This shit is about to get real.

See you when it’s not 3 hours till I gotta wake up.

This is a two-part sign off: one for my time as a webcommax creator, the other as a lol-official reviewer. I never took the creator aspect seriously despite the time and effort, and the reviewing was just reviewing—it was always other people’s choice whether or not I should be taken seriously at any of it. I was a hobbyist.

Writers don’t get much of a choice when it comes to creating. It’s rather compulsive, so the work pretty much spawns of its own power. We’re charged with refining it, and we are given the choice whether to present it. That’s an obstacle for some, but presenting my opinions has never been a source of anxiety or pride.

No one was more surprised than I when the hordes of shitty comikers beseeched my opinions and advice. I’m sure all were hoping for good press, many for praise alone, but I do trust that some of them were legitimately seeking honest critique because they actually take their work seriously. And no one was more surprised than I when the truly-established would react to my comments enough to privately discuss and seek advice on design and functionality. I’ve ended up with several gmail threads interacting with some names you might not expect.

I’m sure if I cared, I could have forced the issue more: pimped myself out to a wider audience, demanded more plugs, made a dedicated review site (a mirror would have been easy enough). But I still don’t believe the work actually merited the focus that could have given it a wider scope. That would have required commitment to a medium that I’m sincerely not a big fan of, and merely attached myself to (to repeat) as a hobbyist. My peripheral efforts were more spawned by community self-indulgence to see if I could repair some common mistakes that are quite easy to fix.

However, elevating shit into a state of mediocrity simply establishes new standards of shit and mediocrity. And even as the numbers of competent and/or artistically valid projects rise, the sheer number of subpar works maintains an overwhelming low standard.

So here’s my point:

While free, user-friendly tools and templates (comicpress) solve the common mistakes I preach about, webdesign and navigation, we’re left with the merit itself to criticize. These clumsy, redundant efforts, bolstered by templated polish, combined with over-zealous and over-ambitious project management, have summoned a new monster: The Age of Polished Enthusiastic Mediocrity.

Now you could argue that webcomics, for the most part, have always been shitty. This is true. However, when design tools were harder to come by, it was a lot easier to get a first-impression judgment on the inherent value and potential without wasting hours sorting through the half-assed archives of derivative projects.

There was always something I could say to help ‘the good ones,’ where the art was fine but the presentation sucked. I wanted to let these creators know how those fundamentals impacted their work, so the good ones would quit shooting themselves in the foot on design.

But now, the good ones don’t need me anymore; they have their shit together. It’s pretty difficult these days to whip together poor presentation. The shitty ones have access to the same tools as well. So I’m in the position where all I have to go on is the critique of art and writing–premise, plot, pacing.

Well, I’m not sure the effectiveness of repeating over and over these taglines:

Draw from life, your proportions suck. (Art)

This is cliché without even a hint of parody. (Premise)

No one likes Sprite/Furries/Photo/etc so expect resistance forever. (Genre)

Work on writing dialogue so it sounds as you’d speak it. (Dialogue)

Without design, there’s really not much advice to offer beyond those artistic devotions. The rest of my ‘critique’ simply becomes a review people can use to share with their fans or quote out of context. I’ve noticed this happening in my critiques; it makes them boring and pointless. Just another webcomic reviewer.

I’m really not interested in writing to make myself sound clever, to give people base encouragement, or telling people they suck without advice they can work with.

So as the main focus of this review project has been solved by the technology, you don’t need me to tell you why your work succeeds or fails anymore. If it’s not the presentation, it’s one of those four focuses I outlined. I’m sure you can figure out which, and if you can’t, my words won’t help.

It’s with pleasure and modesty I step down from my soapbox, no angst included.

As far as my own comics go, writing dry parody/satire was fun for a year. I’d always wanted to give it a whirl, so I did. The fact I had a growing, but by no means tiny, returning readership was a pleasant surprise. However, I’m pretty sure they don’t miss me beyond the porn and the blogging. Surviving to upgrade my font, bubbles, and to complete my major story arcs–it accomplished all I’d wanted. 250 strips is a lot, in my opinion.

So it’s with pleasure and modesty I step down as a webcommax creator, no angst included.

I’m sure I’ll find something else to work on. I’m sure you’ll find something else to read. Take care, and know my intentions were always for the best.

In order to combat creative stagnation I now fully embrace gimmicks for the sake of base productivity!

Witness your offering: The Stickfigure Arc (Part 1 of X)

Effort doesn’t equal entertainment. Entertainment doesn’t equal effort.

Here we go: Grigs-B

Apparently I’ve ‘met’ some clever people on the internets over the years, because this bullshit is almost consistently entertaining.

Oh wait. I started at the end.

We’ll parse out the minimalist love-hate over time, as to not blow my load in the opening fucking rant:

While I do enjoy some Sprite and Photos, I can only name one Stickfigure I actually like, and that’s not even lol-true-stick–it’s just a simplistic black outline. So if you’re not Toothpaste for Dinner, and actually use ‘true-sticks,’ chances are that your webcomic is absolute and total shit.

No one will like it. No one will like you. Especially if you use a trackball or pencil.

No one will read it.

Now, I often make the case that quality of art is pointless compared to quality of writing. I mean, if a good joke was written without illustration it’d still be a funny script. However, stickfigure comics actually work backwards, where the absolute not-giving-a-fuck about art devolves any punchline back into some half-assed visual gag hybrid where no lulz can exist other than the smirk that survives after the cringe.

But…

Here we go again: Grigs-B

Art = Stick figures. Fuck it.

Premise/Plot = A shameless self-insertion that doesn’t glorify the creator. That’s a good start. A youth-culture-internet-savvy guy that writes real-life-inspired fantasy arcs about getting chased down by Adobe lawyers via movie-inspired parody. He writes about conversations he has with friends and family. It’s a comic-blog at default, and feels honestly infused with Grigs-B’s personal voice.

Like I said, a good start.

You can drunkenly stumble through six panels of random bullshit, and it’ll be entertaining to some people if it ‘feels’ real. This is the shit I get a hard~on for when I talk about a comic’s ‘voice.’ When you have daily comics rambling about some contrived topical fucktardary, that’s one thing. But there’s a reason we’ll visit weekly comics with subpar everything–and that’s interesting and unpredictable content.

I’m not so fucking ADD I need to check back with the same unfunny fucking daily comic to get my dose of unfunny illustration and banal observation. But with this one, it almost feels like instant payoff when it does update, whether or not the joke is really all that good.

Hidden within are some true and unique gems, like when Grigs-B interacts with his younger sister or cousins, who make our (likely) teenaged creator look like an old fart with their hyper-evolving lingo and jargon. It’s a relatable dynamic, and true to life.

I’m also a big fan of establish-to-payoff, in running gags. Running-gags are almost always forced, but decent pacing and presentation can make them seem unintentional, (aka natural). The art of self-referencing has become rather mechanical, so it’s nice to see a fresh use of ploy.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t think better art would help the presentation, and I don’t think any sort of evolved webdesign will make this one popular. Grigs-B is more or less dead in the water, but I’m sure a lot of webcomickers understand how that feels, and they still don’t give a fuck. Fact of the matter is, this is a 30+strip quick read-through, a window into fuck-your-mother youth-culture from an intelligent perspective, and it still doesn’t feel like it has really hit its stride.

I’d say some bullshit like “I’d like to see this one after another six months” but that’s not really the point with stickfigures, or with Grigs-B. The webcomic doesn’t presume to be anything, much less evolve into anything.

I guess there’s a certain charm in that, for me.

Along with World Break, Dueling Analogs has been one of my webcomic whipping posts since this review project started. Both were flashy up-and-comers building their fanbases at the time (early 07’). My issue with WB was all about the ambiguous premise and writing quality, which has developed and been answered through consistent updates.

However, my specific issue with Dueling Analogs was with the project’s overall ‘attitude’ and the online persona of its creator, Steve Napierski. When I was politely approached by Steve via e-mail, I readily accepted the opportunity to discuss my ‘concerns,’ as they were stated in Summer 07.’

