Oh Ctrl+Alt+Del comics, what a rocky
relationship we've had. When I started reading you, I thought you
were great. Your characters were funny, your jokes were funny, Chef
Brian was funny, it was just an all around funny thing.
Then something happened. I don't know
what it was. Maybe I grew up a bit, maybe my tastes changed. More
than likely, however, you stopped making jokes and started your
string of “serious” plots right out of a junior high notebook.
But you know what, Ctrl+Alt+Del? You've
gotten better. No, I still don't like you as much as I did when I was
15, and I doubt I ever will, but you've ditched your overcomplicated
cast of characters and your only semi-competent grasp of creative
drama, and gone back to making jokes.
Is it only a matter of time before you decided to “expand” the
characteristics of players 1-4? Probably. But for now, you've reached
the lofty goal of “there are worse time wasters you could do.”
Okay, I've
rambled on about this enough. Ctrl+Alt+Del is a webcomic by Tim
Buckly, and at its start was about a pair of gaming roommates (lamp
shading their own “originality” from time to time) as they talk
about video games and the turns the industry is taking. Okay, so this
sounds like dollar-store Penny Arcade...and it was...but then things
get a little hairy.
Ethan, the
standard “crazy but apparently considered “lovable” in
universe” character becomes smitten with a girl named Lilah, who
is, for reasons utterly beyond me, smitten in return. This is where
the drama switch gets pulled. If you follow the web comic world in
the slightest, you know what happens. They get married, Lilah gets
pregnant, and completely out of nowhere a miscarriage ensues. Because
drama.
There are other
characters, such as the relatively straight-man archetype Lucas, the
sentient and sapient x-box he created named Zeke and their mysterious
and rarely-seen third roommate Scott, but at the end of the day, the
story mainly falls down to Ethan who, to be honest, isn't terribly
interesting. He's random, kookie and operates under what can only be
defined as 'insane troll logic', and while that amused me to no end
at 15, I just find him annoying now. Lilah and Ethan don't have
terribly much personality either, they're mostly just foils to Ethan.
The Good
When the comic decides to make jokes, it can be at least passable.
Your time is still better spent reading Penny Arcade, but they're not
all that bad.
The best thing to ever happen to this comic was the decision to
completely lose its “main cast”, and just goes to using the
Players (a group of characters named Player 1, 2, 3 and 4) for
commentary, or using actual game characters to lampoon the flaws in
the work itself. Again, they're decent.
The Bad
I've heard a lot of rumors about Tim Buckly, but until I get
verifiable reports telling me they're true, I'm not spreading them
here. Besides, we're here to talk about the comic itself.
First off, the lack of effort. Buckly has made videos showing how he
makes Ctrt+Alt+Del, and they are maddening. He as a set of angry
eyes, a set of lazy eyes, a set of hopeful eyes, and he just clicks
and drags them over to the blank face for that scene. Wow. Just wow.
The same goes for every facial feature and plenty of the background.
Second, as I none-too-subtly stated above, the drama isn't really
well integrated into the story, or all that well thought out. It
seems that Buckly will just decide that there's been too much fun for
too long and pull the drama lever, throwing in the most horrible
thing he can think of completely out of left field.
The Verdict
I've said it already. The recent ones are okay, but seriously, just
go read Penny Arcade. It's a better use of your time.
