You gotta watch those "Favorite Websites" links some Epinionators put on their profile page. I innocently followed one and got rudely e-slapped by a purveyor of exploited women. Another time, I was horrified to see a morbidly obese nude woman, lewdly jiggling (what were you thinking, you-know-who? ;-P ). It's an opportunity to sample what flavor of mayhem your E-buddies are into, I 'spose--and a serious roll of the dice. Forrest Gump's mom would have called it "Like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
Sinfest, said that "3rd Favorite Website". Now, this certain Epinionator (all of the above were women, incidentally--just goes to show...) had impressed me with her level-headed brand of theology, not that she pushed it in her reviews or comments. It just quietly came across, unlike my own occasionally obtuse rants. Well, that title hooked me like the sucker I am, and off I went.
Sinfest is a web-comic, created by cartoonist Tatsuya Ishida. "A web-comic" you ask? Sinfest is NOT in syndication, i.e. in any newspapers, but has appeared online with a new strip everyday since January 1, 2000. Like the dawn of a new millennium, you might say, and Ishida probably has. You can find it at http://sinfest.net/index.htm
Sinfest HAS been published in two books, Sinfest (Museworks, November 2002, the object of this review), and Life Is My Bitch (also Museworks, November 2003). Sinfest was introduced online by Keenspot web comics. Now at the Sinfest homepage, you may review the entire history of strips from day one to the present, free, and without so much as registering. Wow! What's the catch? There is absolutely no catch. If you would like to support Ishida or acquire his work for yourself or your web-challenged friends or relatives, I invite you to consider Sinfest the book, which covers the comic in chronological order from inception through the book's production.
What's It All About?
I had given up on cartoons nearly a decade ago. In the mid nineties, all my favorite cartoonists had hung up their cleats. Berkely Breathed (Bloom County), Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), and Gary Larson (The Far Side) all retired within a two-year period. Even my childhood favorite, Charles M. Shulz (Peanuts), passed away. Tatsuya Ishida picked up where these strips left off, and pushed the cutting edge, over-the-edge (hence the lack of syndication). Sinfest captures the originality, insight, humor, intelligence, and freshness--the flava of these ground-breaking comics. I would rate it PG-13 for language and some adult themes. I had given up--but I am so back.
Sinfest is a daily, four-panel, black-and-white cartoon. There are no color "Sunday editions". The drawings are spare--frequently as spare as Peanuts or Johnny Hart's B.C.--evidence of the strength of the dialog. The busier backgrounds frequently contain jokes within-the-joke, or dead-on tributes to classic strips. Ishida is clearly a student of his craft and a devotee of his predecessors. "On the shoulders of giants". I'm guessing his non-syndicated independence allows him a degree of artistic control and creative flexibility that his syndicated colleagues would envy. I have no idea whether he's making any money. I hope he has a wealthy benefactor.
The Themes
Man vs. Woman! Evil vs. Good! Dogs and Cats, Sleeping Together!!! Analysis can be boring (it has been so far, hasn't it?), and this is a character-driven strip, so let's move on.
The Characters
Sinfest revolves around Slick and Monique. Slick is a male teenager emasculated by being exceptionally short and young-looking. Slick has purely hedonistic goals and a cut-to-the-finish modus operandi which backfires every time. He is all front--not a playa but a poser, and secretly suffers from poor self esteem. His devotion to Monique and his friends betrays his innocence and charm. Ishida has morphed Bloom County's Milo Bloom into Steve Dallas, and then added the hair and imagination of Calvin and Hobbes' Calvin. One guesses that Slick is an extension of Ishida. Slick's foils are an even-more shallow (yet harmless and lovable), beer-swilling pig named Squigley, and a wide-eyed innocent named Criminy.
Monique is a 16-year-old Lolita and resident hottie. She looks and acts the tramp, but there is never any "action". Monique flutters after hot guys, but frequently bemoans being alone. She has befriended Slick, but simultaneously damned him to a perpetually platonic relationship (she endearingly calls him "Slicky"). They play off eachother brilliantly. Without being "religious", Monique ('Nique) is by far the most inherently good of the human cast. She is an original character--I can't immediately name Ishida's creative influences for her.
Sinfest has a distinctly theological tone. God and the devil are not just present, they are primary characters. God speaks in impressive graduation certificate font. He reveals Himself as hand puppets in the clouds (somehow it works) which taunt the devil and other "baddies" who take themselves too seriously. He is a real joker--accessible--but not laughable. When present in the strip, God always gets the Last Word. The human characters also interact with God, questioning and griping in typically human fashion, and He answers. The humans are rather too cynical (sinnical?) to do much praising, but there is an earnest angel-in-training named Seymour who covers that.
The devil is a normal-looking guy in a dark suit, except for his tell-tale horns. He is not frightening, but then, that's part of his allure, isn't it? He delights in plotting evil, but seems to know his days are numbered. Ishida lauds two classic strips with the Devil's episodes: Lucy's 5-cent psychiatry booth in Peanuts ("The Devil is In," and his main customer is Slick) and Elmer Fudd's wabbit-hunting exploits. The Devil, however, hunts two relentlessly cheery proselytizing angels named Ezekial and Arial. These confrontations are among the most comical of all. Don't worry--like Bugs Bunny, 'Zeke and Arial dish out better than they get.
Ishida includes an Eastern deity for his oriental breddrin--the Dragon. In Sinfest, the Dragon lives in relatively peaceful coexistence with God. They are rather like colleagues, with mutual esteem and professional courtesy, although they occasionally tangle. The Dragon does not have much time or tolerance for the devil, but is curious about all the fuss.
Finally, character-wise, there are Pootch and Percival. Pootch and Percival break up the routines and add interest. They are somewhat derivative of Odie and Garfield, but I find P & P both more realistic and more charming. Pootch is a typical dog, and Percival a typical cat. The way I see it, Ishida tosses Pootch and Percival into the mix to avoid burnout. Pootch and Percival do not appear with the other characters, but normally run about five strips in a row as an interlude between episodes with Slick and Monique or the devine characters.
Conclusions
There is a lot going-on in Sinfest. The interplay of the characters is the first thing to watch. Then you get to look for amusing references to other strips. Finally, Ishida prefaces his by-line each strip with a different tagline, and these are frequently hilarious. The title of this review was the tagline for February 1, 2000. Other taglines: "Strong enough for a man but made for a woman--Tatsuya Ishida". "Can we just cuddle? Tatsuya Ishida". "Macho Macho Man--Tatsuya Ishida". The relentless braggadocio belies such humor and underlying vulnerability, echoing the protagonist Slick, that I can't help being compelled by the sheer humanity of it all.
Go on, check out Sinfest. And if you are feeling really flush, buy the book. Thank you for reading. I suspect Tatsuya thanks you for buying.
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