Webcomic Liveblogs!

Testing, testing, one two three. Is the microphone on?

Ahem.

Hello everybody! My name is Nick, I’m 21 years old and I live in South America. So I have been…’encouraged’ to create this website. As you can see I bought a domain, I created a logo and overall made the necessary preparations although it’s quite a simplistic theme this site has, so it’s time to kick this forward.

It’s quite a simple concept: I’ll go through webcomics and liveblog all my thoughts, theories and anything that goes through my head regarding characters, plot and all details that get my attention.

The reason I’m doing this is simple: to enrichen my interests and read what other people have created in the field of webcomics.

I’m aiming to have three parallel liveblogs at once, and the three I’m starting with have already been chosen. I’ll start a new one only when any of them is finished or when any of them manage to frustrate me so much I just have to drop it. I should point that I’m only reading finished webcomics or webcomics with a rather large number of pages.

And so here are the picks for the starting of this website!

Digger, by Ursula Vernon

Homestuck, by Andrew Hussie

Scary Go Round, by John Allison

The liveblogs will start tomorrow. Here’s the expected chart for the next seven days:

Thursday: Homestuck

Friday: Homestuck

Saturday: Scary Go Round

Sunday: Digger

Monday: Scary Go Round

Tuesday: Digger

Wednesday: Homestuck

If for some reason in any of those days I can’t upload the update then it’ll go live the next day along whatever is programmed there.

And that’s everything there was to be said, I think. It goes unsaid that spoilers are not welcome, but I have appointed some people to watch over that matter already, so it should all be fine. If you have anything to say, feel free to send me a message. You’ll see that nifty button to the side of the blog, so give it a click anytime!

So see you everyday from now on until the foreseeable future!

For some reason this one was recommended to me by the few people I asked to give me a few webcomics to read, even if it was unfinished. The general consensus was that it was ‘a very, very long and convoluted clusterfuck’. That got my attention, I’ll admit. After all in mysteries the purpose of reading them is to unravel enigmas and find the thread of logic among the murky circumstances, right?

So why not to give Homestuck a try? Allow me to see what the hubbub is, because I can’t say those recommendations were the first time I ever heard of this. It’s kind of a big thing in Internet, after all. At least I have avoided spoilers and the such…for the most part.

What do I know? I know its characters seem to be mainly composed of teenagers. There are also some sort of, um, aliens? Gray skin and horns, it’s either aliens or demons with the usual generic look media gives them. I haven’t got the foggiest idea how they influence the plot.

The plot was described to me as an adventure inside some sort of game that influences the outside world. There are a lot of conversations and fun moments…and death at times. I don’t dare to go checking around to see if it is accurate, for obvious reasons.

I already have an ask screener, so I should also be safe of any spoilers that may come via the inbox, hopefully.

So now that the pleasantries has been exchanged between me, the reader/liveblogger and you, the reader/reader, let’s give a start to the hopefully whimsical and hopelessly convoluted adventures I’m told Homestuck is!

UPDATE 1: Are we in the Matrix already?

I admit the first thing my eyes drifted to was the section to the left that said ‘Latest Pages’. It has ‘A6A6I5’. I asked a friend what that meant and she said A was Act and I was Intermission, I suppose that means the story right now is in Act 6 Act 6 Intermission 5.

…And this has been going for several years, from what I have heard.

These will be some long acts, won’t they?

I also asked what that S in brackets was but she said it was a surprise.

So, the very first screen. Doesn’t really look done in MSPaint. It’s even animated. Good, I like that.

The date is set, it’s this young boy’s birthday, thirteenth birthday to be more exact. Will this story involve this kid’s coming of age tale? Thirteen years old is a bit young for that, but I suppose that’d be fine.

What I notice is that we weren’t given a name; the link on the bottom is prompting me to click and enter a name. Interesting mechanic, I suppose the rest of the story has some coding that stores the chosen name in cookies or something.

