Broken Frontier

Second time is the charm for engaging online teen fantasy-drama from the creator of Skullkickers.

Billed as an experimental new publishing model aimed at building an online audience before going to print, Jim Zubkavich’s Makeshift Miracle is a definite change in tone from his recent comedic-fantasy hit Skullkickers. Chronicling the adventures of a lonely teen named Colby Helm, who stumbles upon a magical world of danger and wonder during an exciting weekend free of his parental units, Makeshift Miracle showcases a much more thoughtful and introspective side of Zubkavich’s writing. While Miracle retains Zubkavich’s flare for dialogue and impeccable plotting, the pace is far less frenetic than his recent examination of the art of skull-kicking.

Although Zubkavich’s pacing in Makeshift Miracle shows patience and maturity, it does also come off as a little choppy as well, thanks to the serial nature of the project. Released in weekly two-page increments, it’s often possible to spot new installments thanks to clumsy transitions, when reading the first chapter as a whole. Hopefully, as the series progresses the movement from one upload to the next becomes more seamless, otherwise this relatively minor hiccough could sink the printed version.

Even as he showcases his own diversity, Zubkavich has chosen in his collaborator Shun Hong Chan, a partner more than able to match his versatility. Chan’s lush, fully painted pages and muted color palette complement the quiet, restrained script perfectly, never out-shining the narrative aspects of the storytelling yet never fading into the background during periods of exposition.

Small press and independent creators have been using a variation of Zubkavich’s model for years in their efforts to build audiences for their properties. In fact, this is Zubkavich's second attempt at bringing his story to a wider audience online. This time around, Makeshift Miracle marks one of the first times a publisher of Udon’s standing has explored providing free original online comics in an effort to build an audience for eventual print distribution. It’s an interesting experiment. On the one hand, it highlights some potential concerns about the economics of print comics, as even the bigger publishers dedicate ever more resources to the development of digital properties. On the other, who knows if a project of Makeshift Miracle’s craft and vision would ever have seen the light of day without a publisher like Udon willing to try something a little different?

Whatever the case, so long as it’s available – online or in print – I’ll be returning to Zubkavich and Chan’s Makeshift Miracle, even if only to help ensure the title doesn’t become too apt.