#puffer and clarissa

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webcomic Mikus ! comic links under the cut

Puffer and Clarissa (pufferandclarissa.com) by @jamesnelsonart

Overlord of Ravenfell (m.webtoons.com/en/canvas/ov...) by @ravenfell

Phantomarine (www.phantomarine.com) by @phantomarine

Kochab (www.kochab-comic.com) by @erysium

Brothers (brotherswebcomic.com) by @breenheath

Yokoka's Quest (yokokasquest.com) by @clefdesoll

Black Sunshine (blacksunshinecomic.com) by @jasmine0simone

Ghost Junk Sickness (www.ghostjunksickness.com) by @studiocartridge

[thewebcomicsreview]

Puffer and Clarissa ⭐

What is it: In a post-apocalyptic waterworld, a supervillain’s henchman/daughter gets lost with a crew member of the ship her mom was conquering. Adventure ensues.

The Good: Cool world full of interesting fish. Cartoony art style is a good fit to the feel of the story. Puffer’s conflicted loyalty to her emotionally abusive supervillain mom is a strong character hook.

The Bad: If you like your villains subtle and "realistic", this is maybe not the comic for you. This is the kind of comic where a villain named Killer Whale has a Killer Whale-shaped submarine and an army of Killer Whales and goes around killing people while wearing a Killer Whale fursuit.

You should read it if: You want to read a fun comic about child abuse.

(See all mini-reviews here)

[crowdsourced-webcomic-reviews]

Puffer and Clarissa: By James Nelson

Sharon White has plans at world domination.  She has a magic detector, an army of robots, and a plan to overthrow the enigmatic Lord Jel.  She also has a daughter.

Puffer and Clarissa is a coming of age adventure story created by James Nelson.  After an accident washes her overboard, Puffer now finds herself stuck with Clarissa, who is just the worst.  She just can’t see how awesome Puffer’s mom is, obviously. The dynamic and interaction between the two leads is wonderful.  The enemies to friends (and maybe someday more?) pipeline is so much fun.  

I love the characters in this comic, every one of them has such great designs and over the top personalities reminiscent of the old Saturday Morning cartoons I wasn’t allowed to watch as a child.  Our heroes are plucky and interesting, and it’s been so much fun to follow along as they’ve both grown and learned about one another.  

Sharon in particular is an interesting and complex character.  There are obvious and insidious villains in the story, like Lord Jel or the wonderfully delightful Killer Whale, but the crux of the story’s conflict is about Sharon.  She is not a good mother, she is manipulative, she is cruel, she gaslights her daughter, and above all, she is self centered.  She does love her daughter, but not in a way that is healthy or really even resembles actual love and care.  Puffer’s journey to see this and hopefully break away is the heart of the story, and is told so well and so poignantly.

The flooded world of Puffer and Clarissa is interesting and cool, it is itself a character, and it is full of life and intrigue.  Every setting and location feels unique and cohesive, this is a world of survivors.

From start to present, Puffer and Clarissa has been such a delightful read, I highly recommend you check it out!  It is quickly approaching its conclusion, so now is a great time to catch up and join us for the end of this journey.

You can read Puffer and Clarissa here: https://pufferandclarissa.com

[stashofpastwebcomics]

Puffer and Clarissa

Author: James Nelson

Description: Puffer White is your ordinary fifteen-year-old girl; She lives on a warship, has gadgets that allow her to breathe underwater, and helps her genius mom in her quest to rule the world. On a routine raid on some ships, Puffer gets washed overboard with Clarissa, one of the passengers. The girls will have to get along in order to survive the dangerous depths of the ocean as they dodge pirates, monsters, and angry moms in order to hang out once their adventure is done.

Finished: August 2024

Read here

[fragmentaryremains]

Honestly, I actually really like the southern option. I mean, yeah it's not as serious as the northern and eastern options. But I like the idea behind it. I think the idea of a love that's self-destructive and harmful is fun.

I mean, there's this underlying current of tragedy to it. If we find our way back to the world we came from, then that would almost certainly mean abandoning Calibani. After all, we're from the modern would—which isn't really accommodating for a sea monster like her. I mean, imagine if we lived in an inner-city apartment. Or on rural farmland. Or in the mountains! And for as much as we like Calibani, I don't know that we could live like this forever.

Perhaps then this love is destined to fail, two people brought together by the crashing of waves only to be torn away as the currents change. After all, the water is always adapting–changing states, altering its form, always moving as it exists in the now. The sea doesn't care about the past or its future. While sailors and monsters may try to recover what was or chart a course for what might be, the sea doesn't care about any of their attempts. It simply IS.

