Reviewers: Brian Anderson & Irma Eriksson

ART

Brian: If you’ve seen Moon Town I’m sure you’d agree there is no need to review the art. It is insanely beautiful. Each comic looks like stills from an animated movie. The art sucks you right into the panels and you are there, on the moon.

Now beautiful art is one thing. Add on top of that Steve’s clean, crisp sequential abilities and you’ve the got the makings of a hit. His use of special effects blends right into the story. No jarring motion lines or forced Photoshop effects (unless Steve has a secret ILM plugin he’s not sharing).

Irma: The art for Moon Town made a huge first impression on me. I immediately liked the style of the art from the first page that loaded. It’s just beautiful and inspiring to look at. Smooth lines and solid, bold colors. There is attention to detail, but at the same time it’s not so much that it would distract from that cartoon feel. And I really like the cartoon look of it. I feel like I can easily see this in animated form.

The palette Steve has chosen for this comic is perfect to set the mood of the strip. Dark shades that help portray that something sinister is going on, something hiding from us in the dark (both literally and figuratively). There’s a lot of contrasting combinations of blues/purples and orange/yellows that is really pleasing to the eye. You get the feeling that you are in the monochromatic wasteland that is the moon, but with something beautiful and exciting about it.

One thing that always sticks out for me: Steve really knows how to make lights shine and glow. as if there was a real bulb glowing right there in the strip. Very effective.

WRITING

Brian: Far to often in comics, the opening is piled high with back story. Steve jumped right into the story and keeps things moving. Word balloons aren’t stuffed to the bursting point with back story. Characters aren’t rattling off information that other characters should know.

Steve’s characters talk like you think they should. They fit in their world. In chapter two, Simon wakes up to the news, brushes his teeth and heads off for work. Now, in many stories you would skip scenes like this, except here, Steve brilliantly offers up some exposition in the form of the news all the while using his stellar sequential skills to show the drudgery of Simon’s daily routine. Artists take note: this is how you do it.

There are a few shaky moments. When Simon heads off to find Sinclair, things slow down a bit and Flagg prattles on and on. And when Simon picks up Quinn, it’s a touch odd that Quinn thinks Simon is guilty of shooting her down. We’ll see how that pans out in future episode.

Irma: The things that are most important with me when it comes to writing are pacing, and believable dialog between characters. The strips flow well from one to the other. The pacing of the story is good. I don’t feel rushed through it, and I don’t feel it dragging either (besides wanting the next update to be up already yesterday!). At the the latest point in this story, the characters are concerned about some mysterious and serious happenings on the moon, but this concern is mixed with some banter which I find fun and engaging. There is a good balance of dialog and art used to tell the story. The silent strips are just as important to the plot as the rest of them. And even in strips that aren’t silent it’s sometimes the silent elements that are cleverly used to reveal something more. (I won’t give an example as I don’t want to spoil the fun for new readers).

A final little note on the writing (perhaps this is more appropriate in the “art”category): I like the use of yellow speech bubbles vs. white speech bubbles to differentiate the character speaking over a transmission vs. “in person.” It works quite well and makes the dialog easy to follow.

CHARACTER DESIGN

Brian: The concept work is amazing. Everything fits. Like any animated movie, you get the sense that Steve put enough work into the preliminary designs that there could be an “Art Of” book.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Brian: This one is visually one of the best comics out there. The story starts strong without the shackles of back story. The one negative I can think of is that not an awful lot happens in each episode. Yet the strip updates three days a week and the oversized panels are powerful landscapes of sequential bliss.

Irma: As someone who knows something about web design, I have to give the website design a big thumbs up. I think, personally, that it’s important to have a good, personalized design to your site that compliments your comic and is consistent with the mood. Putting some work into how you present your comic on the web shows something about how serious you are about it. The design of the Moon Town site is clean and consistent with the comic. The dark, cool colors of the site both match comic and help it stand out from the page without clashing.

