1977 the Review

That 70s Webcomic!

Ahhh, the 70s. Sex, drugs, rock and roll. Good times. Or so my experience with the first 4 seasons of 'That 70's Show' would seem to imply. Being born in 1982, I missed 1977 by about 5 years; don't ask me why I felt the need to do the math for you there...

I'm glad to say that being alive and aware during the year 1977 isn't necessary to enjoy the webcomic '1977.' Nor is it required you be a stoner or a big fan of rock and roll. And while enjoying sex is not necessary either, it would just kinda be a shame if you didn't.

'1977,' created by Byron Wilkins, follows 4 friends, Bud, Jeff, Lorraine and Robyn, as they try to just have a good time and make a living in their band. You have the obligatory big hair, bra-less women, joints, alcohol and classic cars to give it that 70s flavor. In addition to referencing 70's pop culture, '1977' also finds creative ways to make plenty of references to modern pop culture. A single comic contains nods to both 'Back to the Future' and 'Dinosaurs' as well as an actual historical reference. It was pretty impressive.

Mixed among the mostly gag-a-day strips are the occasional 3-4 comic arcs that focus on telling a series of related jokes more than telling a story. Jokes range from the typical antics of friends and roommates to some crazier cartoonish elements. Fire-breathing pet bearded dragons, an army of intelligent squirrels and the magically gender-swapping main character, Bud, are just a few examples for the hijnx that ensue in some of the more out-there strips. Thankfully, theses fantasy elements feel right at home in this wacky-fun webcomic and I enjoyed their inclusion very much.

From time to time a hint of plot slips through to develop the underlining story. This doesn't happen often, but story isn't what this comic is about. Still, starting this year, Byron seems to have a large storyline planned out. I'm curious to see the balance he's able to strike between his previous gag-a-day format and telling a long-form story.

The artwork stands up pretty well on its own. This too seems to have been given a slight upgrade this year. From the beginning, though, you can see the great deal of effort Byron puts into the backgrounds for the comic. They can be simply amazing on a number of occasions.

On top of the standard webcomic features, Byron put some extra effort into choosing each comics' titles. Most, if not all, of the titles are references to 70's pop culture; music, movies and TV shows, for example. In addition, his commentary for each comic has some interesting tidbits of information about the era as well. I particularly enjoyed Byron's dialogue with his son for the June 4th 2008 comic.

'1977' would probably be rated as PG-13. Nothing worse than 'shit' is ever said and nudity is blocked by the typical near-miss placement of hair, arms or furniture. I'd classify it as NSFW but not explicit.

When reading through '1977' I found myself grinning more than laughing at each comic. That being said, I don't necessarily think that should be considered a negative. I still enjoyed myself while reading through it, and can easily see others enjoying it more than myself. It may seem like a cop-out to say "check it out for yourself," but that's what these reviews are for: expressing my opinion about which webcomics are worth looking at and which would be a waste of your time. '1977' is easily the former. Check it out and enjoy.