Review: Sconeborough

Sconeborough
By Elizabeth Gearhart
Online Comic
Genre: Comedy/Slice of Life

While meandering the internet one night I stumbled across the Livejournal community for Sconeborough, the lovely brainchild of Elizabeth Gearhart. Gearhart, 19, has created a delightful cast of quirky characters based on herself and her friends; the residents of Sconeborough. Sconeborough has been printed weekly in The Current, the campus newspaper for the University of Missouri - St. Louis, since it's conception in late 2005.

Gearhart has a very simple animated style of drawing similar to that of Vera Brosgol which is both a significant plus but also sometimes a bit confusing. It’s a plus because the characters are great to look at with fantastic expression, but it’s a bit of a minus because if you’re tired or aren’t paying close attention you start to confuse characters with one another. It would probably help if the comic was in colour 100% of the time, but it would probably also help if I just paid more attention to the character’s appearances.

The comic has a decent sized cast of awesome characters. The main characters seem to be Elizabeth, lover of ham; Nicky, who is often mistaken for a woman and is in a band; and Elsie (lover of plants and robots). There is also Elsie’s sister Kylie (lover of all colours of the rainbow and “your mom" comebacks); Jaime (Kylie’s girlfriend and bat lover); and Nikki (who speaks many languages and is mysterious).

I highly recommend this comic; it’s fresh and fun without feeling forced. It has that charm that comes from real people and real life, and I think it has qualities anyone with a close group of friends can relate to. Right now the archive is only 31 comics long, so it’s quick to catch up on. New strips are currently updated on Mondays.

You can see more of Gearhart’s artwork on her Deviant Art or her personal site. You can find her comic Sconeborough online on Myspace or syndicate it via it’s Livejournal community.

Reviewed on: July 08, '06
By: Rachel Dukes
rachel@poseurink.com