Finally, the only bad thing I can say about Moon Town is that I can’t stop worshiping it. And I’m not so sure what that says about my skills as a critic.

Reviewers: Lucas Turnbloom, Chip Skelton, and Mike Witmer

Synopsis from MLS’s website: Misery Loves Sherman is about a shy and sometimes snarky kid who lives in two worlds. the outside world where he gets beat up (especially by his sister, Fran) and is tortured daily by his parents, teacher, classmates and, especially, his sister. In his room, however, two aliens live with him and provide a whole different world of adventure, excitement and chaos.

Rotation: New strips post Monday thru Friday.

Art

Lucas: I’m going to say something that’s probably pretty obvious “Misery Loves Sherman” is a beautifully illustrated comic strip. I can’t look at it and not be impressed with his character designs, usage of contrast, line control, and layout, etc. Let’s face it, dude knows what he’s doing.

One of my initial thoughts when I was introduced to “MLS,” was it was reminiscent of the first few years of “Calvin and Hobbes.” However, I soon realized that my first impression was wrong. Sure, Watterson’s influence was there, but Chris’ style much tighter and cleaner, where as Watterson treats ink more like a wet medium. No, “MLS” appears to be more heavily influenced by the 1940s and 50s Googie/Populuxe art style. In my humble opinion, “MLS” has more in common with the “Jetsons” “Ren and Stimpy,” and the “Incredibles,” than it does to “C&H.” Which is just as cool.

One of the things that has fascinated me about the strip is the characters’ appearances haven’t really evolved much from their introduction. Sure, Sherman’s hair is constantly changing, and he’s shrunk a little — as have Benny and Zort — but the overall look has remained pretty solid. This isn’t a bad thing, of course. It actually says a lot about Chris as an artist. He’s sure of his craft, and of his characters. I wish I could say the same.

Chris is a pro when it comes to lettering. Seriously, Google him sometime. It makes me jealous. Very, very jealous. However, early on in the strip, Chris started using a heavier line for his lettering. This made the panels feel heavier in a way, and was somewhat distracting. Especially, when he started using more contrast in the strip. I think Chris may have noticed this too, because he eventually went back to a thinner line. Which was absolutely the right choice. The thinner lettering compliments his art beautifully. Dig through the archives, you’ll see what I mean.

I love this strip. Not only is the art rock solid, it’s family friendly. Which is refreshing in the world of webcomics. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Buy the book while you’re at it. I did.

Mike: I do get rare flashes of Calvin in the Sherman character. I hate to say that because it’s become so cliche. But Chris’s art style is so well thought out (or at least it feels like it). He has a knack for directing your eye thru each panel.

Writing

Chip: When I started reading Misery Loves Sherman I was immediately struck by how much it brought to mind my all-time favorite strip, Calvin and Hobbes. Instead of a stuffed animal, however, MLS has aliens. Unfortunately, the comparison did not favor Misery Loves Sherman. I loved Calvin because I could identify with him. Heck, my Dad (who looks alot like Calvin’s Dad) often said that I did a lot of the same things Calvin did. Calvin wasn’t always a victim, nor was he always a jerk. He was someone we either knew or were.

With Chris Eliopoulos’ Sherman I found the perpetual victim. He is a cute punching bag for everyone. Sherman just seems to drift through life buffeted by the whims and aggression of those around him.

Similarly, those characters around him seem to only exist to use, abuse, or disillusion the poor kid. This worked for the first several strips, but the running gag grew tired and depressing after a while. By the time I reached the current strip, even though I liked some of the jokes, I was sort of numb to the whole affair, and found I had detached from the on-going story of poor, old Sherman.

I think the strip has a very wonderfully diverse and creative cast of characters. From Zort, the wanna-be world dominator to Larry the Leech, Chris has a great sandbox to play in. I love the characters. My favorite is Mort, the kid Death that appears now and again. It’s a shame that these great characters only have one cord to play. With such a strong and original ensemble cast, I really wish they could be more well-rounded, and less dependent on the cliches they seemed trapped to play.

