Webcomics of the Apocalypse: Flipside

Okay, I spent the last two weeks taking on some pretty bad webcomics, but I feel no satisfaction. Today I'm going to take down a webcomic that is better regarded. Why? Well, it is my nature. My target is Flipside...another comic with lesbians, although, unlike Misfile or Angels 2200, at least it comes by them honestly.

Let's start out by saying something positive: the art is actually pretty damn good. Oh, sure, it's that same sort of anime-inspired stuff that seems to be the dominant look in webcomics, but at least this guy does it well. So, there you go, I'm not just some asshole that spends all of his time making fun of others to make himself feel superior...I only do that most of the time.

Okay, the biggest problem with Flipside is that it's characters kind of make your head hurt. The main character is a jester named Maytag, a character who is magically able to solve every problem without violence. An evil sorceress about to kill her? Maytag can talk her down in one page or less. An angry band of thugs about to beat the shit out of her? She'll just decide the fight is over. A monstrous cannibal locking her up in a cave? Maytag will not only prove that the cannibal was just misunderstood, but also offer to be a food source. Incidentally, I believe that makes Maytag more Christ-like than Christ, because when Jesus offered his body and blood, he didn't mean it literally. (Also, that wasn't even the first time she dismembered herself in order to defuse a situation.)

I think that Maytag is supposed to have character flaws, but I think they exist more in theory than in fact. She's supposed to be a nymphomaniac, and thus someone who's unable to maintain any sort of healthy relationship, but it's never actually shown to be a problem. In fact, that panel I linked to in the last sentence, this is the page that comes directly before it. I'm only harping on this because it seems like one of those flaws that authors give their characters so that they can say, "See, she isn't totally perfect." Except, if it's a flaw that never is shown to have any ill effects, is it really a flaw? The closest the comic comes to addressing it is in this sequence, but seeing as it's followed a few pages later by this, so that doesn't really count.

There's also the viewpoint character, Crest, whose role to remind the audience how awesome Maytag is. There's also Bernadette, who I guess is supposed to be torn about how her girlfriend is inevitably going to cheat on her, but well, since Maytag may be the most chaste nymphomaniac in history, that's really kind of a non-starter in terms of drama.

As for the plot...I don't know. Most of the time it seems to want to trend towards high fantasy, but then occasionally you end up with subplot about how Bernadette wants to join a group of knights, but she's a lesbian and they hate gays, and that's rather jarring. That said, the pace of the plot is probably best described as glacial, in that I believe the characters have been traveling towards the same town for about three years now.

In summary, Flipside is probably better than either Misfile or Angels 2200, but it's not really good. Actually, I'm probably being a bit hard on it, as far as webcomics go, it's actually rather well-crafted, but it ought to be better, especially since the creator is willing to ask for money from the audience.