My reviews and perceptions have always been based as a reader/viewer, not a critic, and not with any pretense of ‘knowing the creator,’ so that’s the spirit in which my opinions are formed. For me, a webcomic creator’s persona is only apparent in what they give me. For DA, it’s the newsposts under every comic and possibly Harvey, DA’s 4th-wall-breaking cooldude, who may or may not be a self-insertion (we’ll clear that up later).

That’s what we have, unless we get into forums and shit, but at that point we’re fans, not general readers taking a webcomic at face-value.

So as a reader, it’s often hard to balance whether a creator is being simply sarcastic, self-congratulatory out of pride, enthusiastically humble, or ‘frontin’ a persona for the readers. My heart goes out to the humble. My ire is struck by the presumptuous. For me, DA has always strutted back-and-forth across the line dividing enthusiasm and smirking self-assurance.

Now we hear Steve’s side in a discussion-based interview:

Aarin — Being a new Gamer comic in 2005, how confident did you feel in your project within the genre at the onset, and how much of that changed as your readership developed?

Steve — It’s hard to tell what the future holds for any project at the starting gate. Most of the big webcomics are gaming comics or started out as gaming comics. Because of this it’s not an easy genre to be a part of. Your work is always being held under the microscope, scrutinized and compared to the ones that came before. Mainly Penny Arcade. When I first started out I tossed a lot of random stuff against the wall and waited to see what stuck. The moment I thought I knew what worked it quit sticking. I was more optimistic than confident of the comic’s success. Two years later, I still am.

Aarin — Optimism: sounds right. Artists (be they illustrators or writers) take a lot on faith, be it in themselves, or hoping against hope in their market. I’ve seen DA’s writing (jokes/lulz), art, format, and webdesign develop since I found it in 06’. What do you feel was your biggest obstacle—not during DA’s launch, but during its speed-up towards top-20 webcommax stardom?

Steve — Time is my biggest obstacle. I always know something more that I could be doing. But between my two webcomics and the real world there doesn’t ever seem to be enough time in the day. I love creating webcomics but they are a distant second to my wife and daughter on the priority scale. Most of the time I don’t even get started on the webcomics until after my wife goes to bed (at about 10) and on a good night I’ll be in bed by three. If I was doing this for a living, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Unfortunately, I do have a full-time job which cannot be neglected either. Nonetheless, that’s my problem. People don’t come to my sites to hear excuses of why I didn’t update. They come to be entertained.

Aarin — Speaking of entertainment and Dueling Analogues specifically, the only things that set most Gamer comics apart are the cast and reoccurring jokes. While many of your peers feature self-deprecation via alter egos (PA), violent slapstick (VGcats), or lovable idiots (Fanboy$), DA has Harvey. He’s confident, a gamer’s activist, and usually a pervert/asshole when it comes to women. As DA’s mouthpiece of sorts, what inspired the character and his unique voice?

Steve — Not sure I agree with the “pervert/asshole” comment. Harvey is the way guys act when females aren’t around. Cocky and arrogant. The character has opinions and he clearly voices them without hesitation. If I’m using Harvey to make a point then obviously I want to make a point. Saying something with kid gloves on might be more gentle, but its not more affective.

As far as Harvey’s origin, most Dueling Analogs comics are about and take place inside the games they are parodying. Some of the points I want to make take place outside of the game or require me to talk to the audience. From this necessity Harvey was born.

Aarin — I feel confident saying that Harvey’s attitude can marginalize some readers (wimmenz and the socially sensitive), and you’ll have that. You have a target audience, and I’m sure you’re used to criticism in general. But when it comes to your newsposts, you seem rather understated in comparison to Harvey, who I understand is just a character, but continues as the in-comic voice of DA.

So this is a question about online persona: What have you learned about sharing your newspost/blog voice, especially in contrast to the comic’s tone? This night-and-day is very apparent when you explain your strips via reference and links.

Steve — People who actually read the news posts have a better grasp of who I am, what I’m thinking and why. Those who just read the comics can only really formulate their opinions based upon that. Or at least that’s what I would like to believe. The reality is that people take things too literally and a good chunk of them do not understand satire. Those people usually don’t remain readers for very long.

Aarin — For most public art projects, rock stars to poets (yup, webcomic comedy included), dealing with success can be as difficult as dealing with failure, albeit in different ways. Do you see DA as successful, and how you been affected by its reception and popularity?

Steve — Dueling Analogs is the fourth webcomic I’ve worked on. With that said it is the most popular of the lot by a long shot. But when you compare it to some of the big name webcomics it’s still considerably small. Because I understand and acknowledge that I haven’t been affected that much. I pretty much keep to myself and keep the comic separate from my personal life. And since I still have a regular full-time job, nothing has really changed.

Aarin — People have a lot of personal goals in art, but outside of that, what do you personally consider the standards for having ‘made it’ in webcomics: full-time financial security, a ginormous number of return readers and high rankings, peer respect and awards? Everyone’s different, but how has that view changed since you started webcomics?

Steve — My end goal is to be able to create and entertain for a living. It really doesn’t matter if that’s accomplished with Dueling Analogs or with some future creation. That’s really my one true goal and pretty much always has been.

Aarin — I think that’s about it. Thanks for your time and sincerity.

Steve — Not a problem. I appreciate you taking the time to interview me.

**

And I do thank Steve for his time, as I would anyone, be they a 10-strip new kid or 1000-strip veteran.

Honestly, this discussion was more grounded and earnest than I expected, not knowing much about him—those expectations were developed through the comics’ and newsposts’ tones. In personal musing, I still wonder about a project’s private face versus the public face, but that’s not to say webcomickers are disingenuous by default.

And as the webcomics world has birthed its own celebrities, and as more creators rise into those ranks, these sorts of judgments will continue, based on face-value, personal interaction, hearsay, and lol-forum hijinks. If there’s to be any balance, it’s fair enough to give these guys a chance to answer their critics as well as their fans. It may not always be necessary, but when the opportunity arises, we can learn some stuff when we listen.

Fair enough. With DA and Steve, I’m satisfied.

Keep doing your thing, man.

Furry/Anthro Triple-Threat 08’ – Part 4 of 3 (LULZ)

So what did I get from this furry triple-threat?

All three were full-page sorts. Two were fantasy-anthro, characterized by humanish-yet-animal character designs—Macratlove was real-rats. Two were full color—Kaspall was B&W.

None of the three were sexualized, which is an important–perhaps the most important statement versus the furry/anthro stigma.

All three were quality storytelling using non-human characters.

That being said, I consider all genres a handicap, an audience limiter, with the only difference being how much your potential audience is limited (it’s easier to fight against fantasy-hate than furry-hate). And that’s my only point towards new webcomickers or those thinking about starting one. If your story can be told using ‘real’ people, there’s no need to corner yourself into a oft-reviled subgenre, unless you’re a closet furry, think animals are just more fun to draw and/or are a hobbyist that doesn’t give a fuck.

Simply put: public projects should keep in mind the public hate-level before they even begin to hit martyr, self-pity, or indignant pride mode. This happens a lot with any new gamer, photo, sprite…fuck, any webcomic; it’s just amplified against anthro.

Darc of CNH’S joking reply to my review pretty much says it all:

Damn it, Aarin. We were expecting a load of bad press so that we could whine how we’re being persecuted… sorry, I spelled that wrong. I mean fursecuted. Now what are we going to do for fun?

–the smart ones expect the hate as well.

That’s when you know a project and it’s creators are ‘fo realz,’ when they measure the expected feedback versus their own vision. I believe Code Name: Hunter and Kaspall felt that using anthros was the strongest way for them to build a modern fantasy. I expect Macratlove just wanted to have some fun—the only problem there being the current skill-level of the art. And while going furry/anthro may not always be the most marketable choice, it’s easy to see how the subgenre can support something like Macratlove, especially as Sophie develops, and how Kaspall should be that sort of cross-genre epic that fantasy fans enjoy so much.

