Tag Archives: scottyg

Life & Death in Paradise

Posted on by Standard Reply

Life & Death in Paradise

Staff: Nigel Lynch and Matthew Clarke

Overview:

Miami Vice meets a gang story in a way that will rock your world.

Review:

Alright so I got a comic for you all today that you’re gonna wanna read. It’s called Life & Death in Paradise and it’s downright fantastic. I should start this off by saying that it’s definitely got a mature tag on it for a reason. Anyway…

Oh my god- this is so refreshing artistically. It looks like the 90s vomited on a comic page and it’s wonderful. I know that’s not the most professional way to put it- but I absolutely love the visuals this comic has. It’s got a kind of urban, Miami Vice, look to it. The real glory of this comic’s art is the little details they put in the background of every scene. It makes what could be a pretty boring setting (some guy’s basic apartment for example) into an expression of who the character is (he’s got a PS3, he’s watching pron, there is a sheetless mattress for a bed, a shotgun placed near him on some cinder blocks, there is an refilled Mt. Dew bottle, etc). THIS is a perfect example of how a comic’s visual element can be used to tell us things about the character without exposition. I learned more about the people in this room in two panels by the junk in their room than by the entire dialogue of other comics. I get who they are. Another fantastic thing this comic does is use non-character elements to inform us visually of what’s going on. For example, we have some guys with guns running and in the corner of the panel a frog is jumping out of their way. That little frog is a visual que for the way they are moving. They didn’t stealthily walk into this place- they flipped the corner and hammered their way down the street, not paying attention to (or maybe caring about) the frog. You’ll forgive me for the way I’m gushing about this but this is like a fine meal here- everything is working visually. I want other indie writers to go and read this comic to understand what fantastic artistic direction looks like!

The lettering is crisp and clean without being “smooshed” (yes… that’s a technical term 😉 ) or taking over the scene. There were a rare few instances when the comic had some of the lettering rather close to the edge of the dialogue box, but never enough to really threaten being unreadable. I like how the comic lets the action speak for itself a lot and only uses dialogue like real people would. One thing that was kind of hit or miss was the use of slang/accented language. While it was effective in creating a cohesive vibe and making the characters feel very real- it made it hard to decipher what was being said sometimes.

If there was one thing that wasn’t as strong as the rest of the comic it was the plot. While the story and topical choice was fine, it was the lack of a central set of characters that threw me off. We are kind of given a situation and then shown the execution and impact from a few different angles. While this is successful, I don’t know if it was the best choice. I didn’t get as invested in any particular set of characters or an individual so that kind of weakened a few scenes that could have been stronger.

Overall this comic was a goddam joy to read. The bright, complex, visuals meshed perfectly with the way this was written and the topic at hand. I haven’t come across something so competently illustrated in a long time and it’s nice to see some new ground being covered in terms of tone/subject matter. This is a must read.

Metrics

Art: 9/10 (Learn something from this comic guys)

Lettering: 6/10 (Very clean with a few minor mistakes)

Plot: 6/10 (Complex, fun, and new)

Novelty: 7/10 (Covers a lot of ground in tone, subject matter, and visuals)

Overall: 7/10

Link to Product

The Man in the Moon

Posted on by Standard Reply

The Man in the Moon

Staff: Alden Leeke

Overview:

A fun little Cthulhu romp.

Review:

Ok so I gotta say, this comic does not have professional grade artwork. No where near it. I mean it conveys what is going on pretty well, but it doesn’t really do it any favors. Christ, they even life-traced some images (example: Page 8) and attempted to draw over it.

I did like how the comic used a novel approach to dialogue bubbles thought. Each image is flanked by “torn off” pieces of paper with the dialogue written on them. Unfortunately, it is all very roughly done and doesn’t look very realistic (even within the context of the medium). Furthermore, the lettering gets very close to the edge and has relative inconsistent placement in regards to the piece of paper it’s written on.

The plot is pretty simplistic but it seems like there was a lot of love in its inception. It’s a kind of apocalypse story that involves some Lovecraftian elements. It feels a bit rushed and the pacing doesn’t really work. It’s kind of cranked up to 11 the entire way though so it all feels very boring (“It’s a tsunami!” “Then Religious War”!). It all smells of a very green writing staff. While they really want to incorporate elements of Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s mythos- they fail spectacularly to grasp the tone that made his works so phenomenal. Tossing a few tentacles in a story doesn’t make it Lovecraftian. It’s about suspense, horror, mystery, and twists- not blunt set pieces of world destruction.

