On Mania:

In ‘The Wind and the Willows’, the eccentric Mr. Toad was prone to flights of rabid and obsessive interest in very specific things: motorcars being the chief example. In the story, these “manias” are usually portrayed as being reviled by Mr. Toad’s friends and neighbors, typically because Toad’s peculiar hobbies tend to cause strife in the quiet Thames river valley - though by the end, Toad’s eccentricities are reconciled, and his anthropomorphic animal friends accept his peculiarities on the condition that he try to keep them somewhat in check.

As a child, I can distinctly remember going through various “manias” or “phases” of my own:

3rd grade: ‘I am a Gypsy’
4th grade: ‘I am a Jedi’
5th grade: ‘I am a Butler’
6th grade: ‘I am a Royal Vizier’
7th grade: ‘I am a Space-faring Super Soldier Artificial Intelligence Artifact Robot’

And so on. Somewhere around 8th or 9th grade, my “phases” planed out a little more evenly, generally encompassing things slightly less goofy - but by college, I was pretty sure that I was a well-rounded individual with varied and malleable INTERESTS.

During my stint at Beloit, I had the fantastic opportunity to explore radio, and worked as a text-book Reader. I played Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2 for the first time, and watched Carnivàle and Glee. I could listen to MGMT and Katy Perry, or Old Crow Medicine Show and Chopin. When I graduated, I moved out West to Portland, flipped burgers, wrote stories, listened to the pub regulars talk about their lives - and I figured that I had things pretty well worked-out, life-wise.

But then, one fateful Spring, my friends started to investigate a recurrent phrase, whispered in IRCs, or mentioned in foot-notes of Comic-Con cos-play albums across the internet:

 Homestuck. 

We were curious, and after a cursory Google, chalked it up to being a strange meme, that had probably happened eight or nine years ago.

But it kept cropping up.

So we looked again.

And that, was when everything changed.

Homestuck is, for all intents, and normal parlance’s purposes, a web-comic.

It is, however, unlike all other web-comics that exist.

If Homestuck is to be considered on these terms, however, it is in a tier (a God-Tier, if you will) of its own.

As a webcomic, it is literally the longest running webcomic, ever. In terms of pages, (currently ringing in at well over 4,400 [not including any of the multitudinous sub-comics that lay nestled inside of Homestuck’s bodice]), the incomparable author, Andrew Hussie, usually churns-out over 20 pages of new content daily (not including the [yes] hours of flash animations, games, soundboards, and cinematics that dot HS’ epic girth).

If HS is a webcomic, it is also one of the youngest, ringing-in at only almost 3 years old, (it was begun on April 13th, 2009) and was actually preceded by three other comics on Hussie’s MSPaintAdventures website (which are constantly and consistently referenced throughout HS).

If HS is a webcomic, it is one of the most significant ever, because of the indescribably vast network of artists and musicians and writers and psychology-enthusists and everything else besides, that have bought into the HS universe. While it may not obvious at first, how thoroughly HS has permeated the internet - I can only say, that standing on *this* side of the “Current Page”, I feel like I’ve taken off the tinted glasses in the Emerald City, and can see everything. And my God, is it beautiful.

Perhaps most significantly, is that if HS is a webcomic, it is the best webcomic there is - and I don’t dish that distinction out, lightly. After all (as mentioned), Homestuck isn’t really a web-comic, at all. :P 

Sure, movie-marketing, and alternate-reality gaming have spanned multiple multimedia platforms. Yes, spin-off games and movies and shows and novelizations and graphic novels exist for many fantastically diverse and well-suited universes. Verily, yea, fandoms will appear so long as there are geeks to hold vigil. But for a story, from the the very start, to wholly embrace the complex mechanisms of the entire internet; to routinely feature scores of animate panels of content; to weave a narrative of this complexity (more on that in a moment) in the modern era, for a modern audience - I am either supremely ignorant, or know of no other such thing.

Frankly, the only thing, that I can even think to compare Homestuck to, is Homer’s The Odyssey. To be sure, there is an incredible volume of work in Hussie’s 4400 page epic (which is, I might add, only now, as of this writing, half-complete) - for it is frought with tumult and anguish, calm and contemplation, Good vs. Evil, Light vs. Dark, circumstance and morality, ethics and philosophy, and all the (hemo)spectrum of human experience in between -- but there is more to it than the weight of a dusty, singular, epic.

It is a story about four very real friends, and their desire to play a game together.

And it is in that, that I now stake my “mania.”

The Cornerstone:

Before I can (attempt to) define something like “The New Literature” I think we need to examine some of the basic tenants of storytelling.

Long ago, [subject] lived in a [context] with her mother and father. [subject] occupied the highest room in the entire [context], and therein practised her [distinguishing characteristic].

The skeleton of a story is easy enough to build, and significant details give flesh to that frame. Language arts can be applied to give cadence and poetry to the story, and through crafty alignment of these elements, the reader’s interest is snatched, and they start on their path through the story.

[subject] had become very good at [distinguishing characteristic] and villagers travelled for days and weeks to listen to her play.

Now, the “story” (such as it is) is not actually very interesting, just yet. As it stands, little [subject] will continue on being awesome, and frankly nothing more needs to be said about her, or her family. The End. You could have figured that out on your own without my help, and thus, I have failed to do my job as a wordsmith.

But.

If I can give you (the reader) even a moment of doubt, then your attention is mine for at least a little longer.

A conflict appears,

Now, it was common knowledge that [subject]’s Mother (the Queen) was a jealous person. But one year, the Queen went so far as to conspire a plot to steal her daughter’s [distinguishing characteristic], and use it for herself.

Ah-ha! As trouble rears its ugly head, a gnawing need sensation is awoken in the reader, and until this conflict is resolved (one way, or the other) they remain interested in our character’s plight:

But [subject] was just as crafty as her villainous Mother, and on the night of the [climax], the Queen entered the [context]’s highest chamber - but [subject] was already there, waiting for her.
“I see you have come to steal my [distinguishing characteristic]” [subject] remarked, candidly.
“I have,” said the Queen, “so that I will be more beloved than you.”
“Then go ahead and try!” [subject] suddenly performed [significant action!] and the Queen fell many storeys, out of the [context]’s highest window.

The apex of action, followed by (here, literally) a falling action, might seem to be the most logical story-end, but there is traditionally a denouement, or re-framing of the story to provide catharsis and resolution.

The next morning, [subject] told her father (the King) what happened, and the King praised [subject] for her [significant action!]; saying,
“It was something I could never do.” The [context] was refitted, to be not so dangerously tall, and [subject] continued to practise her [distinguishing characteristic] until nothing in the world could compete with her melody and grace. [The End.]

There. The story is done, and we as readers have been edified (hopefully somehow) by its existence. Sometimes there is a moral or lesson at the conclusion, sometimes there’s just a feeling.

But most usually, a story is a recount. It is a sequence of events that once upon a time happened, and has now been re-presented for the reader’s contemporary edification.

This will be significant later, but that’s enough to start with.