Here we go: Wickedpowered

By webcomic luminaries Owen Gieni and Chris Crosby, I’d actually never heard of it before. Sore Thumbs, sure, but not this one.

Ignorance was bliss.

My hatred for Sore Thumbs is longstanding based on a disappointing six-month and oft-checking-in readership starting when it was simply an intriguing-premise/newbie-comic (circa 2004-2005). So, sure, I consider myself familiar with the Gieni/Crosby formula for parody/satire and illustration. I’m not the kind of reader who forgets who the fuck the authors are between books…

Oddly, this sort of amnesia seems to be supported in webcomickry as opposed to all other forms of print and celluloid media. Perhaps it’s due to the rapid turnover of projects, but it’s as if every new piece of shit is supposed to supercede the last, and goddamned if you compare and contrast. It’s totally fucking bizarre, and something singular in webcomics as a medium, since you only find this sort of default-placation in niche print/cell fan-circles.

So as a reader shopping for new lulz, it’s not my job to question preconceptions, it’s their job to prove me wrong via the merit of their work. I’d go a lot less ham-handed with the self-defense, but it’s always a joy attacking a comic with a solid reader base [/sarcasm]. Obviously, I’m no troll, but I do consider it a chore to speak my mind against a project that is widely considered ‘good.’ I’m not in this for e-brawilin’.

On to the review of WP, and WP specifically:

Wickedpowered is an animu/pop-culture parody about a prototypical high school loser who gets visited by three hot babes from the future, who proclaim that Wiley Schlub is their world-saving, statuesque hero. The character art is that well-drawn, over-accentuated Geini staple, complete with giant boobz and pants-so-low-rise as to reveal vaginae were it a bit more risqué. As always, it’s SFW fapping material for teen boys.

Cool, all fine, none of that’s a problem. The premise is a parody, and I understand that and get all the almost-subtle jokes.

But as the vapid heroines and our cockless hero embrace their roles as low-brow puppets, I really start to question this story’s role as anything other than its face-value. I mean, at this point, the kind of shit it parodies, Anathema (NSFW) for example, actually delivers better lulz, better fap, and to be honest, a much more compelling premise and execution in plot.

A problem with parody is when it ceases to reveal anything beyond its own structure. And when you can compare it to a wholesale-porn comic and say that porn comic is better; that’s when you’ve failed to hit your mark with your higher audience.

Every story arc featuring provocative poses, netspeak-in-bubbles, and half-assed character development really showcases the limits of creativity within the premise, which sort of runs over itself through the course of the comic. 

Not like they really care. This isn’t high art anyway, but it’s always a trip seeing something pander to the lowest denominator of fandom, hit the middle-teir of intellectualism, and still fall short in exploring anything other than an extended string of trite, over-pursued, and under-supported puns, all of it masquerading as a catch-all between the lines.

So I don’t think it’s clever. But I don’t mind that it sells. It does its job within the market and creates a broad experience that a wide (male) audience gets something out of. Just don’t trick yourself into thinking it’s deeper than it looks–even as a parody.