Evolution of Comix: Vigneault's "Titan"

"Comix", with the "x," began as an underground form of the otherwise-called comic. Sex and drug use were regularly large components, along with a-typical looking character design.

The form is alive and well and forming a portion of online content, and today I am happy and proud to present Francois Vigneault's "Titan:"

Above is the first issue's "cover," as the comic series was originally published online beginning in 2012.

You can find the home by clicking right here and jumping over.

The story is part of the revolution/evolution:

Titan is a moon of Saturn and in this story it is a mining colony. On Titan are people from Earth, Terrans, and the genetically modified humans, Titans. The Titans were created to take advantage of the lower gravity and are essentially giants. There are about 250,000 Titans versus their Terran overlords, numbering maybe 1,000.

The main character is a Terran who has been sent by the company that runs the mining concern to figure out how and when to shut the plant down. He thinks he's there just to check efficiency levels, but its obvious that tensions are running so high that a revolt may be in the offering.

The politics and the sci-fi are both great, the illicit affair between the Terran and the Titan is rendered with that loving hotness you'd expect from the comix tradition, and there are many issues available for the reading for free, if you don't mind the computer. I've yet to finish what's up on Study Group Comics, and I'm happy to report that paper copies have been published recently.

Here's a panel to get a sense of the sizes of our two main characters, the Terran MNGR Joao and his, eh, Titan liaison, Phoebe, a former underground fighter. It showcases both the comix visual tradition and the duo-color scheme unique to each issue:

If you try any webcomics this month, this would be the one I suggest: just click that link above.

Terry Moore's "Motor Girl" is Good and Different

I picked up the first two issues of Terry Moore's "Motor Girl" recently. Back in September I wrote about Abstract Studio, Moore's independent comic publishing company, so when I saw the issues, I wanted to see what Terry's all about.

One thing that caught my attention was the awesome nature of the paper quality: it looks and feels like Xerox paper. The covers are shiny and feel like pamphlet material. It seems like stuff I could get done at Kinko's, but of course I'm not an old school classic comic creator.

Or the publisher of such.

Now, I enjoyed the two issues. Samantha, the titular Motor Girl, is a former soldier with some serious PTSD-(we're guessing)induced hallucinations. She runs a junkyard in BFE Nevada and someone is trying to buy it. This someone sends thugs to greet the owner, and elder lady, and Samantha to try and persuade them to sell.

Why does anyone want the spot so bad? Are the aliens who stopped by---on two separate occasions--- real or one of Samantha's hallucinations?

The art is charming and expressive while light on certain details, which may or may not be indicative of Terry Moore; I've yet to read "Strangers in Paradise", "Echo", or "Rachel Rising."

I enjoyed it and felt it was off beat and had real feeling embedded in the black ink drawings.