Metrics

Art: 2/10 (Some traced, some just poor)

Lettering: 3/10 (Sloppy and inconsistent)

Plot: 3/10 (Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t memorable.)

Novelty: 4/10 (At least they put Lovecraft in it. Nice idea with the dialogue balloons.)

Overall: 3/10

Beatrice is Dead

Posted on by Standard Reply

Beatrice is Dead

Staff: S. Zainab Williams and Robert Burrows

This is going to be a fairly short review. 100% disclosure: I did not get though the entire comic. I got about 30 pages in and I couldn’t read further. I have been reading a LOT of really dark comics recently and I don’t feel I can objectively review this comic’s tone or theme as a result. It’s really tasking on the psyche to read so many of them. Thus this review will not include a score at the end.

The art in this comic is downright gorgeous, stylized, and fitting to its dark tone. I loved how the incorporated non-illustrated page elements as part of the graphic design (like a business card, etc). However, something that really bothered me was the text avalanche on the “book” pages. Comics are a visual and literary medium. It really destroyed the overall flow of the book. I’ve seen successful illustrated novels but tossing 5 pages of text 10 pages in then interspersing it throughout the book is not a wise choice. Those pages felt very cheap and there were some good visuals I’d like to have seen. Watchmen did this fantastically with the “Tales of the Black Freighter” subplot in the book and their little inserts. This just felt like they ran out of art budget. Let me also add, in closing, that this book had a good premise going for it. It just didn’t grab me because I’ve been reading a lot of other dark/gritty comics recently.

Deep/Dark Comics Rant

Posted on by Standard 2

Ok so I’m gonna soap box here for a minute. Please pardon my little rant.

 

Dark =/= good, deep, or even emotional.

 

Some comics REALLY suffer from this. I think I’ve made the statement “it has really well done, thematically appropriate, stylized art that fits the dark tone of the comic” a half dozen times recently. It kinda of bothers me. Like why do people think that doing some hyper stylized, unbelievably dark tone automatically makes a comic “good”?

 

I think it takes a lot more skill to craft a comic that has an upbeat or neutral tone. The Captain America movies did a fantastic job of portraying an heroic character in a shitty world and still kept it upbeat! “Life sucks”. Congratulations, you’ve discovered what every 8th grader has. Harping on it for 64 pages while you tell what would otherwise be an interesting story doesn’t lend gravity to a story- it detracts from it.

 

I get that HBO and other contemporary media sources kind of made this a “thing” but if I have to slog though ANOTHER dark “twisted” or “grittily realistic” indie comic I’m going to go insane. I’ve really done a million of them. Doing this doesn’t make you “unique”. It makes you trite. It’s not fun to read and doesn’t make me want to come back for more. It’s like a punishment from the comic gods. I guess I need to add that to my list of “so often overdone genres of indie comics” right there next to ill-thought out superhero comics with no substance 😦 .
Ok, sorry. I had to get that out of my system. Now back to reviewing gritty, twisted, dark, indie comics…

Noir City

Posted on by Standard Reply

Noir City

Staff: Cody Walker, Richard alerius, Allen Byrns

Overview:

Well… it IS a Noir Comic.  Crazy art style.

Review:

Today we’ve got Noir City and it’s a, you guessed it, noir style murder mystery. So grab your snub nosed pistols, trenchcoats, and fedoras because we’re going to jump headlong into this one!

Truly wonderful and bizarre art style. Looks like a grunge texture was applied as the background on each page. This comic’s artwork is hyper stylized. Sometimes we get scratchy stick figures (when appropriate) and other times we get some goddamn beautiful artwork. Don’t take any part of this to mean that the art is anything but top notch. The use of textures is innovative as they switch up to fit the panel and even the pencil stroke borders around the panels plays to the overall aesthetic. Another cool little thing of note is that the color palette shifts between “then” and “now” rather than just some other little trick. The artist also has a great grasp of the basics (anatomy, composition, dynamic motion, etc) and that really helps what would otherwise be a graphic design nightmare. The only bad side I can see is that the artist didn’t draw all the pieces I think. There are some stock images or something (example: the car and door on the spread on page 5 of the PDF, the lips on page 10, etc). It’s a real shame but I’m not 100% sure it wasn’t intentional.

One thing I will note is that the text is a bit blurry and rather small for the panel size. Even zooming in it is still very hard to read as a result of the font choice and the rasterization issues. It was a real pain in the butt and I had to zoom in pretty close to make it out.