All in all, there wasn’t any hint of hubris surrounding these projects, so for me, it’s easy props. They know people are going to come to blah-blah split-second misconceptions, and they trust that if people take a full-second’s glance, they’ll see the merit of the character design in storytelling and expression.

I may not always ‘get it,’ but I have come to accept it, and even respect it.

That’s what I got from this triple threat.

There’s a lot of fucking creepy furry comics out there. But in my mind, these three defend the genre.

Last week, the Webcomic Beacon discussed print comics and serialization. For me it was interesting hearing an experienced voice for Ka-blam and against lulu (self-publication companies). It seems I hear that more and more these days.

Around 45:00 I crash into Split Shift and Poly+Morfs, hating on one and loving the other. Lots of fun (for me).

I may do some kind of database or transcripts of these as the Beacon’s archives grow. While brief, these segments are legit reviews and opinions about what’s done right and wrong. I’ll chat to Fes about it, but when they hit 90 days old, I don’t feel reproducing transcripts here would be a conflict of interests (re: discouraging people from listening to netcast archives).

After all, my efforts are a free service to the community, and I want to hit as large an audience as possible.

Furry/Anthro Triple-Threat 08’ – Part 3 of 3

As you know, when I get fired up about a project, it ceases to be a critique, and becomes a review.

Fire three!

Here we go: Kaspall

By Lucy Lyall (European, if not British), Kaspall is the name of a fantasy ‘otherworld’ that exists as something of a hub between many other places, including our human world.

This is some of the strongest and interesting world-building I’ve seen in any SFF (sci-fi/fanstasy) project.

And the first fifty strips aren’t active exposition about history and politics, not the run-down on what makes Kaspall tick. Fuck, the world doesn’t even have a name until Strip 59. Up until then, it’s all character story and intrigue, which is the fucking perfect way to introduce your audience to a new world. Show me there’s humans and anthros living together and interacting. Show me there’s a language barrier. Show me there’s mysticism, teleportation-gating, a social-stratus between races, and a very delicate economy.

Lucy does all this without shoving a single word down my throat. Lucy does this by showing me the characters interact with eachother and the world around them. Often, this can be a double edged sword, but the 160-strip archives read so fast, so fluid, there’s really no excuse for missing a bit, much less feeling weighed down by too much exposition.

The art is full-page B&W, crass-hatched inks with solid outlines. The shading is schooled. The character design is stylized but anatomically correct. The architecture and props are clean. There’s lots to look at and most of it’s interesting. We even have a hand-lettered font, which is always fun, even though I don’t really care about that debate. The chacacters are expressive without being overly dramatized because:

Lucy doesn’t skimp on the dialogue.

In the ultra-rare combination of above-average art and talented writing, the character voice carries the burden that a lot of artists like to crutch-upon with the art: zomg-emo-face, bug-eyed-shock, and lol~teardrop.

No. Fuck that.

Tell your fucking story through your fucking characters like Kaspall and you won’t need to use ‘dynamic’ poses, LOUD FONTS, and that chibi bullshit that went passé in 2001.

Lest I ignore the plot, Kaspall builds from an off-worlder human and his friends dealing with light-hearted poverty, to some multi-layered local mystery involving serial murders, the cops, the local government, daydream-walking, teleport gates, all that shit. It’s really fun watching it develop, especially as more nuggets of Kaspall-the-world are revealed bit by bit.

As far as this triple-threat’s furry-theme goes, I barely noticed. And that’s not to say the cast is racially balanced or furry-lite. Kaspall is populated primarily by anthro characters of sometimes vague species. Each race has a unique scribbly language other than ‘D&D-common,’ and each has their own culture and social standards. This is what fantasy with anthros should feel like. It should feel believable and damn-near natural.

I recommend Kaspall to anyone who enjoys serial fantasy. It’s better than 95% of the big hitters and doesn’t get nearly enough props. The only problem might be the weekly update schedule and a rather middling webdesign, but anyone excited about quality serial SFF is probably used to that by now.

Furry/Anthro Triple-Threat 08’ – Part 2 of 3

I wasn’t gunna preface this, but I think I need to.

Macratlove has the unfair distinction of being the newbie in this triple-threat. It’s under a year old and just around thirty trips as of this critique. But while I could easily give it allowances, I’ve said far worse things about far more polished projects (re: the eighteen-strip-old World Break comes to mind, as usual). New or old, if you make it public, I’m going to give it a firm hand, especially when you request the critique.

Fire two!

Here we go: Macratlove

Macrat is a play on ‘packrat’ with Macs (re: computers and stuff). Fair enough: some kind of gamer/geek comic, right? Well, no. MRL is self-described comic-blog that sometimes pimps Apple, but otherwise, the play on words is focused on the chosen species of characters: rats.

This one is like, super-furry.

Why rats, of all critters, I’m not sure, though P.S.I. features a lead rat as well, so I reckon there’s some common Rattus love among anthro creators. Them rodents be generally smart, bitchy, creative, and have sympathetic social and psychological traits when compared to humans. After all, lab rats are the most disposable peoples around for a reason.

Seems like MRL’s creator, Sophie Weeder, has been asked the ‘why rats’ question a lot, since in her FAQ she offers the terse answer: “I like rats. Plus everyone looks cuter in rat form.” Sophie then states she’s not a furry, herself.

Well, whatever. I personally don’t care except for my usual eyebrow-raising about the genres people choose to associate with… [long side-rant opted for the post-triple-threat finale.]

Onto MCL’s inherent merit: seventy percent of the jokes are funny!

It follows a close-to-linear storyline as our black-cloaked self-insertion, Sophie, lives a normal-human daily life, visits Hawaii, and returns to wintry Cincinnati (50 miles south of me–go Ohio pride). My main issue with the writing is one of effort, that Sophie takes six to twelve panels to tell a three-panel joke. I can’t quite make up my mind on whether the extended pacing is an attempt to build lulz, or is simply wasted time while clinging to a full-page format.

And to focus on the art, I’m not kidding anyone here: it looks like high-effort illustration from a new artist. It’s not that clean, it’s not that fluid, and for all the “everyone is cuter as rats,” the characters are often damn-unattractive. As for furry-haet: Gothbunnies, Kaspall, and other projects with practiced artists showcase streamlined, attractive quasi-humans. Even looking in from outside the genre, I’d like to see some consistency on whether MRL’s rats are clothed-or-unclothed, realistic/rattus-or-anthro/humanoid. This opens the debate into ‘what type of furry/anthro’ a project is. I’d say pick a furry-vision and stick with it, but…

I’m not getting into that pedantic bullshit ever again. With character designs, I don’t care about stylized interpretation versus realism. Fuck that. I merely express my reaction, as a reader.

Sophie’s frumpy real-rats-in-clothes don’t evoke any “aw, cute” sympathy from me, which can only mean that for all the facial expressiveness, there’s room for development. Maybe once the art looks less like work, and more like casual ‘I’ve-been-doing-this-for years’ I’ll be more inclined to smirk at the furious snarls and friendly smiles of rodents–and not cringe instead.

But this isn’t my shit-on-the-new-kid rant of the triple threat. I can give Miss Weeder due credit for an attractive color-themed webdesign, and for her wry wit. MRL tells half its jokes through endearing self-effacement, and the other half through blind-sided redirection (lead-up goes one way, unexpected result follows). When the full-page pacing is actually warranted, the format serves up an enjoyable delay for the snappy punchline.

The comedic timing is fine.

And I want to like Macratlove because of the writing. The comic-blog tone is legit, and when done with any amount of skill, the voice really hits home. However, this is a new project with underdeveloped art and a questionable choice in character design (think: ‘real’ rats < cute rats =/= normal peeps), and that’s a legitimate barrier for comics trying to develop a readership, even within a subgenre. If I hope for anything, it's that the /groan rat-puns are abandoned, that short jokes aren't stretched-out to fill the full-page format, and that the supposed 'cute' factor of Weeder's rats is someday realized.

MRL has become and will likely remain my prime example of ‘is the furry really necessary?” For any story without cross-species or fantasy aspects, I still wonder.

