Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of The Spiders by Patrick S. Farley

"The attorneys are saying don't shoot her, Lieutenant. ...Pistol-whipping's okay though." - U.S. Military command *WARNING: SPOILERS!* "The Spiders" is a top-notch webcomic, one of the absolute best, so if you haven't read it, go do so now instead of reading my overlong, two-bit review. A lot of the fun comes from the surprises and revelations in the story, and reading my leaky comments will own lessen the impact. If Stanley Kubrick had written webcomics, he might have created something like "The Spiders". It has a mix of cold detachment, biting black humor, innovative visual choices, transcendent psychological experiences, comical dialogue and a use of science fiction to address absurd contemporary political situations. REVIEW Premise What a great science fiction premise! Numerous mobile audio-visual recording devices have been dropped in Afghanistan disguised as spider-like rocks (the spy-"Spiders") and are monitored by a network of citizens around the world connected via Internet websites and chat rooms. Writing But the writer doesn't even lay this premise out like an overly-eager storytelling novice. The reader discovers it slowly in subtle ways and then WHAMMO! With a brilliant visual technique, the images start getting static and the camera pulls back to reveal the full nature of the premise in all of its brilliance. Taliban members, so often characterized in the media as evil, inhumane religious fanatics, bicker here like characters from a Hollywood mix-matched buddy cop movie (and I mean that as a compliment). No one acts the way you expect them to--not the Afghan women, not the U.S. military, not the main characters you think you've got pegged as types. I was constantly being thrown off guard by little things characters would say and how they would react to their situations. Rich throwaway lines about wanting better coffee, suffering from hemorrhoids and bad guys who don't wear helmets abound throughout, making the writing feel fresh and alive instead of following some tired genre adventure script. The regional flavor and the military technical jargon, whether accurate or not, felt convincing enough to me and I was hooked into the drama. The whole mid-section (Section 3.5 which I completely missed somehow when I first visited!) regarding Lieutenant Celicia Miller's evolution is the real core of this story. Her dialogue with Gen. Conchis (conscious?) as spider-cam is hilarious and politically sharp. The visual techniques that draw you into the mountains during Celicia's flashback adventure are amazing on a pure adrenaline-action level. [I can't seem to talk about the writing without slipping into talking about the art--they work that well together]. How the gas exposure and/or encounter with the Afghan sniper triggers Celicia's personal demons and raises her consciousness about humanity is truly profound--as powerful as anything I've read yet in a webcomic. Like all great Sci Fi, it raises great questions: Would an "enlightenment" gas eliminate an enemy's will to kill fellow human beings or, on some level, make the enemy more dangerous than ever? My favorite scene in the whole story full of great scenes is when the full extent of the Afghan sniper's celebrity status is revealed. The image of hundreds of fluttering spy-bots combined with the "Che Guevara" line hit the reader with a one-two knockout punch! WOW! Now I remember how great comics can be! Artwork "The Spiders" often looks like stills from an animated film, with CGI-rendered backgrounds and props and the characters rendered with simpler colors and black lines. But the combo is great and works beautifully. There's often an extra layer of visual effects, such as sand clouds kicking up, and other atmospheric niceties. Use of animations, computer screens, equipment-view graphics and other frame-busting visuals are all done for a purpose to enhance the story and not just included in a show-offish way. I feel the long horizontal layout works wonderfully and even little things like shifts in background colors help enhance the mood transitions. Overall This is just about the perfect webcomic. It takes me places I've never been. It's funny, profound, exciting, clever, contemporary and futuristic all at once. All that and it looks great too. I have no real critical comments to offer except to say that the two "bonus scenes" are good enough (and important enough) to be integrated chronologically into the main story. With a story this good, you know darn well that everyone will want to read the bonus scenes and It was annoying to have to read them afterwards out-of-sequence. Otherwise, I just can't wait to read the conclusion and I wouldn't be surprised if every major black actress in Hollywood didn't try to scoop up the film rights to this dynamite tale. *Hmmm. Looks at own bank account. Damn! Too broke.* Review by The Phantom Critic Sun Aug 10 2003 12:16 PM

Art Very nice art, well drawn and coloured. Each char, even though, almost always dressed alike, due to uniform or what have you, all have very diffrent and real faces. Porportions, and momvent are all very well drawn, to a realistic scale. the backgrounds as well, though usually a dull desert, is still given rich detail, and colour where needed. Chars Though realativly short in the lines of char, there still is given a chance to understand the various chars. though there is little or no backstory at all for nearly all of them, due to thier simularity with real life people, they are able to be understood. Each char, does not really develop, per se, but is still given a chance to portray their part in the story which is what stories are all about, Charector. Story It is hard for me to critique the story, i can see that it was well done, and made with effort, just it never stuck to me, the fight of the little people against their oppresors. Same shtick that has been used for a long time. an antaganist joins the protaganist, and learns to like them, and they him. then the antaganists freinds show up and they fight. The lone girl alone and dying out to save her people against the oppresors. it just seems to have been done before, just put into a diffrent setting. the thing i liked the most was the title chars, however, the spiders, and the faceless many who run them, i think they are a wonderful addition to the story. Page Design Hmmmm part marks here, as when the first time i read this i was using a 56k modem, it was slow, choppy, and sometime it would stop loading and due to the page design i didnt realize i was missing some images that were supposed to load. The variance of adding the little pop up was an intresting touch, though it took me a second or two to realize that it was supposed to happen instead of me thinking the site was spamming me. but thats my fault. Sometimes hard to read or navagate, but as well sometimes had a good layout, and was simple. Overall 7/10 good chars, and art, somewhat intresting variance on story. Short yet explanitive. Review by Jordin The Learned Sat Aug 09 2003 05:24 PM

