O Sarilho

The Sun is falling down. OH NO.

Ok, the Sun is falling down, very slowly. But still, enough to induce a lot of changes in the world, a lot of things are desert now, and there is Sand. So much Sand. One could even say it is… Rising?

Rising Sand is a comic about family. And religion. And surviving. And a lot of other things, beautifully blended together with gorgeous art and solid storytelling.

Dal is a young sylph who ran away from home due to a mix of family tension, zealot religious upbringing and trauma. She’s been making a living as a thief and her quick wits and sassy personality make a great contrast with her companion Qebrus, who is not very keen on words. For religious reasons, Qebrus needs to collect a lot of, uh, bounty, so the two keep quite the symbiotic relationship. They leave as peacefully as one can while trying to survive in a decaying world, until Dal’s sister – who up to this point believed Dal to be extremely dead – finds them and decides unilaterally that it’s time for Dal to come home.
In the midst of that mess and with a small ragtag group forming, the gang finds out the sun is falling down, and maybe they should try to stop the end of the world. I mean, the sun falling down’s gotta have that effect on the world, right?

Religion plays a very important role in the characters’ lives, clearly, but not to overtly that you would go and say “oh wait. Magic is absolutely super fucking real”. Even tho the pantheon is shared by different cultures, each has their unique interpretation of who those supernatural entities are, how they interact, and how one should interact with them, if ever. But never on the grounds of “this religion is 100% absolutely true in this world”, which honestly? Really refreshing. Not a lot of stories go for such a nuanced take on the supernatural and how people interact with it.

The art in Rising Sand is some of the best I’ve seen in a comic that’s shared online for free, and the level of detail – including storytelling ones – is a testament to how much the Ty and Jenn care about this story and telling it right. Trust me, there is SO MUCH going on.

Content Warnings for Violence (a lot of it), gore and a lot of family stuff that I’m sure can hit close to home to a lot of people.

Sorry, this entry is only available in European Portuguese.

Souls Foreclosed is a story about two trans lesbian demons destroying the patriarchy (vampire Pope!)

Yes, it is about that, essentially, but also essentially about identity, religion, defying authority and looking good in heels.

Deviation from the norm is literal heresy, and in a world controlled by patriarchal immortal vampires who feed on the souls of the poor… Being labeled an heretic may be a problem. Maybe you’ll get the Inquisition going after you. Reah get gender-affirming rituals in a hidden covenant through means of an angelic relic and tries to live her life as the woman she was always meant to be… This is, until the Inquisition finds her and her sisters. Surviving on the fire of her heart alone, she’s saved by Lucifer themselves, and made into a warrior to fight for liberty and against the church. Tabitha, on the other hand, lives a double life: pretending to be a man using her magics for the government during the day, being the best drag queen alive (step on me) during the night. She gets recruited by Lucifer for her talents and wit and fully embraces her true self. Tabitha and Reah form a duo and eventually also fall into each other’s arms.

The artstyle is novel and impressive, with most pages done fully traditional and others with digital finishes. Souls Foreclosed does something I don’t see often enough, which is having the text and speech bubbles be part of the art and the page composition. Text can be anywhere, and that is pretty cool. Pages don’t follow usual standards and each of them feels like a whole illustration, text and all. Each character has their own speech bubble format, which not is not only neat and visually appealing, but also helps identifying who is talking at all times.

It’s a complex, and fast-paced story with a lot of colorful characters and hateful enemies and a lot of mysteries ahead. Raw and emotional.

Honestly Not A Robot is a story about retail. In a premium supermarket. In the UK.

Sometimes, I get the feeling slice-of-life comics don’t get the credit they deserve, and I think HNAR is doing a great job at what it aims to do: show the minutia of daily life of regular people who happen to work in retail jobs, and all the mess that comes with a public-facing job. And all the trouble that comes with being managed, micro-managed, or under-managed. And having to figure out solutions to problems that are not your responsibility, or how to work in a team where some of the players are difficult, and how to navigate all the personal drama that can so easily arise in these situations.

And Honestly Not a Robot does all of this with charm, humour and really funny art. The story begins following Ash Brown, a newcomer to Damson’s premium supermarket who is just looking for a job, and who quickly realises that everything in life requires very well-defined boundaries if you don’t want to be at the mercy of potential exploitation. People will try it.
The cast is full of some impressive personalities, from Kevin, the food service manager – who enjoys a good jog and lively outings – to Damian, the overworked team leader trainee who is surviving on coffee and despair. All their personalities shine really quickly as they get to know and welcome Ash into his new environment and give him a time. Everyone has different opinions on why they work retail and what they expect of the job, and what are their goals for it/after it. I find this personally very refreshing and humane, and it’s good to see a bunch of diverse people not being judged for the personal life stories and choices that lead them to working at the local supermarket.

For some reason, I get the feeling I can’t trust him. But I want to.

Honestly not a Robot IS a slice-of-life, so don’t expect a lot of fast-paced action or over-the-top drama. You can, however, expect to see workers trying to snatch some time off, hiding behind the bread and fleeing from customers. And you may even learn how to fillet a fish in the meanwhile!

Broken is the kind of webcomic that was made in a laboratory specifically for me.
You’ve got: fairy general, WAR, zombies, eldritch abominations, corruption, the government, fascism, fashion, body horror and much, much more!!
And in what I find actually rather refreshing, sure these fairies are magical entities and they can do a lot with that, but they also use conventional weapons. And I’m here for fairies with machineguns, ok?

Ah yess, fairy-made horrors beyond my comprehension!

The story follows Senior General homunculus Huvrye who fights alongside his little corrupted corpse companion in a magical war against corrupted creatures who are spreading corruption. He’s trying to stop them before they reach important places. By destroying them so much. And also destroying civilians here and there. All these things plague the good general, but they come to a much worse point when he eventually finds out maybe not all those corrupted people are beyond salvation – by discovering his own little companion is in fact, not that dead! Oh no!

Ah, this comic has the perfect balance of horror, tension and tenderness. It’s an inspiration on so many levels. It also makes great use of the web element, by bringing a lot of animations and styles into both the panels and the website, and I think you can tell that is the kind of stuff I want and enjoy in a webcomic! I think if you like O Sarilho and you don’t mind a story that’s slightly more fantasy-oriented while still being very very grounded, you’ll really enjoy Broken. Because it is out there doing what I want to do.

Go read it, it’s a good webcomic and it has 100% shizamura approval rate.

Hello!!

O Sarilho may be on a break, but I’m not ? With which I mean I’ll be using this space to tell you about some webcomics I’ve been reading. Hopefully you’ll get not only a better idea of my tastes but also of what else is out there in terms of cool webcomic stuff!

I’m gonna start by telling you about Sombulus, a webcomic by the clever Delphina that has been online since 2010. While that is a massive archive binge for a new reader, I personally think the characters are charming enough from the get-go to keep you hooked up, as the story slowly becomes more complex and takes its time to reveal you the secrets.

Sombulus has a sense of wit and fantasy that people who’ve enjoyed Discworld are bound to be charmed by, and never loses its comedic timing. Sydney, Astyr and Rana are a very interesting trio, with lovely dynamics and rivalries going on and it’s quite lovely to see them both staying true to their tropes and breaking from them whenever the situation calls for it. As they hop from world to world (yes), we learn more about the Myriad worlds and the religious/political alignments and plots, as they all slowly come together with the promise of a bang.

If you think giant pigeons and flying toasters are your jam, I very strongly advice you to read this comic. Also, I cannot make any promises, but you will love Tenge. If this comic has given me some husbandos and waifus, I’m sure it can do it for you too.

Sombulus will also be issuing a remastered version of books 1+2 as part of Booktopia this September! Check it out!