The text, when I could read it, was excessively grim and dower. Then again, with the super-dark color pallet, the deformed art style, and a title like Noir City- what else could I possibly expect? I think detect a bit of a Frank Miller fan as some of the dialogue has his fingerprints all over it (most notable Batman Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and Sin City). The thing is though, and I’m going to be the biggest comic hipster here, but it seems like this style has been done to death and it almost seems derivative. The writing in this comic never really clicked with me for some reason.

The plot was fun. It was the typical set up, down on his luck man finds himself thrown into a mystery he didn’t want or ask to be in. We get some hints about his past but ultimately we are left with more questions than answers by the end of it. I don’t know if that’s bad characterization or good mystery writing (if I had to guess- the latter). The story is very tight and it seems like it’s going somewhere.

Overall I was a big fan of the art but I don’t know if I really cared for the writing style (glum almost the point of parody), or the lettering made this a really hard read. It’s somewhere between a good comic and a better mystery novel but I don’t know if it makes a smooth transition to the medium. Anyway, check it out!

Metrics

Art: 7/10 (A few good pieces, but a lot of rough stuff)

Lettering: 2/10 (Tiny and blurry)

Plot: 4/10 (Well written but somewhat derivative)

Novelty: 5/10 (A new take on artwork and you don’t see many noirs)

Overall: 4.5/10

Link to Site

Things You Might Have Missed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Posted on by Standard 1

So since not everyone is a huge comic nerd I thought it would be fun to put together a little “what you might have missed” guide of sorts. If you’re a Marvel fanboy, you probably know all this and more. I’m sure I’m missing a few things here but here were some of the highlights. I know I normally just do reviews on this site but I figured this would be a welcome entry 🙂

Oh yeah, this post is going to be spoiler-tastic so stop reading if you haven’t seen it.
Batroc
That dude who hijacks the boat and has that awesome fight scene with Cap? Yeah, that’s Batroc the Leaper. Old Marvel villain. Super cheesy but it was cool to see him. I was kind of wondering why the guy could LEAP so far until I figured out who he was 🙂

 

Brock Rumlow
You know that random SHIELD agent they gave a bunch of screentime to? The one who lead the strike team with Cap? Yeah, he is Crossbones. Another Cap villain. The end teases that he is alive.

 

Bruce Banner
Yep, they name drop the big green guy during the scene with Fury getting “almost killed”.

 

Agent Sitwell
This SHIELD agent has popped up in a lot of the Marvel movie universe. He was in Thor, had a cameo in the Avengers on the Helicarrier, and Agents of SHIELD. He’s the bald dude with glasses.

 

Dr. Strange
Yep, you hear them namedrop the man behind Dr. Strange (Stephen Strange) in that comic in one point in the movie. It is when Sitwell tells Cap that there are “dangerous people out there” like Stephen Stranger, etc, etc, etc.

 

Wargames
Yeah… that was a wargames reference Black Widow made.

 

The Chitauri Scepter
In the end credits interjected clip we see the staff Loki used during The Avengers being tampered with.

 

Falcon

Ok so it’s not a “what you might have missed” but the Falcon in the comics is like a product of the 70s (check out the disco-tastic costumes he has worn). Of note, he was the first African American superhero (Black Panther doesn’t count- he’s not American). He had a pet falcon named Redwing, he was a pimp who had his memories altered by the cosmic cube, and had a random flight suit. At one point he got Black Panther to hook him up with like cyber wings and stuff. I actually like the reboot quite a bit- but I think he was a little shoehorned in there.

 

Kill List
So I didn’t get to see ALL the names on the list of people the automated helicarriers were targeting as dangerous people- once the DVD hits I’m sure we will see some interesting names on the list but I DO remember that Tony Stark and the President (in the Marvel movie universe) being listed.

 

Black Widow
So there was a few interesting lines from her in this movie. She keeps talking about how she’s adopted too many different personas in her life as a spy and she doesn’t know who she is anymore. This is kind of fun because, in the comics, she was basically brainwashed and psychologically conditioned and doesn’t really have a clear memory of her past. I wonder if that’s still in play.

Also cool little side note from The Avengers: Hawkeye and her become romantically involved in the comics and that is one of the reasons she defects from Russia to the USA.

 

Baron Von Strucker
That dude with the monical in that end credits is Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. Another Avenger villain.