At Sea Without a Map pt. 20

Perhaps unsurprisingly, you feel overwhelmingly concerned with Calibani's well-being. Even as you're pulled in three other directions, the drive to go to check on her is stronger than all of them combined. A good 38% or so of your mind asks you whether you might be getting too attached to this woman-who's-actually-a-monster that you've only known for, what, two days or so? It adds that you should be careful since you've been alone for a while. You're vulnerable, you need to take care of yourself.

You tell that part of your mind to fuck off. Well over half of you thinks it's full of shit anyway.

You find your sea-monster predator-turned-friend? leaning against the side of your boat and resting her face on her hand, her eyes scanning the horizon with a troubled expression on her face. Immediately you feel your concern is justified, and you don't even hide the haste in your step as you close the distance between the two of you. "Calibani, what's wrong?"

Her eyes go wide when she hears your voice, and she hastily puts on a big smile as she turns to face you, though you notice it doesn't reach her eyes. "Oh, nothing, Sailor!" she says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Just tired, is all! Fighting that gloppy monster took a lot out of me!" She smiles again, bigger and more visibly forced this time, and says. "What about you? It's can't be fun for you dealing with all these..." Her smile falters for a fraction of a second. "These monsters trying to eat you..."

It's a deflection, and not even a very good one, but you worry if you call her on that it'll scare her into withdrawing further. "It's been harrowing," you say as you keep your gaze locked on her face. "But I imagine it's worse for you, since you're a lot more vulnerable now than you used to be."

Calibani frowns briefly, her eyes big and just a little watery, but she quickly plasters a smile back on. "Oh, I've never been the biggest fish in the pond," she laughs. "It's not the first time something's hunted me, and it won't be the last. At least I have a new weapon to defend myself with." She looks at her stork-headed spear, and her smile finally becomes genuine again. "Thank you for making it, by the way."

Now you get to wave dismissively. "Please, you're the one who made it useful. I think you did as much damage to that thing as the boat."

Calibani's smile grows wider as her eyes flicker with worry again. "Yeah, I hurt it pretty bad," she says with clearly feigned enthusiasm, and again tries to change the topic. "It was so clever of you to hit it with your boat. What a finishing move!"

"Well, it worked for me bef..." you stop mid-sentence as you realize that Calibani knows exactly when you last hit a monster with your boat, and that it's likely a bit of a traumatic memory for her. But there's really no way to end that sentence differently, and so you just whisper out, "...fore..." as an awkward silence falls between you. As both of you stand there quietly not making eye contact, your eyes fall upon her tail, which once again hangs over the side of the ship.

"You're tail's hanging off the side of the ship," you say, stating the obvious.

Calibani looks at it. "Yeah, it is," she says quietly.

"Aren't you worried something will grab it again?"

She shakes her head, and her big mane oh hair attached to it wiggles with the motion. "The water feels so good on my scales and fin," she explains. "I think the time spent enjoying that will outweigh any time spent getting grabbed or bitten, so it's worth the risk. Besides, if something grabs my tail, I can warn you that trouble is coming, so we'll be better off in the end anyway."

You decide not to argue with her logic. "Well, let me know if you need anything," you suggest, unsure of what else to say at the moment.

"Will do, sweetness!" she replies with a bright, fake smile.

With a nod, you leave her to her thoughts, deciding to wait and see if maybe she'll open up later. It's time to focus on the second task at hand, anyway, the whole reason you came here: you need to search these boats.

It's slow, methodical work, and at first it doesn't yield much for all the labor involved. All the wrecked and capsized ships are a bust, their contents either lost to the sea or so water-damaged they're basically useless. The boats that are right-side up provide a bit more - some non-perishable or at least not rotten food here (and, to Calibani's assured delight, some salt, pepper, garlic, and paprika), a few useful tools there, even some clothes that you decide to pocket in hopes of adding to your wardrobe (and, notably, a few more sweaters that seem like they might fit Calibani, though a couple might need to be stretched out a bit first).

In one boat, however, you find something truly interesting. It seems rather bland at first - a briefcase, kind of fancy but not something that seems promising at a glance, with a logo on its side that seems vaguely familiar to you: Spindle Inc.

The name sounds familiar, and you wrack your brain about where you heard it before. Isn't Spindle one of those big tech companies, the ones that make a shitload of money but no one's quite sure what the hell they actually do or sell? You realize this is one of the few specific memories of your life before the Sea that you can recall, and try to see if you can remember more details, but nothing comes to mind.

