Webcomic Roundup: Man From Space, American Barbarian, more!

First up in this week’s Webcomic Roundup is Man from Space by Marc Jackson. The comic is about, what else, but a man from space. He even sports that as his title. As Man From Space (MFS for short) and his goldfish Michael, hurtle through space, they have all sorts of wild adventures. If the, mostly one-sided, stories that MFS tells are to be believed, the duo have done everything from wrestled midgets, passed out only to wake up in tutus, brain swapped with aliens, and much, much more. It’s a completely absurd comic delivered with a simple style, but the hilarity of the stories and the weird bond that MFS and Michael have is great. Plus, any comic where a fish pilots a spaceship, even unsuccessfully, is one worth reading. Only a few pages are on the site now, but Marc has said that issue one should be finished in a couple of weeks, making this the perfect time to jump in.

The rest of this week’s Webcomic Roundup will be dedicated to Tom Scioli. He announced earlier in the week that he’s leaving comics for good. Along with his stellar comics, Scioli had four comics on his site either completed or in various stages of publishing. All are fantastic and warrant a look. Even if Scioli is done with comics, the contributions he’s already made put him in a class all his own.

 

Satan’s Soldier  is what comes from Scioli’s mind when presented with the question: “What if Superman were evil?” The answer is that he would paralyze people, kill his own babies, fight monsters, and basically do whatever he wanted. It’s a strange and hilarious comic that is presented in a unique way. Scioli only pencilled the art before coloring, which gives it a distinct look. There is seemingly only the barest hint of a linear story and there are often random events taking place, but this does nothing to distract from the overall impact of the comic. It’s funny, it’s insightful, it’s a great “what-if”.

Next is American Barbarian.  It was the flagship title over at Scioli’s site and what a title it was. Seemingly written at random and taken in completely new directions whenever Scioli felt like it, the comic follows a family of barbarians. The youngest son is fated to be a warrior that must face things far beyond his understanding and skill. The intensity of this post-apocalyptic world makes all others look weak in comparison. If you don’t believe it, the first major villain has tanks for feet. A comic about barbarians and great evil should have the feel of an epic legend, and American Barbarian does this. It’s strange and grand and mesmerizing. Once you start reading, there is no stopping until you’re done. From the title to the character names (Two Tank Omen), everything seems like a joke, but it’s very serious at the same time.

Next comes Final Frontier. It’s essentially a story about the Fantastic Four if they were a rock group. As the tagline states, “No wonder people call them the Beatles of superheroes”. The story opens with them playing a farewell concert with the loudest note ever heard. From there, we quickly spiral out into a story involving more riffs on Marvel characters than you could even count. Scioli’s Jack Kirby inspired style is perfect for the story. It’s a hilarious take on many famous characters and it adds some great music and ridiculous slang into the mix to make it even more memorable and a true Scioli comic.

Last is Scioli’s youngest comic Mystery Object. There are only a handful of updates in this comic that is a play on old Nintendo games. Each long, vertical strips drops the reader further and further into misunderstanding, jokes, puns, and allusions to various games and other works. It’s a strange work, for sure, but there is something oddly moving about it. Seeing Jump Man worry about getting a girlfriend and whether his mustache looks funny is weird, but it works well for this story. With only a few pages, there is a lot left to this story, and hopefully Scioli decides to finish it.

 

 

If you want to see any particular comics featured in a future Webcomic Roundup, feel free to let us know either in the comments or on Twitter.

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