Time again for a bit of the ol’ ultra-review! This time, we’re tackling The Meek, by the very friendly Der-shing Helmer. This beautifully-stylized story sporadically updates once or twice a week (I generally check Sundays and Thursdays). A relatively new webcomic, The Meek is only fifty-odd pages into things. So now’s the time to jump in!

Little note: the artist has been sharing data about the comic which reveals more backstory than you can currently find in the published pages. I’ll mainly just be going into what’s revealed so far in the comic itself and on its website, but I’ll give a link to more information at the end for those wanting further backstory or possible spoilers.

Now, let’s meet our current lovely cast and learn a little bit about their various stories….

Angora – One of the three main characters and the first introduced, Angora’s a bit of a wild child, spending most of the first chapter antagonizing people and running around naked to humourous effect (you’ll see a lot more of her wobbly jailbait jubblies than you may care to!) She was raised by mysterious guardians deep in a tropical forest, hidden away from human civilization, and really isn’t sure yet what to make of society outside her home. Also, her “grandfather” is a giant amphibian. Uh…you’ll see. By the way, if you thought “Angora” was an unusual name, here’s some interesting trivia: the artist once put up some design sketches from the very early stages of the comic’s planning, in which Angora was originally a catgirl.

While not a feline anymore, she’s still got a unique talent. If you’ve spent more than five minutes looking at webcomics, you’d likely shrug off her green hair as normal for a comic character…until you get a few little flashbacks of Angora’s life that take place shortly before the beginning of the comic, revealing a much more normal hair colour.

We-e-ell, it’s not exactly the hair that’s green….It’s plant life growing in her hair which turns it that colour. If that’s not cool enough, she can make plants grow around her as well. Hopefully we’ll see soon how this came to be, but it’s already proved a very useful talent to have for self-defense.

Luca deSadar – The second major character, Luca is probably better known to the public as Emperor deSadar. Since he’s only just appeared in the second chapter, not much is known, except that he’s short, grumpy, has oddly twisted and blackened fingers, is missing teeth, has a fake leg, doesn’t think much of female ambassadors, and totally doesn’t need any help getting by from his taller wife. Nope. None at all.

Pinter deJersi – Serving as Angora’s unwilling sidekick and travel guide, this guy really wishes he’d just been left alone in his little tent in the forest. The son of a brilliant cartographer and a mapmaker himself, Pinter’s technically working out of his location in the woods…if by “working,” you mean “drinking and smoking himself into oblivion.” Which I do.

Phe deSadar – Luca’s wife. She’s a steel-willed lady, which definitely seems to come in handy for dealing with her stubborn husband. Presumably, she’s skilled in, as the Internet kiddies would say, “topping him.”

The final main character has yet to be introduced, but according to the website’s cast page, she’s on a mission to kill her ex-boyfriend. When the three main characters’ plot threads finally intertwine, it’s looking to make a VERY interesting story. As to the story so far, it begins with Angora on her quest. Said quest is largely undefined as yet, but as you can guess, things are not all happy back in Angora’s hidden jungle home.

Angora’s “grandfather” Mocheril, who’s looking a little worse for wear, needs her help. For reasons that I hope extend beyond “we wouldn’t have a plot if he just TOLD her flat-out where to go and what to do,” he gives her this cryptic set of clues:

I’m not really a fan of the whole “solve the riddle to advance the story” theme, since it’s usually done just to stretch out the plot. I mean, if the fate of the world rests upon someone being in a specific place or doing a specific thing, I’m not saying, “Seek out the eternal sleepers of stone in their dying-light home.” (I totally made that up just now. What a prophet I am!) I’m going to say, “Hey, Josh, I’m gonna need you to leave off those TPS reports and get your ass to that cemetery with all the creepy statues on the west side of town. It’s kinda urgent if you don’t want us all to die. Oh, and I’m gonna need you to come in on Sunday and fix my computer too–you know, when you’re done saving humanity and all. No, you won’t get overtime pay; you know it’s not in our budget right now.”

Still, the tale has been an engaging ride so far, vague instructions notwithstanding. I’m hoping to find out that there’s good reason for Mocheril’s use of riddles even though he needs Angora to act quickly and stay out of danger. Maybe he’s one of those “blind seers” we see so much of in fantasy comics, making the required cryptic prophecy and has no clue what he was saying himself at the time. Time will (or won’t) tell, but I’ll be enjoying the story the whole way. And, given the fact that there are at least two other main plot threads in addition to Angora’s that’ve barely even been touched yet….We can expect a cubic crapton (to use the technical term) of story development, more questions raised, and, eventually, questions answered. If the story is half as good as the art, it’s a comic that’ll encourage discussion long after its end.

Speaking of the art, I get fizzy shiny happy feelings just from looking at The Meek’s pages. Like any good artist, Helmer has a style that you can recognize anywhere. The colours are brilliant, the bold lines make it clear what you’re looking at, and the cartoony style works perfectly for the almost slapstick-style comedy and exaggerated expressions the characters pull. If the comic had been drawn in a more realism-based style, Angora’s nudity would’ve seemed much more disturbing, especially given her young age. But cartoon jubblies? Well, that’s just funny! It takes the comic out of “rated R for naughty bits” and into classic Looney Tunes territory. (And since Mocheril’s directions weren’t specific, Angora probably will wish she’d taken that left turn at Albuquerque.)

I’ll wrap this up by saying The Meek is very new, but it’s already on my list of favourite webcomics. And we all know that what reviewers say on the Internet is gospel truth, yeah? So when I say, “you’ll love this webcomic,” you know you can’t go wrong by reading it. Right?

….Leave me to my delusions of grandeur, and I’ll see you next time, guys! Until then, go here for more information on the people and story of The Meek.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 12:24 am and is filed under DKM Marlink, Internet, art, the Internets, webcomics. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.