 

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch
Finally, the big one in the end credit scene is Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. They are two big-name mutants (Magneto’s kids) and some of the earliest members of the Avengers. There is a story behind this though. Since Fox owns the rights to X-Men movies, Marvel can’t put mutants in their movie. The ONE catch however is that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch showed up in the Avengers a lot. This means they fall into both categories and thus Marvel can use them in their upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. The end scene credits suggest they are going to get their powers from experimentation by Baron Von Strucker’s guys and might involve the infinity stones or at least Loki’s chitauri scepter.

Fun fact, Scarlet Witch hooks up with a living robot known as “The Vision” after joining the Avengers and is responsible for the weirdness that happened in the “House of M” storyline.

The Zoo Act

Posted on by Standard 1

The Zoo Act

Staff: Myron Macklin

Overview:

An excellently written comic with adult themes, good visuals, and competent writing.

Review:

Starting off, there are some really adult themes in this comic. They are handled well but it’s got blood, tits, drugs, kinky sex in bunny masks, death, dogfighting, more drugs, splattered brains, murder, etc. If your a kid, put this down and go watch some Spongebob.

The art is very stylized in this comic. I love the way they utilize black, white, and light blue to augment the emotional aspect of the visuals. The style kind of reminds me of Frank Miller’s art in Dark Knight Returns vaguely. This does suffer a few mishaps when the black is used for multiple similar aspects of the picture but ultimately these are far and few between. They do a great job using the environment to show motion, something a lot of artist could better utilize (the trail of snow off a foot kicking for example). The art on the whole shows some real talent. The artist had a keen understanding of dynamic posing and that stops the stylized look of the comic from becoming distorted. I liked all the little nods to pop culture they slipped in the background (is that a certain King of Monsters I see in the protagonist’s apartment?).

I need to mention that special attention was given to the character designs in this book. Everyone FELT like they were unique and that the designs were able to inform me of something about the character. Like when they show a senator’s son he had a american flag pin, a overlarge collar, scruffy facial hair, and a black and white (or at least some color pinstripe) tie. That educates me a lot as to who he is. Why is his suit collar large? Does he not like suits? Does he not know how to wear/pick a suit? Is he just so use to suits that this is just a little well worn? It gives him personality and I can really dig it.
From a lettering perspective there were a few times when letter spacing with the font they chose gave me a little problem (example: There is an instance where it looks like the word is “he ad” rather than “head”) but ultimately it is readable. I think they were looking to have the font match the art style and it certainly does. The onomatopoeia are well done and indicative of the sound visually so that’s a plus. It’s untraditional for a comic to use hyphens to break words across lines and it does do this on occasion. If it feels like I an nit-picking, I really am. It’s just little things. Ultimately you can read it so what else really matters right? 🙂

The dialogue is well written. It has a bitter, almost satirical, edge, and isn’t always PG-13 (again, nothing too offensive). We have some slang tossed in there. Having multiple conversations going on at the same time does get confusing at time As an example, at one point a TV is dropping some background exposition while the protagonist is having a phone call. It wouldn’t have been an issue but then we have a few full screen panels of the TV conversation and it breaks the flow of the phone call, which I had to go back and re-read to pick it up again when they jump back to it. On the flip side there is some beautiful imagery that goes with the visuals, acting in tandem rather than at odds with it. For example we have a beat to hell guy walking and the narration is, “But my legs only mimic walking”. Goddam bloody gorgeous. The story often flips from vulgar dialogue and slang to a more artistic inner monologue and it works.

One thing I’ll say is that this is a long comic (117 pages) and hell if it isn’t good… but after a while the pacing started to slow down. I would really have broken this up into two, three, or even four issues. It’s not like the story wasn’t good but I think it could have benefited from a break, like how a run-on sentence could benefit from a coma (or a period).

Overall this is a fantastic, if not adult, comic. It’s got an interesting art style, compelling story, and competent writing. The premise seems like it’s been done at least in part before (no spoilers) but it’s a welcome premise with a lot of room to grow. I would really recommend this only for adults (18+) but it’s a hell of a good read. The point of this site is to find indies that push the envelope and in that regard- I’m glad I reviewed this one. Check it out.

 

Metrics

Art: 7/10 (Stylized but it works and good on a technical level)

Lettering: 5/10 (Readable but some really minor issues)

Plot: 6/10 (Damn good read. 18+ though.)

