Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of Argon Zark! by Charlie Parker

Well i tried to read Book one, but couldnt get anywhere, entire pages missing, pages going down, so i had to just give up, and i really hate doing that while reading comics, just skipping ahead, but book two: Art: Fantastic, some of the best art i have seen in a webcomic, it was very detailed, and the added bonus of animated are was a very unique and fun addition Story: Sadly ther is not much of a story, the set the standards for a plot, and then just seemed to jump from place to place in a bunch of pretty pictures, not very moving, but has potential. Chars: The charectors are intresting, but again they do not seem to move much, no develompment of any kind, and no real concept of who they are, there is a geek who wants to do experimants, (why?) a girl who decides to go with him (why?) and a robot, seems to have no real point but to repeat what others say. Page: The page was simply done, and well interfrated into the strip, when it had diffrent backgrounds and such. the animation was well intergrated, but sometimes made for weird load times, the one strip with the expanding next button was a cool touch. Overall: 6/10 i didnt like not being able to read the first book, and the story didnt go anywhere. but it is a well done strip, and has many good points as well, it deserves a look. Review by Jordin The Learned Sun Jun 01 2003 07:08 PM

A review of Argon Zark by Kajamir the Giant This week's web selection is a quirky lil sci-fi/internet age comic that originated in 1995. Argon as a comic, is a decent if chaotic read, interspersed with numerous secrets for the discerning reader. While this can be a nice touch, such easter eggs can be a bit of a hassle for those with slower computers. Being one such, I mainly read the comic as is, and didn't find it too shabby. Argon is the sort of comic that moves very quickly. There's no real introspection of any sort, and it doesn't take itself at all seriously. It picks into the adventure pretty much on the second page and doesn't stop. Argon, Zeta, and Argon's hearing impaired robot go traveling about cyberspace in physical form, thanks to an experimental machine of his. Most of the adventure is pretty random in content, though not as extreme and absurdist as something like Chicanery or other erratic natured webcomics. AZ plays a fine line, dabbling between the inherently strange to clever references. In terms of overrall design, it feels a bit similar to Bret Ward's style on the NCD comic. The art are concise and well rendered, and really not ever shown as sloppy. Text is quite legible and there's no ready doubt about most obvious things. Zark looks like the geek he is, Zeta is mildly attractive and quirky, and the robot is just cute. It's a small cast, not really much character depth to them, but they work on the fast nature of the action, as identified singlular ideas interacting with other ideas. The only real thing I have to complain about, is the very non-user friendly set up that had to be used to read the majority of this comic. As Furilius mentioned, pages are missing, 'next' buttons don't always work, and you have to sift around to look at things. To be honest, if Furilius didn't detail how to navigate the site, I would have never gone beyond several pages. The creator details the comic as a thing he wants to instill with quality. In that case, the web design really needs a solid tune up, not to mention condensation. It's not the sort of thing that's going to encourage the unsure reader to bother with it amidst a sea of many other webcomics. Argon Zark was a pleasant read, though at times I didn't outright understand the lay out of progression. It's not as bad as Commander Kitty in that sense, but still a touch foggy. I say if you have the patience to give it a little time on a rainy day, give Argon at least a once over. I don't think AZ, content wise, is bad, but it's not my exact liking either so chances are I won't be following it further. Still, Argon Zark at least warrants a 7.5 of 10 stars from me. Putting my tastes of theme aside, it's a decent read, hindered only by the notable scattered and broken condensation of pages. Review by Kajamir the Giant Sun Jun 01 2003 02:26 PM

