Reviews Webcomic / Cuanta Vida

A Melodrama On A Black Comedy's Stage - An ill-fitting combination.

First, a confession: I’ve never played TF2. My first real exposure to it was in September 2010. I’d heard of the game, but had written it off as just another FPS. One day, I clicked a link on tvtropes, a youtube compilation of domination lines. I key into sounds, especially voices, and this one was no exception: This was Crocodile Dundee after the psychotic break, Jack the Ripper reincarnate, a voice that instantly conjured up images of a Bowie knife held to my throat. His video confirmed my assessment: The Sniper loves his mum, but he sure as hell doesn’t love you. In little under seven minutes, I knew exactly who this character was… and I wanted to see more of him and the rest of the RED Team. I can’t exactly say the same for the boys of Cuanta Vida. The comic began in 2008, a year before Cerberus Syndrome hit the game like a shot from a loose cannon, but why are most of these hardened PMC Assassins treated as reluctant greenhorn soldiers without pay or leave? (These aren’t our hired guns, yes, but they’re hired guns nonetheless.) Why has the land-grab, and surveillance, been going on for forty years after the Announcer’s disappearance and a company merger? These questions, and the Ontological Mystery at TF2’s heart, are casually dismissed in favor of standard BL melodrama. Gabry and Liam are our Ore-sama and Cool beauty, since they’re also the most competent fighters, they have to die, and quick. Our heros, Jeremy and Jordi, are also this, but with the puppy kitty dynamic added. Everyone else is flat, stereotypical, and underdeveloped, except the BLU Engineer… The author waffles, when focusing on plot, she forgets to add character, and vice-versa. After a while, she seems to realize that this isn’t quite the story she wanted to tell… and when she tells her own, her characterization and storytelling skills improve dramatically. Jeremy and Jordi of CV are likely headed for an overwrought, violent end, echoing many older, shoujo-aimed yuri and yaoi:“No climax, no point, no meaning.” But Jeremy and Jordi of TITWIYEH are just starting out, in their own cute take on Boy Meets Boy. Finally, Kytri’s art needs improvement, RED Scout’s pet bird is less of a chicken… and more of a dove. Huh.