This is NOT Umberto Eco

January 17, 2007 9:30 AM

Templar, Arizona is hands down my favorite webcomic find of 2006. Creator Spike (AKA Charlie Trotman) is one of the growing number of artists eschewing conventional approaches to the (notoriously lagging) alternative print market, but she's more persistent (and consistent) than most. Also worth noting is the experimental, dialogue-free Sparkneedle (recently completed). The self described "wankery" of her Sims-illustrated fiction vehicle Playing With Dolls? Maybe not so much.
posted by nanojath (9 comments total)

I first heard about this when Tycho of webcomic juggernaut Penny Arcade fame gave it a nod online after the San Diego Comic Con. Since the Templar story is a complex, multi-thread narrative it's worth starting from the beginning.
posted by nanojath at 9:32 AM on January 17, 2007

I'm not sure she's eschewing the alternative print market. I think it may be the other way around.
posted by Hogshead at 10:43 AM on January 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

Kinda apropos to mention the strip today; a mere two days ago, Spike announced a pre-order campaign for her first Templar, AZ collection in print.

The strip has a lot of promise. It suffers, I think, from using broad characters merely as comic foils for the protagonist, when they are defined sharply enough that they could show some growth -- of the supporting cast, only Scipio has shown elements of a truly rounded personality. Regan is brashly drawn and fun, but pretty flat.

That said, Spike is, I think, the only webcomic artist who has ever received PayPal tip money from me. Her works is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the pack. I plan to order three books.
posted by solid-one-love at 11:03 AM on January 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

I love Templar. Sometimes I have trouble following what's going on because its not quite "normal" (strange factions galore, TV-Computer combos, penis disintegration dreams...) but I love it all the same.

Playing with dolls? I took a quick look at the pictures and refrained from scrolling any further.

Also worth noting that she makes/made a buttload of money by creating a third comic for everytime a certain amount of money was donated (I think it was around $100). But she seems to have replaced that with a different money counter type thing.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 11:12 AM on January 17, 2007

I kept reading hoping that it would be about zombies, because it seemed like the kind of thing that might be about zombies, but it does not appear to about zombies. Zombies are pretty much all I like. Can anyone recommend some webcomics that are in fact about zombies? Thanks.
posted by ND¢ at 11:48 AM on January 17, 2007

This was awesome. I just finished reading the whole thing in one shot.

Thanks, nanojath.
posted by John of Michigan at 5:43 PM on January 17, 2007

God dammit, ND¢, every fucking time it is the same thing.

Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here (en español!) and here. Okay?!
posted by nanojath at 10:51 PM on January 17, 2007 [1 favorite]

I can't help it. They walk around with their arms out in front of them saying "Brains". I just can't get enough.
posted by ND¢ at 5:40 AM on January 18, 2007

See Spike mummify her pet rat! [via Truth and Beauty Bombs]
posted by revfitz at 11:13 AM on January 22, 2007