There's a lock on the briefcase, but luckily for you the former owner didn't remember to lock it. You decide to open it up, just to see if anything inside might further jog your spotty and unreliable memory.

Inside, you spot several documents, with the one on top reading, "Field Agent's Guide to the Sea of Monsters." Most of it uses jargon you can't begin to comprehend, but as you pour over it you come across some notes jotted in the margins.

"It's no use, the only way home is under." "Need a deep sea vessel." "North, South, East, West. Where did it come from?" "Can't risk going back to the lab, they won't let me go." "FIND DR. NEPTUNE." - underlined "Where is Neptune's base? Clues scant." "Captain Peter = only person who knows where Neptune is. Find him beyond the boat graveyard. We're close. I'm close. We're going home."

It's scattered and strange, but you think you get a sense of what this person was looking for. Someone named Dr. Neptune, who you can only find by meeting someone named Captain Peter, who is "beyond the boat graveyard," which you can guess from context is where you are right now. Seems your next destination is... well, ok, not really set, but you know where to go looking next, and that's something, dammit!

Of course, looking requires sailing, and that reminds you that you should probably check on your boat. It's been running well enough, but you've had collisions with two large creatures in about as many days, more or less, so it's good to give things a looksee.

Most things seem in order - no leaks, no dents, no strange noises from your engine (because you're not even sure this boat has an engine, much less where it is or what noises it should make, since the damn thing has always been eerily quiet). Only one thing seems out of place.

There's a... stain? you think? on the front of your boat, a jagged red stain that looks eerily like a mouth. It must be the globster's blood, you tell yourself, except wasn't the globster's blood more of a, like, melonoma black sort of color, that putrescent shade of black that's got other colors mixed in like a mess of spilled paint? And it was chunky when it came out, so how is it smeared so neat and smoothly.

Unless... maybe it's paint? Yeah, that's it, it's paint! How could you forget the cute little shark smile that was painted on your boat, that sharp-toothed painted on grin it's always had as long as you've known it? Of course that smile's always been there, it's probably the reason you picked this boat in the first place whenever... whenever you found it, or bought it, probably? Who wouldn't want the goofy grinning shark boat?

Regardless, nothing is wrong with your boat, as it's in perfectly ship shape. You've got a heading, you've got a working ship, and you've defeated a hideous monster that wanted to eat you and, perhaps worst of all, seemed to be British. If anything calls for celebration, this is it. Going below deck, you break out one of your rarest treasures: a bottle of red wine you found, unopened and of, well, a vintage you hope is good (you don't know shit about wine, you're not Donald Pleasance). It's time to break out the salted meat, cook some of those potatoes you found among the ships, and make a night of it!

You go below deck and make as decent a meal as your conditions with allow, then invite Calibani to eat with you. The two of you share the best meal you've cooked yet, and while the little "ooo's" and "mmm's" Calibani makes while eating show she enjoys the food, you can't help noticing she still looks awfully troubled.

"Did you notice?" you say as you finish your meal. "That it tastes different, I mean."

She nods. "It's good," she says quietly.

"That's cause I found some spices," you say proudly, hoping for a big reaction. But while Calibani smiles, it once again fails to reach her eyes. "Did I oversell how good spices are?" you ask.

"No, no, I'm sorry," she says. "It's really good, best I've had, honest, but..." She looks down at the floor and sighs. "Do you... hate me?"

You stare blankly at her, completely dumbstruck by that question. "What?"

Panic flares behind Calibani's eyes as she throws up her hands and animatedly explains, "It's just that you've been attacked by monsters that want to kill you three days in a row and one of them was me! And the other two are dead - I killed one, we killed the other together, and - and I just don't get it, because you didn't kill me when you could have, and I'm just worried..." She stops her ranting to catch her breath. "I'm worried that you don't like killing and that I've forced you to do it and you hate me for it, or that you hate those creatures for trying to kill you and that means you hate me because I tried to kill you, and I never thought of killing as a personal thing before but now that you put the thought in my mind it's all I'm thinking about and I feel terrible about everything and just - just - do you hate me?"

"Uh... wow," is all you manage to say.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she says quickly, "I didn't mean - oh no, you do hate me, don't you?"

"No, no!" you say just as quickly, your hand instinctively touching your compass. "In fact, I'd go so far to say that my mind keeps being pulled in a direction that likes you quite a lot."

She cocks her head at you and squints, confused by your phrasing despite understanding the jist of it. "Um... well, I mean... why though? I tried to kill you, just like that bird and the... the globster thing we just killed." She looks thoughtfully at the floor. "What makes me different? Why did you spare me?"

