Review #23: A Shocking Revelation!

Ooooh, BURN!

Title: Mystic Revolution
Artist: Jen Brazas
Collective/Studio: N/A
Genre: Humor/Fantasy
Link: http://www.mysticrev.com

“Dr. Haus?” The receptionist boy, banged on the office door, “Dr. Haus? We got several more patients here that need your…”

“I’m busy! Come back later!” Dr. Haus’ muffled voice yelled through the door.

“But sir, these guys need your attention…”

“I just told you, boy, I’m busy!”

“Dammit sir, I can’t keep up with all these calls!” The receptionist boy turned thee handle and burst through the door, “You need to…what is that?”

“What is what?” Dr. Haus shouted, furiously trying to Alt+F4 a window on his desktop, only to get a message from Firefox asking him if he wanted to delete all three tabs.

“You’re reading that comic? I thought you hated it?”

“Well, it seems that…”

“You called the artist a hack!”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did! Over a week ago! I heard you mutter it in a drunken stupor!”

Dr. Haus hesitated before replying, “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

“Dammit, Dr. Haus! This shit is serious! If you’re trying to get back in the reviewing groove, you could at least take it seriously!”

“Taking it seriously is what burned me out before, my young receptionist. Speaking of which, don’t you have paperwork or some shit to fill out?”

As the receptionist boy left, Dr. Haus let out a long exhale, “Why couldn’t I have a hot female nurse like my archnemesis? Instead I got stuck with this lame college kid.”

With that comment out of the way, he canceled the closing of the Firefox window and continued to read the strip on his monitor.

So what do we have? Something about a L33T Ninja guy and a fallen angel (or banished GM, depending on your point of view) named Lourdes trying to survive in a dot-Hack-like world against some corrupted super-admin named Machiavelli (not this guy). Also, a couple catgirls and a guy with no clothes show up, thus ensuring further hilarity.

Over the course of the story, the team runs through the usual RPG cliches about evil bosses, level grinding and the good ol' "REZ ME PLZ" bit. Though the writer provides plenty of opportunities for romance to bloom between the two main protagonists (Ninja and Lourdes), the story does seem to tilt more towards poking fun at...something. I suppose it's a good thing that it doesn't just spend most of its time beating RPG cliches with a stick, but taking some time to establish its own unique storyline as well.

The artwork has its own little quirk as well: Constantly floating the line between full-bodied anime shtick and crazy chibi midget. Personally, I find it a little annoying, a la the crappy "Teen Titans" cartoon, but others may find it quite interesting. On the other hand, this particular style does allow the characters to express a wider range of emotion.

One little nitpick I have is that Mystic Revolution keeps switching between offering the setting as a gaming world, and as a self-contained fantasy. As such, suspension of disbelief hits a speed bump and gets tossed into the backseat often. Then again, you're probably not reading this for its realistic portrayal of World of Warcraft.

All-in-all, I'll give this comic a small recommendation. The humor is nice, the artwork is kinky, the characters are okay. The story ain't much that you haven't already seen in an episode of dot-Hack. And yet, I can't stop laughing at this particular strip. Skim through the archives, I'm sure you'll find something to like here too.