Broken Frontier

Hot off Zuda, I’m going to spend the next week reviewing a trio of webcomics featured on Markosia Enterprise’s official site.

Let’s start by saying in only three webcomics, Markosia shows where Zuda gets it right – and where Zuda gets it wrong. Many print publishers have struggled to figure out just how to fit webcomics into their grand scheme. Some go for high-octane, animated entries with sound and others go for minimalist designs with very little plot or story engagement.

Markosia falls somewhere in between, and if it’s any indication, so does the rest of the comic book industry outside of Zuda.

First, let’s take a look at what Marokisa does right – easy navigation. This was a potential giant-killer for Zuda, but Markosia’s webcomics are pretty easy to find (check under . . . errr . . . Webcomics) and view. There, the webcomics are in full-page installments with the standard forward-back, first-last navigation neatly placed beneath each comic like fast-forward and rewind.

But now let’s look at where Markosia gets it wrong – the updates. Only one of Markosia’s webcomics seems to be actively and consistently updating – Baby Boomers (reviewed below). The other two webcomics only have one installment posted. Another problem is there is no indication where Baby Boomers itself updates, making it really impossible to constantly check back for new updates.

I’m not sure if Baby Boomers is the kind of webcomic you need to constantly check, but some update notice would help. The story is accessibly simple – two babies catch sight of one another and duke it out. At first it starts out with a pretty amusing, though seemingly one-trick, premise which serves as nice introduction to Markosia’s webcomic lines. The first two stories are pretty similar – both feature the two babies going at it in some epic flying swordsman fashion only for the each baby’s respective mother to turn around and say something along the lines “Oh, how cute!”.

It’s the third story – set in a bath tube with rubber starfishes improvised as ninja stars – where the series really starts to push the envelope, branching out into risqué implications without the crude or obscene visuals. While I’m not sure Baby Boomers is the type of high quality webcomic users are going to check back every day to read, it’s certainly an amusing premise capable of a few unexpected developments and gags.

Perhaps what’s really frustrating is Baby Boomers is apparently the only continuing webcomic on the comic publisher’s website. Other webcomics include Digging for Apples and Markosia’s flagship, Starship Troopers, but they aren’t actively updating – both only have one story listed in their archives. While both will be reviewed next week, it’s slightly disheartening Markosia isn’t making better use of the webcomic medium to push its creative vision to a new section of fandom. Baby Boomers is an amusing read but Markosia can, and should, do more.