I suppose in this instance my icon gives away my review. But, since not everyone may be familiar with Looking For Group, I suppose I have to complete the review anyway.
Ryan Sohmer and Lar Desouza have become a real force in the webcomic world. They started out as Canadian partners in the production of Least I Could Do, Sohmer's long-running slice-of-life comic about one night stand expert Rayne Summers. Desouza jumped on board a few years ago, and the piece now has a daily run and increasing popularity and exposure. Everyone would have been totally fine with that continued run, myself included, especially given the amount of media produced through Sohmer's Blind Ferret entertainment group. But no, it was not enough for these two. They had to do more.
See, Sohmer and Desouza are nerds. Huge nerds. Epic nerds. They love Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and everything in between. Rayne has always been a character with a dorky side, dressing in an Aragorn costume and painting an Autobot symbol on his Audi. Apparently though, Sohmer wanted to fully embrace his fantasy nerd personality. Thus, a little over a year ago, Looking For Group was born.
The reflection on Sohmer and Desouza's past is necessary, because it brings to the fore what makes Looking For Group succeed as a creative piece, sort of how Shaun of the Dead was so well-done because it was a tongue in cheek dig at zombie movies by people who loved them. Looking For Group is created by people who love fantasy for readers who also love it, in every form. There is an exemplary amount of care put into the comic, from characters to humor to the storyline. It all comes together extremely well and the cast is both varied and memorable, appearing in gorgeous full-color comic book sized pages twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays). The wait for each update is worth it, there's a lot of craftsmanship here on every level. If I were to make a comparison, it would be to Order of the Stick. The plot revolves around a serious subject (epic quest) but is told through the interactions of dysfunctional (and hilarious) characters. The major difference between the two is that dysfunction takes on a whole new meaning with Looking For Group, and it contains itself mostly to one character.
And here we come to the nitty-gritty. Allow me to introduce you to Richard, Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead... and mayor of a little village up the coast. He is the comic. Richard (or as his companions refer to him, Dick) is one of the most entertaining personalities I have encountered anywhere. A decidedly evil (or is he?) undead warlock he performs every sadistic and malevolent act with a maniacal glee that he shares with the reader.
Richard's primary responsibility seems to be helping the naive Cale'anon embrace his darker side. Their adventures begin innocently enough (Richard incinerates Cale for insulting his name), traveling to a small town in search of a healer. There they meet Benn'Joon (heretofore known as Benny) a priestess of Orcish lineage who has a minotaur caretaker named Krunch (you could also consider him Tauren if you like the World of Warcraft references in the comic). The four soon become embroiled in Benny's quest for the Sword of Truth, which leads to an ongoing adventure spanning continents and seas, leading to a greater quest and more developed story.
Evolution is the perfect metaphor for this comic, it grows and changes from the early stages. It's fairly evident from the beginning that Sohmer did not particularly care about the plot, just the characters. Richard is the violent joker, Cale the naive but dangerous hero (along with his panther Sooba), Benny is the clearheaded but mysterious caster, and Krunch is the thoughtful brute. The quest for the Sword of Truth rapidly develops into a much more complex mission to resurrect a fallen nation and defend Krunch's homeland from the ever-growing power of the expansionist Legion. It's a not-so-subtle parody of World of Warcraft from the perspective of the Horde: Richard an Undead Warlock, Krunch a Tauren Warrior, Benny an Orc Priestess (I realize they do not exist in WoW), and Cale a Blood Elf Hunter. There are jokes related to the game in here, but they rapidly expand outward to all role-playing games and other topics like internet memes (watch out or you'll be Dick Roll'd).
It's very funny all the way through, though it isn't without its issues. Looking For Group has some odd hiccups, it moves very rapidly from scene to scene and at times the transition isn't terribly smooth. This can leave you a bit confused, wondering what happened in between those moments, but it doesn't break the comic. What can become a problem is the previously mentioned growth factor. In the early comics humor is the point, hence the loose plot devices and lack of development of the universe. Then, as the webcomic begins to take on a more serious tone, we lose some of the funny along the way. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, the comparative Order of the Stick also became less gag oriented and more serious over time, but it's too early to tell if Sohmer will be as successful as Rich Burlew in making his comic get past the Cerebus Syndrome moment. The climactic action has just recently occurred, though serious undertones had already begun to take control of the story, so we have a few more pages of the piece to get through before I can definitively say one way or another if it made the jump or not.
