A number of strange occurrences…

Aug 15, 2009 by Joshua    No Comments    Posted under: book feature, books

This past week has been rather interesting. I celebrated my birthday last Tuesday, and I received a number of wonderful gifts that I can’t wait to write about here. One item I was given that I would like to mention today is Tom Siddell’s “Gunnerkrigg Court: Orientation”, a hardcover collection of the first fourteen chapters of the webcomic.

For those who haven’t read “Gunnerkrigg Court” before, I suggest taking a look at it, especially if you are at all interested in the medium of comics. Whereas many webcomics rely on topical humor or subculture-specific in-jokes to fuel updates, Siddell delivers an involved and intriguing narrative, revealing it one piece at a time, three times a week. Of the webcomics I read regularly, his is one that I look forward to the most.

The plot of “Gunnerkrigg Court” centers around Antimony Carver, a young girl attending a peculiar boarding school nestled in an oasis of technological advancement among a sprawling forest. The grounds of the school itself seem unfathomably immense and filled with all kinds of wonders and surprises, as Antimony (or Annie, as she is called) finds in her exploration. Over the course of the first year, which is covered in the book, Annie and her friend Kat encounter robots, ghosts, a minotaur, living shadows, and much more.

All the while, they realize that Gunnerkrigg Court is much more than just a boarding school. There is some other world at work in the halls of the school, one that involves the teachers, the strange creatures of the forest, and, as Annie discovers, her parents as well. The details of the mystery are parsed out amid the girls’ adventures as they explore the school and demand answers from their caretakers.

One of the wonderful things about reading the comic is to see how much it has developed. Siddell does a wonderful job of developing his characters, as they frequently surprise the reader with their actions and thoughts. Even minor characters become more three-dimensional as the comic progresses. It is clear that the artist has thought out the direction he wants to take the story, and events that happened as early as the first chapter come back to relate to important events later on in the narrative.

The art style, too, has seen much improvement. One needs only look at Siddell’s drawing of Annie in the first chapter and compare it to her appearance much later to see the difference. Also, each character has a particular look (again, even minor characters such as Annie and Kat’s classmates) to fit their unique personalities.

One criticism for the comic that I have heard is that the characters can at times come off as “Mary Sues”, or characters who have unrealistic skills sets and can do no wrong. Annie is always level-headed and acts in the proper manner, and Kat’s science abilities are at a genius level, permitting her to understand and repair any machinery, even of the supernatural sort. To Siddell’s credit, though, this accusation has been tested and countered as the comic has progressed. Annie is still relatively without flaw in many respects, but she does make mistakes and lose her composure at times.

It may seem silly to pay for a book that can be read for free online, but there are certain bonuses to possessing it. On the few occasions when I actually purchase a book, the purpose is to have it at hand to loan to someone after describing it to him or her. Alas, I was hoping for more extra content exclusive to the 300-or-so-page book, but I found that it only contains a few sketches and some drawings that I can only assume are childish doodles that Siddell made at an earlier age. Still, it was wonderful to relax on the couch and read through the beginning of the story again. For anyone interested in a story drenched in mythology and intriguing character interaction, you owe it to yourself to check out “Gunnerkrigg Court”.

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