If you’ve been exposed to the comic and anime scene, you’re probably wondering what the heck Homestuck is and why you’re seeing it everywhere.
Homestuck is a webcomic created in 2009 by Andrew Hussie. Hussie wrote other comics before Homestuck rolled out, all hosted on mspaintadventures. However, none of the other comics reached Homestuck’s level of fame. The comic began spreading rapidly across the internet through social networking sites like Tumblr and deviantArt in 2011. Hussie even created a kickstarter campaign to make a Homestuck computer game with a $700,000 goal — it has raised $2.4 million, because of its crazed fan base. The overwhelming demand for Homestuck has allowed Hussie to publish the comic as a series of books.
But, none of that answers the question. Homestuck is an interactive web comic that used to be based around decisions of the readers. The character names, ideas, and decisions were all fed in through a forum and Hussie would just elaborate on them and draw them. However, the story is no longer decided on by the readers, as he had to make sure it all kept moving.
The comic itself is compared to a modern day Ulysses, being a long and tedious read (6242 pages as of April 2013), though rewarding for when you catch up. It follows the story of four online friends who play the beta version of a game that is said to create worlds but, due to mistakes made by the characters, it begins to destroy the universe. The kids receive otherworldly help from alien trolls who made the same mistake and want to help the kids save both of their universes. The game, called Sburb, plays similar to The Sims. The story follows through single panel pages and pesterlogs, which are chat logs similar to that of instant messenger. In addition, there are playable flash pages where you have to navigate certain characters through a level to progress in the story. The web comic comes with its own personal soundtrack as well.
The story becomes confusing when it dives into alternate timelines — like one where the kids and trolls are annihilated or when it shows the kids’ parents and trolls’ ancestors at a young age playing the alpha version of the game.
Like every good story, the characters are crippled by inner conflict and problems with friendships, and romantic relationships. Hussie writes a story nearly everyone can relate to. For example the main character, John Egbert, has to avoid death, fight evil and deal with the fact that two of his friends were dating secretly without telling him.
Another huge part of Homestuck is the immense fan base. The Homestuck fans are dedicated, devoted and have almost achieved a cult-like status. They are always eager to cosplay the new characters within minutes of a new update and go to great lengths to prove themselves. Two fans donated $10,000 to the game’s Kickstarter and in return were given the opportunity to have their own characters featured in the comic (though they were killed immediately). The Homestuck fans have gotten a bad reputation at conventions due to their loud and obnoxious behavior and the fact that there are hundreds of them there, easily trumping any other fandom. Some conventions have even considered banning Homestuck cosplayers.
Homestuck is expected to wrap up before the end of the year and the adventure game is to be released in early 2014.
Do you hate Homestuck? Are you confused about the story? Tell me what you think in the comments below or in an email to dahrae@terpmail.umd.edu.
