Opplopolis

October 3, 2013 4:37 PM

An esoteric ensemble of characters scour the city of Opplopolis for clues to the mysterious Marvedyne. (by Kit Roebuck, formerly of Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life [previously])
posted by Nomiconic (7 comments total)

I have been completely out of the loop on Kit's new project, but I have every intention of catching up on it. It's surprising that there's already so much of Opplopolis out: NPWIL took 7 years to amount to 99 strips. It was one of those things where I'd visit the site a couple times a year and go, "Hey! New episodes!" And maybe it's the unpredictable intermittent reinforcement that did it, but I thought NPWIL was both unmissable and unforgettable. I've read it through only once, I don't really expect to read it through again (although, hey, it's now out on paper!), but I can't stop thinking about it.

On the surface, none of it is terribly interesting. It's a sci-fi pastiche, there are robots, they go to space and visit other planets. Some things happen, then other things happen. They meet various characters. I think that the thing that struck me and stayed with me is the sensibility that Kit brought to it: a kind of banality, a kind of being there. It's a very human story.

In most other fiction, you have events, and you have characters reacting to events, and then you have one thing after another that kind of turns into an overarching plot. NPWIL had a minimal overarching plot. My life has a minimal overarching plot. It's not a mechanical chain of events. I think about vague nebulous aspirations and I think about the past. I have dreams and memories. My perspective is limited.

So, too, the robots in NPWIL. Things happen to them, but they happen for little discernible reason. Characters are thrust into events that they don't really understand. Some things have consequences and others pass inconsequentially. Robots reminisce and think about the future, but reminiscence colors memories and future goals can be vague and out of reach. It's a story about the pursuit of happiness in a world that is uncertain and confusing.
posted by Nomyte at 5:14 PM on October 3, 2013 [2 favorites]

"It takes a lot of nerve to come into a man's house uninvited and call him a souffle."

"Thank you."

Yup. Something about the art style, use of color and use of odd and anachronistic names and fashions reminded me of Aeon Flux right away, but dialogue like that really sealed the similarity.

I enjoyed Nine Planets a lot, and I'm enjoying this a lot so far.

Thanks!
posted by byanyothername at 7:06 PM on October 3, 2013

I have never come across this person's work before and I really like this, thanks!
posted by oulipian at 7:22 PM on October 3, 2013

That was almost exactly my experience of Nine Planets as well Nomyte, except maybe compounded by the fact that its run (and the themes you mentioned) coincided just about perfectly with my adolescence.
posted by Nomiconic at 7:39 PM on October 3, 2013

OK, I did just read the first two issues of Opplopolis on a whim. It's definitely a Kit Roebuck production.
posted by Nomyte at 8:20 PM on October 3, 2013

Superb. Thank you.
posted by motty at 9:24 PM on October 3, 2013

It's three weeks later. Opplopolis is, without a doubt, a monumental landmark in the world of comic-bookery. It is brilliant.
posted by Nomyte at 11:20 PM on October 26, 2013