Guest Comic Annotations – Grey Carter and Cory Rydell
I’m grateful to anyone who cared enough about our strip to contribute guest content for it, but I definitely enjoy some guest strips more than others, and sometimes that’s more due to my individual weird hangups about the series than anything I could expect you guys to relate to.
For me, this one hits a sort of “characterization uncanny valley.” There are two wolves in me, one saying “Well, maybe Frigg does have a phobia of animated skeletons, have we really established otherwise, Tamara doesn’t really count… and maybe Rachel might be that wicked with her about it, in the name of toughening her up… and maybe Bandit” and the other saying “No no no, OOC, OOC, shut it down!” If the characters were deliberately, purposely OOC in this guest strip, I’d appreciate it for that, but it’s the way the characters almost fit my beliefs about them that’s not quite doing it for me, despite the pretty, pretty art.
Your mileage may very much vary. Phil loved all this unreservedly. I do at least respect the mischievous twist of the last two panels, which Frigg may well have earned after that time she told Rachel what she was going to do with E-Mer– [sounds of wolves nerd-fighting]
Grey and Cory produced webcomics, mainly Critical Miss and Erin Dies Alone, on and off through much of the 2010s, but I’m not sure they’re still doing anything together, nor I can find anything put out since 2018 by Grey, who sometimes went by Johnathan Grey Carter. Their old publisher, The Escapist, seems to have given up on new comics content [edit: see also comments] . But Cory’s still on Twitter, and you can find his portfolio here.
Grey had a whole thing about trying to get the rights to Critical Miss back and I think he has to have succeeded since there was actually a new strip this year, not on the Escapist but just on his personal Twitter (@GreyTheTick for anyone who’s curious (word of warning, though, he does not filter himself on there at all)). I can’t find it with google, but given that it was about the Resident Evil 3 remake it has to have been this year.
As for the strip itself, this seems very early-to-mid-2010s Grey Carter to me, and given that it originally came out in 2013 that scans. Immediately made me think of the Critical Miss strip about Child of Light for some reason, probably because I can’t think of other “character is a dick, actually” gags, though I’m sure they were there. I think since then he’s rather dropped that bit as far as writing is concerned, and I know he’s currently working in medicine.
Also “Rydell” is mistyped in the title here, just so you know.
Corrected with thanks!
Honestly, if there is anyone who deserves to be messed with in this comic, it’s Frigg.
AMEN. I like her, but it is nice to know that even characters like Bugs Bunny or Jerry from Tom and Jerry do try humble pie once or twice.
“I’ve always been hated by skeletons! Ever since I was a child!”
Does Frigg deserve it? Yes.
Would Rachel give it to her? Never.
Does it really make sense to expect accurate characterization from guest comics? No.
The nerd in me insists that I point out that the supposed “Native american legend” of the two wolves is most likely a fake.
It was first mentioned by Billy Graham, and most likely was also constructed by him.
I really can’t see anything wrong with this one. In fact, I love it.
Guest comics aren’t canon, aren’t supposed to, and I already found it weird during first reading that Bandit’s axemas story turned out to have been canon all along. I didn’t expect it to be and kept ignoring any hints that it might be, until it became clear that that’s how it was meant to be read … To me, guest strips are scenes that would just be hilariously amazing but which would entirely and utterly break the story/tone/setting if they happened, and so they happen in that safe space of “fictional fiction”: If fiction asks “what if” questions about our world, then guest strips ask “what if” questions about the fictional universe. Or just make amazing fun of it, or whatever.
This page takes the trope of Frigg being too cool to admit she has a weakness and just dials it up to 11. Rachel going a little (that is: completely) out of character isn’t just fine by me, but this role reversal with Frigg is the punchline — all that’s changed about Rachel is the “lame” (according to Frigg) bits. This strip shows Frigg’s attitude backfiring on her. Baaaadly. And I enjoyed it. And no, of course it couldn’t be canon, but why would anyone even consider that?
This is probably my favorite guest comic by far. For me it feels close enough to the canon to be believable, and Rachel’s teasing punchline is just superb.