Welcome back to another monthly installment of Click Here for Comics, where I choose a comic from the web and give you my thoughts on it. This month, I chose Starslip. So let's not waste a moment and head straight into this review.
Starslip www.starslip.comWritten and Drawn by: Kristopher Straub
Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
This strip follows the adventures of Captain Vanderbeam, a foppish captain who is more about art and culture than anything remotely resembling running a ship. He is accompanied by his pilot, Cutter; a former pirate and a man who can drink anyone under the table several times over; Mr. Jinx, who is a basically Vanderbeam's insectoid indentured servant; Holiday, the head engineer, Dr. Dahk Torr and Falton Quine. This team does everything from hosting the lastest art collections, to diplomatic missions to fighting a war with time travelers.
What I like about this stripIt is definitely the Trekkie inside of me that latched onto this strip in the beginning with the setting of the story being on a space ship in the future. Everything down to the slick looking uniforms worn by the characters reminds me of the days that I would sit in front of the television and watch Captain Picard sit in his command chair and say "Engage". And while
Straub admits to Star Trek having a large influence on his work, Starslip is in no way a copycat or rehash of the television show.
The characters that
Straub has created for his story are very well done. In the beginning it seemed to be a very simple cast: the long winded captain, the pirate pilot who never saw a drink he didn't like, the overworked and under-appreciated lackey, etc. But as the story line progressed, the characters started to develop and each one had an interesting back story that comes into play in the overall microcosm that is Starslip. They are more than just funny stereotypes that Straub uses to make a joke. They are 3 dimensional characters who have goals, wants, pasts and events that shaped them into the persons they are right now. I have to say that my favorite dynamic is between Captain Memnon Vanderbeam and his pilot, Cutter Edgewise. These two men could not be any more different and the dialogue between them is very amusing to say the least. It is relationship that should never work and yet feels quite organic and believable.
I really like the vocabulary that Straub uses when he writes the dialogue for Vanderbeam. Vanderbeam is usually seen giving long winded, verbose speeches littered with words most people don't use on a day to day basis. These longer pieces of dialogue do not feel forced, as if
Straub is trying to shoehorn a 64 million dollar word into a sentence in order to make Vanderbeam sound smart. The words actually fit and flow in a way that the reader actually believes that "Yes, that does sound like a sentence that someone would actually use." and not "I think he just made that up." So, if you don't read the strip simply for the pure enjoyment of the story, you can at least expand your own personal vocabulary.
Straub takes some of what is going on in the present and inserts it into his futuristic strip. In the way that Futurama had the talking heads in order to comment on current events,
Straub uses the finding of historical artifacts and art pieces in order to make his comments about what is happening in the here and now. It was an inventive move on his part and I for one like easter egg style insertion of
Straub's take on the current events.
What I don't like about this stripWith most strips, you watch the art slowly evolve over time. This doesn't particularly happen in Starslip. Instead, one day the strip looked one way and then suddenly the style changed over the weekend. While it is a change for the better, it was quite abrupt. I can only fathom a guess as to why
Straub chose to make adjustments to his art in this abrupt manner. Along with the change of the art came a significant change of the story that was being told as well. It could have been that
Straub was overhauling everything at one time, in one fell swoop.
Overall, I really enjoy this webcomic.
Straub does a wonderful job of mixing story telling with his personal humorous style, never sacrificing one for the other. Definitely a good read for all ages.
Internet ExtrasKris Straub Twitter is @krisstraub
Straub fields many questions from his fan base by using FormSpring (
http://www.formspring.me/krisstraub). Type in a question and he may answer it. Read the numerous amount of questions that he has already answered. And if he really liked the question, you may see your question and his answer in his Twitter feed.
Straub is part of the two man impromptu show Tweet Me Harder (
www.tweetmeharder.com) with
David Malki of Wondermark (
http://wondermark.com/). Set up like a radio show of sorts,
Straub and
Malki talk off the cuff about whatever comes to their minds while taking live tweets from the listening audience. Tweet Me Harder is recorded live and is later edited and posted to the show's website. Updates for this show can be seen on the site and on Twitter at @tweethard
Straub is part of the two man show Blamimations with
Scott Kurtz of Player vs. Player (
www.pvponline.com). Blamimations are short comedic skits set to mediocre flash videos made and drawn by Kurtz and Straub. They are hosted on Penny Arcade TV (
www.blamimations.com) and come out once a month.
Recently, he has started another venture with Scott
Kurtz called The Morning After. The two of them get together and talk about their thoughts on the latest current events. The show is live on Friday mornings, though a time has not been set yet. Best way to know about it is to follow Straub or Kurtz on Twitter. And if you can't listen live, an edited version of the show is posted soon after the live show is over.
