Next week we hit 200. This week we’re almost there. Join us as we dig the start of another arc for “Dr. Frost,” the oddly hyphenated “Jupiter-Men,” and take a look at the latest DC collaboration x Webtoon featuring “Red Hood: Outlaws”. Don’t worry, 200 won’t be the end, but it might not be the same on the other side.
So read on, read on, and find out all this and more in the 199th issue of The Webcomics Weekly.
Dr Frost
‘Ouroboros’ (1) – (2)
Updates: Saturdays
By Jongbeom Lee
Reviewed by Elias Rosner
At the end of the last arc, I wondered how “Ouroboros” was going to play out. Would that wrap things up? Would he deliver the promised revelations? Or was it going to be more or less the same? Although I like the same thing a lot, I wanted the comic to push the boundaries a bit more. This fourth season of “Dr. Frost” has slowly broken from the mold of previous seasons in terms of each arc’s independence from each other, and that’s doubly true for the last arc and this one. If there hadn’t been a name change, I honestly would have thought it was the same arc.
There are enough differences to note Why it has changed, however. Frost is no longer alone, now joined by Changgyu to investigate Moon’s past while Seonga takes charge and leads the detective side to investigate Moon’s present and future. By the end of “Ouroboros” (2), it’s clear that this split will see this “case” through, so to speak, if not beyond. If it is the very long final arc, they will come together near the end. If not, we may not see Frost and Seonga reunite for quite a while.
While the pacing is still all over the place in these two chapters, the flashback allows us to contextualize Seonga’s professional relationship/friendship with Jiseong Gwak, the guy who carried out a terrorist attack earlier in the season than Seonga can’t. not believe. he spontaneous, is an exceptional example of Lee’s ability to characterize a character’s relationship over a short period of time. I feel like we spent chapters and chapters with Jiseong and although the details I could recite about him are small, I can tell you what Seonga means to him and what he means to her .
Doing this also sets the stage pretty well for the present. Why does he refuse to see her? Does he feel guilty or is it something more complicated? Doesn’t he want to see her because on some level he knows the brainwashing wouldn’t hold if she got involved? Was he brainwashed or did he act on his own, does he immediately regret it and can’t face it? It’s clear that he’s not indifferent to what he’s done and it’s clear that Seonga is the key to getting him to open up.
These complications in the narrative are what keep me invested. Sure, Moon’s grand plan being nebulously evil and grand is good motivation to see where the story goes, but the How? ‘Or’ What of it all is so interesting that I’m glad we rarely see Moon or his lackeys. Just the fact that Frost and Changgyu are bickering in front of this random old man is more than interesting enough to me.
However, I would not pass up the promise to learn what happened to his family and the town 30 years ago.
Jupiter-Men
Episodes 1-5
Updates on Wednesdays
Created by Actionkiddy
Reviewed by Mel Lake
What do you get if you cross Naruto with Miles Morales? Well, I don’t know exactly, but it’s probably close to Quintin, the main character of “Jupiter-Men”. This new Webtoon Original is aimed at a younger audience, but features classic superhero building block plot elements, solid art, and (with one exception) great character designs.
Jupiter City has a legendary protector, but opinions are divided on whether it’s a superhero or just a dude with a long starry cape. Quintin, a typical teenager, is obsessed with Jupiter-Man to the point of ruining his grades because he spends all his time on conspiratorial forums. Jackie, her twin sister, is more popular and is accused of being responsible for her brother after he breaks into a crime scene to find evidence of Jupiter-Man. She is not this responsible, however, so the pair end up in a crater outside of town having multi-dimensional experiences with glowing orbs.
Continued below
I mentioned Miles Morales in the intro for comparison, not only because Quintin is a young black protagonist, but also because his mother happens to be a Jupiter City police officer, similar to Miles’ father. Quintin and his sister Jackie have a brotherly vibe that feels genuine. Her character design is really the only thing I don’t like about the artwork. She looks like a doll, with proportions that make her look so small! It’s entertaining because Quintin looks so childish in comparison. It seems like it would be a better choice to let the two kids look like kids rather than making Jackie look like a pre-teen while Quintin grows up. Or, age Quintin a bit to match Jackie and give him a waistline that looks like it could fit at least one internal organ. Otherwise, the show’s art is solid in its everyday scenes, flashbacks that explain the history of Jupiter City, and its multi-dimensional space orb. I particularly like the green and black sequence with an art deco vibe in the first episode.
Does “Jupiter-Men” innovate? Other than featuring a black sibling duo as the main characters, no. But it’s a fun story, the art is solid, and Quintin’s enthusiasm can elevate the series if he has time to grow.
Red Riding Hood: Outlaw
Episodes 1–3
Hours: Mondays
Written by Patrick R. Young
Illustrated by Nico Bascuñán
Assisted and colored inks by Javier Rodriguez Vejares
Background illustrations assisted by Sebastian Frachini
Reviewed by Michael Mazzzacane
The latest DC x Webtoon product is out and it’s a riff on “Red Hood and the Outlaws” here just abbreviated as “Red Hood: Outlaws”. Is this yet another exploitation of the Bat-adjacent IP when DC has so much other stuff – like another two-thirds of a Trinity – they could riff on? Yeah, but it’s also one of the few times Jason Artemis and Bizarro were written by someone not named Scott Lobdell in the last half-decade. So I’ll take it! Writer Patrick Young and the rest of the art team aren’t flipping the script when it comes to the Dark Trinity. They’re still outcasts, failures, who can’t match their Trinity namesakes and so roam the world as mercenaries doing a little good, a little bad, a little of both.
Their latest contract sent them to Dinosaur Island to retrieve a stolen family heirloom for Franco Bertinelli, an heir loom that looks both older and un-Italian. Your required IndianaJones references are made, though fortunately they are neither laborious nor constant. Young does a good job of showing the relationship dynamics at play as they navigate their way through the jungle. Some of the gags and one-liners aren’t as funny or effective as the tape thinks they are, but for the most part it all matches the tone.
Structurally, Patrick Young and artist Nico Bascuñán make these three episodes really work. Each episode is built around a cast member, giving new readers a quick glimpse into their internal state of self-loathing and failure. There’s something perversely contemporary with Artemis’ time as Wonder Woman characterized in the language of social media following and monetization. Bascuñán largely matches the visual grammar that Dexter Soy established in the renaissance era, but with thicker line and a more painterly style of digital inking. Some of the action beats don’t quite work within the visual landscape of webtoons, but the overall storytelling is functional. The coloring of Javier Rodriguez Vejares is the real highlight of this band. Everything is saturated but with a painterly application and rendering process that keeps everything loose and alive. In a sea of manga-adjacent aesthetics powered by Webtoon Clip Studio paint, “Red Hood: Outlaws” stands out aesthetically and narratively.
While I’ve fallen behind some of the other DC x Webtoon projects, the consistency of how these properties are re-articulated to fit the platform and more importantly speak to new audiences continues to drive me home. ‘impress. The Rebirth series of “Red Hood and the Outlaws” is a real low point for me, but it feels closer to the platonic ideal that readers wanted this book to be. It might be a little too cute for some, but there’s a lot of internal trauma and drama to be had in there.