'Blank It': A Webcomic Review

Ever wished that all that we "know" that makes up our universe (the Earth, social norms and practices, time, the general laws of physics) vanished, with no prior notice or explanation, so the "world" can being anew? Like every hour of every day, right?

Okay, maybe not that extreme, but for those of you sad souls who do indeed feel this way, Blank It is a liberating, slightly agoraphobic dream-land of a comic. Right from the first panel of the first strip, we see that our first main character (modeled after co-creator Aric McKeown) has somehow got himself caught in another dimension of sorts, where there is no society, no physical end, and (almost) no one in sight -- save for our second, more eccentric prominent figure up to this point in the comics' run (modeled after co-creator Lem Pew). From this introduction, we follow the only two known humans in an unknown universe, as they attempt to answer the burning questions that anyone would have in their situation: "Where the hell are we, and what can we get away with here?"

The partial answer to the latter question is simple, of course: nudity. Well...shortly, but we must always remember that there is hope for a "perfect pantless society."

And so, the first true dream in an uncharted universe foiled by prior standards, our brave heros trudge off into the unknown, testing the oddities of a strange land as they go. Some are a quite literally a hit, and others...more or less a miss. In short, we may just be watching (over and over again) what it was like for early man to discover and learn to work with fire. Only, uh...in a different universe.

Naked. Sometimes. In amazing, pattern boxers.

There's a special balance between "zealous" and "subtle" that webcomics (and comics in general, actually) need to be able to function at consistently to be able to stay around for any amount of time, or at least until a strong fan base has been collected. Fortunately, Blank It is an up-and-coming, fledgling comic, and even more fortunate, Lem and Aric seem to know exactly what they need to do to reach out to prospective regulars: variation, variation and...uh...what's the last one...ummm...disparity? Eh.

Anyway, compare this witty piece of dialogue:

With this very, very subtle bit of slap-stick comedy:

Now mind you, these vastly different styles of comic-funny are only about a mere 20 strips apart from each other. Not shabby for a comic that only started around four months ago at the time of this review, not to mention that there are several of strips between these two with a similar dichotomy.

Just as impressive as its comedic flucuation are Blank It's compounding series of uncanny happenings. One improbability leads to an even more head-scratch inducing improbability, without leaving the previous unlikelihood to the ether.

The art, as a fan of all walks of sequential art can see, shares ties to both American (four panels, evenly proportioned bodies, etc.) and Japanese (exaggerated eyes and mouths for moments of action, personified emotion, etc.) cartooning styles. Yet the blend is natural, not forced, and therefore not a distraction from the reader's attention ("Man, I wish this wasn't so heavily [BLANK] influenced"), but rather a unique visual experience.

Perhaps it's too early on in the comic to truly see what should be added, subtracted, emphasized and/or downplayed at this moment. Again, these guys hit the ground running with this only a few months ago by the seat of their...well, not really pants, as we've seen, but you get the point. It doesn't seem fair to start heavily criticizing so soon in the game.

That being said, Blank It, though certainly likely to be enjoyed by all for it's comedic repertoire, is not the fastest moving comic as far as major plot devices are concerned. But then again...we're in a another damned universe of (seemingly) infinite length and width. I'm sure we can count on being in said dimension for quite sometime, which is all-together perfectly acceptable.

Alternatively, this pace could also be attributed to the fact that the comic is only being updated twice a week, which can potentially cause the loss of interest in some readers, though Aric and Lem are planning to make this into a three-a-week gig soon. Either way, abstract or physical reasons being what they are, I just really hope Aric and Lem can continue with their trend of the unexpected to keep things spicy.

Other than that...honestly, guys. Come on. Where the F*ck are the blankets. Seriously. Talk about misleading.

In a medium disastrously overrun by genre comics, Blank It is both figuratively and literally in its own little pocket universe. The fact that there are just a hair over 30 comics currently published on the Blank It website, and yet I was still compelled to write and share a concise review of the comic-to-date should tell readers loads of what they should expect from this sometimes buck world, which is something I'm sure we can all hope to one day attain...some day...