Two webcomics: Small Trolls + Year in Hereafter
So, as a reward-to-myself for finishing all of my boring chores today, I decided to read Year in Hereafter, a Kalevala-inspired webcomic that has been vaguely on my radar for a while now. I'm not very good at getting around to reading things, even when I know that they're relevant to my interests.
The reason I finally caved with this one is that the artist is working on Small Trolls, a webcomic collaboration that they're doing with the author of Tistow (another webcomic that I haven't read yet). It's a... crossover + AU? of YiH and Tistow. Or something like that. Updates on Fridays. Anyway, Small Trolls is a fantasy comic that draws on Saami folklore, structured as short stories, so of course when I heard about it I just had to read it. There are only about 28 pages up at this time, but I adore it so far - especially Veeti in particular. What a darling, precious kiddo. He's completely stolen my heart. Hello there, new favourite character.
So, since I loved that one, I decided, OKAY, FINE, I'll read Year in Hereafter. Unfortunately, this comic is on hiatus until further notice, which I didn't know going in. Alas. (Well, seems like it's actually going to be about 5 months, but... you know. Until further notice.) But, there are 240 pages up already, which was enough for me to get a feel of the story. I'd heard it shares some similarities with Stand Still Stay Silent and A Redtail's Dream, but for me, it seems to be mostly that they share an aesthetic (and draw from the same Finnish folklore). The stories aren't similar at all in terms of plot/characters. (So, perhaps one could say, if you liked the visual atmosphere of SSSS/aRTD, but didn't like the stories, maybe give YiH a try....)
What's it about? A journey through three parallel worlds - our world, and Tuonela, and Kalevala - with the ultimate goal of saving Lapland by defeating Loviatar. Basically. Sounds pretty good to me! At this point, the journey is just starting - which is one of the reasons I'm so disappointed that it's on hiatus, because I want more. Siiiigh. Ah, well. I can wait. And at least I have the weekly Small Trolls updates to keep me occupied in the meantime.
Some miscellaneous thoughts: I'm completely in love with Sakari. I expected to like Veeti best, because I love the version of him in Small Trolls... and I do like YiH Veeti a lot, but he is a very different character than the one in SmT. Sakari, though... he's quite a ray of sunshine. And I have such a weakness for pretty guys with lo-o-ong blond hair. [/cough] Aside from that, the art is pretty, the magic and folklore references are neat, it makes me want to re-read the Kalevala for the Nth time, and oh noooo whyyy does it have to be on hiatus....
Unfortunately, I don't feel that I have enough of a grasp of the characters/story/worldbuilding to write fic for this comic. I mean, I could try; maybe I could manage pointless slice-of-life and/or shippy nonsense with Sakari and Jaako. But the result wouldn't be so great, probably. ...Seems kind of silly to say, considering I've already started writing some Small Trolls stuff. [/cough] Shhh, it's poetry, so it doesn't count.
Anyway - I can't in good conscience actually rec Year in Hereafter, since it's on hiatus. But it might be something to look at if you're bored on some weekend, and feel like reading a pretty webcomic inspired by Finnish folklore, and don't particularly mind that there are only 240 pages of it. I do suggest looking at Small Trolls if you can put up with something that only updates weekly, though.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3548157.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
The reason I finally caved with this one is that the artist is working on Small Trolls, a webcomic collaboration that they're doing with the author of Tistow (another webcomic that I haven't read yet). It's a... crossover + AU? of YiH and Tistow. Or something like that. Updates on Fridays. Anyway, Small Trolls is a fantasy comic that draws on Saami folklore, structured as short stories, so of course when I heard about it I just had to read it. There are only about 28 pages up at this time, but I adore it so far - especially Veeti in particular. What a darling, precious kiddo. He's completely stolen my heart. Hello there, new favourite character.
So, since I loved that one, I decided, OKAY, FINE, I'll read Year in Hereafter. Unfortunately, this comic is on hiatus until further notice, which I didn't know going in. Alas. (Well, seems like it's actually going to be about 5 months, but... you know. Until further notice.) But, there are 240 pages up already, which was enough for me to get a feel of the story. I'd heard it shares some similarities with Stand Still Stay Silent and A Redtail's Dream, but for me, it seems to be mostly that they share an aesthetic (and draw from the same Finnish folklore). The stories aren't similar at all in terms of plot/characters. (So, perhaps one could say, if you liked the visual atmosphere of SSSS/aRTD, but didn't like the stories, maybe give YiH a try....)
What's it about? A journey through three parallel worlds - our world, and Tuonela, and Kalevala - with the ultimate goal of saving Lapland by defeating Loviatar. Basically. Sounds pretty good to me! At this point, the journey is just starting - which is one of the reasons I'm so disappointed that it's on hiatus, because I want more. Siiiigh. Ah, well. I can wait. And at least I have the weekly Small Trolls updates to keep me occupied in the meantime.
Some miscellaneous thoughts: I'm completely in love with Sakari. I expected to like Veeti best, because I love the version of him in Small Trolls... and I do like YiH Veeti a lot, but he is a very different character than the one in SmT. Sakari, though... he's quite a ray of sunshine. And I have such a weakness for pretty guys with lo-o-ong blond hair. [/cough] Aside from that, the art is pretty, the magic and folklore references are neat, it makes me want to re-read the Kalevala for the Nth time, and oh noooo whyyy does it have to be on hiatus....
Unfortunately, I don't feel that I have enough of a grasp of the characters/story/worldbuilding to write fic for this comic. I mean, I could try; maybe I could manage pointless slice-of-life and/or shippy nonsense with Sakari and Jaako. But the result wouldn't be so great, probably. ...Seems kind of silly to say, considering I've already started writing some Small Trolls stuff. [/cough] Shhh, it's poetry, so it doesn't count.
Anyway - I can't in good conscience actually rec Year in Hereafter, since it's on hiatus. But it might be something to look at if you're bored on some weekend, and feel like reading a pretty webcomic inspired by Finnish folklore, and don't particularly mind that there are only 240 pages of it. I do suggest looking at Small Trolls if you can put up with something that only updates weekly, though.
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3548157.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.