I have to say that I think that "Out there" is currently one of best comics on Keenspot - on ever pageviews-conscious 'Spot, it's not shooting for any internet niche, it's more mature and less pop-culture obsessed than most of things there. Two and a half years of 6x a week updates are an easy read - you don't so much burrow through archives as slide through them, thanks to interesting characters and fun dialogue.
When talking about "Out there", we have to divide it in two phases. First one covers the trip of Miriam and John towards her new home, and this part is so impressive that long after it's over, we think of the comic as a road-comic.
Like all the best road-movies (road-comics are rare), it uses the trip as a stage, and metaphore, for internal, self-discovery journey. Characters nominally want to go sight-seeing, but what they really want is some time to think.
Main reason why this part of the comic works so well is, I think, strong chemistry between two characters, both of whom are played very close to the edge of being obnoxious an unlikeable. But Miriam, while reckless and overly fun-loving, is a character that really tries to be better; constantly in fight with herself, and if she loses the battle, it makes us more sympathetic. Exact oposite, John is solemn, guru-like and rooted in reason, and the only thing that keeps him from being smug is his ambivalence - he plays the role only when pushed by other characters who seem to need such figure around them. Yet there is something obsessive about him*.
The deal with this chemistry, it's not the usual reckless vs responsible duality. These two characters are on exact oposite ends of the scale, on which normal responsible person would be a middle, and one of main dualities seem to be action vs observation.
Paralelly with this story, people in city are waiting for Miriam's arrival, and getting to know each other on their own. This storyline works almost independently, because while Miriam and John never appear in it, they are constant center of attention. They work like a sort of mcguffin characters, and one has impression that he could get to know them through this storyline only, as if their shadows are lingering there.
These two storylines, I think, balance each other. The "open road", dynamic nature of one contrast with static and almost hermetic mise-en-scene of the bar in which most of the second happens.
Further, while "Out there" is obviously dialogue-driven comic, imagery in this this chapter is carefully chosen. Image of Miriam driving her convertible with her hair flapping around is, with it's often repeating, almost iconic, an image we'll remember the comic by, and inevitably symbolic (although we could argue further what exactly it symbolizes). Similar could be said for scenes like drunken camping.
This opening trip lasts for a rather long time, detailing over each little event or conclusion from it, and we can see that Miriam keeps delaying actual arrival. But it never bothers us, and I think that one reason for that is, we know that what happens after the trip, will inevitably be anticlimatic, even dissapointing.
And yeah, I think that the closest description to what happens after the arrival is seting into a rut. It doesn't turn bad and lose it's basic qualities like good drawing or clever dialogues and characters - it loses those elements which made the comic excelling and unique, those that I've named earlier. Before, it was a comic about people wondering and occasionally (though not as often as I'd liked) brushing onto some universal truth, now it was quickly turning into a "bunch-of-friends-hanging-out", "who-loves-who" setup that we see in webcomics so often.
For one, that strong Miriam/John chemistry is lost as more characters enter the picture and two of them (specially John) aren't as central as they were - they are rarely ever in the same scene anymore. Duality of dynamic and static storylines is gone, and most of action is now happening in an ordinary, stereotypical bar.
Art is still good, with stylish character designs, respect for textures and constantly fighting with it's 5-panel comic strip layout, skillfully avoiding "talking heads" - but there is no more visual "punch", no more strong thematic iconography I was talking about. An attempt to give a different "punch" is given through Miriam's clothing and poses as her body becomes centerpiece of the stage very often - which is no doubt well-suited since it grows out of her character as exibitionist character (sort of) who ends up always being a center of attention - but somehow that's not enough.
Finally, there is an issue of pacing, which has been decidedly slow from the beginning: the road that took several days was elaborated for months, and similar tempo is kept later, but it doesn't work anymore. You know how some days are so eventful that it seems like they last forever, and then next days seem to pass quickly... first part of the comic represented several such days, but when the eventful journey was over, it was supposed to return to normal, working days. Instead, pacing remained the same.
The effect of this was, I feel, one of going nowhere. During the first part, something was always happening, regarding either us getting to know characters, them getting to know themselves, or something else. In later part, we sometimes feel that nothing's happening in character's lives, that the comic isn't progressing, developing - then we'll realise that we're talking about a very short time span, but slow pacing made it seem longer.
Theme of journey remains, perhaps as light-mothive, but following journeys don't do much in development of the story and relations, instead often puting them on hold, being mere mirrors of the opening journey. I'm womdering what the comic would look like if the story was told mostly in a series of road trips, minimizing time spent in the city. Dunno how that would turn out, maybe it'd be a bore, maybe it'd be something unique.
There are some other minor complaints: character of Chuck is underdeveloped. For an important role of boyfriend of main character, we can't describe him any closer than as a "nice guy". Even initially one-dimensional characters like Clayton eventually gain depth, but he doesn't.
On a related topic, there seems to be a pattern of reasonable characters, able to tolerate Miriam's whims and to like her despite them, reasonable and trusting and all... come to think of it, they seem like slightly different versions of Chuck. These include Cherry's musician ex boyfriend, Walter, and Chuck himself, who all seem to act similar, talk similar, accept Miriam's act in a similar manner, only with some minor differences in character descriptions. Not that one should overdo drama and conflict, and I guess something does need to balance Miriam's characters, but it's starting to be unconvincing and repetitive.
Finally, I think that jokes about Miriam's alchocolism (single most often source of punchlines) are being overdone.
Do not get me wrong, "Out there" is still a good comic. It has mature writing and mature, unintrusive humor. It is drawn skillfully, cute but not too cute. It is a rare real-life webcomic that isn't about geeks, gamers and pop-culture obsessives. It has much more knowledge of a social life of average adult people - for instance it anknowledges kinds of evening fun other than throwing a big house party. But it is "good", and the stage was set for "great".
*Of course, I know exactly what John's backstory is: he grew up in a family of parents with university education, with one brother. When he was in his early twenties, his mother died after a long illness, which distressed him greatly as he was very close to her. He studied two colleges: medicine, which he addmitedly started hoping to help his illing mother, and never finishing it; and classic piano, in which he hopes to have a career one day. In a set of circumstances, almost unwillingly and thanks to his positive character, he became an extremely popular tv celebrity, and now he is roaming the country, far from places where people reckognize him, hoping to return when people forget him.
Srdjan Achimovich (AKA "McDuffies") is the creator of various webcomics, most notably Kill 'er Now and Little White Knight. Many of his comics projects can be found here. This review was originally posted on the Comic Genesis forums.
