The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

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[SuperginraiX]

You have super to thank for that one. He was being a dick therefore my somewhat dickish response.

Wait, what? What did I say? I seem to be pissing people off and provoking them without trying or meaning to lately.

Regardless, the two posts I've had in this threat previously weren't meant to offend AT ALL. If they did, I apologize. They were meant as playful banter but context is lost on the internet. Maybe I should use more smileys.

[doombug]

Okay, that was good. The last line sells it.

[doombug]

:lol: Jude Terror does Wondermark!

I give it an 11!

(I think Eric should hire you.)

No chance in hell.

[S.F. Jude Terror]

:lol: Okay, that was good. The last line sells it.

Personally, my favorite part was referring to thefourthman as "a known loser."

[prozacman]

Not my actually entry but I thought I would post The short lived Geekoverse web comics by my friend Tom Day. http://geekoverse.webs.com/

[Old Man]

I asked my LCS to order me some Web comics, and they said they weren't available in print form. WTF?

[thefourthman]

I asked my LCS to order me some Web comics, and they said they weren't available in print form. WTF?

there are plenty that are...
Girl Genius has 8 trades available. Zuda's Bayou and High Moon both have one volume out. The Devil's Panties is on volume 3. Wondermark currently has two volumes. Achewood has 2 or 3. Dreamland Chronicles has four or five currently available. Freakangels has 3 available. Penny Arcade even has a couple of collections available.

[thefourthman]

Sidewise
http://zudacomics.com/node/1305
Written by Dwight L. MacPherson
Illustrated by Igor Noronha

Adam Graham, a 15 year old, activates his parent’s time machine and goes back in time. He doesn’t just go backwards though; he goes sidewise into a parallel universe. Now the date is 1902 and Queen Victoria’s preserved brain has a tight grip on London. Graham is saved by Tesla who leads the SteampunX and a fun adventure begins.

First of all, Macpherson and Noronha should be complimented on the concept. This is Doctor Who meets the best Steampunk has to offer. It should be a lot of fun and truthfully, it is. Giant robot contraptions with historically brains at the control, the minister of compliance is none other than Moriarty, Tesla leads a rag tag group with agents named Wells and Fawkes. It has all the ear marks of a kid’s version of A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

That is also its biggest problem. Despite the critical acclaim Moore’s Literary Adventure gets, it rings false to this reader. There is a disconnect in the story telling and how cool the idea is. Much like the more recognized work, Sidewise suffers from its own ideas. MacPherson is so quick to fill the panels with everything cool about the parallel history that he forgets to connect the dots. It feels like Final Crisis, big ideas with a lack of big execution. Granted, it is only 21 pages in and still heavy on exposition, it is possible that when it is 80+ pages in it will settle into a groove as opposed to a concept.

Noronha’s art is just as mixed a bag. The design work is somewhere in between a more traditional American Animation style (think a refined Mr. Magoo) and the aesthetic of manga. This seems to be a bridge between older characters and younger, but it is a problem and makes for a clunky panel regardless of the remarkable consistency of the line work. However, he does a remarkable job with the kinetic chaos of the script. It feels exciting, even if it forgets to make sense here or there. The colors are dynamic and probably the most overall accomplished unit of the whole.

Sidewise is full of potential. It screams PX!, Doctor Who, and Steampunk but falls short of the awesomeness of any of its influences. Fortunately, this is a comic that is not even at the full issue mark by the industry standard and if this were the first issue of a monthly publication, there is enough good to make me check out the second, here is hoping that its potential can be realized.

Story 6 (gets a whole extra point for having a super cool premise)
Art 5

The Zuda reader is baffling. Evidently, the artists are allowed to work at their own pace. I believe this book produces a page a week, others come in four or eight page installments a month. The freedom is a great thing, but the interface does not work differently for each comic. Instead it advances everything at one page; or ten pages; or from to the beginning or end. Given that none of the books are released in ten page installments, it means that getting to the page you are on is a pain in the ass and even though there is a membership for commenting, there is no bookmark system. Other then that it is smooth, nice looking and works well with any size screen (especially in the full screen mode) and its controls are familiar and intuitive.

Interface - 7
Overall - 6

[thefourthman]

Can't wait to be told by Punchy and Amlah that the interface has no bearing on the quality of the book.

[Kerny]

Dr. McNinja

I don't know much about this, but after reading, I might have to get familiar. The parts I read had a remote controlled goat shooting heat lasers out his eyes,ninjas vs pirates, some funny dialouge, and good, clean art.

All that adds up to some entertaining reading

a 8 out of 10

[thefourthman]

Dr. McNinja

I don't know much about this, but after reading, I might have to get familiar. The parts I read had a remote controlled goat shooting heat lasers out his eyes,ninjas vs pirates, some funny dialouge, and good, clean art.

All that adds up to some entertaining reading

a 8 out of 10

that sounds awesome and like you would enjoy PX! - which is one of my personal favorite webcomics : http://www.pxcomic.com/

[Kerny]

that sounds awesome and like you would enjoy PX! - which is one of my personal favorite webcomics : http://www.pxcomic.com/

Looks pretty cool, really like the art style

[SuperginraiX]

Can't wait to be told by Punchy and Amlah that the interface has no bearing on the quality of the book.

If they do, they're totally wrong. It affects the quality of the read for certain. I'm a big fan of simple buttons on the top and bottom of a comic that'll direct you to the first comic, previous comic, next comic, and last comic. Comics that you don't have to scroll through just need on of these.

And now I wonder what kind of interface Blud Blood has.

[SuperginraiX]

8-Bit Theater

By Brian Clevinger
http://www.nuklearpower.com/8-bit-theater/

8-Bit Theater is one of the many sprite based comics that were popular in the late 1999's and early 2000's. Unlike most of those, it was actually good (or got good over time) and survived. You could also blame this on the dedication of the creator who has managed to stick with this comic for a good nine years with only minor breaks. Brian Clevinger has a clever sense of humor that usually includes twisted logic and crazy comic science.

The plot of 8-Bit Theater loosely follows the game Final Fantasy and the main characters are four of the selectable class characters from that game. The main cast includes many cliches that have become common in web comics over the past years. At one time, every fantasy based comic NEEDED to include the dumb as rocks swordsman with a heart of gold and this comic is no exception. The same goes with having a main character that can see through most of the idiocy of being a video game character. Cliches abound but, at this point, part of the comedy happens by playing against those cliches. It's all held together by being genuinely hilarious.

The art... well it's a sprite comic. You're not going to see fantastic angles or a huge selection of character poses. Clevinger does do a lot with special effects and has manipulated the sprites in fairly original ways but, at the end of the day, it's still based mostly on Final Fantasy graphics.

Here's a few samples if they work:







If not, enjoy the red x's.

All in all, 8-bit Theater is something I look forward to every week. It's currently on a small break (I think Clevinger is in the middle of a move but, since I usually don't read status updates, I could be wrong) and I await it's return. The comic has been winding down to some sort of ending but it's been doing that for a good portion of 2009. If there's one thing 8-bit Theater can do, it's milk a scene for all it's worth.

8-Bit Theater gets a solid 9. It even has a good navigation panel. Sold!