by A.G. Hopkins
This flash based webcomic is a treat. Each time you
read it more layers are apparent, and it demands more
of you.
As a matter of fact, I recommend that you stop reading
this review now, and go read it through from start to
finish. Youll want that first time experience without
knowing what to expect from it.
No, really. Go now. I'll wait.
Click
here.
Finished? Good.
For those of you who didn't take my advice, you should
know that the first reading is a visual delight, and a
wonderful adventure story.
Jamie Black is an employee at a dying dot-com company
whose life changes one day after meeting an
extraordinary little girl who claims to do magic.
Unusual circumstances following this meeting thrust
Jamie into the role of detective. He plays the part as
if it were a movie role, right down to the trenchcoat,
cheap office and hard-boiled Sam Spade mentality. He
seems to fit the part extremely well.
The story is classic Phillip Marlowe/Sam Spade/ Mike
Hammer, and done in a gritty, film-noir style.
The story varies from the detective boiler plate with
the inclusion of metaphysical assistance from a
mysterious young girl named Elizabeth. She does very
little that is extraordinary herself, but her presence
is definitely strange and catalytic.
As the story progresses, Jamie becomes more
self-reliant, and more capable as a detective. He
fights and drinks just like a classic gumshoe, while
solving mysteries which are a bit out of the ordinary.
The story is conveyed wonderfully through the
innovative use of flash. It isn't an animation per se,
but more like a static strip with special effects.
Frames slide in and over other frames, taking us along
the story naturally.
This subtle use of flash takes us into the story in an
immersive style. Especially effective in the first
part of the story is a scene where Jamie witnesses a
shooting. The flash frames click through the death in
slow motion, the body paused in mid-fall as Jamie
narrates his thoughts to us, drawing us into the
story, and accenting Jamie's shock at this first taste
of reality in his detective fantasy.
Brendan makes a point of varying the scene transition
methods to fit the mood or to fit the action. One
memorable scene involves Jamie in a card game. Each
frame of the scene is dealt' out with a spinning
rectangle as if it were a card, with the camera angle
swapping back and forth between two piles of frames.
The frames begin with a wide angle shot of both
players, but narrow their focus as the tension builds,
culminating in close up shots of the players' eyes.
Brendan is to be congratulated for his innovative use
of the medium. He isn't the first to use it. John
Barber for one, has been successfully using a similar
method with his Modern Tales strip, Vicious
Souvenirs. Brendanšs work is imaginative and progressive,
building on John's success and style.
He also makes good use of color palettes to illustrate
changes in locale and mood. The variance is not
readily noticeable at first. He begins with a full
range of color, and then switches to mono-chromatics
and bi-chromatics when dealing with the noir-ish
aspects of the tale.
The second time you read this work, a number of things
become apparent to you.
Jamie's choice of alternative employment is a metaphor
for his struggle to define himself, and determine his
own course through life. He is intolerant of those who
rely on others for definition, or who refuse to face
and accept who they really are.
Jamie expresses part of this during a dinner
conversation at one point. His date has a job as a
facilitator for an art funding group. She defines
herself by her job, which is essentially undefinable.
Jamie challenges her by stating, 'People hire me to
find a thing, person or piece of information for them.
I find things. That's what I do. What do you do?'
Her job is like Jamie's old job, and her life is like
his was; empty, meaningless, unexamined and without
value to herself.
Jamie is finding things for more than just his
clients. He is finding out who he is, and how he sees
the world. He is becoming a master of his fate.
Other characters in the story define and develop their
identities by less effective methods than Jamie's
self-examination and self-reliance. Some sell empty
platitudes and corporate buzzwords, and become as
shallow and empty as the smiling facade marketers
present to the world. Some use religion as a crutch to
define who they are, and to make excuses for their
failures both in, and at life. Finally, some take
their personality from others, either by stealing or
cheating them. In all cases, these methods delude
people into thinking they have their own identity,
when in fact they are nothing but an empty shell,
defined and manufactured by others, and hiding their
true selves.
Brendan supplies us with a multitude of symbols and
metaphors which become more apparent with each reading
of the work. Everything that happens relates to
Jamiešs growth and self-discovery in some way, shows
us who he is, and expands on Brendanšs philosophy of
individualism. There are double-meanings and hidden
meanings to a lot of the work. This makes the tale
rich in detail and depth, and thus, quite enjoyable
for multiple readings.
At the same time, we can find reflections of our own
lives in the characters and events depicted. Each of
us is capable of the same kind of self-actualization
Jamie achieves, if only we are willing to just
occasionally think outside the box.