Overall, I think both the characters and scenes in the strip should be allowed to breath.

Life isn’t always a purposeless downer. Maybe Sherman’s Dad could be something other than a jerk, or Zort could profess his tender love of kitty cats, or Sherman could be something either than a victim. Surprise me. Let me invest in these characters by making them more than walking and talking personifications of a manic-depression.

Mike: I’d have to disagree with Chip on this one. I did feel some of the comparisons to C&H when the strips centered around Sherman’s family. But I love the aliens and there were glimpses of personality flaws with them…example: Zort getting the hairpiece. I feel they add a bizarre take to the strip that compliments Sherman’s existence in the panels.

Lucas: I think I have to disagree with Chip too. I don’t know that I see Sherman as a perpetual victim. More like the straight man surrounded by zany personalities. And honestly, that doesn’t bother me. I actually kind of like it that way.

Mike: Plus, the title IS “Misery Loves Sherman.” Seriously tho, I can see how some folks would feel this way. I guess I was distracted enough by the cast.

Character Design

Mike: I went thru a large portion of Miserly Loves Sherman to get an idea of who the characters were. I came out being a bigger fan of the strip because of it.

Thanks to Chris’s drawing style and brush lines, it’s easy to immediately compare his main character, Sherman, to that dreaded comparison that every “young boy” comic strip unfairly receives…Calvin. Hell, MLS COULD be drawn by Watterson…the influence is there, there’s no doubt about that.

The truth is, I found myself not caring about the humans in Misery Loves Sherman. Not much, anyway…

I believe MLS’s strongest characters are the non-human types. I tend to find myself captivated by Zort and Benny, Sherman’s alien roommates. Whenever they appear, they steal the show. Great antics. Great expressions. Chris seems to have invested time in getting to know who they are. So, to me, they were the most appealing.

Same goes for the more obscure characters: Action Figure Guy, The Sock-Eating Monster, Death, The Tooth Collector (don’t call him a fairy!), Larry the Leech. These were the characters I felt drawn to because of the “color” and uniqueness they brought to the strip.

Lucas: Ditto with what Mike said. The strongest characters are absolutely the non-human types. Which if you read my strip, I’m all in favor of.

Final Thoughts

Mike: Okay, I’ll take this one…My only complaint about this strip is that I wish Chris was a little stronger with his web presence. It deserves to be seen. His website is a little vague. If I were behind this strip, I definitely wouldn’t be afraid to “pimp” it out a little more.

This week, we will review Rival Angels by Allen Evans. Rival Angels follows the story of Sabrina ‘Ultragirl’ Mancini and her three roommates in the fight of their lives as they battle against the best wrestlers in the world. As Sabrina begins her career she finds the road already full of personal and professional rivalries to contend with.

Reviewers:  Brock Heasley and Barb Jacobs

Reviews are split into four categories:  Art, Writing, Characters Design, and Final Thoughts.  Enjoy!

Art

Brock: RA’s biggest strength is in its art. Fight scenes are handled quite well and camera angles from panel-to-panel are well chosen. I had a real problem with the dead line inking style in the first pages I read, but by the end there was a lot of variety in the line weights. Art appears mostly rushed, but the layouts are strong. In fact, the art feels like inked layouts. Good inked layouts.

Probably what’s hurting the art the most though are the word balloons and sound effects. SFX is tough to do, but in a comic with so much of it they really ought to “agree” with the art more. Instead, the SFX feels slapped on and overly outlined. The word balloons are nearly equally as intrusive, often being arranged in the panel in a confusing way when multiple people are speaking. If found myself reading dialogue out of order many times.

The colors are pretty nice on RA. It’s real easy to make a garish webcomic and that’s not what happens here. The time taken on the shading is much appreciated as well. Very difficult to get that quality of color three times a week.

