City of Reality

City of Reality is an interesting little gem that started just a few month ago. It updates in whole chapters every 15 days (without any Schedule Slips, so far). It starts out a bit Mary Sue-tastic, but it quickly overcomes/deconstructs this. Ian is also pretty creative with his use of Flash in the comic.

Link to the first page.

PS: His art gallery is a bit ... weird.

Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

Interesting stuff. I gotta agree that the Flash-based thing with the Device was pretty cool.

HOLY CARP he's that transformation fetish guy!

I'm a fan of this. And it's probably best to ignore the gallery if you're not into that sort of stuff.

How intriguingly odd.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

I just now realized we already have a page on it: City Of Reality. Good thing I checked before I started writing my own.

And yeah, he is that transformation fetish guy.

Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

Hm, wasn't Hinto in his TF comics prior to City of Reality?

Yep, she was. That's one thing I really like about this arc, it refers to Ian's older work, but doesn't shut out the newer audience at all.

You mean stuff from the Gallery or is there other material that I am not aware of?

Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

Chapter 5 concludes. Wow, this story is getting into some serious moral issues. I admit that I didn't expect this when I first started reading. It has me on the edge of my seat for the showdown with the Hierarchy. Also, go Todo!

edited 15th Dec '09 2:30:08 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Didley is interesting. He knows what he's trying to do is not morally justified, and he's basically a good person. But he's still going to do it, and he won't let anyone stop him.

And I look at the beginning with new eyes now. Was it a particularly interesting read? No. But what I now recognize is that we couldn't truly understand these characters if we hadn't seen where they came from.

Yes, it's easy to just dismiss Reality as a Mary Suetopia without realizing that Tropes Are Not Bad, and what the comic is really leading up to is a deconstruction of what happens when people from a "perfect" society are forced to deal with the rest of humanity.

Todo's near fall from grace is all the more poignant when you realize why he is the way he is; he literally has never had to face how nasty people can be to each other.

And what you said about Didley is true; he realizes that he can never go back to Reality once he's done what he came to do. He's willing to sacrifice himself to end the threat to the way of life he loves. The fact that what he's doing is objectively wrong doesn't take away from this.

edited 15th Dec '09 8:32:57 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Wow, epic new action, and a 23-page update rather than the usual 15. I was honestly wondering if SUEPR's powers would actually work in the World of Magic. Todo is much more than merely an optimist.

edited 17th Jan '10 4:26:58 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Damn, I hate when I fall in love with a webcomic that doesn't attract much readership from the wiki. Anyway, I just finished some major Entry Pimpage, so maybe that'll get some more people reading and commenting.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

I am following this comic too. Just don't have much to say about it.

Manumitor is Hinto Ama.

Why that dirty little ... he even showed a somewhat similar looking and transformation happy witch earlier as a Red Herring, just make sure you won't see it coming.

Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

It's a pretty awesome plot twist, IMO. It explains Mamumator's earlier behaviour perfectly. No wonder he didn't want a reward or even a thank you for helping people.

Yeah, I definitely didn't see that one coming. The only thing that bothers me is the apparently complete nature of Ama's Heel–Face Turn. Normally someone described as that depraved doesn't just turn on a dime. There may be an interesting story involved, unless Redemption Equals Death.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

So... today's update. Did the resolution of the battle seem a bit anticlimactic to anyone besides me?

I'm very curious about the promised upcoming changes, though. It's a bit confusing, though - is the author moving away from the current episodic format?

edited 1st Feb '10 11:51:04 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

I just did an Archive Binge through this comic, and I have to say it's pretty awesome. The flash parts are, in my opinion, the best touch for a webcomic I've ever seen.

Anticlimatic? I'm not sure. There was a brief battle that kinda didn't live up to the build-up. Kinda. And Magic World is still the same.

I'm supprised that they really intend to open up the city to any immigrant who wants to come. Their entire system is based on the fact that they only let Good People (tm) in. With voluntary taxes and all...

Now if you excuse me, Starfleet is about to award the Christopher Pike Medal to my dick. — SF Debris

So I actually got around to reading the forums and found out what the change will be: Ian is moving to a three day per week format rather than an episodic format.

Looks like the upcoming chapter will be a romance arc between A.V. and Todo. I'm very much looking forward to it, even though I still can't figure out exactly how old the characters are supposed to be. The art style doesn't help at all.

Edit: After going through the forums, apparently the lack of defined ages is an intentional Shrug of God on the author's part. Interesting.

edited 4th Feb '10 11:55:36 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

I'm a bit surprised the article doesn't make the obvious joke.

The comics equivalent of PTSD.

Ugh. That's so bad that it probably slipped past all us sane, rational people. Add it if you must.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

It's been keeping on an admirable M-W-F schedule for some time now, and while the story has been progressingly slowly, we're clearly headed for all hell breaking loose. Can't wait.

We Are The Wyrecats Needs Tropes!

...

Um. Did that really just happen?

I mean, that was just... impossibly dark.

The comics equivalent of PTSD.