Emorat = lulz

(Sunday post 3 of 3)

Furry/Anthro Triple-Threat 08’ – Part 1 of 3

Now why the fuck am I doing this? Why focus on a ‘genre’ I don’t enjoy, and that people expect me to hate based on character design alone? I’ve long-since established that ‘I just don’t get it.’

But without rants on the genre itself, I do have a couple comickers who’ve been brave enough to submit themselves to this project despite my apparent prejudice. I think they were hoping I could shuttle aside my broader questioning (what do anthropomorphic characters actually add to a story/setting) and focus on the face-value.

So while I do think premise is important, and that going furry/anthro is legitimately questionable in setting up a premise, I’ll do my best to share my opinions about the best of the genre, or at least the best ones that have submitted themselves.

Since I’m doing a triple threat, these won’t necessarily be as long or as in-depth as usual.

Fire one!

Here we go: Code Name: Hunter

Representing the epic-alternate-history-fantasy genre, we have CNH, an established project that was originally created in ‘03 and restarted in ‘05. It’s about a modern-day Britain where all magics had been sealed up until WWII. Now, sixty years after this seal was broken, the world has been ‘dealing’ with the reintroduction of magic users, mythical races (ogres and such), and other extra-planar beings like fairies. Replace all humans with anthropomorphic dogs, rodents, and such, and you have yourself the plot and premise.

Let’s focus on the art for a minute. For an hour. For a year.

CNH is fucking gorgeous. Detailed hand-drawn inks and markers craft the world with professional study of color, lighting, expression, props, and background. Each page is art, and each panel is art. I don’t often get to see that, much less say it. The overall cartoonish, posterized effect is enough to support the story with a truly print-worthy appeal. As the site says, the only computer-added alterations are the page borders and speech bubbles. The character designs are attractive, which is probably one of my main ‘issues’ with the anthro-stigma-perpetuators.

Normally presented in black and white, it seems that the donation-password-full-color version is publicly accessible, if only for a limited time. It’s a cute donation incentive since many quality comics still post in B&W, so while CNH is lovely in desaturation, the full-glory is worth the modest price they usually require.

I can’t say enough about the full-color experience, since the illustrations are consistent in skill from beginning to current.

The writing stacks up just as well. The story’s mythos and backstory bleeds into the strips in a non-expositional (non-distracting) way. Lots of writers love world-building, but many are so impressed with themselves, they shove it up the reader’s ass without the courtesy of lubrication, never mind the reach-around. CNH does it right by staying with the characters, making the drama relatable, and keeping the events sympathetic as it relates to the audience. They understand that less is more when it comes to introducing information. You can skip the prologue and feel right at home even without the backstory.

This is a case where neither the writing or art has to compensate for anything—they actually elevate each other.

So basically, I’m saying this is the good stuff. Compelling story. Emotive characters. Awesome art.

While recently hiatus-prone, it promises a return in about a week, and has a strong archive for the meantime.

(Sunday post 2 of 3) 

The Webcomic Beacon did its second open-forum this week, an amusing, randomized topical discussion, this time focusing on webcomic awards and valentines. Tanya was sick, but Diana did a good job filling in as the co-host.

I weigh in at 50:00 about Badly Drawn Philosophers with a surprising endorsement towards a kind-a-shitty newbie project.

I’m starting to weed out those projects who’ve died or went on hiatus since they submitted themselves. It’s bound to happen with young and/or obscure projects, so I feel no guilt about not getting to these sooner. Still, as long as the URL points to a site, I may as well reserve a sublist if I’m inclined to give it a go.

Remember these ‘reviews’ are more often than not critiques, so I can share my opinion with the creators and other webcomickers about what works and what doesn’t. Whether the site is ‘live’ or not says something, but doesn’t always mean shit to me.

Next week, I’m planning a triple-comic hop into furry territory, but for now, let’s hit my second photocomic.

Here we go: Foundcomics.net

The project is formally known as, ‘Even in the deepest heart of chaos, a glimmer of order can be found,’ but I just refer to it by it’s URL since I can call shit whatever I want. Eitdhofafoocbf is too fucked up for even me to acronym.

Foundcomics is either an originator or thee originator in this sub-sub-genre that uses random internet images and creates a narrative from them. The creator’s, Dominic Peloso’s, description:

A small computer app will stream six random photos recently posted on the internet tagged with whatever key word I’m feeling that day. These are put into a nice 3×2 matrix. Just like a comic strip. I don’t allow myself to switch out photos or change the order. I have to work with what fortune gives me.

So that’s it. A premise, a format, a design that doesn’t waver, though the content is as random as the entire internets though focused by the writer’s imagination. He is charged with formulating a coherent story from a visual ether, and you’d be hard-pressed to convince me that this isn’t creative, and that it isn’t art. The entire presentation is based on his ability to construct the written ‘captions per panel’ that are less lolcat, and more thought-provoking and telling about him as an artist and individual.

Therein, I see Postsecret mixed with Drew’s livejournal image generator. The result is something I can relate to, and at the same time its merits are worth exploring in Dominic’s perspective: often humorous, often dark/sarcastic often kiss-of-death emo, but always insightful and on-fucking-target-coherent.

So he’s practiced at making something out of not-much, and if the captions aren’t interesting, the photos often are. And if the photos aren’t interesting, the captions often are: your standard webcomic art/writing tradeoff.

This is legit, and it’s fun.

The value of entertainment and webcomics aren’t based on what the artists invest—it’s dependant on what the readers get out of it. So I’m never one to turn my nose up at the fact there’s zero illustration or editorial-choice involved in Foundcomics. The project’s constraints, the randomness, is the challenge, even if Dominic gets to hone in on the subject word.

Foundcomics is what it is, so you’ll either find it silly and base, or maybe you’ll be as intrigued as I am about the individual photos and the way Dominic ties them together in a concise narrative.

**Note that the search-word titles can be found in the archives, and that each photo within is sourced to its original interweb location.

Foundcomics, and it’s sister comic Tiny Ghosts, both get an approving nod from me. It’s not easy to make a point without being heavy-handed.

This week, the Webcomic Beacon discusses commissioned illustration, which is a big deal for many sub-fulltime artists.

My weekly Impressions segment is at around 46:00, where I give my opinions about young comics: Teddy Bear Trauma, a flashy-cutesy-noir, and Easy Skankin,’ an animu bullshit girly comic.

ChR\st, I keep getting too sidetracked to update/plug about this:

I’ve been officially affiliated with The Webcomic Beacon for three weeks, this week being the third. I had mentioned it before I was involved, but now I need to keep linking it per update now that I am.

It’s a cool netcast/podcast that isn’t a week-in-webcomics as much as a topical discussion with reoccurring segments, like mine, mostly at the end. New casts post on Fridays.

My job is to present two or three 1-minute Impressions about newer comics: ones under a year old, or under a hundred strips.

Thusly titled “Webcomic Impressions by Aarin Edwards,” you get to hear me trying to distill the reader-value of tens-to-hundreds of hours of someone else’s work into bite-sized niblits.

Their download-navigation is better than I could do, so I’ll just toss out some names, links, and commentary. These entire episodes are very entertaining and insightful, but I’ll tag my segments with the time-stamp for looking-back’s sake:

Week 7: Quitting Time and Xylia. [Minute 50.00 into the program]

This first week, I wasn’t sure of the profanity I could use, so I opted for vocal clarity and professionalism.

Week 8: Invincible Jeff and Radcliff. [Minute 55.30 into the program]

Realizing people don’t listen to me because of my professionalism; I open up the throttle, albeit with a cold that made me sound fucking high.

Week 9: Thick Pie and Calamities of Nature. [Minute 37.30 into the program]

I feel much more comfortable now, and actually found some comics I could get into.

——

From now on, I’ll be linking and offering some side commentary on these Impressions; yet another project for your overextended Aarin. Since I’m time-invested, I should certainly share it. If you’re a webcomicker, or an interested fan of the process, the Beacon has been an exciting new project.