Barb: Rival Angels has a classic comic book feel to the art, both in the layout of pages and the primary colors used. Backgrounds are clean and Alan does a decent job changing up angles to give an old school cinematic feel. Some of these angles pose challenges in drawing human anatomy however, and the character consistency is sometimes off a little bit (more on this in a moment), but the settings: locker rooms, wrestling rings, etc. are convincing and well done. Background textures, circles and line screens are used for effect in action sequences with varying degrees of success. The line screens are best utilized when an impact occurs, like a kick to the face.

Regarding the handling of characters: the cast of women is designed to appear fairly realistic, a difficult task for any artist because with realistic characters, if anatomy is even slightly off it’s going to be very apparent. Alan’s use of tricky camera angles adds to the problem of rendering accurate human forms, and there are times where the girls proportions look a bit off. Additionally, the action sequences, while showing proper wrestling technique, sometimes aren’t quite as dynamic in postures as they could be. An arm or leg could be pushed or exaggerated more, a body jerked back from the impact to enhance the feeling of power or drama.

Writing

Brock: Let me state first off that I have no interest whatsoever in wrestling. Clearly, I’m not the target audience for this comic, which is set entirely within the world of Women’s Wrestling. That said, I’ve read comics and books about things that did not interest me, but, because of the strength of the narrative and the grounding of the characters in some kind of reality, I have enjoyed learning and experiencing those new worlds anyway.

I wish I could say that was so in the case of Rival Angels. I never felt like I was being led on a journey, which is what a good narrative will do. Instead, scenes and characters were thrown at me with very little flow or sense of pace. I think this was mostly due to the fact that nearly everything feels very overwritten. Words crowd the page and characters speak in long monologues when maybe a silent look would do.

One thing that did work quite well for me was the banter between the announcers during the fights. It was colorful and often clever. That felt authentic if, again, a little too wordy.

Barb: Being that I’m not personally a fan of wrestling, there is a lot of the strip that goes over my head. Reading the comments from readers confirms my lack of knowledge as they banter back and forth with lingo I don’t know. But that’s okay- Alan has found a unique niche in webcomics and has filled that need very well. The characters interact in that ‘wrestler way’ with lots of intimidation and trash talk both in and out of the ring. It’s fun for readers to choose favorite girls and root for them. Another thing that Alan does an excellent job with, which is something very useful in the medium of webcomics, is creating a mini cliffhanger with each page. He leaves us at then end of each update saying, “but then what happened?” which is an excellent formula for gaining and keeping regular readership in the webcomic genre.

Character Design

Brock: Maybe it’s a function of coming in late to the story, but I had a very hard time telling the characters apart from one another. It didn’t help that nearly the entire cast is made up of women with the same basic body type (which makes a kind of sense I suppose since they are all athletic). Mind you, there are good girls and there are bad girls, but no matter who they are they all seem to have personalities that boil down to variations on “bitchy.” The different costumes they all have certainly help, but if you stripped them naked and took away hair and skin color, I daresay you’d have a hard time telling the women apart.

Barb: One of the things I do really like about this comic is that the characters are varied in appearance and are actually realistically rendered women- they aren’t all ridiculous comic book stereotypes with impossible proportions. Some of them are overweight, some of them AREN’T big busted (imagine that in a comic!) and they have accurate muscle tone that athletes would have. Props to Alan- a dude- for designing them this way. Additionally, the jabbering of the girls is pretty good mean girls street talk. Sabrina “Ultragirl” seems to be the main protagonist, and is easy to root for against the nastier opponents. Again, not knowing that much about wrestling, some of the wrestling sequences are confusing for me, but the readers all know exactly what’s going on, and that’s what really counts.

Final Thoughts

Brock: Like I said in the Writing section, the material here just isn’t for me. Beyond the wrestling, I admit to having no taste for T&A and catty women. I think, in the webcomic world, that puts me in a bit of a minority, and I can accept that. I notice that Rival Angels updates three times a week. That’s quite the feat and major kudos to the team for doing that without missing an update. I mean, wow. Still, I wonder what effect going to twice a week might have on the art and the scripts.

