I recently stumbled upon a web graphic novel called Rice Boy, and was pleasantly surprised by a beautiful and exciting read. Evan Dahm, the comic’s creator, is a solid artist with a strong sense of narrative and a crazy imagination.
The comic is about the troubled land of Overside, a land filled with a multitude of strange races and wonderful locations, and a little bulbous-headed, armless being named Rice Boy who may just be the prophesied one. This little guy goes on a long and arduous journey in an attempt to save his world and bring peace to warring factions.
All the characters are unique and wonderfully drawn. I particular like T.O.E. (The One Electronic), an ancient robot-man who has been seeking the prophesied one for thousands of years. He’s a lot like a Gandalf. only weaker and with a more contemporary voice.
On his website, Dahm has this to say about his creation:
The kind of narrative feeling I’m trying to stick to for this comic is most of what I’m trying to get down properly in the thumbnails: storytelling that seems leisurely even though it reads very quickly; brief animatic sequences and big, self-indulgent scenic panels that don’t do much but let me develop settings and moods. All in all, a ridiculously inefficient way to tell a story.
And yet a very good story! The leisurely pacing reads well and gives the novel its epic and exhaustive world-building quality. I highly recommend this comic to anyone who enjoys comics or is wondering why others do.
You can read the entirety of Rice Boy on www.rice-boy.com, as well as the beginning of it’s prequel, The Order of Tales.