Until then what can be said is that the comic has moved away from gag strips to a true attempt at telling an epic story. What used to be a work carried almost exclusively by the eccentric behavior of one character in contrast to the others is now hoping to make the rest of the cast as entertaining. I have to say so far it isn't quite there yet. Richard is brilliant, especially when he is put on trial for perhaps not having totally evil intentions by several denizens of the evil planes. It's that watershed moment, where we really start to wonder who he was in life and why he actually sticks by Cale when he clearly no longer needs to (he claims it's because his manifesto is "I like killing things" and this is a good opportunity to do so, but that is questionable) that pushes Richard over the top. And yet, he can't always be the focus of the comic, at least Sohmer must think so. This means that Cale, Benny, and Krunch all have to receive some development. Cale is the best, in fact but for Richard's shadow he would be the highlight of the story, while Krunch and Benny both have strong personalities that fit well. At the end of the day it depends on how you feel about the new tone of the comic. If you were hoping it would be constant light and humorous fare you're going to be a bit disappointed, but hang in there because even with the more serious plot you're still going to laugh.
Looking For Group is a good webcomic, dancing on the edge of being great. It's still so young that a definitive call can't be made, but if you like to laugh and enjoy fantasy you have to read it. The twice a week updates can be annoying since almost every comic ends with a cliffhanger, but that's a writing method that Mark Twain preferred so who am I to argue with it? It will absolutely amuse you from the beginning, whether you choose to stick with it once it evolves into the story-driven piece it is now is up to you. It is gorgeous to look at, if your preferences are strictly in the eye candy category then you can't do much better than Lar Desouza, he's incredibly good. The writing is good as well, with the occasional nuttiness that is vintage Sohmer and if you have read any Least I Could Do it won't throw you off. I can't tell you how I feel about the plot yet, it does swap locations quite rapidly and I thought it dragged a bit when it wasn't building to an action, but I would always encourage readers to follow the creative work of Ryan Sohmer as far as you can.
Give Looking For Group a shot at www.lfgcomic.com
Started Mega Tokyo yesterday, thus far I like it. As always thanks for reading.
Ryan Sohmer and Lar Desouza have become a real force in the webcomic world. They started out as Canadian partners in the production of Least I Could Do, Sohmer's long-running slice-of-life comic about one night stand expert Rayne Summers. Desouza jumped on board a few years ago, and the piece now has a daily run and increasing popularity and exposure. Everyone would have been totally fine with that continued run, myself included, especially given the amount of media produced through Sohmer's Blind Ferret entertainment group. But no, it was not enough for these two. They had to do more.
See, Sohmer and Desouza are nerds. Huge nerds. Epic nerds. They love Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and everything in between. Rayne has always been a character with a dorky side, dressing in an Aragorn costume and painting an Autobot symbol on his Audi. Apparently though, Sohmer wanted to fully embrace his fantasy nerd personality. Thus, a little over a year ago, Looking For Group was born.
The reflection on Sohmer and Desouza's past is necessary, because it brings to the fore what makes Looking For Group succeed as a creative piece, sort of how Shaun of the Dead was so well-done because it was a tongue in cheek dig at zombie movies by people who loved them. Looking For Group is created by people who love fantasy for readers who also love it, in every form. There is an exemplary amount of care put into the comic, from characters to humor to the storyline. It all comes together extremely well and the cast is both varied and memorable, appearing in gorgeous full-color comic book sized pages twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays). The wait for each update is worth it, there's a lot of craftsmanship here on every level. If I were to make a comparison, it would be to Order of the Stick. The plot revolves around a serious subject (epic quest) but is told through the interactions of dysfunctional (and hilarious) characters. The major difference between the two is that dysfunction takes on a whole new meaning with Looking For Group, and it contains itself mostly to one character.
And here we come to the nitty-gritty. Allow me to introduce you to Richard, Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead... and mayor of a little village up the coast. He is the comic. Richard (or as his companions refer to him, Dick) is one of the most entertaining personalities I have encountered anywhere. A decidedly evil (or is he?) undead warlock he performs every sadistic and malevolent act with a maniacal glee that he shares with the reader.
