Broken Frontier

HERO manages to squeeze a lot of originality into the webcomic medium, though it still requires a little bit more perfecting. The story is simple (a welcome change, as most are increasingly complex) – a young boy finds himself in a rudimentary existence in the isolated home of a witch. Beautifully illustrated and deeply existential, HERO is one of the most immersive experiences on the web today, though not without experimentation or flaws.

HERO is told first person from the point of view of the boy. At a glance, there is no text in the comic – at least not in the form of word balloons or captions. Instead, the text appears by way of the mouse cursor, and switches depending on what panel the pointer is hovering over.

This is an extremely innovative idea; though one that requires a bit more practice. In many cases, the stream-of-consciousness narrative takes up quite a lot of room. The blessing of this system is you can simply move the text as easily as the mouse pointer, but this really isn’t an option if you have a large chunk of text resting on a small panel – as the text is restricted to that panel, and will change when moved to another.

The text issues aside, the art is every bit as exceptional and enthralling as the story. No matter the reading problems, or the occasionally annoying rambling of the main characters, we remain captivated and curious as to what the heck is really going on.

Reading HERO feels like watching an art film, and sometimes requires just as much patience, but the beauty and mystery of the atmosphere are engaging enough to keep us going.

Make no mistake, not all webcomics work so well with such cryptic material, but HERO distinguishes itself though elegant simplicity. Many of the characters do not, so far as I have read, possess names, and are only known as “the serpent”, “the priest” or “the witch". This enhances the surreal, fable-like quality of the tale, and bids us to read further.

Philosophy and English majors alike can find one more reason to like creator Hwei Lin Lim’s work, which actively credits the works of Albert Camus and others in its creation.

HERO might not always be a success, by either commercial or narrative merits, but at even its worst it is original and meaningful. Few other webcomics can claim that distinction.