Anyhow, I love a challenge and Amlah's idea of doing one a day for the week seems awesome to me. So I posted two old ones while I figured out what to do the rest of the time. I am reading Girl Genius currently cause it won the BF award for best webcomic, but that is a lot of stuff to get through and I will probably not make it by the end of the week. (In other words, expect me to revive this particular thread from time to time.)
While I read that one, I don't want to get all behind in the daily review thing and this next choice will lead directly into the choice after that ... hell before it is all said and done, I might take a look at all the ones in the op.
Anyhow, my next pick will be the current "issue of Dark Horse Presents"... but before I get to that, I figured why not take a look at the 2008 Eisner winner for best Webcomic, a little thing that started in DHP's first issue way back in August of 2007...
Sugar Shock
Written by Joss Whedon
Illustrated by Fabio Moon
http://www.myspace.com/darkhorsepresents
I am hella late to the whole Joss Whedon band wagon. I am an episode or two shy of finishing Buffy Season 2. I have never seen the movie and Firefly has not even had a viewing yet. Astonishing X-Men had an amazing first arc, a not so amazing second arc and then the second half of the Whedon issues fell flat on me, but I hate mutants, so it might just be me. His Runaways was voiced all wrong and plagued by delays that made it all jibberish by the end. It wasn't bad, just wrong.
So now I come to something with no real preconceived notions. Sugar Shock is the story of Dandelion and her band who quite bizzarely get sent to another planet to save the universe, I think?
It is manic fun, chaotic and energetic. It is easy to see why little girls like my daughter, Amlah and McKegan identify with the characters he writes. Dandelion never shuts up and as a result it is not always coherent, but the ideas are big and fun. Imagine if Umbrella Academy formed a band and went on space adventures together. Or maybe if Umbrella Academy and Young Liars fused into one conglomerate of insanity and you might actually be closer. It is an interesting and inventive book if not overly original or even expertly assembled.
I am guessing that charm Dandelion exudes despite her obnoxiousness is part of what draws people to Whedon. Even early on, Buffy and her friends are as obnoxious as the cool kids they want to be different from. That is clearly on display here, while the band can find fault with her, they also love her, despite her flaws. This and a few twists make this a great read, but also make one wonder what is going on with the Eisner voters. Sometimes, I think it is just a recognition thing. laziness ensues. Oh, Whedon wrote this is must be good... cause everyone loves all that other stuff he does.
Moon is amazing. His brother and that whole group are amazing. In fact, it may be the designs and Moon's ability to bring Whedon's insane ramblings together that got this one a Eisner and not some payola apathy machine. His designs are clever, breath taking in their fluidity, and fun. His art does more than match Whedon's writing, it elevates it making Sugar Shock an unbalanced piece instead of the breath taking brilliant statement one would expect when the words "Eisner Award Winner" are on the cover.
It's worth checking out, certainly there are worse ways to spend $3.50 if you by the recent "collection" from Dark Horse as part of the one shot program and judging from Dark Horse's talent roster and publication history, free is definitely worth the time to click around over at myspace.
Story 5
Art 9
Overall 7
by thefourthman » Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:52 pm 
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