Dr. Cataclysm

(written on 5/4/24)

First off, go read the entire thing here because I do not think I can say anything at all about this without spoiling it. It is FREE!

This is such an interesting comic because it feels like it really focuses on the moments every other story would skip. What they do in their free time, getting groceries, talking about how they miss their friend before eventually adapting to his absence, two whole chapters just focused on boredom, and a lot of side plots all get very fleshed out while the titular character evolves entirely in the background. It's a very unique prioritization, and I mostly really like it.  In a way, it reminds me of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, where (spoilers for the show) it starts like the standard "protagonist gets a new goal as the forces of evil try to stop him" story and then goes "actually no he is just gone now and here is how all of these characters who existed primarily to support or obstruct the protagonist have to deal with not having said protagonist and find new purpose and depth."  Dr. Cataclysm gets his new powers, and immediately it switches to Agrippa and Melon going to the bank and getting groceries with him just briefly appearing at the ends to remind you he's there until he isn't!  It's very refreshing to not just have it be "he has powers and now watch him practice with them and gain control."

Another thing I really liked about this series was that it was really about the friendships they made and how people just need to understand each other a bit better. I know that was literally the moral of the story, but it was executed incredibly well. Even though a lot of it happens off-screen, it's still nice to see them realizing how much they have in common after they get over their initial predispositions.

I had a very interesting experience with this one where the final issue didn't initially show up in the navigation, so I thought it ended with them going to face him and leaving what he actually became and their ultimate success/failure open.  The shock of just sitting there thinking, "Is that just how it ends?  Wow, that's a good cliffhanger to end on and just let you fill in your own version of events." I almost prefer that to the real ending. It reminds me a lot more of OFF, where things wouldn't necessarily turn out for the best. Not that the final issue was bad, and I liked the ambiguity left in there, but I feel like having an extra page of Dr Cataclysm actually talking to the people about what they want and how they met would have helped ground him better because he's kind of on his own plane of existence and the only two people who actually asked for him to change things back where the only two who didn't actually experience the new world.  Endings are hard though, and it's always entirely possible I just missed something either in my reading or in the translation.

Final thoughts: I aspire to write something this straightforward and blunt for a comedic point.  Like even on the 6th page in the very first issue they're on a call and verbally say "there I left a message" "hang up" "oh right" and that's just the funniest thing to me. And when Janos wakes up as Dr. Cataclysm he just says "by the way I'm alive" to absolutely no one and I never would have thought to have a character just state that out loud instead of thinking it but it works so well. Good series.