ec2-3-144-252-140.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | SmallPressOneLineReviews | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic Right, and onto October's comics! I'm going to only review first issues from now on, because summarising a previous issue takes way too long for the purposes of these reviews ;) If I happen to get, say, issues 1 and 2, though, I'll do them together. Here we go!
Synopsis: A small town has been terrorised by a mysterious cat-eared creature named Adenine who is stealing the wives and daughters of the townsfolk. Into this chaos - and into the household of an affected family - comes another cat-eared creature, this one a girl who appears lost and confused and conveniently amnesiac. The family have already taken in one such creature, named Helix, who is naturally very curious about the new arrival. As is Adenine... Artwork: Similar to "old-school" classic manga style, attractive and expressive. Clean ink and lots of tone. Storytelling: Interesting page layouts, good pacing and a promising plot. Presentation: Nice little perfect-bound books with eye-catching orange covers. No moire, some typoes. And: I'm looking forward to what Em's going to do when she runs out of bases to name her characters after ;)
Synopsis: Collection of spooky stories, featuring a ghost summoned for a tea-party, a zombie for Christmas, a goth in the summer, a ghostly busker, a set of demon-defeating schoolchildren and a robo-goth. Artwork: Sammy and Sarah have very different styles, but both do a good job in portraying the stories. Black and white, some greys and good hatching in the first story. Storytelling: Funny, snappy stories which work well in a limited page count. Presentation: Perfect-bound, nice printing, full bleed.
Synopsis: A hemomus and a doagaa walk into a bar... and the barman refuses to serve the doagaa, claiming he is just "cattle". The ensuing game, argument and resolution make up the whole of this short chapter. Artwork: Full colour, very bright. All the characters are anthropomorphic to some degree, but not in a cutesy way. Storytelling: The pages are busy but the story is easy to follow. Good page layouts. Presentation: Good quality colour printing. I like the end pages, which feature species descriptions for the hemomus and hemorattus races.
24 Tails Sigmund Reimann
Synopsis: A cat's adventures through the night. Artwork: I think a brushpen was used for the line work. The art is black and white with occasional spot colours - very effective. Storytelling: The story is wordless, and although it's generally clear what's going on I did need to go back a couple of times. Presentation: Small perfect-bound book - this seems to be getting more common, and it's a nice way to present a comic. Good quality printing.
Maude Clare Christina Rossetti and Amanda E. Tribble
Synopsis: This is an illustrated version of Christina Rossetti's poem about a showdown at a wedding between the bride and the jilted ex-lover of the groom. Artwork: Black and white full-page images matching each pair of lines presented on the opposing page. Greys are used for shade and shadow, and I think are markers. Emotions come through very clearly - which is all to the best, since that's what the poem is about. Storytelling: Text and images work together well to bring across the emotion in the lines. I really liked the comic as a whole. Presentation: The font varies to match the meaning and intent of the text, which works well for this purpose. And: The comic is an unusual square shape, which makes it stand out.
Synopsis: Momo finds a lost snake on her way home from school. Unaware that the snake has mysterious "friends" nearby, who are taking a keen interest in her, she takes it to her dad, who's a vet. Her dad recommends the exotic shop in town, to which Momo takes the snake. Little does she know that the Exotics Emporium is more than just a shop selling exotic creatures. Sadly, the chapter ends just as she's about to enter. Artwork: The reptiles are drawn with enormous care and attention. The humans are generally good, with occasionally slightly awkward anatomy. I think markers were used, which have all come out as slightly different shades of grey in print. Storytelling: Pages are busy with good, varied page layouts - but sometimes they're a bit hard to follow. The text in particular can be jumbled and hard to read in the right order. But the general flow of the comic comes across fine, and the story keeps the attention well, making it clear that there's more going on behind the scenes than Momo knows. Presentation: Very grey pages, and sometimes the bleed doesn't run to the edge (not that I can talk there!). And: The snake keeps up a commentary which is very engaging. I like snakes!
