As far as web comics go, Evan Dahm’s Rice Boy makes for a good dish with some tasty sides. And now that I’ve gotten that horrible joke out of my system, I can properly write this review.
Rice Boy is, as the name implies, an unassuming limbless resident of a magical land known as Overside. He plays the Frodo Baggins to a robotic Gandalf-esque figure known as The One Electronic, or T.O.E for short, who is on an endless search for a Chosen One to fulfill the “Propechy of Ridrom”. As is standard of any decent hero’s journey, Rice initially turns down the call to action, only to eventually succumb to his curiosity and casually venture off to discover what his new mechanical friend is talking about.
As Rice wanders through surrealistic landscapes and meets new allies on his quest for answers, an evil frog king named Spatch sends a boozy hitman named Golgo after T.O.E, and amasses an army to stop the new alleged chosen one and assert himself as the one true fulfiller. Meanwhile, T.O.E, doubting his mission and purpose, shows himself to be one of the most angst ridden androids in fiction I’ve seen in a while. Dahm reveals his tragic backstory and much more as he expands on the world of Overside and its odd, sometimes monster like inhabitants.
Some properties have a strong “indie”, intentionally understated aesthetic, and Rice Boy is definitely one of them. Dahm is a skilled, well rounded artist, and here his style (some of his earlier work) is simplistic but with lively and imaginative looking creatures. Over the course of the comic his sense of detail, action and movement grows. The dialogue is extremely heavy on philosophy, and unfortunately sometimes the exchanges between the cast get a little lost in it.
Rice’s likability, courage and Hobbit-like demeanor mostly make up for it. One question, though: even if he had limbs, would he even be capable of throwing a punch? He’s pretty clever at times, though at some points I started to wonder just how many good luck charms he had stowed away. (Dude doesn’t even have pockets.) Most of the action is provided by T.O.E and the supporting cast, whose subplots are further expanded on in the following Overside stories.
I’m not quite sure if Rice Boy is necessarily for everyone, but I had fun reading it. Dahm throws new elements into the story at a rapid fire pace, so it requires the reader to pay attention because there’s just so much going on. But the excitement builds really well and there’s some legit epic moments. It may have debuted before Adventure Time, but I can say you’ll probably love it if you wanted a more serious take on a similar kind of fantasy world.
Of course, none of it would have worked if Rice Boy himself wasn’t such a solid character, despite him not having a nose or mouth. (At least T.O.E has a television screen face, that’s just too cool for school.) Click here to decide for yourself and possibly check out some of the other Overside sagas.