Hello all, and welcome to Comic Month here at the Raccoon
Reader Review! More specifically, I should say ‘web comic’ month, as all of the
comics that I’m about to show to you this month are fully available online for
your reading pleasure. Most of them, though, are also available in book format,
so don’t hesitate to pick up a hard copy of the comics if you want to support
these wonderful artists and writers!
The goal of this month is to show off some anthropomorphic
comics that I enjoy and spread word of them to folks who may not necessarily
have seen them before. That means I’ll mainly be going over the great points of
these comics, but I’ll also point out problems where it’s due.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into this week’s
anthro comic: Lackadaisy
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| I may not be a cat, but I think I'll fit right in! |
What is it?
Lackadaisy is a
comic written and drawn by Tracy J. Butler.
(from the artist):
“It's about a gang of tenacious (if
not shady) characters running a St. Louis speakeasy in the era of Prohibition.
I suppose it falls somewhere in the realm of historical fiction, parody, dark
comedy, and abject nonsense.”
In truth, Lackadaisy is a comic about many things, but it’s
mainly about people who do illegal things. Characters lie, cheat, steal, and
kill in the name of their respective establishments and personal interests. In
fact, it might almost be considered a theme of the comic that none of the cast
are completely unfamiliar with violence and bloodshed. In a way, it’s a sort of
tearing down of ‘the good old days’, and yet it still fully celebrates them.
Lackadaisy is a comic filled with music, poetry, history, comedy, love, murder,
and a bit of alcohol.
Story
I would say that I want to avoid spoilers here, but
Lackadaisy’s story is not one that lends itself much to spoiling.
The story primarily concerns itself with the adventures
of the Cheshire Cat-like Rocky Rickaby, who is currently employed by the
mysterious Mitzi May at the Little Daisy Café. He’s a gin-runner for the
Lackadaisy Speakeasy that’s set up beneath the storefront, meaning it’s his job
to go out and secure shipments of liquor to keep them in business. From the
very beginning, we learn that Rocky is… not the greatest at this job. He tends
to get pushed around and his head is very much always in the clouds and
dreaming of grand things. Yet he loves the job anyways and puts his life on the
line to do it for Mitzi.
The story isn’t just about Rocky, though. After being
introduced to his problems, we soon meet an increasingly colorful cast of
characters, such as Viktor, the feral-looking one-eyed Slovak with knees that
don’t bend, Ivy Pepper, who works at the actual café part of Little Daisy Café,
and Freckle, Rocky’s quiet and somewhat shy little cousin who continually gets
wrapped up in the craziness of Rocky’s adventures. This isn’t even the tip of
the iceberg when it comes to the cast of characters, and our perspective
changes frequently as the story demands it. See for yourself all of the
characters that Lackadaisy offers to us here!
Luckily, all these different characters don’t muddy the
story in the least. See, when I say that the story primarily concerns itself
with Rocky, that’s both a truth and a bit of a lie. So far, Rocky most definitely
gets the most face time in the comic, but the comic is less about him and more about the characters
involved with his place of employment. Lackadaisy is, above all else, a comic
about characters and the lives that they lead. That’s why I say that it doesn’t
quite lend itself to spoilers too well, because the magic of the story is in
seeing all of these characters come to life and deal with their various
histories and relations. The only way to truly ‘spoil’ Lackadaisy would be to
write out a full-disclosure biography on every character in the story, and you’d
be better off just watching these characters explain themselves anyways.
Presentation
Lackadaisy is more than just a collection of comic pages
and fun characters. The full experience of Lackadaisy is the site itself and
the wonderful level of immersion into the world. Not only does the story of the
comic take place in the 1920s, but the website itself is steeped in information
and colloquialisms from that era. There’s even a glossary on the site to help
folks out if they want to know more about words of the era, though the artist
never overuses these words in the comics to the point of the glossary being
necessary reading.
Lackadaisy has a lot of themes going on, especially if
one were to break down all of the different aspects of the era that it slips
in. One of its more recurring themes, however, is the theme of photographs.
Throughout the entire design of the website, the characters are shown in
period-centric styles, and this frequently takes the form of old photography.
Not only being in the backdrop of the site, the comic itself tends to use quite
a number of photos, showing characters caught in the middle of moments or giving
us glimpses of their histories. In fact, the comic itself could be said to be
drawn in the style of a photograph, being presented entirely in sepia tones. Of
course, comic panels do lend themselves well to being compared to photographs,
but Butler definitely runs with the idea.
