Starslip www.starslip.com
Written and Drawn by: Kristopher Straub
Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
This
strip follows the adventures of Captain Vanderbeam, a foppish captain
who is more about art and culture than anything remotely resembling
running a ship. He is accompanied by his pilot, Cutter; a former pirate
and a man who can drink anyone under the table several times over; Mr.
Jinx, who is a basically Vanderbeam's insectoid indentured servant;
Holiday, the head engineer, Dr. Dahk Torr and Falton Quine. This team
does everything from hosting the lastest art collections, to diplomatic
missions to fighting a war with time travelers.
What I like about this strip
It
is definitely the Trekkie inside of me that latched onto this strip in
the beginning with the setting of the story being on a space ship in the
future. Everything down to the slick looking uniforms worn by the
characters reminds me of the days that I would sit in front of the
television and watch Captain Picard sit in his command chair and say
"Engage". And while Straub admits to Star Trek having a large influence on his work, Starslip is in no way a copycat or rehash of the television show.
The characters that Straub
has created for his story are very well done. In the beginning it
seemed to be a very simple cast: the long winded captain, the pirate
pilot who never saw a drink he didn't like, the overworked and
under-appreciated lackey, etc. But as the story line progressed, the
characters started to develop and each one had an interesting back story
that comes into play in the overall microcosm that is Starslip. They
are more than just funny stereotypes that Straub uses to make a joke.
They are 3 dimensional characters who have goals, wants, pasts and
events that shaped them into the persons they are right now. I have to
say that my favorite dynamic is between Captain Memnon Vanderbeam and
his pilot, Cutter Edgewise. These two men could not be any more
different and the dialogue between them is very amusing to say the
least. It is relationship that should never work and yet feels quite
organic and believable.
I really like the vocabulary that Straub
uses when he writes the dialogue for Vanderbeam. Vanderbeam is usually
seen giving long winded, verbose speeches littered with words most
people don't use on a day to day basis. These longer pieces of dialogue
do not feel forced, as if Straub is trying to shoehorn a
64 million dollar word into a sentence in order to make Vanderbeam
sound smart. The words actually fit and flow in a way that the reader
actually believes that "Yes, that does sound like a sentence that
someone would actually use." and not "I think he just made that up." So,
if you don't read the strip simply for the pure enjoyment of the story,
you can at least expand your own personal vocabulary.
Straub
takes some of what is going on in the present and inserts it into his
futuristic strip. In the way that Futurama had the talking heads in
order to comment on current events, Straub uses the
finding of historical artifacts and art pieces in order to make his
comments about what is happening in the here and now. It was an
inventive move on his part and I for one like easter egg style insertion
of Straub's take on the current events.
What I don't like about this strip
With
most strips, you watch the art slowly evolve over time. This doesn't
particularly happen in Starslip. Instead, one day the strip looked one
way and then suddenly the style changed over the weekend. While it is a
change for the better, it was quite abrupt. I can only fathom a guess
as to why Straub chose to make adjustments to his art
in this abrupt manner. Along with the change of the art came a
significant change of the story that was being told as well. It could
have been that Straub was overhauling everything at one time, in one fell swoop.
Overall, I really enjoy this webcomic. Straub
does a wonderful job of mixing story telling with his personal humorous
style, never sacrificing one for the other. Definitely a good read for
all ages.
Internet Extras
Kris Straub Twitter is @krisstraub
Straub fields many questions from his fan base by using FormSpring (http://www.formspring.me/krisstraub).
Type in a question and he may answer it. Read the numerous amount of
questions that he has already answered. And if he really liked the
question, you may see your question and his answer in his Twitter feed.
Straub was part of the two man impromptu show Tweet Me Harder (www.tweetmeharder.com) with David Malki of Wondermark (http://wondermark.com/). Set up like a radio show of sorts, Straub and Malki
talk off the cuff about whatever comes to their minds while taking live
tweets from the listening audience.
Straub is part of the two man show Blamimations with Scott Kurtz of Player vs. Player (www.pvponline.com).
Blamimations are short comedic skits set to mediocre flash videos made
and drawn by Kurtz and Straub. They are hosted on Penny Arcade TV (www.blamimations.com) and come out once a month.
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