"Argon Zark!" Review "Argon Zark!" is the first webcomic I ever read. And you know what, it may still be my favorite. Does it have the most sophisticated story? No. The richest characters? No. The biggest laughs? No. The most regular updates? Hell no! So what does it have? More than any other webcomic that I can think of, it captures the sheer joy of reading a comic on the web and how rich the experience can be. Although it's been printed in book form, to me, any print version is a pale imitation. The brilliant colors, the "traveling through the Internet" plot, the web screen gags, the clever animations, and the numerous Easter eggs all demand a web viewing. If I were to point to any webcomic to introduce to a webcomics skeptic, it would be "Argon Zark!" The Story Book One (no longer available online) is about a trio of characters: Programmer/inventor Argon Zark, his robot with bad voice recognition software, Cybert, and sexy delivery woman, Zeta Fairlight, who inadvertently get sucked into the Internet when Argon first tests his "Personal Transit Protocol." The trio fumble their way through the Internet while pursuing and being pursued by a creature called "Big Nasty Jump Jump". This premise allows for a number of extremely imaginative set pieces that really show off the possibilities of the webcomics medium while commenting upon the very act of surfing the web. The techniques used to fight and evade the BNJJ are all based in computer technology (such as a graphics software toolbox icons used as weapons). And the nature of the BNJJ monster is a cleverly Internet-based as well. Book Two (incomplete) involves the trio's encounter with a cabal of power brokers (Greedco) who secretly run the Internet and send Cancelbots of Doom against the heroes. Digs at Microsoft abound. The Art Argon Zark! consists of comic strips that use animation without every crossing that line into becoming a pale imitation of an animated cartoon. I don't need to include any links to pages because any page you choose at random will feature some dazzling display of the creative possibilities of a webcomic. It is almost a "greatest hits" anthology of different ways to use animation to enhance a strip online (with GIFs and Flash). And the drawings themselves are wonderfully alive. The whole thing just has such a sense of fun about it that leaps off the monitor. There is a slew of little visual gags and throwaway Sci Fi references that add to the fun. However, some of the Easter egg links are broken and need updating. Updates The only really negative comment I can make is that it updates so infrequently that I almost never visit it anymore. I think it's been like six months to a year since the last update. It's a shame, because if Charley Parker had the resources to update even every week, it could really be a top draw webcomic. I also wish the first chapter was still available online. Review by The Phantom Critic Sun Jun 01 2003 12:29 AM

Well I don’t claim to have any special skills as a reviewer but I have been anxiously waiting to see other folks reviews of Argon Zark and have gotten impatient, so: My impressions of Argon Zark. It is literally a GOOFY ROMP through cyberspace. What a lot of fun. Yes it is light and the characters have little development, and perhaps they will always be that way. As the characters move from inside jokes and through recognizable cliches, Argon Zark is just one big zany adventure. The Artist doing this is quite clearly having a lot of fun creating it. I wonder if nights of proper sleep are being spent instead at noodling up crazy new ideas. And the art that illuminates this, and I do mean ILLUMINATES, is eye popping. Not to be missed are the places on the artist’s site wherein the tools used are given their due credit. The one note for folks who are used to illustrated stories that move along with multiple posts each week. Forget it. The effort required for each advance of the story looks enormous. So this tale moves at a much more stately pace than many. ***** Book one which is archived as mentioned by Benor, is with the exception of a few pages, accessible. And there is where the story can be seen to begin. The use of broad and bright colors is rather invigorating in my opinion. AKA I really enjoy it. Of course, maybe that is just me. Now in book two, the creator of Argon Zark has been developing skills involving pages that interact with ones mouse or which are animated in various ways. Wherever you start though, bent humor is the rule. Some of the humor is for techies, but even for folks like me, who are not so technical, many of the word and visual jokes do work. Some of the more obscure ones take me longer, but even so, I have laughed at many of them when I realized what they were. Of course I am sure that others will go right by me forever unrecognized. Argon Zark is getting a bookmark from this Little Dragon. On a scale of One through Ten I give it 9 enthusiastic BLOORTSPAHS. Thanks Furilius, I would never have known about Argon Zark without this Comic Book Club. Review by Yao Chi Fri May 30 2003 09:51 PM

Argon Zark is....well, it's interesting, in a good way. But I'll get down to details for a better view. In terms of art, I really like Argon Zark. You could call it "comic book" style, but I just thought it was good. The use of Bryce was well-done, in my opinion, and the whole environment was rich. I felt that the backround here got much more care than in many comics, too. It's just rich in detail overall, and feels a lot like someone having fun with their concepts. Which I definitely approve of. The characters are nice. However, they haven't had much time to develop, unfortunately. Argon himself is definitely a geek of the highest order (and he has good taste-check out the album cover on Page 1.), but there isn't much to him beyond that. The main problem, however, was Zeta. She gets very little development, and goes from being a delivery girl to Argon's companion without a hint of trouble. Even for someone with experience using computers (as Zeta seems to have), I think this experience would be stranger to her. Cybert is entertaining, though his speech recognition problems are up and down-he consistently misunderstands, but you'd think that Argon would take some time to fix it. The story has yet to do much; the first book consisted of chasing a bad guy, and now the second is about chasing bad guys. It's interesting, but not very deep. Still, it entertains me because it makes sense so far, and I hope it will become complex later on. Starting slow is good, in my book. The missing pages issue was annoying, since it seemed that most of them were heavy on dialogue-which can't be guessed at through the miniature version. I was able to circumvent one such issue, as the current Argon Zark! page has the first 8 pages of book One available-solely as a teaser to buy the hard copy, though. I give Argon Zark! 8 out of 10. I'd like to see the story keep going, but I think the characters are a little too simple at the moment. However, I really enjoy the ride they're on, and I want to see their future stops. Review by Benor Mon May 26 2003 03:38 PM

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