PAGE FIFTY TWO. Exterior, night. Jovian Quarter, Amazonis Prime.
Happy Friday. That seemed like a quick week! I’m off to Indianapolis (GenCon) in a few, so I’ll keep this short.
I think most of you know by now that I, in varying degrees, love every finished page Nic produces. I think, by now, I have something like 15-20 favorite pages. I won’t go to that extreme this week though I will say the second panel is one of my favorite shots of Vikki Grimm. Determined would be the word I would use to describe our heroine’s countenance. I also really appreciate that Nic has added a relatively uncommon splash of color here via the holo-displays. Our Mars has a very industrial/noir feel, but seeing this kind of vibrant color once in a while is nice.
Alas poor Raff Vrill. It does appear that this soldier of fortune has met his match. He certainly didn’t see this coming. To honor Vrill (and keep the tempo up), I’m going with the classic from Naked Raygun’s Jettison, ‘Soldier’s Requiem.’ Captain Vrill, we salute you!
Until next week,
Dave
UPDATE: I just realized- 52 Pages means 52 weeks of ‘Free Mars.’ That’s one Earth year (a Mars year is 669 sols). That actually sneaked up on us. I’d love to hear from you guys this week. What do you think so far? Have you stuck with us from the beginning? New reader? Favorite character? Anything like that. Wow- one year already. Naff me.
Hmm, do cars in the 24th century have windshield wipers?
Ha! Didn’t see that coming. Because whenever someone started shooting at a vehicle with a heavy weapon in that awesome old game Syndicate, the people in that vehicle had only a few seconds to get out before the vehicle exploded and they all burned up. Kessler’s flying limo is obviously made of sturdier stuff!
And one Earth year sounds great. Congratulations! So far I think the comic is proceeding at a decent pace, unlike a lot of other webcomics which take forever to get anywhere. (I think it’s because self-publishers on the net don’t have anyone telling them that they have to tell a story in 22 pages to get readers to pay for the comic.)
SPLAT
Well, Free Mars starts its second year, and I finally pin down the vague, can’t-quite-put-a-finger-on-it sense of *something* wrong with the whole thing that’s been gnawing at me for quite a while now (and I’m not just referring to the the tendency of background girls to comport themselves like female carnival-goers in New Orleans), and that is just this: Free Mars is essentially Final Fantasy X-2… On Mars.
Let’s see, we’ve got three rather bland girls, the tall, snarky Goth one, the ditzy blonde one with a pronounced aversion to anything resembling actual clothing and the more serious-minded de facto leader of the trio (who is also a singer/the lead singer) traipsing around (with a little help from the blonde one’s fey blond cousin) a world high on fan-service and low on Y chromosomes (Nic’s deviantART gallery entries revealing plans to introduce a spin-off featuring, my God, a “female Boba Fett”) while pursuing a vaguely-defined quest connecting them to a equally vaguely-defined blond man with the fate of their world in the balance (though to be fair, Kessler is to this point a far more interesting and sympathic character than Tidus/Shuyin).
Whew! I thought you were gonna say that the protagonists AND antagonists all being bands was too derivative of Gem and the Holograms!
I’m not familiar with Final Fantasy, but I’m sure there’s a Wikipedia page I can read. I will definitely, however, concede three things:
1) The girls (and their hair) are based on pretty common archetypes- a trope even. For example, a feisty young blonde (ditzy maybe) and a sardonic brunette recalls that literary masterwork, ‘Three’s Company.’ In fact, the original template for the Sisters was a “female Green Day”- which I think still kinda makes sense-but I think any Google search on “Josie and the Pussycats” will reveal my true hidden inspiration (even down to instruments).
2) Fashion on Mars is certainly a matter of taste. The Mardi Gras comparison is very appropriate- most Martians work endless shifts in nightmarish conditions, so when they have any free time, they use it to its full advantage. This cultural situation is reflected in some extreme fashion (or lack thereof).
3) There are definitely plenty of female characters. And there will be more. Villains and heroes. It might surprise people that the actual head of the CSC is also a woman. In fact, and this is more of an undertone really, Mars is very matriarchal compared to the rest of the colonized solar system.
