Posted by Jim at October 31st, 2004

Though I usually mention comics that need the publicity, I’ll make an exception in this case.

Megatokyo is probably one of the more successful comics online–assuming part of your definition of successful is “providing the author a decent living.” It would also fit into a definition of successful that includes “attracts hordes of rabid fans.”

I don’t think this is all a bad thing in that I like the comic even though I think some of the fans are just a bit too enthusiastic. You can read the forums for evidence of this if you like. I try to avoid them myself.

Behind the rabid fans, past the books and merchandise, there’s something that’s kind of cool. The actual comic.

Written by Fred Gallagher, a former architect, Megatokyo chronicles the experiences of Largo and Piro, two US citizens living in Japan. It’s worth mentioning that the Japan they live in is not a quasi-realistic Japan. This is Japan as imagined by Americans who like Japanese movies, comics and videogames.

It’s a Japan where you can rent Godzilla for the afternoon and rampage through the city, a Japan where the Megatokyo Cataclysm Division uses mecha to patrol the streets, and also a Japan where the complex relationships of shoujo (girl’s comics) come into play.

Where did this rather strange mixture come from? Basically from the beginning of the comic. Megatokyo began as the collaboration of Rodney Caston (Largo) and Fred Gallagher (Piro). Rodney imagined it as a gaming comic similar to Penny Arcade (which gave them some of their early publicity).

Thus, the first year or so of strips is a four panel, gag-a-day comic that regularly makes fun of John Romero (Doom co-creator), Everquest, and E3. The plot, such as it is, primarily exists to string jokes together.

By the second year, however, Fred’s interest in plot and character development begins to take over the comic strip. Sometime after that, Rodney and Fred decided that Fred could continue the strip alone.

Thus the comic is about what happens while Piro and Largo are stuck in Japan and the two parallel realities they seem to inhabit. Largo gets attacked by a maniac robot, rabid fans (hmmn…) of a voice actress, befriends a ninja, subdues a rampaging monster, and generally gets involved in video game related havoc. By contrast, Piro seems to be in the middle of a plot familiar in anime/manga: pathetic loser inexplicably involved in complicated relationships with various women.

There’s more emphasis on Piro’s life and problems, but enough of Largo’s for variety.

I’d love to try to explain the other characters in the comic, but there are far too many of them and their lives intersect with both Piro and Largo in ways that make my head spin. That being said, this Megatokyo wikipedia entry does a pretty decent job.

As for the art, it’s pretty standard manga/anime stuff. It doesn’t awe a person, but it doesn’t distract you from the story either. It fits. It works for this story. That’s all I really need to be happy.

In summary, I like the ever evolving plot, the complexity of the characters and the fact that the author doesn’t feel the need to make joke at the end of every comic. Of course, I generally like comics in which the writer wants to tell an on-going story. Megatokyo is one of them.

It is not, therefore, a comic you can immediately grasp just by starting with the current comic. You’re best off starting at the beginning and reading up to the present. After that, you’ll actually have to retain a general knowlege of what’s happened previously in order to understand what’s happening now.

That’s not a problem for me, though. If it’s not a problem for you, you might even like the comic.