These linking posts are also spots for feedback, so ya’ll can make fun of me ^.^

If I’ve somehow become a credible voice in webcomic reviews and critique, I want my fucking convention press-pass ASAP.

With this review, Aarin’s Blog celebrates the first anniversary of this webcomic review project! Without masturbation on the subject, I will say we’ve covered a lot of ground; ‘we’ being me-and-ya’ll.

So back to the Bflod, which continues to balloon as people submit themselves despite all evidence that I rarely use it for anything other than fishing. Often, the topic of inspiration isn’t even represented in that grand clusterfuck, so that’s the why as to my selection process and why the list has never once gotten any smaller.

However, I do keep a very large links-folder filled with every name submitted, and I do click through it semi-frequently to see if anything sparks a deep topic, knee-jerk rant, or simply begs to be shredded/lauded. So that’s why I keep the list, and that’s why people should still feel free to submit themselves.

And I can better expedite that insane backlog by writing focused, topical reviews that don’t span the project’s entire art, writing, design, webpresence, genre, etc…

Just critique the points that matter.

(Only took me a year to figure that out.)

Let’s try it! We’ll fish around and see if we can find anything that isn’t on permanent/semi-permanent hiatus. Many on this list are out to sea, but that comes with the long wait, and with reviewing unestablished or hobbyist projects. I ain’t hating :P

Here we go: Simulated Comic Product

Holy fucking shit. This isn’t even fair.

Are you telling me this has been on my list (Number Six out of Fifty) since February 07? And that I either passed it up, or missed it over-and-over for an entire year? I mean, I’ve heard of it before, but never gave it a full-read.

That’s not fair, and I don’t mean to SCP, or ya’ll. It’s not fair to me. Christ, this comic is good. Good good. Great good. [/fawn]

SCP is a full-color, weekly, gag-a-day, three-panel comic that’s chock-full of socially-and-scientifically-relevant sarcasm and dark-humor. This is exactly the kind of writing I adore, since it’s saying everything an eyes-open-to-the-world adult thinks and feels, and it says it indirectly. We’re not getting a sermon from SCP, and it’s not opening our minds. SCP assumes we’re intelligent, that our minds are already open, and that we can appreciate a textless panel saturated with nuance the same as we can understand the subtext when ninjas attack suburbia over elections.

This project respects the reader’s intelligence by not explaining its jokes, and by confidently pushing the pedal, expecting us to keep up. 

SCP features a fantasy world that blends high-technology, ritualistic mysticism, steam-punk industry, and pointy-hat princesses. Those elements overlap with casual confidence. Rather than hoping we don’t question the anachronism and jarring imagery (forest bears in business suits, space stations hovering over medieval castles) these juxtapositions are presented as half the punchline, be it for social commentary or simple lulz.

Humans, talking animals, and robots coexist and interact, with robots being the regular focus. These self-aware automations try-and-fail to fulfill their roles in society as blue-collar workers and household servants, more often than not sharing some perspective about our own faults as a result. And that’s not to say it’s unfunny, or too smart to be funny, or too relevant to be funny. SCP revels in OSNAP ‘ouch moments,’ which aren’t so much uncomfortable as they are razor-sharp daggers thrust into whatever instant-empathy has formed with the new-lead-character-o’-the-strip.

Credit the art for invoking those emotional connections. Credit the writing for fist-fucking them.

While it is ComicPress, the normal navigation problems (finding the archives, etc) are non-existent. And a ‘neat thing’ about this site is the use of a star-ranking per comic, which I’ve certainly seen before in webcomics, but never with any kind of traffic to make the numbers useful. With 100+ votes for many of the strips, you can find the fan-favorites easily, which is a pretty neat place to start if you’re just browsing.

SCP is certainly worth your time, whether you just like chuckles, or really appreciate dark-comedy and social-satire. I think my initial overlooking it was based on the downbeat tone, maybe a weaker strip when I found it, or perhaps even the title. While ‘Simulated Comic Product’ fits the robo-theme and general cynicism, I think it’s rather invisible. I don’t normally bring up names unless there very stupid, and this one isn’t even bad, but it can explain how without art or reading to back it up, it’s easy to overlook one project out of thousands (in a toplist) based on the name alone. Sad but true.

Christ, this comic is good.

You’d think this would be common sense, but a guesstimate 40% of webcomic webdesigns flat out suck, and the other 60% ain’t perfect. I’m not perfect. No one’s perfect. There’s always some flaw in the overall placement, graphic design, or backend code.

However, the difference between a good site and a wretched site is rather striking at the onset, and can later be divided/blended across a middling of suck.

I’ve been wanting to write this one for a while.

The Key

There’s a lot of different ways to go about good webdesign, and I’m sure there are better tutorials out there, but most of them are focused on code and/or relaying step by step fixes. My only concern is letting you know what the concerns actually are.

1. Navigation – How the different pages/pieces of the site interact.
2. Layout – The placement of navigation objects and content.
3. Graphics – affects not only the overall attractiveness, but screen size and load times.

That’s pretty much it from the front-end of the code, and the back-end only exists to support the front. Pretty simple right? Well, pouring over common mistakes and extolling the ‘perfect design’ would take a novel’s-length, so I’ll try to keep this focused.

The Key is: Maximize the tools at your disposal.

And by tools, I mean your individual skill level in webdesign layout, code, and graphic design. If all you can do is edit a Comicpress template, focus on that. If you’re a php-pro, there’s a bit more options, but you might want to reign it back a bit. Many webmasters get in a trap where they go beyond their means and end up making the whole fucking project too complicated to manage: too cluttered in the layout, and too cluttered in the code.

Webcomics

Now as far as Webcomics go, there’s a very easy formula that new-to-weak projects still don’t seem to be able to comprehend. There’s only three aspects of your project that are nessesary, so those should be showcased and clustered together. The three things are:

1. The Comic – Obvious, but many sites still insist on having the comic’s main page divorced from the actual strip, *click here for comic* or some such.  If there’s no static ‘New Comic’ page to link to (index.html or.php), that’s a flaw.
 
2. The Rant/Newspost/Blog – If you do rants per comic, this should be on the same page as the comic. It should be within view the comic (first, previous, next, current (FPNC) navigation given allowance fort interruption). Asking me to click away to read the newspost/rant/blog ensures that I will not read it, unless I’m one of those 5% hardcore fans. With the newspost on-page, I’ll likely browse it, if not read every word.

3. Archives – Why does everyone fuck this up? A lot of people fuck this up. I even hate the fucking calendar ones, but I’m willing to take those over click-a-page-away-for-a-drop-down-list, and certainly over nothing at all. A clear, coherent, dated archives is a VERY important offering for returning readers who only stop in monthly or bi-monthly. This should either be included in your FPNC navigation, or beside your newspost, someplace front-and-center, easy to find. I can’t stress how much laziness on the archives is a turn-off as a reader.

So that’s the big three. Everything else is just bonus and clutter, including your mandatory Character page, Author’s Bio, About the Comic, all of which most comics should have if applicable. If you want anyone to actually see them, they should be accessible, but not intrusive. The intrusiveness isn’t usually a problem; noticing them in the first place is.

My biggest annoyance is with poor navigation, when you have to scroll past the newspost to find the near-invisible FPNC text buttons, and repeat with every page. I often quit reading Comicgenesis and Comicpress projects on first viewing because of this. Any deviation is a slap in the face to your reader.

Ads should be kept at the page’s borders (very top, left, right), unless they’re buttons, which are small and fine. Otherwise, I don’t like seeing things break the line between the banner, comic, navigation, and newspost.

So that pretty much covers Navigation and Layout, but what about graphics?

Graphics

I realize a lot of people do just adjust a template, and that’s fine. I’m a big fan of organized minimalism. It stays with The Key: Doing the best with what you have. There’s real no need to press frames, flash, or any other crazy shit on your readers unless you’re pro at that shit and can do it with confidence.

