment