Aarin Loves Mangu? - Part 2 of 2:  Oh, so you’ve heard of this one

Here we go: Flipside

For my second plunge into webmangu, I discovered Flipside, a comic I assume some/many are familiar with. It has somewhere around 900 pages including Book 0 and the current project, Book 1. This was the bulk of my reading the other night.

So to Brion I say: I’m on ur website, haxxing ur bandwidth.

Anyway, it’s a fantasy focused on two lady protags, Maytag the jester, and Bernadette the warrior. Rogue and fighter isn’t a common pairing beyond Rune Soldier, so kudos on keeping the sorcerers once removed from centerpoint. We also have Crest, a teen boy who appears to be the main character at the onset, but isn’t. For all his angst and shyness, it’s better that way. He’s a catalyst, not a driver.

The art is usually BW and top-fucking-tier. Compared to most any webmanga, the definition of lineart and general expressiveness is hot-shit, not to mention the hotness of Brion’s character designs. The framing isn’t so flashy and the detail might sometimes be minimalistic, but it’s an obvious trade-off for an update schedule Flipside can ZOMFG actually keep. Brion can turn it on when he wants to and lets the flash sleep when it’s unnecessary (dialogue).

This would be my eye candy to ABnN’s brain candy. It’s so easy to read that each 30-page chapter only takes a few minutes.

Whatever. It’s mangu. What did it for me?

Surprise, surprise. The writing. Again.

While Bern and Crest share the spotlight, the story is all about Maytag. Our petite jester is a nymphomaniac with extraordinary insight on human motivation and interaction. The sex is alluded to a lot, but again this is the wrong spot for porn–it ain’t here. What we have is another sexy, flawed heroine who lives by her own terms only to question her ultimate value.

Are you noticing a pattern with what I like?

The stigma against ‘powarfull’ Mary-Sues is all about wish-fulfillment: hott chicks giving it up to weak-willed boys. In Flip or BnN, you’ll find these goddesses crippled by their strength, or rather the effect it has on their lives and relationships. Now that’s writing. What keeps it from being emo is the fight to make it right, the introspection.

Flipside is badass at progressive introspection.

Lest we forget the actual plot, it’s always a fun, modern-voiced quest that pokes fun at itself between edge-of-the-seat do-or-die situations. Sometimes it’s the characters exploring their relationships until some fucktard bursts their bubble. Othertimes it’s a 3-chapter arc about a date until someone ends up in bed. Good action, great humor.

If you’re a fantasy webmanga fan who doesn’t read Flipside, I’m appalled. It beats the absolute shit out of Van Von Hunter and the flashier twice-a-months like World Break and Fantasy Realms. The endearing voice combines with solid art and compelling plot. Plus, all throughout, there’s the theme about the nature of shyness and overcoming it. If slutty Maytag can teach us (boy or girl) how to be more honest with our emotions, Brion has done a good job instilling confidence to fanboys/girls around the world.