It’s not often that I review an American comic but when I went to Acen’07 I was on the lookout for only one web comic that year; Flipside.
Flipside is a web comic by Brion Foulke; an anime fan, who I believe, has made one of the best comics yet. He’s worked on Flipside for several years now and has become famous in a number of cons.
plot summary
Maytag is a Jester and the greatest act in town. A fanboy, named Crest, begins to develop a crush on Maytag and asks her out. Although she declines, this is not the last time they will encounter each other.
Later, Crest goes to a card to game in order to win some money so he can afford to heal his blind mother’s eyes. However, with danger lurking around every corner, can Crest keep the money and his life?
Review
An enticing story from chapter to chapter, everything feels so real and so strong. Each character has his own personality, opinions, and morals, creating the most human characters I’ve read.
The dialog feels just as real as the characters. To add to the realism, each character has his or her own mannerisms.
The world of Flipside feels fantastic, but believable to point where I want to live there. My personal favorite quirk about this story is the constant sexual tension between each and every character. The same such tensions that I feel that I went through at least once or twice in my life. Basically, everything and everyone feels real and putting them in a fantasy world makes for a fun play ground.
Foulke-sama’s art is the best style to tell this story. Each character wears fun looking clothes suitable for cosplay. The town can best be described as Arabian tents and ancient Asian skyscrapers in a medieval European fortress. With this uniquely designed town the culture can be both familiar and different for everyone. The character design is traditional anime style with an angular gene ce qua similar to the latest works Nobuhiro Watsuki.
LIKES
- Maytag’s eye for opportunity.
- Realistic characters.
- The sexual tension between characters.
- The magical items.
DISLIKES
- Smaller panels seem to be done with very little attention.
I saw Flipside a few years ago when Foulke-sama was working on book zero (his first rendition of Flipside) and I have been amazed ever since. His art and writing have improved since then and I can’t wait to see what a great cartoonist he will become. I find this to be one of the greatest proofs of what artists can accomplish on the internet, and for that, I give it a 5/5.
Great work sir, I can’t wait to see what you will accomplish next!