Speaking of the comic’s art, though, I must say that it’s
absolutely fantastic! I can’t emphasize that enough. Tracy Butler brings out
expressions and emotions with every panel and does so with great detail.
Characters are never as simple as they might seem in design, and most every one
of them will give an expression that you don’t quite expect that will suddenly
reveal more about their character to you than any mere words could do. The
characters’ outfits and the setting are also all drawn expertly, with more
details than most will probably ever notice. Butler often gives us fun notes
about her design process too, including historical facts and errors about what
she’s drawn, as well as tutorials and thoughts about character design and
putting images together.
It’s some of the most professional art that I’ve ever
seen in an web-based anthropomorphic comic.
The ‘Anthro’
Element
If it’s not obvious from the images I’ve shown you so far
(Or if you can’t see the images for one reason or another), Lackadaisy is
anthropomorphic at its most basic level. The entire cast of characters is made
up of cats of different breeds, as is the world surrounding them. Rather than
referencing this in any dialogue, the art pretty much speaks for itself.
Characters infrequently do ‘catty’ things, like sleeping in odd positions or
having their tails frizz out when they’re concerned. On the whole, though, the
world being filled with cats really doesn’t play much of a part in the story of
the comic.
Butler herself says that the cats are ‘just stand-ins for humans in the comic’. While I might have a problem with that in works of
literature, showing a lack of inventiveness, I’m a little more apt to forgive
it in the world of a graphic novel. The reason for this is pretty obvious:
everything that we need to know about the characters in terms of their species
is shown to us in the art of the comic itself. Nobody is going to look at a
comic panel of Lackadaisy and mistake the felines in zoot suits for human
beings. Even their hands and feet have pads and claws on them, so it's difficult
to even think of them as people in furry suits. In a way, it’s a very ‘Disney’
approach. These cats that can talk are just that.
This does beg the question, though… Why are we more
willing to accept this? Why is reading about a talking mouse going to the store to buy bread and jam and driving a car more of a logical stretch for some than
watching a quadrupedal lion actively using a torch in his teeth to light a
field on fire in Disney’s The Lion King 2?
Really, I think it has to do with how our minds tend to work. In general, we
are more receptive to being shown something than being told to think something. When the visual is
entirely our own idea, it’s oddly more difficult to bend it than if somebody
else presents the visuals for us. You can easily experience this for yourself
if you ever watch a movie based on a book and then read that book. Suddenly,
without even trying, you’ll tend to see the main character as the actor that
portrayed him or her in the film. Publishers are even completely aware of this,
which is why they tend to reprint books with covers matching the posters of
their films. Pre-determined visuals are comfortable for our eyes and our minds,
even if imagination is arguably better exercise for our brains.
So, in the end, Lackadaisy’s anthro element is a basic
one, but the great art carries it forward and brings out all that we need to
know about these characters as cats and as people. Its story is certainly more
of an exploration of the human element than the animal one, which makes it good
anthropomorphism, but there’s less of an animal mask to it when compared to
other works. This may or may not turn off some folks.
My Thoughts
I’ll not mince words. I love this comic and everything
about it! The art, the characters, the presentation… it’s all a beautiful
visual symphony in my eyes. The world absolutely comes alive in the pages
presented to us, and there’s so much personality in the website and the various
images and comics spread across it. It’s just astounding to me every time that
I look through it and it’s my hope that I can spread this comic even further
and make more people aware of it. I highly recommend it and hope that you all
give it a read for yourselves!
If there were one thing that I had to point out as a
disappointment about the comic, it’s the fact that the wait between updates can
be excruciating. As Butler’s art gets more and more impressive and extravagant,
it takes her, understandably, more time to make each page. This works somewhat
to the comic’s detriment, as the art wows us with every new piece, but the gaps
can be so large that you tend to forget where you were in the story unless you
read back a few pages first.
For that reason, I think one of the best ways to
experience Lackadaisy is in its book form. The first volume has long been
available, and the second seems to be well underway. With the books, you get to
experience the entire story at your own pace. Regrettably, all of Tracy Butler’s
notes couldn’t be transferred to the pages of the book, nor could the side
comics on the website, but that also makes the book experience and the website
experience complementary rather than competing, and checking out both can
really enhance your reading!
Well, I hope you all enjoyed a look at one of my favorite
anthro comics out there today! There’s more to come, so please stick around for
the month! If you have any anthro comics that you want me to check out or hear
my opinions on, or any topics in general that you want me to cover, don’t
hesitate to contact me.
Until next time, happy reading, all!
-Chammy
Currently Reading:
Animas – Legacy of
the Claw by C. R. Grey
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