Wingmen

URL: wingmen.comicgenesis.com
Creator/s: Adam T. Williams
Run: 9/06-current
Schedule: M/Th
Section: 2012

Website: The creator hasn't really touched the layout since the Comic Genesis script spit it out back in 2006. But Comic Genesis sites are intended to be heavily customized, and if a creator really, really, really doesn't wanna spend any time on their site, then a hosting service like Smack Jeeves would be much better, as at least they have some decent-looking templates to choose from. As I've said before, a webcartoonist doesn't need to be a coding guru, but they should at least be somewhat familiar with basic HTML if they're gonna run a website.

It's unclear what the cast page is supposed to accomplish, as usually cast pages provide some information on the characters, but this one just shows the characters and links to one of their appearances in the comic. I didn't find this cast page to be helpful or interesting at all.

The creator seems to have been able to stick to a twice-a-week schedule for quite a while, although this isn't all that notable considering how basic the artwork is.
 
Lastly, if you're just dying to own a Wingmen-themed tote bag, you totally can.

Writing: A bland, newspaper-style webcomic like Critters might appeal to the elderly and the easily amused, but Wingmen's on a level beneath that, not even demonstrating the basic storytelling skills required to deliver a joke. The creator's obviously trying to be funny, and he's trying to make a webcomic that people will actually wanna go outta their way to read, but unfortunately, trying is as far as he gets.
I'm reminded of the classic shtick of the bumbling stand-up artist trying to pass off his lame jokes to a silent and apathetic audience. Alone in the spotlight, the artist has a pathetic expression on his face, begging:

Please.

Please laugh at my joke. Just one time, that's all I'm asking.

Just once. I really, really need this.

Please.

But they don't laugh. And the artist goes home, dejected.

The creator of Wingmen's that artist. He keeps trying, time and time again, to be funny, to entertain, to make people happy, and time and time again, he stumbles, slips up, and doesn't quite get there. And with each new strip, he hopes that maybe, just maybe, something will be different, and he'll be funny, and people will laugh.

But they don't laugh. And the artist soldiers on, determined, confident that next time, maybe, just maybe, something will be different.

But it never is. And that's the story of Wingmen, dutifully pumping out uninspired strips for five-and-a-half years, a webcomic Sisyphus doomed to eternally trying, and failing, to push a webcomic boulder up a webcomic hill.

Art: Over the course of five-and-a-half years and dozens of story arcs, the simplistic, almost chibi-like artwork's barely changed or improved at all, despite not being all that attractive to begin with. The biggest change is obviously the addition of color, with the latest strips being either fully colored, partially colored, or just having the backgrounds colored. However, I consider this webcomic's bland coloring to be "very minimalistic" at best, and "lazy" at worst, and I don't think the newer, colored strips look notably better than the old black-and-white strips.

Prevalent throughout all of the strips are strange little animals that follow people around everywhere, but aside from the lame gag in this one strip, never once in the section I read were any of the animals interacted with or referred to. These animals, devoid of any context whatsoever, seem more like out-of-place doodles than actual additions to the comic. It's fine if a creator wants to mix up their slice-of-life comic with some unrealistic elements, but these unusual aspects need to be presented in a way that makes at least a little bit of sense.

Overall: Reviewer Shane Woodiss bluntly described Wingmen in 2009 as "not good enough to impress, and not bad enough to be funny," and I expect nearly all potential readers who come across this comic will have similar sentiments. Wingmen's an unsuccessful webcomic that shows no signs it'll get better any time soon, and I wonder if its creator would be better off putting the comic on hiatus and reassessing his intentions for the project. The comic may require being reinvented, or perhaps scrapped for a newer, more suitable project, but I think if it's left as-is, the creator'll be stuck rolling that webcomic boulder up that webcomic hill for years to come.

1.5/5