Novelty: 7/10 (Novel art style, good characters, excellent tone)

Overall: 6.25/10

 Link to Website

Eclipse

Posted on by Standard Reply

Eclipse

Staff: Trevor Talbott, Scott Meier, Peter Raymond, Jessica Jimerson

Overview:

Shine on your magnificent bastards.

Review:

Alright so Trevor Talbott, the creator, shot me a email regarding his KS backed comic. Like normal I am going in blind (to try to remain objective) so I have not read any sort of intro or summary. With that being said, lets jump into “Eclipse”!

So the artwork is really trying to be professional grade. A lot of indie comics don’t think enough about the color pallet they are using for a comic, but this one a lot of thought went into it. The style seems very “DC” (which is good for the most part) and I definitely get the modern superhero vibe from this comic. The artist (the line artist in particular) doesn’t draw heads or faces as well as bodies it seems. Sometimes we get characters with really heavy jaws, oddly placed eyes, and they seems to have two expressions- teeth grit or lips closed. The eyes are almost always WIDE OPEN and while I think it is a stylistic choice, I don’t think it lends anything to the visuals (kind of makes the characters look like dolls). Also, page 20 had some really good example of dynamic movement and the way you can layout your panels in a creative way (hats off you ya’! It deserves a special mention).

One thing that I liked was the way they handled having a (slightly) autistic dad in the story. They didn’t go all “comic made for the express purpose of beating us over the head with a message ” on us, but they did show the problems it presents. This is the hallmark of really good writing. At first I was honestly going to write this off comic as one of the dozen “generic superhero” comics we’ve all see in the indie space but- goddam was I wrong. This is a comic with heart, some fantastic characterizations, well thought-out dialogue, and by the end I really could identify with it.

I gotta say I liked the references to other comic characters (The “Menacing Bulk” and the “Crimson Bat”). This was written by a comic fan for comic fans, I can tell you that much. There are lot of little inside references. The costume design for the protagonist REALLY reminds me of Nightwing (particularly the New 52 version) and a lot of the visual tricks they use with good ol’ Dick Grayson pop up (multiple iterations of the same character on the same panel in different positions to show fluid acrobatic movement).

To be honest, I wasn’t a huge can of the antagonist. When you hold him up next to such a well written protagonist he doesn’t really stand up. Hell, I was kind of sad when we had to go back to present day and see scenes without the protagonist’s father who was much more interesting to me. Then again, if it had not progressed the story, I probably would have criticized the patience. The saving grace of the villain is that you get some good character development at the end of the comic and it makes me think there is more to him than that. He seems to be being set up for something bigger.

If I have a gripe it is that we don’t get too much actually happening in the peasant. We get an intro followed by an extended flashback (that gives context and character development), and finally a little ending. The main character is pretty much in the same situation he starts in, though we get some world building. I don’t know if that is a bad thing, and maybe it is my American need for instant gratification, but I don’t get a big payoff. Like I feel there should have been a big ol’ fight at some point that really shows us what this hero can do (present day).

Overall though, this is a stellar comic. I can recommend it sheerly on the strength of writing, but the art is worth a glance too. It goes into some unexplored territory and is very clever in the entire overall presentation. Give it a read!

Metrics

Art: 5/10 (Nearly pro grade)

Lettering: 5/10 (Didn’t notice it so that means it’s solid)

Plot: 8/10 (Back story is great)

Novelty: 7/10 (Pushes some boundaries in terms of the treatment of Autism)

Overall: 6.25/10

Link to Facebook

Penny Palabras

Posted on by Standard Reply

Penny Palabras

Staff: Kelly Matten and Waker farrell

Overview:

Wonderful creepy pasta in comic form.

Review:

Ok so today’s main dish is Penny Palabras, a supernatural story by James B Willard and Patrick K Beavers. We are given a brief introduction that describes a girl (Penny) who is terrorized by a paranormal entity known as “the straw man” and she seeks to find a way to free herself from him. It’s a pretty novel concept off the bat and I’m psyched to get into it! Lets dive into, Penny Palabras (Episode One: The Spectacular Revolver).

Let’s start with the visuals. The art is a drag grayscale that uses a lot of negative space and rough lines. It’s very fitting with the theme and is a stylistic choices rather than a demonstration of the limits of the artist. Mix that with the almost handwritten typography and you have a wonderful visual presentation. There are a few limits brought on by the art style and things I wished they had find a way around (some of the dark grey dialogue bubbles have their edges lost against other areas of dark grey due to a lack of stroke for example). That being said, the art is not professional grade but I almost doesn’t want professional grade with a comic like this. It fits too well. It’s dirty and messy, just like the story.

