I’m starting to weed out those projects who’ve died or went on hiatus since they submitted themselves. It’s bound to happen with young and/or obscure projects, so I feel no guilt about not getting to these sooner. Still, as long as the URL points to a site, I may as well reserve a sublist if I’m inclined to give it a go.

Remember these ‘reviews’ are more often than not critiques, so I can share my opinion with the creators and other webcomickers about what works and what doesn’t. Whether the site is ‘live’ or not says something, but doesn’t always mean shit to me.

Next week, I’m planning a triple-comic hop into furry territory, but for now, let’s hit my second photocomic.

Here we go: Foundcomics.net

The project is formally known as, ‘Even in the deepest heart of chaos, a glimmer of order can be found,’ but I just refer to it by it’s URL since I can call shit whatever I want. Eitdhofafoocbf is too fucked up for even me to acronym.

Foundcomics is either an originator or thee originator in this sub-sub-genre that uses random internet images and creates a narrative from them. The creator’s, Dominic Peloso’s, description:

A small computer app will stream six random photos recently posted on the internet tagged with whatever key word I’m feeling that day. These are put into a nice 3×2 matrix. Just like a comic strip. I don’t allow myself to switch out photos or change the order. I have to work with what fortune gives me.

So that’s it. A premise, a format, a design that doesn’t waver, though the content is as random as the entire internets though focused by the writer’s imagination. He is charged with formulating a coherent story from a visual ether, and you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that this isn’t creative, and that it isn’t art. The entire presentation is based on his ability to construct the written ‘captions per panel’ that are less lolcat, and more thought-provoking and telling about him as an artist and individual.

Therein, I see Postsecret mixed with Drew’s livejournal image generator. The result is something I can relate to, and at the same time its merits are worth exploring in Dominic’s perspective: often humorous, often dark/sarcastic often kiss-of-death emo, but always insightful and on-fucking-target-coherent.

So he’s practiced at making something out of not-much, and if the captions aren’t interesting, the photos often are. And if the photos aren’t interesting, the captions often are: your standard webcomic art/writing tradeoff.

This is legit, and it’s fun.

The value of entertainment and webcomics aren’t based on what the artists invest—it’s dependant on what the readers get out of it. So I’m never one to turn my nose up at the fact there’s zero illustration or editorial-choice involved in Foundcomics. The project’s constraints, the randomness, is the challenge, even if Dominic gets to hone in on the subject word.

Foundcomics is what it is, so you’ll either find it silly and base, or maybe you’ll be as intrigued as I am about the individual photos and the way Dominic ties them together in a concise narrative.

**Note that the search-word titles can be found in the archives, and that each photo within is sourced to its original interweb location.

Foundcomics, and it’s sister comic Tiny Ghosts, both get an approving nod from me. It’s not easy to make a point without being heavy-handed.