That's... actually hard to answer. So, as you do with all hard choices, you consult your compass.

[pied-piper-pluto]

various webcomic f’narts! Goma from @hagofbolding’s Fairmeadow, Toivo from @kayartics’s Ingress Adventuring Company, and Puffer and Clarissa from @jamesnelsonart’s Puffer and Clarissa!

[frankjamesbailey]

I know how hard it is to get funding for your Kickstarter. Today, I'm helping a fellow creator! I just backed Puffer and Clarissa: Part 1 on @Kickstarter It's so close to being funded. I decided to do my part to help out.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/j-nelson/puffer-and-clarissa-part-1?ref=thanks-tweet

[crabbng]

💕💕 can't stop drawing valentines girlies 💕💕

Puffer and Clarissa by @jamesnelsonart

Nephele and Melitta from Saffron Wave by @kellerybird

Sheol and Lilika from Patchwork and Lace by @itsasooz

Ivy and Rosa from Alien Heart by @annafitz

[crabbng]

i am not cool enough to do good summaries with pics like delphina, BUT! here's some i see recommended some of maybe somewhat less often (but also some that i do see semi-regularly but whatever. its MY list. also i'm going back now to add pics):

Webcomic Title: Red Moon series by (my friend) @elemei Status: Hiatus, I guess. there's two full arcs to read tho. Genre: Fantasy

PLEASE READ THIS, MY FRIEND WHO I MADE NINJASONAS WITH A DECADE AGO MADE IT. three friends go on trips together with their big goat. dessrin tries to keep the group together. aprima worries. vem gets smacked in the face repeatedly. they are traumatized, i think. really gorgeous work. emotionally resonant, i think you would say. women.

Webcomic Title: Kochab by @kochab-comic / @erysium Status: Ongoing and nearly finished!! Genre: Fantasy

Lesbianism. learning about overcoming grief. one of the first webcomics i read through after loooong hiatus of not really reading too many. i was just immediately enamored with it. it's sooo cosy to me. beautiful beautiful artwork. it utilizes gifs on some pages and they are just gorgeous. it has got classic fairy tale feel.

Webcomic Title: Preeny Has to Repeat 6th Grade (on tapas) by @momodriller Status: Ongoing Genre: Fantasy, I guess? it's fantastical. there's like. magic. i think.

the title says it all, preeny has to repeat 6th grade. preeny is a small fluffy cat creature with a brush tail though, which may not be what you expected. things go pretty sideways and bad feathers cause people to be very sad and it sort of becomes apocalyptic. really EXTREMELY cute style, really fun use of gutters between panels.

Webcomic Title: Brothers by @breenheath Status: Ongoing Genre: Fantasy?????? Mail. the genre is mail delivery

listen, i've got a passion for good old mail delivery, that is not a joke. postmen who are.. BROTHERS! well. there are big scary monsters and you are supposed to be a cool iron nun (also i love nuns) to fight them or you will die because you are incompetent probably, but these guys find a little butterfly. and then they do the dang thing. i think there are going to be consequences for that though.

Webcomic Title: Witch Heart by @hamboneslamdome Status: DONE! GO BUY THE BOOK! Genre: Fantasy

i'll fight your suitor for your hand in marriage (dating?) but the fighter is a girl. and the person's hand she's fighting for is also a girl. specifically an extremely cool demon lady (as pictured above). and the suitor is a vampire man. and in the end.. isn't the hand in marriage we're fighting for the friends we made along the way?? for real though, great story. a skill-less witch going up against impossible odds (vampire man), and just. doing her best.

Webcomic Title: Thank you for Viewing (on tapas) by @bubblu Status: Hiatus Genre: Fantasy

fun loving postwoman (mail delivery again) romps around town and comes across big (dead?) girl. now they're going to try and figure that out. turns out though.............. the postwoman might be at the center of it all... futurepast magic postwoman and current times non-magic bike riding postwoman. mysterious ABOUND!

Webcomic Title: Puffer and Clarissa by @jamesnelsonart Status: Ongoing Genre: Sci Fi, i think... there's machines. genres are hard.

how making one friend can put a lifetime of mistreatment in perspective. one girl hangs out with her evil mom for too long and gets her mind blown by kindness. also the ocean took over the world. really sweet, realistic, excellent characters. well. they are not all sweet. but they are all excellent. creating really believable characters can be hard, and i really like how they're done here.

