Friday, December 19, 2003
9th Elsewhere
Read this comic.
The premise is that it is about a young girl who gets swept away in to her unconscious by an immature muse. It is a whimisical coming-of-age story for both of the main characters.
The art is heavily manga-influenced with a great deal of pencil technique (smudging) used for shading and effects. Don't be totally fooled by the banner (which seems to have had a lot more technological effort put into it). This really is a labor of love. When I compared the site graphics to the early pages of the story I felt as if I were looking at someone's personal sketch book. That just adds to the charm of the site. It is a very personal story which is about personal growth and the creators are doing just the same as the tell their story. composition and perspective are excellent.
This Web Comic is developing it's own unique style and emotion as it progresses along. The pencilled art really tightens up as you move into the middle of the third chapter. The addition of Flash animation in the later part of the fourth chapter is cute, however a couple issues keep it from being deluged with hits.
A distraction is the fabulous color site graphics when compared to the grey tones of the pencil art. It seems to be begging for novice readers to complain about it not being a color strip. Still the as the pencils tighten up, as more grey-scale backgrounds are used and when you continually get a full color cover to each chapter then the message of this being a non-color strip get reinforced.
Another issue I have is about archive navigation. I find that when I am in the middle of a chapter in the archives, I have no way to navigate back more than one page without re-entering the archives main page and selecting the page from the Chapter drop down.
Issues (real or imaginary) aside, this is a faboo site. I recommend it to readers. The only thing I can suggest to the creators is a sparing use of Flash animation. Sparse Flash use avoids cheapening it by making it commonplace during the story.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
PVP
Read this strip.
PVP is a fun strip about a group of co-workers at a fictional gaming magazine. This strip is full of pop culture, science fiction and video gaming references for the “in crowd”. The art is fantastic. The clean smooth lines add to the sense of absurdity.
Read this strip.
PVP is a fun strip about a group of co-workers at a fictional gaming magazine. This strip is full of pop culture, science fiction and video gaming references for the “in crowd”. The art is fantastic. The clean smooth lines add to the sense of absurdity.
ASYLUM ON 5TH STREET
Read this comic.
The premise is that it is about an artist and her writer/monkey who are attempting to put on a show. First they are casting the strip and then... well I guess we'll all have to read along, won't we.
The art is very nicely rendered. It reminds me of wood block printing. For some reason it is suitable for this strip.
If all else fails read it because it has a redhead and monkey in it. The creators think that covers 98% of their target audience. (At least that's what they tell me....)
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
In the beginning....
This Blog has sprung forth from the head of Paul to be of benefit to comic readers.
Now go and spread the word.
This Blog has sprung forth from the head of Paul to be of benefit to comic readers.
Now go and spread the word.