The story is narrated from the perspective of an odd little girl but before you start shouting “gothic-Alice syndrome!” she defies the cliche. Penny is one of the few female protagonists who doesn’t seem to be just a pair of breasts and hips, she is more than that. I could have seen this character being written as a male or female, but I get the feeling that if Penny had been a guy it would have been a much more “emo” comic. Instead Penny is tough yet still sensitive enough to be vulnerable and have problems.

There is some clever writing that match the clever visuals. The story is very engaging and they make use of both the visual and literary aspects of the medium (example: talking about the skull faced man you can see in the moon while moon is right there). There is an art to that and it’s well done here. It leaves us on a cliffhanger, asking more questions than it really answers, and while as a reader that bothers me a bit- it works. It snags you hook-line and sinker and pulls you along for a ride. Penny Palabras doesn’t fall into the trap of a lot of first issues where it just hammers you with exposition. No, it establishes things pretty quick and actually progresses the tale by page 24.

All and all this is a fantastic little comic. Right now it’s donation for the first issue and I strongly suggest you pick up a copy if your into the horror, supernatural or even just plain mystery genres. Totally worth a read.

 

Metrics

Art: 5/10 (Not pro but it fits the theme)

Lettering: 5/10 (Sloppy and inconsistent)

Plot: 7/10 (What can I say? I love well written female character.)

Novelty: 8/10 (New and creepy!)

Overall: 6.25/10

Link to Product

Stargirl

Posted on by Standard Reply

Stargirl

Staff: Brandon Rhiness, Brittni Bromley, Przemyslaw Dedelis

Overview:

A space opera that manages to put me to sleep.

Review:

Alright so today we are going to do Stargirl. It’s a scifi that looks like a space opera and I LOVE me some space opera so let’s get into it!

Starting off, the art is well done even if it is not professional grade. At times it looks like there might have been a compression and/rasterization issue on some of the panels but overall it’s a solid effort with a lot of life to it. There are some great use of perspective in here, showing some real talent, though the colors are a bit simple. However, that’s kind of ruined with a few sloppy panels that lack the details of the others and it stands out. There is also this odd coloration on some of the skintones of the characters. It’s like it had shadows that were just drawn on with a low-opacity brush and left unblended. The effect is that they look more like odd 2D skin blemishes rather than adding depth. Perhaps the best way to express it is that this comic has great linework but the color is not on the same level.

The lettering could really have used a professional edge to it. There were plenty of poor choices and they were made on a most basic level. There are small things like always fitting a bubble into a panel rather than allowing it to merge the border, cramped lettering, inconsistent spacing, etc but there were also large things. An example is located right on the cover where a light colored font in the subtitle gets lost in a bright white starburst.

We get some expository dialogue and the writer falls into the trap of using his words to explain rather than letting the visual aspects of the comic illustrate what is going on. On the flip side, there is a lot of fun dialogue in here (particularly between a character and a humanoid dog) that is a cut above some of the dryer bits we get. A lot of the pages are really dialogue heavy and don’t really progress the plot. It felt like I was waiting for SOMETHING to happen.

The layout of the comic is pretty solid and it has some fun paneling showcased. There is this odd use of a really large panel in the middle of the comic (not like double size) that is a bit disruptive and I’m not really sure why it couldn’t just fit onto a single page. However, on the whole, it’s pretty well laid out and they play with panel/perspective enough to keep it interesting.

I’m not sure how to phrase this delicately so I’ll be blunt- I was really bored by this comic until the very very end. They spent a lot of time working on these characters, fleshing out their personal life, but it just kind of stays there and doesn’t move for about 25 pages. We get small victories until then, but it feels more like a time waster. And the worst part is that very little adds up to the end result- they could have summed up 90% of what was said in a few pages and it would have had the same impact on the story.

All and all I don’t think I’d recommend it. I love space opera stories and this doesn’t make the grade. It has some fantastic linework and the components of a real solid story are laying about- but they were not deftly assembled into a compelling narrative.

Metrics

Art: 3/10 (Good linework, hit & miss color)

Lettering: 2/10 (Sloppy and inconsistent)

Plot: 3/10 (The pieces of a good story are here but it left me bored)

Novelty: 5/10 (It’s new to me! Draws from some other established tropes but that’s ok)

Overall: 3.5/10

Link to Product