 |
Of course, this one is one of the ones I whole heartedly recommend buying the several printed archives of to get into without wasting bandwidth: User Friendly: The Comic Strip; Evil Geniuses in a Nutshell: A User Friendly Guide to World Domination; Root of All Evil; and Even Grues Get Full: The Fourth User Friendly Collection. Seriously. Really! Buy them all. Save yourself the trouble of sitting hours and hours on end infront of your computer because you have a 100% chance of getting the dreaded Productivity Virus -- something that User Friendly founded.
As you'll know, the comic is of the quirky staff of Columbia Internet, a well-run (*snerk*) highly qualified (*snerk!*) professional (*snnnrrrrkkkxxx!*) ISP. Well, one that has a sysadmin who's the root of all evil, an clue-devoid marketing moron, a tech-support manager who keeps getting folks who really need remedial training, several people in the middle, and an elder "Chief" who's trying to make sure everything's taken care of before the next company fragfest in... umm... two hours is it? In the meanwhile, you have an Dust Puppy who's only a few years old yet intelegent enough to code his own AI, and an accountant who just can't! stop! smiling!!! and freaking out everybody. Add in a few odd enemies, and the Pentium III-inside Arnold clone, and you get a strange mix of a comic that has to be read to be entertained.
But seriously. Buy the books first. |
|
Mon Apr 11 2005 04:22 PM |
Read All Reviews for this title |
|
I do not belive that JibJab's animation fits within the definiton of "comics" defined by Scott McCloud, and held to by himself even when ported on the web (thus, "web comic").
First, let us strip out delivery. Right now, the formats for a comic are print images, and electronic images (GIF/JPG/PNG). This is because comics are static images. You could present them in a way using Flash that allows some fading or movement between images, but it still would be a comic. For example, Scott's own Flash-based "Daily Improv" and MZDM's Avatar Incantations done by Datban.
JibJab does animation, aka cartoons. They're in-line with film animation of the likes of Bugs Bunny or the video animation presented on Cartoon Network. They're in Flash, but then they could also be in MPEG, RealPlayer, Quicktime, DivX, MS Media, Nupplevision, or more (there's like forty different formats out there for video). However, they aren't static images animated into place. They are actual movies. With actual audio! And while most folk may have sound cards, my laptop doesn't, and it may actually be to slow to decode the video and play it fast enough.
So, that by definition, JibJab's animation can't be a comic -- it's a cartoon. We're not "Web Cartoon" or "Web Video" reviews, we're web comic! |
|
Sun Mar 06 2005 03:13 PM |
Read All Reviews for this title |
|
When I happened apon FreeFall, and started reading, I got that funny feeling you get when you get very intrested in a webcomic... The feeling of starting from the begining and not doing anything until you finish, ending with bookmarking it and checking it when it updates. Yes, it's the dredded Productivity Virus. It happened many years ago, and I'm still reading.
Mark's comic style is classic for print comics ported to the 'net, using more of the greys. Of course, he's using a font for the lettering, but it doesn't matter with the plot: Sam's antics of a theif and slacker, Helix's own actions as a lovable oaf, and Florence who's the sane one of the group. Sam tries to turn Florence, but Florence shows by example a good way, and Sam, in his own way, is rationalizing it.
Of course, there's always the running gags -- Florence constantly being called "Doggie!" by robots and young kids, for example. The comic has that right mix of plot and gags, and mixes the present with the future -- they're still recounting the ballots of the Gore/Bush election!
Do I recommend you take a look? Yes.
Will you be hooked? Yes.
Will Sam steal your wallet? Maybe. |
|
Mon Oct 11 2004 04:23 AM |
Read All Reviews for this title |
|
Notice: The opinions expressed by myself are not views of KeenSpot Entertainment. Opinions are the sole property of Kelly "STrRedWolf" Price.
BUTTLORD GT
If you ever sat infront of the TV, wondering "What were the writers on?" when watching any of the Dragonball series, seeing five different layers of plots reveal themselves over time...
...followed by "What was Cartoon Network even thinking of buying this junk?" when you flip the channel over to something else...
...then you're probably like turning the TV off and going through the archives of Buttlord GT.
Buttlord GT is a well deserved parody of the Dragonball universe, airing in the Dragonball Z series. The artwork is quite clean, and even though the language is a bit crude, it fits the plot of the comic. You must have one dirty mind to fully understand the comic.
You enter as you would normally would when encountering any anime series in the first time: In the middle of things. There's no build up, you're stuck there, and there's two guys who want to grab several magical balls and call up a magical dragon to make a wish that will be granted. Both have to be stopped, and there's three groups of people who are going there to do that. Unfortunately, anything that can go wrong will -- just like in the DBZ series, but much much more so to dramatic effect.
Readers should watch out for the running gags, as the parody makes the DBZ quirks as blatant as a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick being smashed against your face. The ages-long power-ups, the constant jabbering... and the crude humor adaptations of each special move, yet well executed between the two artists.
Who should read it: Anyone getting rather sick of the Dragonball universe, and needs a laugh.
Who shouldn't read it: Anyone humor deficient.
Ratings: (0 low --- 10 high)
Subject: 9 (A well-executed parody)
Net-friendly: 4 (Needs a fast connection, pages are large, no book form, no PDF)
Overall: 8 |
|
Mon May 03 2004 09:08 PM |
Read All Reviews for this title |
|
|
|