Why I Read: Jamie Jupiter

Hi, everybody.  It’s Delta-v, and I have anther webcomic that I want to tell you about.  The premise for this one os a twist on the old comic-book-comes-to-life theme.  Imagine, if you will what it would really be like if that happened to you.  Artist and writer KarToon12, is graciously allowing me to tell you, so let’s go visit Jamie Jupiter.

Synopsis:

Clara Friedman, staff photographer for the Harryhausen High school paper, is having a very hard time even pretending to care about her position, the paper or the school.  After a few pointed but encouraging words from the  journalism club’s adviser, she sets off.

Bitter and antisocial, she is having one of her normal miserable days, when she is helped by a fellow student who later introduces herself as “Jamie Gibbons”.  Clara, not used to having anyone care what happened to her, and embarrassed by someone witnessing her humiliation, reacts badly.

As she is performing her assignment of photographing the football team’s practice, she meets Tyler Forster.  Athletic and good looking, Tyler surprises her  by striking up a conversation only to be interrupted by a jealous cheerleader.  Later, Tyler looks her up and while chatting reveals that he is harboring a secret.

Jamie reappears, Clara apologizes, and they develop a friendship.  Clara has been researching Jamie, and finding more questions than answers, so she’s getting very curious.

Something strange and horrible happens, and Jamie is forced to reveal herself as an interstellar policewoman on assignment trying to apprehend a wanted fugitive.

As she and the bad guy fight it out, Jamie is marooned on Earth.  She barely gets a chance to catch her breath, however, before even stranger and more horrible things begin to happen, and the three of them are thrust into the midst of a new mystery.  Jamie is professional about it, Tyler is excited, and Clara is even more suspicious and distrustful of Jamie than before.

How I Found It:

Believe it or not, I had seen her comment on several webcomics I read, and I liked what she had to say, so I clicked on her username and followed  it to her ComicFury profile page where there was a link to Jamie Jupiter.

Just a note on why I’m using KarToon12 instead of her “real” name (which you can easily find, if you wish).  On her accounts on deviantART and Tumblr, she’s KarToon12, on YouTube she’s ToonGal12, and on Facebook, it’s KarToon Comics.  If I used her “real” name you’d have a harder time finding her.

Why I Like It:

Let’s start with the twist on the premise.  According to Jamie Jupiter. having a real, live superhero around can be  a real pain in the butt.  Your schedule gets messed up with all kinds if emergencies, they can do things much better than you can, and they tend to snap orders around when things get interesting–all of which makes sense, when you think about it.

KT tells an interesting story, with engaging characters–even when you want to slap them.  The hallmark of good storytelling is the ability to get the readers involved, and she handles that chore nicely.  Clara is unrelenting in her drive to expose Jamie (who, by the way picked her own name). so as to get the scoop of the Century, Tyler is susceptible to peer pressure, and Jamie has gaps in her understanding of Earthlings.

KT has a quirky sense of humor, shading off into the nerdly (check out some of the names), and mixes humor and horror quite adroitly.  The teenaged characters act like well, teenagers, and the adults (the ones who can) act like adults.  KT has a good ear for dialog, and uses it well.

The artwork is crisp and spare.  KT has a bold hand with color that is both intriguing and appropriate, and the backgrounds in close-up panels have more to do with emotions than wall color.  Her distance panels are steadily improving as is her overall ability, perspective, and proportion.  She does a good job on expressions, and body language, and her action scenes are impressive.

While Jamie in her “interstellar” form has to be the most fun to draw, it’;s pretty obvious that KT loves all her characters, and draws them accordingly.  I really enjoy reading a webcomic whose creator is enjoying what they are doing, too.

Things I think Could Be Better:

I’m really coming to appreciate page descriptions in the Archives, as it makes individual pages much easier to find.  On the other hand, I’m through with the review now, and don’t really need to know where things are as badly, soooo….

Some of the links in the artist’s blog comment section either no longer point to the relevant page, or the page is buried under subsequent posts.  I’m not sure if that’s fixable however.

Otherwise, that’s about it.

Final Thoughts:

One thing that you must not miss in the archives is the photo of KarToon12 cosplaying as Jamie.  She put an enormous amount of energy and creativity into the costume, and the results are wonderful.

One of the benefits of having done this review, is that I’m pretty sure I know who the Mystery Man is, now.

All, in all, I highly recommend that you give this comic  a try–you won’t be disappointerd.

Jamie Jupiter is on Top Web Comics, but the site doesn’t have a vote button.  I asked KarToon12 about it and she said that there was some problem with modifying an existing ComicFury site.  Does anyone know anything about that?  I sure don’t.

I can, however, put a vote button for her right HERE.