Webcomics and short films: Not everything needs to have epic length or reach to be epic. This month we look at smaller bites that are no less satisfying than your favorite doorstop book, series, movie-repeat, or sealed comic.
Best Always!
Team Narazu
All Indie. All Awesome.
BRIEF BUT MEMORABLE
by Leo Faierman
While here at NARAZU we often try to highlight short films when possible — in many cases, especially with the demanding budgets for effective sci-fi film work, they represent an investor-pleading proof-of-concept — but this month we’re going to drill down on the format exclusively, with a clutch of varied content old and new, previously celebrated and yet to be discovered. Some of these creators, like Nguyen-Anh Nguyen seem primed to go mainstream, with tremendous visual polish, a crafty editor’s eye, and proven success within crowdfunding venues. On the other side we have Jules Boulain-Adenis, who can seemingly be found now at the precipice of their career, with future projects curiously quiet but prior media attention implying the arrival of a new animation visionary.
Michael Chance has been making shorts for over a decade, but 2015’s sci-fi short Whipping Boy is a great entry into his stylized genre work, seeming like an accomplished proof for a larger film. The voice over work is hard-boiled, exposition-filled, and overdone, but the central concept is so shocking as to make the structured narrative seem tame in response. Olly is a titular “whipping boy,” a literal punching bag hired out by over-stressed home-based employees who spend their days working alone in corporate servitude. To de-stress (and maybe even reconnect with humanity, in some cracked way?), they pay individuals to come by and take vicious beatings, whips allowing themselves to be attacked for a few minutes without retaliation. It’s specifically more disturbing that Olly’s actor, Tongayi Chirisa, is a Zimbabwean man, which adds a potent and undoubtedly intentional air of racist violence to the imagery. The set design here is muted but informs the cyberpunk atmosphere, making the most of a few apartments and some subtle VFX, and the script by Aiah Samba and Chance approaches its drastic idea with solemn formality. You can watch Whipping Boy for free right now, on Vimeo. (side-note: if you want to learn more, there’s a detailed interview with Chance about the production conducted in 2014 for The Escapist)
Jules Boulain-Adenis (who also goes by Naleb) is an illustrator, animator, and comic book artist in Paris, and his feature graduate short Panacée from 2017 made some mighty waves a few years ago, including feature articles at Nerdist and The Mary Sue. It’s a stunning and imaginative piece of independent animation, possibly inspired by the works of sci-fi greats like Moebius and Jean-Claude Mézières (fellow Parisians, as it turns out). Clocking in at a mere five minutes, the short follows two space-faring women exploring an anomaly on a pink-skied planet, where formerly extinct creatures may still thrive. For me, one of my favorite comics of all time is Sam Kieth’s The Maxx, so I was of course thrilled to find the appearance of air whales in Naleb’s wonderful project. Throw on some headphones and head over to his Vimeo page to check out Panacée, then wait patiently with the rest of us for his next, yet-to-be-announced animated project.
Finally we arrive at the work of Nguyen-Anh Nguyen, a former-dental-doctorate-turned-filmmaker whose meticulous sensibilities seem ready and set for a full-length box office feature. His first ground-shaker was the live-action fan film trailer for Akira (currently the best proof we’ve seen yet of an adaptation, with Warner Bros. continuing to halt their scheduled production), followed by the sci-fi body horror/martial arts action short Temple. His short from last year Hyperlight diverts from this focus on action to present a gorgeous outer space character drama, and the production and acting quality floored me. Television mainstay Jeananne Goossen and Peter Shinkoda (formerly of Netflix’s Daredevil and the recent The Predator) deliver powerfully intimate performances as two astronauts possibly trapped in an FTL paradox. The intro scene alone should grab you immediately, as the pair float untethered through space in cryogenic capsules, and the 15-minute short feels like a satisfyingly complete story with absolutely no compromises or cut corners. Check out Hyperlight on Nguyen-Anh Nguyen’s Vimeo, and find out more at the official website (including a related VR project possibly the horizon).
WEBSLINGERS
For the past few years, my recommendations have mainly been comics that can be found at your local comic book shop or digitally reproduced online. This month’s picks are comics that were made specifically for the web with very nontraditional sizes and orientation. They might not seem like traditional comics but they will check all the boxes and then some!
Oh, and totally off brand I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my Wife and Mother, my two favorite Ladies!!! They have supported me in my love of this crazy medium from jump in ways big and small.
Writer/Artist/Creator Chuck Collins
I discovered this strip from being a fan of creator Collins’ earlier collaborative work TriBoro Tales. Bounce was conceived by Collins as a semi-biographical strip for retelling the outlandish events from his time as a bouncer in NYC. Using a distinctive anime style, it interjects humor as he explores topics like racism, sexism, politics, and general douche bag antics that need handling. Like his characters, Collins doesn’t pull punches with his outlandishly bold comedy and storytelling style. If you’re new to Bounce there’s a great archive of this weekly comic available for your enjoyment.
Writer/Artist/Creator Len Webb
With no affiliation to the character, Batman’s White Board is a lighthearted parody that imagines what’s on our favorite Dark Knight Detective’s whiteboard in the Batcave. What could easily be a Mad Magazine feature, BWB is written and illustrated by podcast guru by day, artist by night Len Webb aka the Bat-Tribble of Philadelphia’s Black Tribbles podcast. This daily Instagram post is topical in its humor as well as showing clear knowledge of comics and its intersection with other pop culture franchises. You can tell this is done with true geek love and fun as everything ends up on the Board in a playful way!
Writer – Kathryn Immonen / Artist – Stuart Immonen
Yes, Heavy Metal has an Instagram account, but what they don’t have is Grass of Parnassus. This online gem is the baby of comic veterans Kathryn and Stuart Immonen, Stuart is on my top ten all-time comic artists. I love his artwork (I’m lucky enough to have a small drawing he did for an unused DC Comics project) so when I say that when he announced his retirement from comics it hurt…it hurt. BUT shortly after Stuart broke my heart Fredo-style, he and his wife gave me new life with this wacky sci-fi dramedy that drops once a week on Instagram. (The most frustrating thing is how the Instagram algorithm doesn’t keep it at the top of my feed when it drops on Monday’s!)
Creator/Artist – Sanford Greene / Writer – Chuck Brown
Colorist – Mike Chung / Letterer – Rus Wooton / Music – Dose
Sanford Greene and Chuck Brown’s 1,000 is the most traditional web offering on my list with this sci-fi/fantasy epic staring a Dragon God named “Son” transformed into a mortal until he commits 1,000 acts of redemption with his band of misfit monster fighters. This series takes place in a near future world. Son’s team Elder’s Echo is based out of Neo New York, and helps to maintain order in this all-star world of myths and legends, from vampires and psychics to dragons, battling monsters who are controlled by a mysterious stranger. When you go to check it out lose your comic book page, left-to-right turning behind and prepare yourself for an infinite scroll of amazing. 1,000 had a failed Kickstarter campaign but this is a WebToon.com hit, with a tight plot, minimal dialogue and captions supporting the art team’s dynamic flair with the storytelling. And that last creator credit isn’t a mistake, if you read it on your mobile device, they have a track to accompany the comic.