The Far Side of Utopia by PastUtopia

Read if you like:

• Convoluted plots
• Sci-fi/fantasy fusion
• Snarky scheming protagonists

The Far Side of Utopia is a webcomic about magic, dimension-hopping politics, and cocky schemers. Beyond that, trying to describe the comic is a bit like trying to corral a herd of cats into a bath. You reach for one and you realize that a dozen more are getting away. Fantasy, science fiction, and action thriller are all woven into to its fabric in a confusing medley. It is a comic that is in many ways best defined by its many flaws, bemusing complicated plot, and subpar art, yet at the same time I can’t help but I love every page of it.

The Bad

Normally I would start out with the good then get to a comic’s flaws, but to understand The Far Side of Utopia you need to start with why by all rights it shouldn’t be a good comic. And there is a lot to work with on this topic.

Let’s start with an easy one. The art sits between bad and meh as a general rule. The Far Side of Utopia is heavily influenced by the manga style, being filled with big-eyed characters with oddly-hued hair, but it never reaches the standards of a professional manga artist. In fact, the art used to be genuinely amateurish. The first page has links to three previous incarnations that show just how much of a jump there has been so far, but even now it’s not a visually impressive comic. It has its moments, action scenes in later chapters tend be drawn with a solid sense of motion and force and more recently the style has improved, but it all still has an amateurish feel to it.

And speaking of that first page, right from the beginning it becomes obvious that the comic has some serious pacing issues. Characters arrive with no preamble or set up, plot points are brought up in a few quick sentences that explain little, and at no point are we filled in on what is actually going on here. This feels like page number two or three, but instead it is our jumping off point and the rest of the chapter keeps on going in that style. Major characters, organizations, and concepts pop up all at once in a deluge of information a first time reader doesn’t yet have the context to understand.

All of this is The Far Side of Utopia in a nutshell. Confusing, oddly paced, and with relevant information missing or buried in an internal lore that requires careful rereading of the comic, consulting the wiki, or paying attention to the author’s notes to locate. More often then not it takes all of this and the comments section to fully connect the dots, or at least the dots we’re given. This is a comic that does not give up its plot without a fight, especially given that the main character loves playing people like a fiddle and not explaining anything to anyone around him. The wiki helps explain some of the more esoteric lore bits like magic and interdimensional travel, but even then it can be a daunting task to figure out what any of techno-magic babble means.

And as for the plot as a whole, well you better hope you can piece together the tattered bits world-building into a map or you will be hopelessly lost. There’s the IDS (Interdimensional Security) which has a chronic case of internal backstabbing and a desire to evacuate their world’s population to somewhere other then the atomic wasteland they presently call home. There’s a country, Malsa, which is getting sick and tired of the IDS dysfunctional incompetence and a company, Avon, which is up to some shady stuff. There’s a world called Kor’s World that seems to go around knocking civilizations down a level or two, but if anyone has a clue why it sure as hell isn’t any of the readers. And at the center of it all is Peter Kepler, renegade IDS agent and contender for the title of most obnoxious coworker ever, who alternates between stirring the pot and chucking dynamite into it as he enrages most of the comic’s factions as part of some convoluted scheme we still can only guess at.

Everything makes sense, assuming you can Da Vincie Code it into a comprehensible form, but chances are you’re going to have to reread the comic a lot before you get to that point. And with all that in mind, the question becomes why should you bother?

The Good

The Far Side of Utopia has one great saving virtue that makes it all worth will.

Passion.

The author PastUtopia (real name not provided) clearly loves what he is doing. The plot is convoluted and told very awkwardly at times, but it has clearly been crafted with love. Characters are sometimes oddly written but always amusing, be it the subtly snarky artificial intelligence MYM, who’s disturbingly good a find loopholes in his restrictions, or the cheerful Naomi who can trash giant mechs barehanded and sleep off broken arms. And the setting, while confusing as all hell, has been carefully crafted with a complex system of magic whose effect and loopholes are reflected by various characters’ abilities. You often have to go to the author’s comments to recognize those moments, but they show the author has taken the time build the rules of their world with a lot of care.

And the comic’s audience clearly loves what the author is doing. Any given page has extensive discussions on it where readers either cheer on the cast or speculate as to what exactly the cast is up to. And PastUtopia is a part of that discussion, accepting spelling and grammar advice with grace or providing clarification on some lore point. It’s rare to see an author this involved with their community, and it’s part of what makes the comic so charming. And all in all, it’s not hard to understand why the community is so active. Piecing together the fragments of the plot is genuine fun with real, ‘ooooooh, I get it now’ moments, that make you want to reread the whole thing all over again just so you can look at it from a fresh perspective. It’s that ‘ah-hah!’ factor that personally really made me fall in love with the comic, and it was a desire to pull together all those odds and ends that made me stick around long enough to really enjoy it.

And the plot is interesting enough to carry the comic once you dig down deep enough to find it. Peter and his band of oddball allies make for a fun point of view while the various side characters who hold center stage briefly get their own memorable moments. No one comes off as badly written, even if their motivations are a bit murky due to the occasionally awkward story structure. Most characters are interesting, even the ones who rarely appear or remain unelaborated on, and the villains in the story come off as intelligent, or at the very least having an internal logic of their own. They do make poor choices, but the poor choices they make are in line with their natures. And the overarching decisions these characters make help to build an exciting story. Between corporate conspiracies, wars, and the Armageddon like presence of Kor’s World the comic is never boring, regardless of any other faults.

On top of all this, while there’s a lot of negative things I have to say about the comic it’s also very much a work in progress that has shown genuine improvement each step of the way. PastUtopia isn’t writing this comic as a full time job, in fact many of the author’s notes bemoan the frustrations of working in a tech company, so its understandable that it isn’t up to the same level as a lot of more dedicated artists. But at the same time, it’s clear he is working to improve his craft. Once you get past the first few chapters the art starts to improve rather noticeably. I can’t call it good, there’s something just intrinsically unpolished about it, but I also can’t call it bad because it has this very earnest charm to it that I love. The plot is still confusing as all hell, but the pacing feels much better and by the time you’ve gotten into the later chapters you’ve probably gotten enough of an idea as to what is going on to just run with it. Short of a chapter one rewrite there isn’t anything I can say that this comic really needs to change that isn’t already being improved upon slowly but surely.

Conclusion

All in all The Far Side of Utopia is a good read in its own strange way. It shouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable as it is, and can definitely be an acquired taste to get into, but once you get to know the comic you’ll likely find that it has a real charm to it. You’ll either come to love it or throw up your hands in surrender and walk away, but speaking from personal experience it is a joy to learn to love and an exciting adventure to follow once you start to figure it out.

An awkward one to rate for sure, as on a personal level I would give it five stars just for the sheer enjoyment I get from it, but its flaws are pretty hard to ignore. Three stars for a comic that needs a chapter one rewrite and map to follow the plot, but that I love all the same.