The Spiders Overall, I'm in love. Characters: The characters were nicely developed, and seemed human, which is how they should be. Real loves, real problems, real lives, real heroes, real commoners, and real jerks. I enjoyed seeing the detail given to them to bring them out, especially in how a character seen as 'evil' was just doing what he believed was right and just. Three out of three, Plot: Superb, in-depth, and -most of all- believable. More than believable, realistic. I enjoyed the multiple storylines, as well as how there are various sub-plots only half-seen and never really fully explained. This doesn't keep them from being an integral part of the story, though, nor does it detract from the story at all. Three out of three. Art: The art, while I like this style of webcomic, can be a tad confusing at times. One particular point in Chapter three was difficult to keep track of because there were three things going on at once and I was trying to keep track of all three at the same time. Nothing can be perfect, and this was likely as much my fault as the layout's, but it still gets the art a nice two out of three. Overall: As before, I'm in love, which gets The Spiders my bonus point. Both readable, entertaining, and educational, this webcomic gets an enthusiastic 9 out of 10. Now to go re-read! Review by Xenix Sat Aug 09 2003 02:35 PM

The Spiders is a very interesting comic overall, and very nice. The only big flaw was that I want more. Art: The art for The Spiders was very nice, and very clean. I liked the realism, and the attention to detail; the first part opens up with such a point, as the soldier complains that his weapon won't imtimidate without a clip. The artist took the time to make it clear for us with the art, instead of throwing something in like an arrow, trusting the readers would pay attention. While it's not the most stunning comic in the world for beauty, it is very realistic, and I could easily tell what was happening in every scene. Characters: There aren't many characters in The Spiders that last long; to keep from spoiling what that means, I won't say who or why. But all of them seemed natural to me, and distinctive. I could tell almost all of them apart in a line-up, for example, and all of them helped the story without being devices for the author to continue. Plot: The overall plot to The Spiders is not as clear. While it has me interested, it's also under heavy wraps in some ways. I withhold judgement on this aspect until the comic finishes. Writing: The area that really grabbed hold of me. The writing for The Spiders is top notch, in my opinion; the author has (or seems to have) a real grasp of Arabic culture, which is important, considering his area of focus. The 'spiders' of the title are very nice-and something that I could see being made, easily. The author doesn't skimp in that area, either-the "news page" in part three has news articles about the spider's implications. It also makes sense for them to be popular, considering how voyeuristic people can be. Overall: I give the Spiders 8 out of 10. The entire presentation impressed me, along with the comic, and I heartily recommend it to anyone. One of the touches that really impressed me, actually, was loading a page...and getting a javascript application while while I was in another window. The window did not say my browser needed me; it said my spider needed me. Though for a downside, the load time is probably prohibitive for 56k users, due to the comic's layout. Review by Benor Thu Aug 07 2003 03:17 PM

The Spiders is rather colorful by both art and scenario. Although at times I'm not entirely clear on things in situation, I found a topical background made fairly interesting. Where else might you find a comic that features a forbidden romance concerning a Taliban? The Spiders, flat out looks pretty sharp for a webcomic. My mind often lurked back to childhood images of GI Joe. The reminiscent cel-like art of The Spiders looks great. Bright expressive colors, nice visual design, it's a good thing. I respect how things are delivered by presentation too. It takes work for anyone on this side of the coast to make a Taliban into an engaging figure of both doctrination and tormented ideals. Neither the Americans, anyone controlling the spiders, or the Taliban themselves, are made to look more glorious than another. So far, it's a story in a political world background, without heavily pushing one country's dogma over on the reader. That sort of neutrality is fragile ground for presentation, but I think The Spiders does it successfully. While I really liked the ongoing small stories amongst the Taliban, I wasn't clear why The Spiders is the title. The Spiders are these disguised mobile crawling cameras that resemble rocks, while others simply hover around. They're controlled by a relatively faceless multinational contigent of civilians, usually trying to talk to the Taliban and those involved, for varying reasons. While they spy and show the scene, they're seemingly a bit ineffectual for the most part, and work best as simply an information/spy network. My point is, they seem more like an associated aspect to the story than anything too forefront. You see them around, but they don't have a great deal impact in the current three existing chapters. I feel another title might have worked better, or simply there is just so much more to explain their purpose in things. There's no singular character to talk about for The Spiders, thanks to a somewhat impersonal but intrusive perspective in the story run. It's more about a certain scene put to fiction. I can't say the Taliban would really act like they do, but there was enough variations to them to show they, while zealots, were people too. I think The Spiders, while maybe a little unclear in some parts, is a pretty good work. I'd recommend it to anyone who could appreciate the artistic or detached yet emotional perspective on the story. I give The Spiders an 8 out of 10 stars. Good read, this. Review by Kajamir the Giant Sun Aug 03 2003 06:37 PM

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