strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive
Adventures with an unreliable narrator.
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Jun 21 05: gerbilicious
I just read the entire run of Shaenon Garrity’s Narbonic in one sitting. You can, too. Under normal circumstances nonsubscribers can only see the most recent strip, but because it has been nominated for some (well deserved) awardage, its talented creator has opened up the complete archives for the duration of the voting period.
Narbonic is a daily webcomic about Dave, the IT guy/henchman/test subject of one Doctor Helen Narbon, a mad scientist of the Evil variety. Rounding out the regular cast are Mell, the psychopathic, weapons-crazy intern; and Artie, a superintelligent gerbil. (Really.) It has long had a good buzz around it, among those who pay attention to this sort of thing. I’d seen passing references to it, but I’d never really gotten around to investigating. Part of this was because my heart already belongs to Girl Genius, another mad-scientist comic, to which it bears only the most tangential resemblance. (GG is still the bomb, make no mistake. Can’t recommend it highly enough.) Part of this was the idea that to keep up with the long and involved story arcs you either needed to subscribe or remember to check in every day. I’m both cheap and easily distracted, so you can see the problem there. However, having been bitten by the Narbonic bug at this point, I’m sorely tempted to shell out the pittance required to assure future access.
It’s really exciting to be able to stumble on something like this and take it in megadoses. In a single sitting, you get to watch the development of the creator as an artist and a writer. You get to see a story go from ‘promising raw material’ stage to ‘flourishing, sprawling garden of storylines.’ That kind of thing is inspiring in the extreme.
On the other hand, be aware that there’s something like five years of daily strips in the archives. I’m very very tired now, with that jittery haze of narrative overdose laid over the top of it. So maybe you would want to do it in a few smaller chunks instead. It’s up to you. You have until July 3. For my part, I’m going to bed.