Webcomic Title: Sombulus by @delphina2k Status: Ongoing (for over a decade) Genre: Fantasy, Sci Fi

NOT!!!!! because delphina did give me a very nice recommendation up there. the culmination of over a decade of comics now coming together for MIND BLOWING DEVELOPMENTS!!!!!!!! recontextualizes the whole comic, it's so neat. mixing goofy parts and characters from near the beginning into the more serious narrative... so cool. also man. recent pages made me so weepy..... like.... there is something special about spending so much time with characters. seeing how them and their relationships have developed.... MAN!!!!!

Webcomic Title: O Sarilho by @shizamura Status: Ongoing Genre: Fantasy, Sci Fi, tense political drama at the moment

AN ALIEN GETS SHOT IN THE FACE AND THAT STARTS A WAR FOR SOME REASON!!!!!! THE! absolute masterclass in fully utilizing the webcomic medium to elevate your work. the characters are so layered. it is so terrible (in a good, well-done way) to see how these characters evolve into worse versions of themselves (nikita, i'm looking directly at you) but it's like!!!! i know how you got there!!!!!! i still hold fondness for you!!!!!!!!! you loved the stars!!!!! BUT QUIT COMMITTING WAR CRIMES!! honestly. very tense and fearful for all these characters. because i feel like the stakes have effectively been set pretty high (they can die).

sorry everyone i only know how to classify things into fantasy and fantasy/sci fi. or maybe that's just what i tend to enjoy.

for MORE! recommendations, please check out my "comics i'm reading" page!

Welcome to the (un)official Webcomic Master rec list! I want to encourage folks to share webcomics they love to read, create, support, and more to spread the love! Feel free to add to this post the webcomics you want to share (with the format above for easy browsing) ⭐️So let's get reading, and add to your hearts content! ⭐️ Note: (the link to the 'webcomic title' can also be a mention to read it on a platform if it is hosted there also!)

[jamesnelsonart]

Drew this for The ScreenTones Mermay collab!

Naturally Puffer gets a Puffer tail while Clarissa has a Cleaner Wrasse tail

[thewebcomicsreview]

A really important thing to remember when analyzing or critiquing something is that interpreting what's in front of you is an active process your own brain is doing, and that the work you see is filtered through this process. And this can cause you to miss thematically or even plot-important moments because you misinterpreted what was happening. And sometimes that's your fault, not the fault of the comic you're reading.

For example, when I read the latest page of Puffer and Clarissa and saw there panels, my interpretation was that at some point between the last page and this one, a giant spider attacked the ship and webbed everyone to the ceiling, which Puffer was being really chill about.

And then I read the next panel and I realized I'm an idiot.

[crabbng]

Maggie from Clover & Cutlass by @lonelytuatara

Sharon from Puffer and Clarissa by @jamesnelsonart

Ro from Rising Sand

Queen Astralis from Jack Beloved @jackbeloved

for Maggie: she's a sweet girlie!! so I wanted to dress her as such. feminine but not Super feminine, just having a bit of fun with it. bright and colorful and cheerful because she's these things, clover patterns because....... you know. a little bit of a jester bard theme because well she'll get to be a bard someday I think.

for Sharon: evil scientist woman, but make it Fashion. you see the zigzag and triangle designs in a few places cause you know... shark. honestly I went to early season Techna from Winx club for inspo. like if Lord Jel was a little more fashion oriented, I think she could have gone down that route.

for Ro: elegant but like military elegant was my goal. feat. some pattern themes from the flashbacks in Rising Sand. had to have the shoulders stick out, referencing her giant ass mech suit. gold details because of her seemingly pretty privileged upbringing.

for Queen Astralis: I started with the crown, and after outlining her skull face with blue pen, it felt like it wanted to go in a Desi inspired route. so that's what I did! gold upon gold, but kept most of her look to shades of blue, as she has in comic. stars and moons referencing some patterns from the prologue of Jack Beloved.

[jamesnelsonart]

One page left to do

[jamesnelsonart]

Puffer and Clarissa's bonus chapters are done!!! I am gonna get to work on making the PDF to send to all my loyal backers, who I love. Not sure exactly when this will be done but probably sometime next week, as I want to arrange everything nicely and write some commentary to go with the concept art. In the meantime, here is Sharon contemplating a puffer fish plushie.

[jamesnelsonart]

Sharon's most redeeming personality trait: she looks good in a bunny suit.

[jamesnelsonart]

My Kickstarter for Puffer and Clarissa is now live! Do you want a finished webcomic in print? Do you like YA literature? Do you like sea life? Do you like boats and submarines? Do you like family drama? Do you like action and adventure? Then check it out.