One final note: I love reading Author’s comments below a strip as much as the next person (and goodness knows I’m known to be a wordy sonuvagun when the mood strikes me), but the comments on each RA page commit a cardinal sin: they explain what I’ve just read. The work should stand on its own, without outside narration. If any webcomicker or storyteller feels that such explanations are necessary, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board. That kind of stuff can truly ruin the experience and is painful to read.

Barb: In summation, I would say the strengths of this webcomic are that it effectively hits a niche market, the characters are well drawn and in a realistic distinct style, and the frequent update schedule and cliffhanger pages are a really effective and successful way of presenting the story. Things to work on: rendering character consistency from every angle, and pushing the envelope on drawing action panels, exaggerating the poses for more impact. Overall, a good solid webcomic!

This week, we will review Robot Beach by Matt Forcum. Robot Beach “chronicles the epic adventure of lonely little robot trapped on a deserted tropical island.” New strips post on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Reviewers:  Norm Feuti, David Reddick, and Scott Metzger.

Reviews are split into four categories:  Art, Writing, Characters Design, and Final Thoughts.  Enjoy!

Art

Norm: I found the overall art in Robot Beach to be good. Forcum’s line work is confident and consistent, and he has a good sense of layout, design, and visual timing.

David: The art in Robot Beach is again, deceptively simple, but in my opinion, rightfully so. It is on par with art you might find in the newspapers, ala Pearls Before Swine or even Lio in some regards. I’m also impressed that Matt uses traditional media for his strip, which adds to the looseness to it, and in the use of a brush (at least i think he uses a brush.)

In my opinion, the art could be tightened up even more, perhaps streamlining some of Robot’s “parts,” and giving Carl a little more of a solid look, if for no other reason than to allow for more exaggeration of facial expressions. I also think that a little more detail in the water, such as the way waves are drawn, (although Marc does a great job in a dream sequence with Robot being swallowed by a monsterous set of waves) might improve the art to be even more compelling, as well as some more detail in some of the foliage would help drive the “beachiness” and setting even more, the way the backgrounds in, say, Lilo & Stitch did in the same way. and as the background story of pending danger unfolds, I think the backgrounds will become a character could themselves in many ways.

The writing, and the fact that the deceptively simple art does indeed coincide with the easy-going nature of the strip, overall it works.

Scott: The art drew me in immediately. It’s attractive and fun to look at. Forcum can draw.

Writing

Norm: I read Robot Beach in its entirety, which in itself is a testament to the quality of Forcum’s writing. I never felt bored reading through it – quite the opposite. The more I read, the more I became intrigued with the story. I felt compelled to keep reading, so Forcum is a decent storyteller in my book. Robot Beach focuses on three main characters living on a tropical island – a robot, a crab, and a seagull. The strip moves back and forth between gag-a-day type jokes, and a larger “sci-fi” storyline involving the robot’s origin.

While Forcum certainly handles the two writing styles competently, I think transitioning between the two tends to make Robot Beach suffer from a bit of an identity crisis. A good example would be to contrast the stand-alone jellyfish gags with the strips where the robot delves into his past and laments his limited memory. Two very different writing styles, both of which Forcum pulls off beautifully. I’m just not sure how well they mesh in the same strip.

As a whole, I think Robot Beach could benefit from being more focused in story and tone, but judging each strip individually I can find no real fault with it. Forcum’s strips are alternately funny and intriguing. As a side note, I would totally read a Matt Forcum strip called “Jellyfish”. Laugh-out-loud funny.

David: Robot Beach is a gag-a-day type strip that is well timed, and full of little nuggets of humor that made me laugh more than a few times. On the timing, I immediately noticed Matt Forcum has an excellent grasp of setting up a strip just to toss us a usual solid payof. he sets it up, twists it, and pays it off, usually… which is the mantra of a good gag-a-day strip.