I would like to say that the 800×600 era is officially over, and even as I keep with that resolution, it’s based on balanced 1/3 blackspace, so don’t feel bad about it if you still do pander to the 1% of dinosaurs still out there. It’s correct to build a site for 1024×768 now, just not any higher. Don’t be tempted by high resolutions, since that alienates the grand majority of the internets.

Also, if your art isn’t that great, and you know it, don’t propagate it throughout your site in the buttons and borders. It’s a lot better to wrap a shitty comic in bland wrapping than it is to wrap a shitty comic in shitty wrapping.

Conversely, no amount of bells and whistles will make a shitty comic look good, so it’s really best to balance your attention on the art and leave the graphics alone as long as the layout and navigation works.

Finale

To finally beat this home, don’t let your webdesign go to waste as your art improves. Your site is the vehicle for your storytelling as much as the panel format and lol~fonts. If you can provide easy-access to previous comics through navigation and archives, and if you can lead the readers eye to newsposts and your site’s important peripheral content (not ads), you’ll get a lot more return readers than you would by shaking the template dice and letting the design elements fall where they may.

The hours you spend tweaking layout, navigation, and graphic file size, save collective weeks to your combined audience over the span of a year. If you really are in this for the long-haul of the project, you actually do owe your returning readers the most streamlined experience possible.

This shit really is important.

Here we go: Wickedpowered

By webcomic luminaries Owen Gieni and Chris Crosby, I’d actually never heard of it before. Sore Thumbs, sure, but not this one.

Ignorance was bliss.

My hatred for Sore Thumbs is longstanding based on a disappointing six-month and oft-checking-in readership starting when it was simply an intriguing-premise/newbie-comic (circa 2004-2005). So, sure, I consider myself familiar with the Gieni/Crosby formula for parody/satire and illustration. I’m not the kind of reader who forgets who the fuck the authors are between books…

Oddly, this sort of amnesia seems to be supported in webcomickry as opposed to all other forms of print and celluloid media. Perhaps it’s due to the rapid turnover of projects, but it’s as if every new piece of shit is supposed to supercede the last, and goddamned if you compare and contrast. It’s totally fucking bizarre, and something singular in webcomics as a medium, since you only find this sort of default-placation in niche print/cell fan-circles.

So as a reader shopping for new lulz, it’s not my job to question preconceptions, it’s their job to prove me wrong via the merit of their work. I’d go a lot less ham-handed with the self-defense, but it’s always a joy attacking a comic with a solid reader base [/sarcasm]. Obviously, I’m no troll, but I do consider it a chore to speak my mind against a project that is widely considered ‘good.’ I’m not in this for e-brawilin’.

On to the review of WP, and WP specifically:

Wickedpowered is an animu/pop-culture parody about a prototypical high school loser who gets visited by three hot babes from the future, who proclaim that Wiley Schlub is their world-saving, statuesque hero. The character art is that well-drawn, over-accentuated Geini staple, complete with giant boobz and pants-so-low-rise as to reveal vaginae were it a bit more risqué. As always, it’s SFW fapping material for teen boys.

Cool, all fine, none of that’s a problem. The premise is a parody, and I understand that and get all the almost-subtle jokes.

But as the vapid heroines and our cockless hero embrace their roles as low-brow puppets, I really start to question this story’s role as anything other than its face-value. I mean, at this point, the kind of shit it parodies, Anathema (NSFW) for example, actually delivers better lulz, better fap, and to be honest, a much more compelling premise and execution in plot.

A problem with parody is when it ceases to reveal anything beyond its own structure. And when you can compare it to a wholesale-porn comic and say that porn comic is better; that’s when you’ve failed to hit your mark with your higher audience.

Every story arc featuring provocative poses, netspeak-in-bubbles, and half-assed character development really showcases the limits of creativity within the premise, which sort of runs over itself through the course of the comic. 

Not like they really care. This isn’t high art anyway, but it’s always a trip seeing something pander to the lowest denominator of fandom, hit the middle-teir of intellectualism, and still fall short in exploring anything other than an extended string of trite, over-pursued, and under-supported puns, all of it masquerading as a catch-all between the lines.

So I don’t think it’s clever. But I don’t mind that it sells. It does its job within the market and creates a broad experience that a wide (male) audience gets something out of. Just don’t trick yourself into thinking it’s deeper than it looks–even as a parody.

The anime/manga otaku world is the intranets, and the intranets is a world tailor-made for otaku.

As an ex-hundreds-of-dollars-a-month animu fanboy, I remembered when it truly evolved in the late 90’s, early 00’s, when technology finally allowed the subculture to develop into a worldwide community. Sure, there were always discussion boards, fan clubs, comic-cons, VHS fan subs, and commercial sales of licensed and bootlegged merch, but the digital age introduced DVD’s, TV-to-computer captures, and higher-speeds/bandwidth on the internet, enough to share online video and high-rez scans on a first-time-ever legitimately user-friendly basis.

The age of digi-subs, manga-scans, and screen captures had begun, all propagated by peer-to-peer networks and community forums.

As the distribution of the shows increased, so did their fanbase. Within this niche geekery, once a private or at-best limited cloister, content could now easily be replicated and shared. Everyone could make a fan-site now, thanks to shitty geocities, angelfire, and generally reduced hosting costs for the DIY’ers. Everyone could make forums in their own voice and content thanks to easy prepackaged programs.

New shows and stories created widespread buzz, and that buzz created a market. And everyone wanted their old favorites on-hard-drive, if not in-hand.

Everything ballooned together, from animu being consistently shown on cable TV, massive walls o’ DVD’s in your local Best Buy, and bookshelves of complete Tokyopop manga translations in every brick and mortar book store. Anime conventions broke away from comic cons and some got bigger than their outmoded parents.

Nowadays the bubble has long-since stabilized (if not shrunk down a bit), but this reflective history has a point, giving this review some context:

Fandom is more widespread, developed, and knowledgeable than it’s ever been in the past. It’s hard not to find Bit-torrent and Youtube fansubs of the newest shows, let alone information about the entire industry thanks to the glut of bilingual fans (compared to their community accessibility in the 90’s).

Even still, as far as webcomics go, I’m sure you’ve come across plenty of projects that tip their hats to animu bullshit, be it in theme/parody, mixed with gaming humor, or generally replicating tired old stories in a one-off gag-a-day. Mangu comics are so common as to be facepalm.

But rarely have I seen a pure otaku-comic. By this I mean a Penny-Arcade-esque comic devoted to anime/manga from a fan’s perspective: a focused commentary on releases, attitudes, and merchandise; not story-based; with rants to support the individual strips; never deviating from the theme of anime/manga fandom.

Here we go: Mistakes of Youth

At face value this resembles the same middle-tier shit I’ve been exposed to and been reviewing for the past year. By some guy going as “Wildarmsheero,” he’s been using the same internet handle since he was twelve or something (might be about twenty now), so I’ll just abbreviate it for all our sakes. We’ll just call him Wah, for fun.

Like I was getting at, Mistakes of Youth is a foray into the anime subculture from a very-insider perspective, following the pervert Rets and token-female Tina along brief scenes and discussions about the newest shows, some classics, and offering some is-this-trite chuckles about fandom in general.

I’m sure the skilled illustrators out there would rightfully call Wah a shitty artist, but the talentless out there would probably be jealous. That’s what I meant by middle-tier shit: the art isn’t stunning, but neither is it absolute dreck. Normally full-color, clean line art, but with awkward proportions, Wah seems every bit the developing artist who’s good enough to not let the art get-in-the-way.

That’s the important part.

So while arms, hands, feet, and faces can get funky-as-fuck, the effort shows in the things he does do right, which is drawing at high-rez before he condenses the image, constant experimentation with shading, and an overall improvement over time, even if it’s subtle. As usual, I’m impressed at effort into the backgrounds, which are usually washed out tablet scribbles or photos that normally match the art and aren’t overtly cut-and-paste. Overall, it’s nothing to get excited over, but the effort is enough for the individual strip. Suggestions for improvement? Keep at it–that’s about it—he sure produces enough.

The writing itself sways between eye-rolling banalities, scattered lulz, and damn near incomprehensibilities.