Well that was kind of disappointing, I can’t choose a name. First there’s a fake attempt, ‘Zoosmell Pooplord’. Charming. John Egbert! So that’s his name, fine with me.

Keep reading

Update #2: Quality Parent-Son Bonding

Let’s see what Homestuck shows us this time.

John starts well this update by tossing the Gamebro into the fire, burning that journalistic heap of puke into ashes. Looks like today I may have a bit more of appreciation for Homestuck!

So we meet a bit more about John’s family. His grandmother, or his NANNA, as the story called her, is dead and currently contained in an urn. Apparently she got crushed by a Sassacre book, which I find completely plausible. That thing is almost as big as John, I’m surprised people can even lift it!

I hope John’s father wasn’t around when it happened, because if he was there and he let a possibly frail old lady go on ladders carrying literary bricks around then he’s going to dig a hole so deep into my Homestuck favorite character list he’s going to be in the same situation than that wombat from Digger. Not that the character list is too big right now, it has…three characters, including him.

Maybe John blames his father for Nanna’s death and that’s why he doesn’t want to see him.

Also I wonder if there’s a grandfather. If there’s no mention at any point I’ll have to suppose he’s dead. There’s also no trace of John’s mother. Is she dead too? I see no urn for his mother.

Keep reading

UPDATE 3: Breaking Reality with No Care at All

Last time I got into the murky waters of Homestuck John had obtained the Sburb beta. What hijinks will this game bring? That’s what I’d like to know.

But John, instead of going straight to install the game he had been waiting days for, decides to mess around with his cakes until everything in his inventory is right inside them. Way to go, John! To get everything out of the cake mess John goes to the bathroom for a towel. Not sure how a towel will help to remove the stuff in the cake, but whatever works.

John takes a moment to tell us how the pogo ride in his backyard has been a source of sorrow and woe since he was a little child. Is that common over there in America? People having playground stuff in their backyards? I know there are people who have swings or sand, but never heard of a pogo ride.

Our dear main character manages to extract his stuff from the cakes without injuring anybody, but then ruins my intent to congratulate him by clogging the toilet with cake. I had never seen anybody managing to do such a mess. If I were Mr. Egbert I’d live afraid of what my son would do due to his less than stellar control of his Sylladex.

John looks at his shrine to McConaughey or whatever it’s spelled before going to his computer, where his friends has been leaving messages. Let’s take a look at the other characters in this story and what they have to say, shall we?

Keep reading

UPDATE #4: Space Rock Bonanza

Last time TT and John had unleashed reality warping games in John’s unsuspecting household. Will Mr. Egbert return to find his house turned into MC Escher’s wildest dreams? I hope so!

One heck of a machine gets deposited in John’s extended room. It’s a Totem Lathe. I don’t know what it does, but I kind of doubt it’s harmless and completely inconsequential. You shouldn’t touch it, John.

TT meanwhile fiddles around with the sections Sburb has. She has found that thing where they store their building…polygons? The blue ones are Building Grist. John wants to mess with reality too, but much to his disappointment he only installed half of the game. The other half is stuck with Mr. Egbert in the car! He’ll have to endure TT’s meddling for a while longer.

TT uses trees as a Sylladex and I have no idea how that’s supposed to work. They finally manage to pick up the mess in the yard and leave the stuff in John’s bedroom.

TT also deploys the Cruxtruder…in what I’m betting is the doorway. John is finally HOMESTUCK. Unless they have a back door available, in which case the title of the webcomic is still absolutely not fitting.

Keep reading

UPDATE 5: Longest Four Minutes Ever

Last time Mr. Egbert was coming home to find one heck of a mess. Can TT stop breaking the bathroom for enough time for her to help save John from a meteor menace? Let’s see!

TT is unable to fix the bathroom in time. Mr. Egbert tries to enter through the front door, but the heap of metal that is the Cruxtruder is still there. Good job on that, TT. And so he goes to the backyard, where he finds the toilet filled with cake and fake arms. Good job on that too, TT.

John is so grounded now.

