Coyote Trax's Webcomics Critique

Science fiction webcomics are a dime a dozen and, seemingly, all the rage nowadays. The trouble with them is that they need a narrative. A simple three or four panel format with the tried and trusted set-up, pause, and punch-line choreography doesn’t often work well unless it’s entirely comedy driven. “Proper” sci-fi is all about the story. Of course, webcomics need comic relief as well and that’s usually delivered in the form of a double act of characters: One being a loveable moron side-kick and the other being a kind but acerbic protagonist. More often than not, there’s also a strong female character to balance out the odds and look good in a spandex space-suit. Personally, I’d imagine that in the future they’d have long since done away with the notion of space suits and make do with a futuristic loin cloth that also doubles as an oxygen supply. Oh, and let’s not forget the “bad guy”, who is one of two people: A good old fashioned top-hatted villainous scum type; or the slightly more interesting but far less captivating guy-who-is-meant-to-be-a-good-guy-but-really-isn’t-because-he’s-working-for-a-shadowy-organisation.

Let’s get on with this review, yes? Steve Ogden’s Moon Town, tragically one letter away from the less accurate but slightly more humorous “Moron Town”, launched (because, space pun) in May 2009. The storyline is broken up into episodes because, frankly, the sci-fi audience isn’t exactly known for their liking of change; so anything to help ease the crossover from their precious televisual programming into the webcomics medium is conducive to the success of a sci-fi comic.

Continue reading Tuesday Choice – Moon Town…