And that’s not to say it’s impossible to ‘get,’ because while the comic is made by and for a specific niche audience, Wah has some middle-tier skill at writing/joke-telling as well. Often the dialogue is overly specific, and much too obscure for casual fans who just watches shit off Cartoon Network, but I think most readers would still be able to understand the punchlines based off of expressions, usage of panels, and general comedic timing. Wah’s ability to put jokes in context is what saves the writing on a first-time-viewer level. Anything beyond, there’s plenty of material on-site to ‘get the joke.’

Basically, MoY is the same thing as +EV, PA, and every niche webcomic, except with lots of Japanese names of animu shows you probably haven’t watched.

Credit to Wah that after every MoY strip, there’s a long rant underneath apologizing for the update schedule, middle-grade art, and lack of lulz. The general self-effacement of the rants would usually be a turn-off (not confident enough), but it’s rather endearing in this project, as is the wealth of editorial-esque insight about the topic and other aspects of fandom and the anime/manga industries. So while the not-that-great comic itself won’t really teach you shit about anime, the strips combined with the blog creates a one-two punch that’s extremely entertaining as a whole. It’s a very good model, but the site design doesn’t support it. I’ll explain:

It needs an overhaul, the sooner, the better. This is really easy shit for anyone with basic site-design skills, which makes me scratch my head as to how it hasn’t been fucking resolved in the last eighteen months. Let’s break it down:

• Too much whitespace in the banner.
• Why put Google ads over the comic? I’m sure under it is fine. I never click on the fucking things anyway, as I’m sure most people don’t, so why distract my eye and wreck the overall design? If we want to support MoY by clicking links, it won’t be during our first visit, and by the time we’re returning readers, I’m sure we’ll notice their new home between the comic and the rant.
• Navigation bar is too wide, too yellow, which only adds to the general, noobish “wide open spaces” feel of the design.
• The left side of the text is humping the border, especially on the introduction and profile. Could use a few more pixels on the comic-site rants as well.
• The archives, even as a drop down, doesn’t really help much as it doesn’t give dates. It’s a piss-or-get-off-the-pot kind of thing. Either include the dropdown on every page, or make the archive page an actual list with one of those calendar scripts or with names and dates.
• I have to stress that the overall problem with the webdesign isn’t even on a point by point basis: it’s just this flat expanse of steaming shit surrounding an otherwise decent product.

Overall, the site design seems very slapped together, like Wah just doesn’t give a fuck. These one-time, no maintenance fixes aren’t that difficult. He should take a day he normally spends doing gallery shit and learn/work some site design. It pays dividends for turning first-time viewers into returning readers.

Finally, I’m frustrated with this one because the premise has so much potential, there’s a feast of content on his blog, the gallery (including a loli-NSFW subgallery) is consistently updated, but it feels like Wah either doesn’t know how to tie a professional-esque bow on it, or is too goddamn lazy to. Remember, I’m not telling him to spend any monies, or become a professional; I’m saying that it’s a very simple thing to transform your ugly site into something snappy with a big-dog feel. As it stands, the art and writing is not killing the site–the webdesign is killing the art and writing.

Now, I wouldn’t pay to read this in print, nor am I an immediate fan, but I certainly see how it has fans, has room for growth, and appreciate the obvious effort into the art itself. There’s no real end to available material with this premise, but it is rather silly to have a webcomic that actually has this kind of potential, even as a hobbyist, and not take an extra step in webdesign and webpresence to gain that middle-tier notoriety that so many already enjoy.

Just quit half-assing the details, Wah. And keep drawing. You own this niche, so sky’s the limit therein.

Now then, I review webcomics, not print comics, but what happens when the two unite?

Established webcomics that pay-on-demand are a different animal than the traditional comic crowd that uses the internet after their professional pipe-dreams fail. What’s the difference? Well, my perceptions of publishing, be it the intrawebs or print, are certainly formed by literary publishing and the general lulz therein.

So compare the motivations:

A. The troubled trad-comicker goes online, his focus always on print.
B. The happy-go-lucky webcomicker releases a print, their focus always online.

So it’s the same results, two different starting points and intentions. I’ve no issue with webcomickers that vanity print, pay-on-demand, or even get signed by a real publisher. My own chuckles come from those shitty projects that stubbornly persist in competing in the print market, all the while running their project as a webcomic because no one will buy it.

It’s not pathetic by any means, but it is a mere step above it: sobering, a little depressing, and mayhap a continual disappointment for the artist and the consumer.

Oh shit. I probably just offended someone *wink*

Anyway, considering the payoff-to-effort of the medium, webcomickers that choose to bring their work to print often do it for motivations other than monies (though cash is always welcome). Vanity print is all about seeing your work in a handheld format, the tactile experience of turning the pages after months/years of work. Or maybe it’s a bonus for the readers, that they can hold something real and not just a collection of pixels. And maybe, just maybe, all that can come together without pretence, that the sales of a hundred units supports the production of a hundred units, keeping the comic in the reader’s mind, shelf-and-collection, and perhaps builds on itself, giving the reader (and creator) something to look forward to every six months.

Most would-be-pros see print as the final goal, not a starting line, but the final destination for their project, a real statement about their efforts, seeing something evolve from ideas to physical fruition.

That inherent humility is a far cry from the ZOMG I MAED A COMMAX-TSHRT-MOUCEPAD SO BUY IT PLOXXOR crowd. Those fuckers know who they are, and if they feel defensive, that’s probably why. They’re the kind of assholes that start peddling their bullshit at cons four weeks after launch. It’s not insulting, but it is amateurism at its basest core and deserves some level of public derision, though watching them sit on their hands in the smallest-corner-dealer’s-room is often humiliation enough.

It’s a tough world, and a tough balance to get right. Some people do it with class. Some people earn their print.

Here we go: Dark Red (in print!)

I reviewed DR over the summer, giving it high complements for photo-manipulated art and its use of the medium. I did have some issues with the pacing as it relates to the story.

I recently received a copy of Dark Red: Issue 1 through ‘The Royal Mail.’ I wish the States had Royal Mail–that’d be pretty fucking tight. The comic looks crisp, though there’s a lot to be said for the way Lynn’s colors pop off the monitor in comparison. You can consider that a strength of web-publishing a digital format, even though it’s balanced by an important aspect of print:

The ability to connect the narrative, page after page, in a format that leads the eye (and mind) with the greatest amount of flow. It really is a different experience, and the issue as a whole was well-constructed, including a nifty intro and the bonus character-voice bio at the rear.

Dark Red reads a lot faster in print, as I suspect most comics would, but it certainly suits the story, which I’m (again) most comfortable dubbing as a paranormal mystery, and leaving it at that. In case you forgot, Sarah (our protag) is recently-blind, but is seeing demons, psychics, and other objects of supernatural important. Her city is an ancient battlefield hosting a flare-up in one of those age-old battles that was supposed to have been resolved ages ago.

I won’t say DR is better in print (remember, this comic’s strength has always been the unique art) but the plot flows a lot smoother for me as I flip pages (and aren’t waiting for updates). And If I view Issue One as a prologue, my own issues evaporate, since currently the story is keeping true to itself, yet hopping along at a more explorative pace in its updates, opening the throttle, as it were.

Any fears that DR will fizzle before it reaches a payoff have been addressed by Lynn, who states Issue Two has already completed its filming and that Issue Three is already in the works. It’s nice to see promise in action, and it’s rather exciting to see a genre-favorite in print.

Without pretence, DR has pleased the webcomic gods with consistency and foresight. Best wishes, and I look forward to seeing more comics achieve this goal in their own time.

Back to the BfloD  

Why do webcomikers go furry?

This is a legitimate topic. You can even disregard my derision to the genre, since this a topic about creative motivation—just ignore my own ‘WTF’ about it all. At face value, we can simply distill it to ‘special interest,’ the same as gamers, sprites, workplace, and most other subgenres.

