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7-01-05
Stranger Than a Strange Land
Some comics, like Filthy
Lies, you can just pick up at whatever point you want and it
makes no difference. It's solid funny. Some, like College
Roomies from Hell, you have to read from the beginningand
keep a scorecard handy. Catharsis,
by J. Boeke, fits neatly in between those two extremes.
Ideally, you should start from the beginning, if only because you'll
miss a little referential humor if you don't. But you don't
have to. Each comic stands on its own, or at least each story
arc does, and the larger tales of the various arcs are neither epic
nor dramatic enough to have to ford through two years of archives to
catch up.
Simply put, Catharsis is the tale of Gwen Dahlgren, a
twenty-something woman trying her best to make it on her own in a
small town. She does this, of course, with the help (or
hindrance) of her various wacky roommates. If Catharsis
were a situation comedy, these would be twentyish pretty people who
spent half anhour every week agonizing about hair gel. Catharsis,
however, is a webcomic, and we hold to an altogether different
standard of wacky here in webland.
First is Rremly the dragon. He's some 400 years old, but still
sees the world through the eyes of a gifted five-year-old. He's
Gwen's friend and (sort of) pet, and much of the mayhem that ensues
within the apartment is the direct result of his attempts at amusing
himself or Gwen. If Rremly isn't at the center of the raging
weirdness storm (and much of the time, even if he is), you can be
sure that Baxter the Squirrel is somewhere nearby. Baxter is
often pushy, rude and generally seeks chaos for his own
amusement. He is the soul of the meanness and selfishness that
makes squirrels reviled throughout the world. He isn't even
particularly cute, largely because he spends a lot of time in various
states of hairlessness. The rest of the cast is rounded out by
the fluffs, the wild cherries, Cute Guy, and the dread pirate,
Captain Funkmouth.
Catharthis
is a whimsical comic. The art is whinsical, the colors
whimsical, and the writing, while sharp and insightful, carries its
own style of modern whimsy. Rremly, for all of his
naiveté, shows remarkable wisdom (unless he's bored, or
curious, or scared, then he's a lot like a child). Until
recently, Boeke ran a very difficult line-walk, keeping the whinsical
mayhem only within Gwen's apartment. Outside, everything was
more or less normal-world. A few months ago, she introduced the
idea that no one can keep a dragon and a talking squirrel (and a
sock-puppet pirate, ninja kitten, spear-carrying cherris, etc.)
secret for very long in a small apartment building in a small
town. She also ended a years-long subplot about Gwen's crush on
the Cute Guy upstairs by Gwen to actually spend time with him and get
to know him.
The comic updates daily, although on weekends and special days Boeke
runs Cathartic Doodles, which are semi-autobiographical single-panel
strips featuring Doodlebunny Girl, and some wry observations about
life. When people remember the gret Disney cartoons of their youth
their thinkingof something very like Catharsis.
Updates: Daily
Caveats: Whimsical themes and humor, naked squirrels
Rating: