Admission time: The first time I laid eyes on Ms Sundberg's (practice???) comic "A Redtail's Dream", I got through like the first six pages and then thought, "meh, nothing special" and left.
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| this is a totally random page out of her (practice?!) comic. |
Yeah, I know. I'm an insane and tasteless wonder of a human being. Anyways, now Minna Sundberg is working on a new comic that is shaping up to be more my speed than the first-- yes, that does in fact mean that it is post-apocalyptic. Sigh. I know what I like, and I know it's totally mainstream.
This comic is totally not mainstream work, though! As in her first comic, Sundberg sets her characters in the countries she is familiar with-- all the Nordic countries no spoiled Americans know about, Sweden and Finland (so far, with visits to Denmark and Iceland looming on the horizon), and she incorporates all the Nordic mythology that no spoiled Americans are familiar with.
(By the way, by "spoiled Americans" I mean me.)
Let's count what I love about this comic:
1. THE ARTTTT.
The art in this comic is exceedingly well done. The style of the lineart and colors and text all works together beautifully to create a stunning atmosphere for the storytelling.
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| Wow, so pretty. I'm going to learn how to do stuff like this one day. |
2. THE CHARACTERS.
Just as a warning: don't get attached to the prologue characters. Since I didn't read the author's notes or comments section when I first found the comic, I didn't get them memo that the prologue characters were temporary and ended up becoming very, very attached. (Then again, when have I ever not become attached to a character?)
All of Sundberg's characters are delightfully larger-than life, and every page another facet of their personalities are explored, which really fleshes them out beautifully. What's more, the art (yes, I'm just gonna keep gushing about the art) really does its job at showing each character's unique body language and expression set, a quality I really appreciate in a comic.
(Emil Vasterstrom is my favorite, just so you know.)
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| Ah yes, Michael and Signe, my two favorite prologue characters. I love you and will never forget you, Michael and Signe. |
3. THE WRITING.
Not gonna chatter about this that much, but let me just say that writing is just as important in comics as in any novel, and this comic nails it.
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| I love this page because the hypochondriac looks exactly like Lucky from my own comic... ha... |
4. THE UPDATE SCHEDULE.
Most comics make you wait a week between updates. (Which is fine. I mean, artists have to eat, too.) But this comic? This comic is beyond fine. This comic is like the comic to end all comics. This comic updates Monday-Friday.
That's right, folks. It updates every weekday.
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| Look how paint-y and cool all this looks. I really like well done digital art. |
5. THE COMMENT SECTION.
I begin every day Monday through Friday by reading through the comments section. I love the commenters on this comic-- they're creative, funny, and have wonderful theories about the characters, world building, plot, etc. They always point out a lot of stuff I don't notice about the comic, and are filled with cool facts about Nordic stuff that I, as a spoiled American, am not familiar with.
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| Not sure what to say about this page, but ok. |
IN CONCLUSION:
I don't know, guys, this is just a really good comic. I highly recommend that you read it and then fangirl with me. You can read it HERE.
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| also in conclusion: Sundberg can draw some really creepy yet pretty stuff. |
