Homestuck (Volume 1 - Part 1: Acts 1 & 2)
Speaking of canons you encounter through osmosis. This is what I knew about the hugely popular, yet seemingly indescribable, phenomenon that is Homestuck:
"Homestuck is - something? maybe a webcomic? maybe a game? - by Andrew Hussie? There are the kids, and the trolls, and some kind of online world? There are a lot of names? And various ships? And someone called Vriska is the worst/not the worst?"
It can be daunting to enter a long-running canon. Homestuck was on my list of "maybe someday when I have a lot of time". (Like The Wire.) Then I saw the book on the library shelf. Actually, a row of several books. Yes, it has been released in print.
Volume 1 is a heavy hardcover book, containing 438 pages and probably thousands of comics panels and hundreds of chat logs. The standard layout is four images per page, but this varies a lot. There might even be only one (a splash page) or as many as a dozen (screencaps of an animation).
A few lines of author commentary are at the bottom of every page: what he was thinking at the time, what he thinks now, reader reactions, things foreshadowing future events, and things that were planned but never happened. I guess this adds extra value for returning readers, although it does involve minor spoilers for new readers.
Obviously it's not the same experience as online, where you would get animated cutscenes, interactive gameplay elements, and the chance to suggest actions for the characters. The book does contain the URL page number for each panel, and an [S] indicator for longer animated sequences, so that you can look up the original.
So, what is Homestuck actually about?
Spoilers:
The back cover blurb says: "A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that he's about to embark on an adventure involving birthday cakes, magic chests, hammers, arms (detachable and otherwise), harlequins, imps, eccentric architecture, movable home furnishings, bunnies, and a video game that will destroy the world."
My previous experience with MS Paint Adventure webcomics is the very awesome Ruby Quest. Homestuck starts off with the similar approach of inviting reader suggestions for the player character actions. John starts off as the main character, communicating online with his friends Dave and Rose, whose viewpoints we switch to later. We also get a brief glimpse of their enigmatic friend Jade, who seems to have suspiciously advanced knowledge of what is going on.
The kids start playing a new online game called Sburb, which somehow lets them change things in the real world. And even the offline world operates on game mechanics, like having inventories based on different data storage systems. And then monsters show up? And some kind of cosmic disaster is looming? And there are flashforwards to a post-apocalyptic wasteland with non-human entities?
I'm still not entirely sure where this is going, but I'm willing to hang in there for now.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.
"Homestuck is - something? maybe a webcomic? maybe a game? - by Andrew Hussie? There are the kids, and the trolls, and some kind of online world? There are a lot of names? And various ships? And someone called Vriska is the worst/not the worst?"
It can be daunting to enter a long-running canon. Homestuck was on my list of "maybe someday when I have a lot of time". (Like The Wire.) Then I saw the book on the library shelf. Actually, a row of several books. Yes, it has been released in print.
Volume 1 is a heavy hardcover book, containing 438 pages and probably thousands of comics panels and hundreds of chat logs. The standard layout is four images per page, but this varies a lot. There might even be only one (a splash page) or as many as a dozen (screencaps of an animation).
A few lines of author commentary are at the bottom of every page: what he was thinking at the time, what he thinks now, reader reactions, things foreshadowing future events, and things that were planned but never happened. I guess this adds extra value for returning readers, although it does involve minor spoilers for new readers.
Obviously it's not the same experience as online, where you would get animated cutscenes, interactive gameplay elements, and the chance to suggest actions for the characters. The book does contain the URL page number for each panel, and an [S] indicator for longer animated sequences, so that you can look up the original.
So, what is Homestuck actually about?
Spoilers:
The back cover blurb says: "A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that he's about to embark on an adventure involving birthday cakes, magic chests, hammers, arms (detachable and otherwise), harlequins, imps, eccentric architecture, movable home furnishings, bunnies, and a video game that will destroy the world."
My previous experience with MS Paint Adventure webcomics is the very awesome Ruby Quest. Homestuck starts off with the similar approach of inviting reader suggestions for the player character actions. John starts off as the main character, communicating online with his friends Dave and Rose, whose viewpoints we switch to later. We also get a brief glimpse of their enigmatic friend Jade, who seems to have suspiciously advanced knowledge of what is going on.
The kids start playing a new online game called Sburb, which somehow lets them change things in the real world. And even the offline world operates on game mechanics, like having inventories based on different data storage systems. And then monsters show up? And some kind of cosmic disaster is looming? And there are flashforwards to a post-apocalyptic wasteland with non-human entities?
I'm still not entirely sure where this is going, but I'm willing to hang in there for now.
Crossposted from Dreamwidth, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.