Last week I did a full Not-So-Wild review of Blade Kitten. I didn't intend for that, in fact, I wanted to make it just another part of the:
THE WILD WEBCOMIC REVIEW
It hurt. I think it's because I don't really read a LOT of bad comics. Maybe 10 or so I would rate as outright bad, and out of 240 comics, that's pretty good. Still, I had meant to do a review batch, and with Blade Kitten on my mind, I needed something to cleanse my palate. And I came up with 4 good comics, and one REALLY good one. So let's get started.
236. Gaia - Gaia is a high fantasy comic from the creator of Sandra and Woo, and it's very, VERY good. Despite it's short life (little over a year at this point) it shows all signs of being an already very mature piece of fantasy. The closest comparison I can make is to Errant Story, but with all the lessons it took Errant Story many years to learn already learned. After maybe only 120 strips, this comic is already set to be one of my go to comics and I suspect I'll be following it for a long time.
237. Between Failures - When I first started reading it, I was full of dread. 1000+ strips, and the main character came off as a bit of jerk. Yet I kept going, and with a single moment, a kiss, I went from dreading it to loving this comic. The art is good, and distinctive. No issues telling one character from another. The characters are great, taking a seed of a basic identity point, and growing them with each strip. Each gets their moments to speak, and grow, and the dynamic between them is wonderful. And that's all within the first 300 strips, which covers a SINGLE in story day. This is the antithesis of Blade Kitten in almost every way, to the point I may do a side by side comparison of the two in the near future. I highly recommend it.
238. Alex Ze Pirate - This is a much older comic than it first appears, as revealed by the VERY first strip, which you have to find manually. That would be my biggest complaint, the archive is a touch annoying to deal with, especially with no "first" button. Not that the comic really NEEDS it, as this is more a daily humor type comic up until the halfway point of the comic where stories start coming out, but even these feel like early forays into the larger story telling world. I'm hoping this expands more as while the random humor strips are funny enough, I think these same characters would do better with slightly longer story arcs.
239. The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo - Way back when, I reviewed a comic called Perchance to Dream, which has the distinction of being the only comic I've ever wanted to go back and rewrite myself. The frustration was that it took classic fantasy elements (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, the Jungle Book) and didn't quite go as far, or as well, as it should have with them. Edgar Allan Poo does the same with characters from myth and legend, but does it RIGHT. This is an amazing comic, not just in the strange art style, but in the fantastic story telling. It's really hard to describe it without reading it, but while the title says "surreal" I find it much more dreamlike, and that makes it feel the way I wanted to feel from Perchance to Dream. Very good, worth a read, except, well, it hasn't updated since July 2012. I have a dread feeling it may not be back anytime soon.
240. The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon - My initial reaction was that this was just another high school comedy comic. Then the bully pulled out a keyboard and start causing the earth to punch the hero. Then things got weird. It's an action comic, with a focus on punching people. A lot of people. Of course when one of the character's last name is "Facepuncher" you get this is pretty silly comic, but it's up front with it's silliness, allowing the reader to just enjoy it. There's a plot, of course, and it's reasonably serious, for a very silly comic. It's a good read, and after Edgar Allan Poo's very serious take, it was nice to get to something less than serious and quite humorous. As the "villain" was defeated recently, I'm curious what direction a continuance of this story will go. I'll be watching to see.
And that's it kiddies, 5 very good comics, but Between Failures is my favorite of the batch. With Christmas coming up, and a few other things, updates will be a little sporadic. I'll post at least something next time. Until then kiddies.
THE WILD WEBCOMIC REVIEW
It hurt. I think it's because I don't really read a LOT of bad comics. Maybe 10 or so I would rate as outright bad, and out of 240 comics, that's pretty good. Still, I had meant to do a review batch, and with Blade Kitten on my mind, I needed something to cleanse my palate. And I came up with 4 good comics, and one REALLY good one. So let's get started.
236. Gaia - Gaia is a high fantasy comic from the creator of Sandra and Woo, and it's very, VERY good. Despite it's short life (little over a year at this point) it shows all signs of being an already very mature piece of fantasy. The closest comparison I can make is to Errant Story, but with all the lessons it took Errant Story many years to learn already learned. After maybe only 120 strips, this comic is already set to be one of my go to comics and I suspect I'll be following it for a long time.
237. Between Failures - When I first started reading it, I was full of dread. 1000+ strips, and the main character came off as a bit of jerk. Yet I kept going, and with a single moment, a kiss, I went from dreading it to loving this comic. The art is good, and distinctive. No issues telling one character from another. The characters are great, taking a seed of a basic identity point, and growing them with each strip. Each gets their moments to speak, and grow, and the dynamic between them is wonderful. And that's all within the first 300 strips, which covers a SINGLE in story day. This is the antithesis of Blade Kitten in almost every way, to the point I may do a side by side comparison of the two in the near future. I highly recommend it.
238. Alex Ze Pirate - This is a much older comic than it first appears, as revealed by the VERY first strip, which you have to find manually. That would be my biggest complaint, the archive is a touch annoying to deal with, especially with no "first" button. Not that the comic really NEEDS it, as this is more a daily humor type comic up until the halfway point of the comic where stories start coming out, but even these feel like early forays into the larger story telling world. I'm hoping this expands more as while the random humor strips are funny enough, I think these same characters would do better with slightly longer story arcs.
239. The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo - Way back when, I reviewed a comic called Perchance to Dream, which has the distinction of being the only comic I've ever wanted to go back and rewrite myself. The frustration was that it took classic fantasy elements (Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, the Jungle Book) and didn't quite go as far, or as well, as it should have with them. Edgar Allan Poo does the same with characters from myth and legend, but does it RIGHT. This is an amazing comic, not just in the strange art style, but in the fantastic story telling. It's really hard to describe it without reading it, but while the title says "surreal" I find it much more dreamlike, and that makes it feel the way I wanted to feel from Perchance to Dream. Very good, worth a read, except, well, it hasn't updated since July 2012. I have a dread feeling it may not be back anytime soon.
240. The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon - My initial reaction was that this was just another high school comedy comic. Then the bully pulled out a keyboard and start causing the earth to punch the hero. Then things got weird. It's an action comic, with a focus on punching people. A lot of people. Of course when one of the character's last name is "Facepuncher" you get this is pretty silly comic, but it's up front with it's silliness, allowing the reader to just enjoy it. There's a plot, of course, and it's reasonably serious, for a very silly comic. It's a good read, and after Edgar Allan Poo's very serious take, it was nice to get to something less than serious and quite humorous. As the "villain" was defeated recently, I'm curious what direction a continuance of this story will go. I'll be watching to see.
And that's it kiddies, 5 very good comics, but Between Failures is my favorite of the batch. With Christmas coming up, and a few other things, updates will be a little sporadic. I'll post at least something next time. Until then kiddies.
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