Say, now that I mention John, he returned to his bedroom to find he’s being contacted by his friends. I’m not sure how John will tell them what’s going on without sounding crazy. I mean, TT will believe him, but what about GG and Turntech?

Now that I think about it GG had mentioned an explosion near her home. Could it be a meteor fell? She may believe John although maybe she won’t think Sburb had anything to do with it.

Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually excited to see the characters reacting to this. Hussie did actually hook me up to Homestuck.

Keep reading

UPDATE 6: Homestuck is Interactive! 

Last time I checked Homestuck John had been transported via magical apple to a pretty dreadful world and potential alternate universe. The shadows had opened their eyes and I had the hunch John was in imminent peril. Again.

The first thing that John sees happening after his arrival to this rather tiny cliff is how his Harlequin Navi divides into three parts, two looking suspiciously like the usual light/dark division.

I suppose the blue part stays behind, hopefully not as an empty shell following John around uselessly.

The Kernel undergoes quite a drastic transformation, growing a body! It’s now a somewhat startling floating blue jester, which…I would hate to have near, to be honest. I’m surprised John, despite his hate for harlequins, isn’t cringing in horror against a corner of the balcony.

Somebody says ‘BOY’ and I’m hoping it was Jiminy Cricket and not the Harleghost communicating through telepathy. That’d make it even creepier, although…somewhat logical, right? The Harleghost wasn’t able to talk on Earth, so it sounded like gibberish. Maybe now that they’re in the dead remains of John’s former planet Harleghost can tap onto its powers.

Keep reading

UPDATE 7: Our Customizable Harleghost!

Last time I commanded John to walk around his house checking everything I could find. It was not a very productive thing to do but it got me entertained but half an hour or so.

Now that I left John in his bedroom the commands tell him to…stop going around the house and go to the bedroom. Well good to have done that before the story told him to!

John and Rose start conferencing and that’s when it gets into my mind: where the heck did John’s father go? I mean they’re on top of a cliff. Did oil slugs throw him down the cliff and into the darkness or what? How did Rose not see anything, did she choose the wrong time to blink?

Rose informs John that meteors have been striking Earth for a while already. Seeing how Sburb was scheduled to arrive a few days before John’s birthday I think the link is obvious here. It’s also possible that the more people playing, the bigger the meteors are, judging by how John’s is the biggest one recorded yet.

EB: wait, rose! one thing… 
TT: What? 
EB: you never even wished me a happy birthday! 
EB: um… hello?

Woah. A friendly reminder about forgetting his birthday got Rose silent. Guilt for not having wished him a happy birthday, perhaps? Or maybe she’s trying to think how to word it? The latter seems more likely, at least from what I know about Rose. I can only expect it’ll be concise and potentially purple.

Keep reading

UPDATE #8: Ah, Dave, Your Personality is Insufferable. And By Insufferable I Mean Completely Sufferable

Last time in Homestuck Rose almost unleashed unmentionable evils upon the world with her strife specibus. Let’s see if this time she’ll think twice before even touching the damn book again.

The first thing suggested is that she should knit a plushie of Cthulhu, but she has no idea what is that. Huh. Is Hussie trying to be lawyer friendly here or do these creatures have some sort of relevance to Homestuck?

The monsters in her grimoire are hella huge, though. This Flutelulu towers way over the city. Looks like some kind of bacteria to me, a really big and ugly one. The next one, whose name I can’t even guess how to say, isn’t any better, being much, much bigger than Flutelulu.

NRUB'YIGLITH, SHAMEBEAST KING OF GROTESQUERY, WRITHE-LORD OF THE MOIST BEYONDHOOD.

The last thing I wanted was to associate the word ‘moist’ to this monstrosity. The mental images this caused are nausea-inducing. However making bones explode is kind of cool, I got to admit that.

And then here is Oglogoth, the only one I can pronounce. The scale has turned enormous here. If John or Rose encounters one of these I don’t have any hopes they’ll give a good fight. I don’t think it’d even notice if they stood up on its damn eyes.

Keep reading