The Belfry WebComics Index

So says Sophie at the end of Restored Generation, and I can't help thinking it's an aside to the audience. Reader beware: spoilers abound.

Set seventeen years after Stolen Generation, the comic picks up from its predecessor's cliffhanger: Rumour and Novus' daughter Sophie is almost fully-grown, and can manipulate the same dimensional shield as her parents, poising her, alongside Rena's hitherto-unknown son Seth, as some sort of predestined guardian against the imminent resurgence of the dinosaurs. It's a similar setup to the original: a select vanguard with unique abilities engaging in an epic battle for the fate of the world—only this time they're fighting to save it against a foe hell-bent on -destroying- it utterly. Sprinkled amongst the comparatively shorter but no less-well-managed fight scenes are a love quadrangle between Sophie, her stern boyfriend Haze, cheerful friend Jarvis and newcomer Seth; the revenge fantasy of Natasha, now head of state of Russia; and a recurring discourse on the nature of immortality that carries several implications for the main story. Ambition-wise, this comic has certainly outgrown its forbear's shoes.

Given Restored Generation aired less than a year after the first comic finished, the artistic change is astounding. Pages are done in full digital colour using a technique far superior to the remasters in SG, while the lines are clean and solid, giving the project a professional polish. Midway through, the author introduces a new style that helps better distinguish individual characters and species as a whole, although I find expressions aren't quite as emotive.

Unfortunately this is all the comic qualitatively holds above its predecessor. The writing suffers from the same stumbles as before, with the further hurdle that the story can't seem to pace itself. We open with Natasha on a weapons range, then cut to Sophie at a re-enactment club with a quick synopsis of the family situation, before Seth and his 'sister' Becky join the house on the eve of the dinosaur's awakening. From there the focus bounces between the dino's wake of wanton destruction, the authorities' inability to contain it, and... Sophie's social life. Even when entire cities dissolve into dust, the school day marches on, and if not for background quips about the crisis-at-large it's as if it's not even happening until Queensland is vaporized and a tsunami alert sends everyone home.

This constantly-shifting point of view means I can't tell who the lead characters are supposed to be: given the comic's title, one would think the children, but they spend all their time in the home town; Keith is President of Australia and thus commander-in-chief of the army, but quickly determines he can't -do- anything; Novus et al. are warned off a straight fight early and spend most of their time as vessels for plot exposition; Becky/Rena constantly foreshadows she holds the key to defeating the dino but never explains how, and by story's end the characters -still- don't know why, while the audience barely does.

Is the villain the lead? We arguably learn more about the dino than any other character, and other sequels have shifted point-of-view just as radically. Indeed, Sapphire's confrontation with her 'flawed' sibling Diamond reveals a treasure trove of Nietzschean philosophy, i.e. what do the gods care for mortal morals. But even if RG -was- aiming that way, Sapphire simply isn't a deep enough character to carry the story herself. Unfortunately the story doesn't recognize this, and spends most of its time showcasing how effortlessly she can obliterate a landmass to ratchet up the stakes.

Stolen Generation started with similar shock-and-awe, but tracing the plot's wind-up to the main conflict was straightforward and logically paced. By contrast, Restored Generation is too hectic for its own good. We barely know the new characters, will only recognize the old if we've read SG, and have almost no understanding of the powers that supposedly allow them to confront this looming danger—and said danger hits the ground running before the 25th page. From the word go, the plot floors the drama accelerator and refuses to let up for the rest of the ride. The ensuing mayhem leaves little room for character development amongst the adult cast, while the high-school antics are jarring as breather interludes and in my opinion should have taken place before the dinosaur emerged, with the tangled relationships ironed out during (if not through) the struggle, à la Rumour and Novus in SG.

This all culminates in an abrupt, arbitrary, and decidedly unsatisfying climax. While SG's dénouement was a fumble, it could at least be traced (however tenuously) to the themes and character development built up throughout the story. RG, by contrast, is brutally nihilistic: no-one learns anything of importance, no-one -does- anything of consequence, and the world is only saved from an unbeatable villain by a last-minute Deus ex Machina. Haze "wins" the romance subplot simply by virtue of Last Man Standing, and despite being reduced to plot expositor and Greek chorus, Dr. Burret proves even more infuriating, to the point I literally could not believe she is the -only- character to survive the story -better off-, for no other reason than the dino's whim.

Had this been by design, with the notion of "destiny" against a random, uncaring universe foregrounded to the audience, I might have been impressed; but author commentary suggests he'd become bored of the project and wanted a quick way to tie it up. And it shows: after more than a hundred pages hyping the final fight with Sapphire, the climax arrives as gracefully as a freight train slamming into reinforced concrete, with a flashback sequence that strips away the last remaining shards of character agency while shoehorning in far more questions than the comic intended to answer. Just like its forbear, RG leaves the reader confused and frustrated, but without the consolation prize of a "fallback" milestone before laying out the sequel hook. (A third installment was mused, but ultimately abandoned.)

Adequate if underwhelming, Restored Generation showcases the author at his artistic best, but suffers from a meandering narrative and disorganized conclusion. Recommended only to fans hungry for a payoff to the original comic's finale, this is a story devoid of happy endings, that gleefully defies the notion that suffering must entail a purpose.

I found the original comic stolen generation on Belfry a few months ago. After reading some of the other amazing comics on here I was a bit skeptic on this one due to my high expectations at the time. My only regret in the end was not reading this one sooner. It has a balance of everything you generally expect in a great comic but what really gets you is how deep he makes not only his art but the characters as well. If anything I recommend at least reading the first 50 pages of stolen generation before judging it. That how it got me hooked.

You know how it is with movies. Sequels, in general, suck. (With the exception of The road Warrior.) Webcomics may not suffer as much from this, but this is one of those sequels that would've looked good as a movie.

Restored Generation is the continuation of Lost Generation. The most noticeable difference, art wise, is full color and drawn even better. It also makes use of several intertwining story lines that smooth seamlessly.

Again, this comic works with huge and amazingly well drawn scenes and scenarios of destruction and action on a sci-fi scale that would make Gundam squeal with envy. The last comic had maybe seven mechas against the world. Now it's the world trying to defend itself from a single, hypergalatic being... type... thing...

Trust me, it's better than I make it sound. Action, romance, suspense, yadda, yadda, yadda, it has it all. Kit-fox has once again endeavored to make an epic of... well, epic proportions.

And he has succeeded, needless to say.

Pages 101+ can be found at
http://kitfox-crimson.deviantart.com/art/Restored-Generation-page-101-102812080