Synopsis: Elysia is a normal girl living with her dad, going to school and hanging out with her friend Frog. Her world isn't just populated by humans, though; Anxos, which on the surface just humans with feathered wings, coexist with humans but do not interbreed due to the difficulties half-anxo, half-human children have at puberty. Some people have "guardian anxos", but the distinction between the anxo teacher Elysia and Frog have and the guardian anxo watching over a boy with a skateboard is not clear. Elysia is facing decisions about her future direction; she wants to change the world and work for the better. But something else is in store for her. Artwork: Beautiful full-colour watercolours. The characters are very expressive and the backgrounds are excellent. Storytelling: Clear and easy to follow. This is a preview - needless to say, it cut out at the interesting part. I'd like to find out more. Presentation: Good quality printing. Occasional typoes. And: Frog is such a fantastic character :)
Instrumental chapter 1: Tunes are too heavy to carry alone Tracy Hawken
Synopsis: The main character pops out of a box marked "broken" and tries to join in with a choir singing. But her voice is loud and discordant, and the choir reject her. She practices singing, only to be told by the choirmaster, who was listening, not to copy other people. He leaves her with a book, and that's where this chapter ends. Artwork: Beautiful, with sketchy lineart and washes of colour that flow well together. Storytelling: Loose, easy pacing that's clear to follow and gives the art plenty of room. Presentation: A4, glossy, full colour. And: The hand-lettered text is part of the picture, especially when singing, and it's very effective.
Synopsis: A peasant girl flees in winter, pursued by an armed man. In attempting to fight him, the ground collapses underneath her and they both fall through into a crypt, where resides the skeleton of an ancient sorcerer and the not-so-dead fey spirit imprisoned by his death... Artwork: Very simple full colour artwork which does the job. The flame effects on the fey are well done. Storytelling: The girl is a fantastic character - no shrinking violet and not stupid either. The pages are easy to follow and the problem the comic started with left tantalisingly un-addressed (since the armed man was considerate enough to remove himself from the equation upon his fall to the crypt)... Presentation: Good quality colour printing. The cover is the same weight as the pages, which is an unusual choice.
Synopsis: In Cardiff, 1987, a young penniless inventor attempts to propose to his sweetheart Lettie Winterbourne, to the fury of her father. His attempt is foiled by the arrival of Amelia, a foul-mouthed time-travelling teenager, and her pug. Her motorbike fascinates him but she just wants to leave. Add in the enraged Mr Winterbourne and things deteriorate into chaos... Artwork: Loose inking, expressive characters who are easily recognisable, full colour, good backgrounds. Storytelling: Time travel is a confusing thing but the story is easy to follow and the characters are interesting, if not immediately likeable (Amelia is incredibly rude to everyone who's helped her). Presentation: A4, good colour printing.
Fey: 1-3 Angelkaede Red Garden Artist's Group
Synopsis: When she was a child, Ann made up a fantastical world of dark and light fey. As a teenager, she's put all that aside. Except that it was never as fictional as she thought, and now it has come looking for her... Artwork: Expressions come across well and the characters are easy to distinguish, but there are anatomy issues. There are just enough backgrounds to keep it grounded. Storytelling: The story is good, and the ending works well, but it's not always clear what's happening. Presentation: Nice, perfect-bound books. Occasional moire and typoes. And: It's really good to be able to buy the whole thing, start to finish, so congratulations to Angelkaede for finishing :)
St Judes 1 Silvia Zubrinic, Elle Summers, Shirin Sheppard and Imogen Elliott Red Garden Artist's Group
Synopsis: St Jude's is an orphanage for unwanted children - usually, those with obvious defects. Carina has been there for four years, and hates the place and the collars the children wear. But the idea of being adopted is even worse. She flees from it, and ends up overhearing a conversation about a missing classmate, who's thought to be ill. She finds him - and something really quite disturbing is revealed right at the end of the chapter. Artwork: Simple, clear lines and good expressions, but the anatomy needs work. In general there's a good tonal range on each page. Storytelling: Page layouts are visually interesting and easy to follow. The story's only just getting started. Presentation: The bleed doesn't extend at the bottom, which is a shame. It's right-to-left, supposedly in the style of "authentic Japanese manga", but since it's in English that just means the text flows at odds to the art, which is never a satisfactory experience for me. And: You could say that it's not authentic, since the "authentic Japanese manga" reads right to left because that's the way Japanese is written. English is written left-to-right and thus an "authentic" comic originally written in English - which this is - should read left to right (English translations of Japanese comics are an obvious exception - they were intended to be right to left and should stay that way despite the translation). And: This is a bit of a bugbear for me, obviously. Still!
Synopsis: The gods are dead. Rahu is a wanderer through a crumbling world, encountering a distrustful family and a curious deer on the way. His history is also recounted in this episode, which only deepens the mystery of what has happened to the world - and what is happening... Artwork: The comic is full colour, with gorgeous, evocative backgrounds. The human anatomy is generally good but occasionally the faces look a little awkward. Storytelling: The plot promises depth and I like Rahu as a character. The story takes its time to unfold, which works for this comic. I'd like to read more ^^ Presentation: Perfect-bound, full colour, and quite a hefty book. Unfortunately the underground parts come out a little dark (I have seen this in digital form, and it's brighter). However, following what's going on is not difficult.
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