However, in reading Robot Beach, the initial premise of it being JUST a gag-a-day strip is deceptive, and in a good way. Aside from giving us the occasional 3-4 strip story “arc,” such as Robot preparing the ride the surfboard into the ocean, there’s an underlying storyarc playing in the background that has a mysterious air, a feeling of impending problem and consequence, and I confess this background “issue” was what HOOKED me into NEEDING to read more strips, to see how it might play out. He’s slowly feeding us tidbits of Robot’s past which I suspect will reveal more about the edgy background that plays like a wolf in a fold of colorful sheep, waiting to pounce.

Scott: It’s immediately apparent that Forcum is a good writer. There’s a polish to his writing that you don’t see in a lot of webcomics. The writing in Robot Beach goes back and forth between being “silly and light-hearted” and “serious and somewhat profound.” Sometimes the shift between the two can be jarring. Going through the archive, it felt like I was reading two different strips: Silly Robot Beach and Serious Robot Beach. I’m sure that over time the two styles will blend together better. Robot Beach hasn’t even hit the 100-strip mark, which is about the time when most webcomics truly find their voice and hit their stride.

I think “Robot Beach” is at its best when it’s silly, sarcastic and lighthearted. The humor in Robot Beach reminds me “Seinfeld” — Robot being Jerry, surrounded by wacky sidekicks. However Robot Beach isn’t a strip “about nothing.” There’s a larger storyline of Robot trying to solve the mystery of why he’s on the island. While that’s kind of interesting, Robot’s quest makes the strip lag a bit. I think Forcum’s strengths are wry humor and slapstick humor. And when he does this, Robot Beach shines. His timing on jokes is great. Several strips really cracked me up – the funniest was a one-off jelly fish gag that was spit-out-your-coffee hilarious. (Strip #44- http://www.robotbeach.com/044-jellyfish-joke.)

Character Design

Norm: I actually found the character design of the animal characters in Robot Beach (the crab, the seagull, etc …) more interesting than the main character. I found the design of the robot to be competent, but somewhat uninspired.

David: The main characters, Robot, the loveable and innocently naive one, Carl, the hardened “seen-the-world-and-not-impressed” Crab, and Larry, the easy-going seagull, all play off each other well, and matt has done a good job at setting up these opposing personality types. again, a good mantra for a solid gag-a-day strip is a smallish cast, usually no more than 2-3 main characters, at least int he beginning year or two of a strip, to give us a chance to getr to know
what the strip is about through ther eyes of these peronalities.

I confess i found myself noticing this is totally a “guy” strip, and I think adding a female into the mix of Robot Beach would add a whole ‘nother spark and subject matter to allow the characters to play off of.

Scott: Larry is my favorite character. He’s a romantically challenged, lovable loser seagull. Robot plays the straight man to Larry (and Carl the crab) more often than he delivers a good punch line. That’s not to say Robot is boring but the sidekicks, in my opinion, are more fun and likable than the main character.

Final Thoughts

Norm: I think the strip suffers a little from lack of focus, and the main character could stand to upgrade his chassis to something a bit more distinctive, but overall I liked Robot Beach. Matt Forcum obviously has some talent. Many of his strips made me laugh out loud, and I found his story telling elements quite intriguing.

David: Final Thoughts: Personally, I found myself enjoying Robot Beach, and I pretty much felt like I had spent some time on a secluded beach somewhere with some new friends, and I find myself eager to discover what happens next in the background story. I’d like to see the art polish more in the future, but I also know this comes in time, as the strip evolves, and I also understand that style plays a lot in the drawing, and the writing of a strip. And the overall “style” of RB works for me, and if it stayed the same, I’d still read it. On a final note, I found myself wanting to sketch Matt’s characters, which is always a good sign as I find myself wanting to do that with strips I reaklly like.

Scott: I enjoy Robot Beach – it’s an original idea executed well. The storyline of why Robot is on the island gives the strip some substance and intrigue, but as Robot Beach evolves I hope it doesn’t get too “sci fi.” Funny is what Forcum does best.