[insert kung fu pose here]

Oh hey, it's Wednesday. I was supposed to do a post last Thursday. xP Apologies to all, I was enjoying the first day of Christmas break. Aaaand after that, it slipped my mind. Anyway, posting today, and hopefully I'll remember to post in two days as well. Anyways, enough excuses. On with today's webcomic plug: How I Killed Your Master.

HIKYM is a fantasy webcomic written by Brian Clevinger, of 8-Bit Theater and Atomic Robo (which is a print comic book, not an actual webcomic. I unfortunately don't have the funds to buy the issues and review them, but I'm impressed by what I've seen) fame, and Warbot in Accounting infamy. Set in medieval China (is medieval the right term?), we follow the path of Liu Wong, a young orphan who becomes the greatest martial artist of the century.

HIKYM is still a rather fledgling comic in its own right, with only 70 pages under its belt. So far it's got a solid storyline and the scripting shows a level of skill we've come to expect of Brian over the years, but most of the characters are rather two-dimensional. Granted, there hasn't been much time for character development, but so far I'm not seeing a whole lot of progress in that direction.

The main character, Liu Wong, is the son of Liu Fang, a renowned martial artist, and former member of the 5 Dragons, a peace-keeping organization consisting of 5 combat prodigies. After he has mellowed out and settled down, an old nemesis tracks him down and poisons him, seizes his land and his wife, and throws his son out on the streets. Liu is taken to Master Fei, an old friend of Liu Fang, with the intent that Wong should learn Fei's family style: the Five Mantis Fist. After proving his worth and natural potential to Fei, Wong is taught the art and sent on his way to the Tiger Knuckle school of martial arts in the desert. In the course of his training, Wong has learned that his father's inimitable style was a composite of his own style, as well as the styles of his four compatriots. Wong is currently trained in two of the five schools of martial arts... it will be interesting to see how he fights when he has mastered all of them.

I'd say this comic is PG overall. A bit of blood, lots of action, but minimal swearing, and no sexual content. It's a great webcomic, and maybe I just haven't given it enough time, but I'd have to give it a B average. The story is great, but the characters are rather flat, and the art... takes a bit of getting used to. It's not bad by any means, but it's a stark contrast to the cleaner styles of Atomic Robo and Warbot in Accounting. Still, very nicely done, Brian.

-Defender of the Blog, RTB