Richard's primary responsibility seems to be helping the naive Cale'anon embrace his darker side. Their adventures begin innocently enough (Richard incinerates Cale for insulting his name), traveling to a small town in search of a healer. There they meet Benn'Joon (heretofore known as Benny) a priestess of Orcish lineage who has a minotaur caretaker named Krunch (you could also consider him Tauren if you like the World of Warcraft references in the comic). The four soon become embroiled in Benny's quest for the Sword of Truth, which leads to an ongoing adventure spanning continents and seas, leading to a greater quest and more developed story.
Evolution is the perfect metaphor for this comic, it grows and changes from the early stages. It's fairly evident from the beginning that Sohmer did not particularly care about the plot, just the characters. Richard is the violent joker, Cale the naive but dangerous hero (along with his panther Sooba), Benny is the clearheaded but mysterious caster, and Krunch is the thoughtful brute. The quest for the Sword of Truth rapidly develops into a much more complex mission to resurrect a fallen nation and defend Krunch's homeland from the ever-growing power of the expansionist Legion. It's a not-so-subtle parody of World of Warcraft from the perspective of the Horde: Richard an Undead Warlock, Krunch a Tauren Warrior, Benny an Orc Priestess (I realize they do not exist in WoW), and Cale a Blood Elf Hunter. There are jokes related to the game in here, but they rapidly expand outward to all role-playing games and other topics like internet memes (watch out or you'll be Dick Roll'd).
It's very funny all the way through, though it isn't without its issues. Looking For Group has some odd hiccups, it moves very rapidly from scene to scene and at times the transition isn't terribly smooth. This can leave you a bit confused, wondering what happened in between those moments, but it doesn't break the comic. What can become a problem is the previously mentioned growth factor. In the early comics humor is the point, hence the loose plot devices and lack of development of the universe. Then, as the webcomic begins to take on a more serious tone, we lose some of the funny along the way. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, the comparative Order of the Stick also became less gag oriented and more serious over time, but it's too early to tell if Sohmer will be as successful as Rich Burlew in making his comic get past the Cerebus Syndrome moment. The climactic action has just recently occurred, though serious undertones had already begun to take control of the story, so we have a few more pages of the piece to get through before I can definitively say one way or another if it made the jump or not.
Until then what can be said is that the comic has moved away from gag strips to a true attempt at telling an epic story. What used to be a work carried almost exclusively by the eccentric behavior of one character in contrast to the others is now hoping to make the rest of the cast as entertaining. I have to say so far it isn't quite there yet. Richard is brilliant, especially when he is put on trial for perhaps not having totally evil intentions by several denizens of the evil planes. It's that watershed moment, where we really start to wonder who he was in life and why he actually sticks by Cale when he clearly no longer needs to (he claims it's because his manifesto is "I like killing things" and this is a good opportunity to do so, but that is questionable) that pushes Richard over the top. And yet, he can't always be the focus of the comic, at least Sohmer must think so. This means that Cale, Benny, and Krunch all have to receive some development. Cale is the best, in fact but for Richard's shadow he would be the highlight of the story, while Krunch and Benny both have strong personalities that fit well. At the end of the day it depends on how you feel about the new tone of the comic. If you were hoping it would be constant light and humorous fare you're going to be a bit disappointed, but hang in there because even with the more serious plot you're still going to laugh.
Looking For Group is a good webcomic, dancing on the edge of being great. It's still so young that a definitive call can't be made, but if you like to laugh and enjoy fantasy you have to read it. The twice a week updates can be annoying since almost every comic ends with a cliffhanger, but that's a writing method that Mark Twain preferred so who am I to argue with it? It will absolutely amuse you from the beginning, whether you choose to stick with it once it evolves into the story-driven piece it is now is up to you. It is gorgeous to look at, if your preferences are strictly in the eye candy category then you can't do much better than Lar Desouza, he's incredibly good. The writing is good as well, with the occasional nuttiness that is vintage Sohmer and if you have read any Least I Could Do it won't throw you off. I can't tell you how I feel about the plot yet, it does swap locations quite rapidly and I thought it dragged a bit when it wasn't building to an action, but I would always encourage readers to follow the creative work of Ryan Sohmer as far as you can.
Give Looking For Group a shot at www.lfgcomic.com
Started Mega Tokyo yesterday, thus far I like it. As always thanks for reading.
