- The Complete Origamiac
- Created, Written, & Illustrated by
- Seth Levens
- Cover by Francesca Spallato & Seth Levens
Following in the irreverent spirit of Deadpool, The Tick, and Squirrel Girl, it’s Origamiac—the shape-shifting superhero who’s a piece of sheet!
Orson “Orry” Thitchafer is a below-average nobody who, by a daisy chain of disastrous mishaps, is accidentally transformed into sentient loose-leaf paper. Desperate to become human again, Orry applies for a position at an evil enterprise known as MALefactory, with its array of strange devices and serums.
But the mischief Orry is expected to perform during his probationary period at MALefactory leads to a humiliating result for the company: It achieves goodness. To pay for his mistake, Orry is subjected to experimentation designed to mangle and mutate him—except he survives long enough to escape MALefactory’s clutches.
With Orry’s turn at evil failing miserably and his chances at returning to human form seemingly on hold, Orry seeks out an upstart do-gooding group to restore a sense of dignity to his life. Yet the group of superheroes he hopes to join aims very low at eradicating evil, with the prevention of jaywalking high on their list.
Disillusioned by the group, Orry decides he can change MALefactory from the inside. He’s put to use on a plan to win the White House for the company’s chosen candidate. Even though Orry gives his all, the election turns out differently than he hopes, sending Orry into a tailspin so that he isolates himself from the rest of the world. Still, Orry holds a weapon MALefactory is anxious to recover, and the company stops at nothing to finally flush him from his hiding spot.
When Dr. Seethesome, the head of MALefactory, finally deploys his ultimate weapon toward nefarious ends, the results are unexpected—and unwelcome, at least to Dr. Seethesome. Yet there’s one final measure he’s devised to bring about the annihilation he craves. And he’s ready to put it into action. Can Orry save the world, as well as himself, from extinction?
So what do others have to say about Origamiac?
“We regret to inform you that your submission does not meet our editorial standards. Best of luck finding a home for your work. Please do not contact us again—ever.” – Rejection letter from Utter Vanity Publications
Um, okay, not what I was looking for…
Okay, look. Reading this comic isn’t going to grant you some epiphany or any insight into the true meaning behind the curtain of the universe. Your life will roll on pretty much the same as it always has after you’ve spent some time in these pages (Just be careful turning them, okay? Seth says he hasn’t seen Orry in a while so he could be anywhere). What you will find is humor and the most unlikely hero- with the most ridiculous power set- this side of Arm-Fall-Off-Boy.
Seth Levens has done the near-impossible. He’s created a thing that I can honestly say is unique. If you can point me in the direction of another superhero who, after being accidentally transformed into a sheet of nigh-indestructible paper, has mastered the powers of origami… I guess I’d be really impressed, cuz that’d be something.
Anyhoo… Levens takes an outlandish plot device, turns it on its ear and comes up with a hero… I guess?… for anyone who never thought they could do it. You know. “It”. Like, anything pretty much. Look, Orry is a superhero. Made of paper. Who can turn into things by folding himself. What Levens has accomplished, what really makes this book work, is in his ability to take none of it too seriously. Despite all of the blistering hard work I’m sure he put in to make things thing happen, I have to believe that he had a blast doing it.
And Levens didn’t just write this ode to stastionary. He’s also the artist. Levens uses a very stylized form of advanced stick figurism, allowing the pictures to serve as a mere delivery system for the wry & witty dialogue. Sure, it did take a little getting used to, but again you’re not going to find the adventures of Paperman among the titles of the Big Two publishers. This is indie comics to the core, and before you go rolling your eyes at me I’d like to point out one thing: Seth Levens is a published comicbook creator… What did you accomplish today?
If the concept of sentient folding super-paper has you even the least bit curious, you’re probably gonna have to check out Origamiac. I seriously doubt that you’re going to find anything else out there that fits that particular niche.
Final Score: 10/13
