Home of a Webcomic Maniac

Picatrix
Rating: PG
Art: A-
Updates: Daily

The story of a person from our world being dramatically transported to an alternate reality has been done many times (I'm writing a short story along those lines myself), but Picatrix is a relatively original and thoroughly enjoyable take on the idea. The story centers around a young woman named Winter (or "Winnie" as everybody calls her), who is having a very bad day. She's passed over for promotion at work, her car is stolen, and finally she falls headlong into a ravine while walking through a park on her way home. When she wakes up, she slowly comes to realize that she's not in Kansas anymore... mainly the presence of mountains where there were none before...

I should also mention that Winnie is possessed of a rather short temper. She initially thinks that she's been roped into some sort of reality television show, and is not happy about it. She's getting a wee bit violent in her dealings with the locals. It's cute.

This is actually the third incarnation of the comic strip. The artist, J.L. Haram, has twice decided that she's unhappy with the comic and started over. The story changes subtly and is more refined each time, but the essentials remain intact. Consequently, I know what's going to happen in broad terms (at least to a certain point), but I'm not going to write it out here because I don't want to spoil it for first-time readers. Also, I'm lazy. ^^

Critiques:
1). The archives on the new site are very obtuse and difficult to navigate. Hopefully this will be corrected.
2). There's no character page. This is less of an issue for me than in most comics, since I'm already familiar with most of the characters. But this sort of thing is my pet peeve, and I must mention it.

Summary: Picatrix is an worthwhile read for anybody over the age of 14 who enjoys fantasy and/or laughing.

Advertisement