However, creating an animal-anthropomorphic cast-and-setting to share your artistic genius suggests a broader yearning, since I’ve seen few anthro comics that couldn’t tell their stories just as well with an all-human cast. Fantasy settings aside, it’s not a question of content, but some manner of left-field characterization where featuring furry-anthros adds a nuance the writer/artist can’t present without the fantasy. And considering the overwhelming stigma versus furries compared to its niche fanbase, building a full-time project in this oft-maligned cloister takes a commitment I can’t relate to.

So why furry?

Here we go: Gothbunnies

By Joanna Wojtysiak (alias Munkymu) GothBunnies is furry-lite (read: suspends disbelief) since the premise actually matches the characters: three garden rabbits who’ve just moved into a new, mysterious hole. While the narration begins with kids-book gentleness, the bunnies themselves don’t waste time in sharing their eccentricities and sarcasm, ranging from general slacking-off to suicide being a better alternative to work.

Honestly, within the first five clicks, I was charmed.

As the siblings explore their new home, a contest for supremacy ensues between the newcomers and shovel-wielding shrubs. The Chlorocontructs (magic plant monsters) must be defeated before our protagonists can even settle into their new home!

Thus, the supernatural element merges with the humanoid rabbits, and all becomes gold from thereon-though this almost-100-strip-old webmangu.

Gothbunnies starts with thick (if clean) B&W lineart, but quickly develops with more sophisticated backgrounds and a slimmer feel to it, making it more attractive as time goes on. While a minimalist, Munkymu puts the detail where it counts and has a great sense for character expression. It’s nice to see such fluid and noticeable improvement in lineart, especially when it wasn’t shitty to start with. That shows commitment by the artist, and leaves me with nothing but positive expectations for GB’s future. I’m actually interested in colored strips (covers), and I don’t often bother caring about that.

As far as the writing, the dialogue is snappy, witty, if British (I jest, that’s again, charming). The pacing is fine from panel to panel and from strip to strip.

Fuck, the whole goddamn comic is as polished as it needs to be. No glaring flaws. But nothing real exceptional either. It’s just kind of hanging out, pleasing it fans. Capable within the top five percentile of webcomics.

So, J.W. Munkymu, congratulations. You’ve crossed into Crowfeathers limbo.

CF is my fav example, since, while the project was stellar for chapters upon chapters, it was the best minimalist mangu webcomic no one had ever heard of. Crowfeathers is starting to come into the web-public eye, and Gothbunnies is certainly in the running as a replacement for ‘most capable minimalist mangu webcomic no one has ever heard of.’

I’m talking to the creator here, but feel free to eavesdrop:

Dear Miss J.W. Munkymu,

Thanks for the fun read.

If you’re a semi-pro-illustrator/hobbyist-webcomicker, you’ve certainly hit your stride, no matter the genre. However, I believe Gothbunnies could gather more attention if you work as hard on webdesign and webpresence as you have the project itself.

Some simple (read: grayscale) texture in your website’s borders, and any manner of banner, would make the design look a lot more modern and, OMG-buzzword, dynamic. As it stands, the minimalism of the comic is great, but for the webdesign, it’d be something I’d click off of if I didn’t know any better.

Minimalism is a stepping stone, a foundation, not an end result. Your development in character designs and backgrounds should be a relatable example.

I’d like to see an archive/home link in the page navigation, since clicking ‘first’ isn’t a very intuitive way to find home.

I’d like to see an ‘about/bio’ page about the project, or youself, or both. That’s fun stuff for readers, especially new fans, as we instantly relate to the project as something bigger than the story itself. All of a sudden, we become excited about you as an artist, and are much more willing to see/help you succeed in voting, merch, etc.

The blog link should also more prominent. And while I’m not saying create a forum, a venue for public feedback (not just e-mail) is so common these days as to be default. Community starts with public feedback.

I won’t press anything on the level of gathering press, or advertising, but if you shore up just a few details and make yourself an online character, it’ll pay dividends in return readership. If you tweak your webdesign, it may just help get a few more people to click into your archives—it certainly won’t chase anyone away.

Overall, it doesn’t feel like you’re taking this seriously beyond your own artistic effort. It’s a shame, since you’re one of the few people that might aught to–you’re underachieving. You may as well develop the web-and-community aspect and see where it goes, no expectations required. It’s a week’s work for a who-knows result.

Best wishes,
Aarin

Now I’m gunna do something I wanna do!

*Petulant stomp*

Here we go: Clone.Manga.com

If you’re not familiar with Dan Kim’s work, it’s either because you live in a proverbial intraweb cocoon, or were too disgusted to continue after first impressions. But there’s always option 3: ‘it never showed up on your radar.’ In that case, I’ll forgive you. Yet, in any case, it’s a situation I hope to rectify.

The Clone.Manga project showcases almost a dozen comics of varying art-styles and genres, all with Dan’s (self-anointed and self-effacing) weeaboo stamp. He’s become rather iconic and influential over the years due to long-running projects such as the stark and emotive Paper Eleven, and the popular, depraved Elfen Lied Doujin, Nana’s Everyday Life. Now-a-days he’s seemingly at odds between his pay-the-bills career and his rabid, way-too-patient fanbase that translates his works into no less than twelve languages (seriously).

His update schedule is an absolute disappointment (often once a month).

His body of work is legendary (in size and quality).

So that’s the status, which favors new viewers more than current fans (more on that later).

A talented, trained, and skilled artist, Dan uses mediums spanning charcoal, inks, tablets, apparent watercolors, to his forte: that crazy manner of anti-drawing where one fills the blackspace to outline the whitespace. The effect is gorgeous, especially with his skillset. His content and sense of humor are always the deal-breakers with new readers–it’s never the art.

As for his most recent flagship: Kanami centers on a sickly girl’s love for her caretaker brother. We’re already told how the tragic, incestuous story ends: a gory, ultra-violent climax his fanbase is waiting for, be it blood-fascination, watching the psychological downward spiral, or simply to enjoy the relationship dynamics as they develop. Kanami is poignant, threatening, hinting at brutal, and remains the sole standard for its webcomic subgenre.

Dan’s talent with storytelling is all about what he doesn’t say, showing us the depth in oft-dialogueless strips that can’t be argued with.

I don’t even like Kanami, but I appreciate it, absolutely for what it says within the panels, between the panels, and across the story as a whole. The cadence of suspense he’s building might be the best in all webcomics.

And on the ultraviolet end of the spectrum, we have Tomoyo42’s Room, a semi-gag-a-day CCS doujin that devolves our prepubescent, wholesome cast into a homicidally jealous, sexually defunct duo. The comic isn’t so much beyond baby-killing, 9/11, and rape jokes; it embraces them without apology. Thick skin may not be as protective as perspective, seeing satire and lulz for what they are. More often than not, the absurdity is the comedy, but as some people’s nerves can always be struck (including mine)–this would be your barometer.

Dan launches new projects ( Momoka Corner & April, May, and June ) only to shelf them, and that’s fine. Dan promises more love for his creepy, Paper Eleven heir, Penny Tribute, but rarely delivers, at that’s fine. Dan has shutdown Tomoyo42 a half-dozen times but it’s the comic that won’t die, and we’re happy for it.

Dan Kim is the most talented, promise-making, underproducing, yet apologetic webcomicker on the internets. Yes, even over Gallagher.

Life does get in the way. No he isn’t get pay-for-pro beyond his Paper Eleven printing and J-List advertising. So I take it easy on him, and I click back. No update. A few weeks later, I click back and there’s his promise for new content. It’s flowchart worthy, and likely how I got so fucked up on my own schedule. I click back a couple weeks later and there’s nothing.

Then, after I give him up to hiatus (again), he updates a big fucking chunk of content spanning three comics, his forum revives, and maybe he adds a contest and/or reveals an award he won.

Then his fans translate said content into twelve different languages.

I won’t say he hasn’t earned his fans, but I’m not sure, at this point, if Dan Kim deserves their patience. New readers have years worth of catching up to do. Old fans have little to feel excited about. However: 

Would I pay to read it? I already have, and am happy for it. Whether I like waiting or not, I keep going back.