I stumbled upon Queen of Wands while clicking on links from Randy’s Something Positive site. It was one of those late nights at work when you’re looking for something to read after all your usual webcomics finished updating, and based on some of the comments I had seen within the ultra-glamorous livejournal community, I started reading the archives that night. Needless to say, after a month’s worth of reading, I was hooked pretty badly. When I got to the end of the archive and had to wait for new ones to show up, I was pretty annoyed. I wanted instant gratification, damn it!
Queen of Wands’ appeal went beyond its glib commentary and sometimes over-the-top situations; the ability to write characters that endear themselves to the reader in a minimal amount of time is something to applaud on its own merit, let alone the actual characters themselves. Pretty soon, you start vesting yourself in the characters, caring about what happens to them, and empathizing with the sometimes-traumatic emotional scars they suffer through. Weaving characters with depth without departing the realm of believability (too much), while maintaining a light-heartedness is not easy. As I’m sitting here in Philadelphia and trying to finish a novel I started two years ago, I’m thinking that Aeire’s talent for soaking up her writing with real emotion is something I wish I could do in my own pursuits.
Reading the comic daily and weekly, I leaped headfirst into fandom, and I ended up joining the QoW LJ Community as well. I even suggested inviting Aeire to JTAF2, and imagine my surprise when she accepted. It was a cool weekend to make new friends, even though I was stuck in ConOps all the time. I really am a QoW reader… and today is the last day it will update. That’s right, Queen of Wands has ended.
So, this post in my LJ is just a big heartfelt thank you to Aeire; for the years of invoking the extreme emotions in me. I’m never going to forget Queen of Wands, and I’m missing Kestrel and the gang already.