I hope though, Jester, you’re not saying you don’t like the comic. We have pretty thick skins and (honestly) I’d take some well-constructed and thought-out criticism over a platitude any sol. So I’m very sincere when I say I appreciate your comments. I just want you to keep reading.
Dave
I’d like to keep reading, Dave, but I’m afraid the trio of wannabe rocker girls just aren’t cutting it as story-drivers. Maybe the format is partly to blame, but after a year and more than fifty pages, they feel disappointingly “flat” (their rather impressive combined cleavage notwithstanding). You call them archetypes, and that indeed seems to be what they are, and nothing more, really.
I don’t think I’ve said it outright till now, but it definitely seems like the positions of Kessler and the girls should be reversed; that he should be the focus of the story and they the quirky secondary character/s popping up every now and then to provide a change of pace. Kessler actually *does* things, moving around, making decisions and affecting the course of the plot even if he doesn’t appear in person all that often, whereas our protagonistic pop-tarts have essentially spent the entire duration of the story doing little more than being helplessly swept along by Kessler and his machinations. Hell, you basically started the whole thing with his deciding that their music could help his rebellion, and he’s been more or less in control of every significant thing that they’ve done to one degree or another ever since then. They’re basically his pawns, and unless you plan on eventually forcing him into the tiresome “evil blond man” cliche, making him out to be no less a villain in his own right than the corporatists he opposes and having the girls strike out on their own as the locus of some sort of Martian third party, it doesn’t make much dramatic or narrative sense for him to *not* be the hero and protagonist of the piece.
Ah, Martian “fashion”. Heard the explanations before. Didn’t find them a particularly convincing excuse for the extravagant exhibitionism in evidence the first time around, and especially not amongst the members of the MLF. Kessler, realistically, would oppose that kind of unconstructive, mindless hedonism that would really only serve to keep the masses distracted from rebelling against their corporate overlords (and Kessler himself seems to have a rather pronounced sense of modesty with regards to the female body, at least by Martian standards).
I don’t find it particularly surprising that Martian society should be “matriarchal” either (and I *do* hope that’s not meant to be some sort of ironic jab at the whole “Mars = Male” thing), considering that so far as we’ve seen up to this point it would appear to basically just be an extrapolation of our present-day pseudo-matriarchal social system, and that almost all of the males to have intruded upon the workings of the plot thus far save Kessler (who, significantly, wants to topple the current social order) appear to be emasculated and/or incompetant lack-wits who cannot eliminate a trio of hapless and poorly-armed airheads to save their lives, while the few females to have served a purpose beyond random eye-candy give every indication of exemplifying the “woman as dead-eyed killing machine” ideal in the worst Hollywood style.
Meh…
Were it not for the gleefully exposed titties left right and centre (allowing Nic to indulge his apparent love for imaginatively-accessorised nipples), I’d probably cheerfully stick with the story regardless just for the sake of Nic’s artwork if nothing else, but, again, I’m just not connecting with or even really *liking* anyone here but Kessler.
P.S.
As for the whole Jem thing, well, if the Misfits had tried to gun down the Holograms at a gig only to be blown up by Snake Eyes who would then reveal Eric Raymond to be a Crimson Guard, and the hologram technology linked to Zartan’s ability to camouflage himself and shape-shift, that would quite possibly be the most hilariously awesome cartoon cross-over of all time, but that’s neither here nor there.
Skeletor would also have to be involved in some capacity.
Well, any writer would be foolish to think everyone’s going to like his characters or story. So no hard feelings; I can’t tell you how many comic series I’ve started and then lost interest. It is the way of things.
I am glad, though, you find Kessler an intriguing character. He’s certainly going to continue to be a main fixture of the book. I think people dig him because he’s both sympathetic AND obviously manipulative. Stepping out from his shadow, no matter how benevolent his influence appears, is something Vikki and the girls will have to eventually attempt. How they do it and if they’re successful is a major part of the tale.
Tell ya what, Jester, if you stick with it and read the entirety of Book One (96 pages-approx.) and still feel disappointed, I will return your money in full.