#derelict comic

[bfleuter]

Derelict has updated!

[cucureviews]

DERELICT: Post-apocalyptic Earth scifi starring a lady at sea

BASICS:

Title: Derelict Updates: Officially, Mondays and Fridays.  Realistically, once a week-ish. Genre: Science Fiction Premise:   Dang Thu Muy tries to survive in a flooded world full of hostile elements: the Fog, Miasmic creatures, and other humans. Recommended for people who... think it'd be amazing if the kaiju from Pacific Rim settled in Waterworld.

The art is very nice.  There are plenty of beautiful panels that show Penumbra looking very small and isolated on a gigantic ocean.  Derelict reinforces Dang's somewhat lonely utter solitude by having minimal or no dialogue in its early pages.  The designs are great.  Every character is easily recognizable, even if they aren't important for more than a few pages.  Penumbra is decorated with little touches of personality that make it clear how much of a home Pen is for Dang.  Old equipment looks rusted, clothes are a mix of rags and futuristic fashion, and the environment is atmospheric.  Anytime The Fog appears, it is incredibly creepy. Derelict's pacing starts slow, but builds up into something quicker as elements introduced earlier come together.  After the events of Book 1, there are now recurring characters and, perhaps, a larger plot unfolding of greater importance than Dang living alone at sea.   While this was inevitable for Dang from a story perspective, I will say that it's done well.  Rather than having Dang being suddenly thrust into Plot, it was her own decisions that led her to where she is now.  One plot point was, perhaps, unavoidable, but it is subtly introduced through hints first long before Dang is confronted.  Once she's faced with it, Dang's choices are in-character.  I wouldn't call Derelict character-driven, but it is still very good storytelling.

My favorite part is Derelict's world-building.  Currently 200 pages in, Derelict is still one big mystery, including the background of the main character herself.  What are Mothballers?  Where did the Miasmic tribes and other creatures come from, and what does the Fog have to do with it?  What happened to Earth?  Derelict does not answer anything directly; there is never exposition.  Dang herself is neither a narrator nor an audience surrogate, so she has no need to ask for definitions or histories of her own world.  As a reader, I prefer this approach because it feels more natural not to have everything neatly explained, especially by characters who should be familiar with their own world.  There are some mysteries that confuse Dang as much as they intrigue readers, but there are just as many that don't bother her at all because she already knows the answer.  Like, what do dyed hair streaks have to do with being a Mothballer, whatever that is?

Give Derelict a try if you like scifi that isn't set in space and is simply about a character's desire to survive, no matter how difficult that is when so much of the world is hostile to her.

[toygingercrafts]

another photo of the Derelict monster plush. Finally got the photos together and they'll be posted on dA!

[nokob-liveblogs-webcomics]

Great, another potential ask screener and some more webcomic suggestions!

Haha, it seems Kiwi Blitz was submitted by two different people at about the same time. :P

euophrysomnisuperstes, can I assume that you can also ask screen the webcomics you suggested here? (Also, is there a good way to abbreviate that name? Because °-°)

I've read part of Girl Genius before, but never caught up. That's probably not the best situation for a liveblog, but it'd still work, I'm sure. And that was a while ago, anyway, so I've probably forgotten a lot.