Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of Exile From Kiirs by Amy Kim Ganter

Review of "Exile from Kiirs" I really enjoyed the artist's interesting and distinctive drawing style. The costumes and hair styles and monster designs are all very carefully crafted and detailed. The compositions are dynamic and varied. The attacks are depicted with flare. Some of the anatomy is a little questionable and background elements sometimes get a little sketchy for my tastes, but I'm fussy; overall, the art appealed to me very much. The concept, setting and simple story were all fine, but the main character Raed was such a zero in the personality department, it was hard to care. He can be the last of the Geist's or the last of the Mohicans, but give me some personality. Having him be essentially silent throughout may have been an interesting creative challenge for the artist, but for the audience, it left him inscrutable. Personality is what I'm really interested in. Not the external events that happen to the characters but how they react and deal with the plot cards they are dealt. I just wasn't able to connect with this guy. Was he just a ball of rage with noble insticts? What did he want? I have no idea and didn't really care whether he was defeated by the Bio monster. I know the author can write a good character. The king leapt right off the page for me. I was ready to follow him back to the kingdom, but then the story ended. If you have characters you care about, you'll follow them even through a lame story and lousy art. But great art can't make up for a weak central character. Review by The Phantom Critic Sun Jun 29 2003 02:08 AM

oooooOOoOOh. Sorry for the lateness of this review! I kinda had some major exams to study for. ANYWAYS. Exile from Kiirs is a fascinating fantasy comic (pun not intended). The artwork is quite stylised and slightly bland but quite good in its own right. I like the way the hands are drawn, but the facial expressions leave a little to be desired. Just a little. Storyline-wise, Exile from Kiirs follows the old fantasy story formula quite closely. The usual unfairly-treated-orphan-proves-to-be-really-cool kind of story. However, I much liked the way the villagers were written out as still being skeptical even after the geist (we never seem to run away from that word, huh? It's been chasing us since Soul Chaser Betty) saves them. But the king's promise seems to make things too... easy for the geist. As a prelude to another comic and an extra (as stated on the page), Exile from Kiirs does very well. It's short, has some action and is does well in setting up the world in which the story will take place. I give this comic about... 6 outta 10 for good effort. The story is good, but could use a little originality. Review by Catty Dewclaw Fri Jun 27 2003 04:28 PM

Art: I'd say that the art was excellent. It was well-done, clean, and it was easy to understand what was going on, for the most part. Nine out of ten Amazing Architects Story: A lot of the story, especially the background, seemed rather contrived, and it was rather cliche, for the most part. It was, admittedly, only a short story, but I think ther could have been a lot more done with it. Three out of ten Sinister Scorpions Characters: Eh...pretty shallow, for the most part, no lurking secrets in the pasts of these characters, there seems to be almost no depth. I can excuse some of that simply because this was a short story, but I feel that there could have been a lot more depth to the characters. Two out of ten Cryptic Commandos Overall: The art impressed me greatly, and I can add on a couple of points since this is only a short story. But the story and characters brought this down, making this only an average read, I'm afraid. Five out of ten Orange Octagons Review by Luthorne Fri Jun 27 2003 11:24 AM

Art The art in this comic was well done. Completly in Black and white, it is well inked, and in depth. The backgrounds in particular are very well done. The monsters are also very diffrent, an intresting change from the normal beast. The people are likewise detailed, creating a very visual comic, as most of it comprises the images this is a good thing, alot of action sequences, all combined to a very nice effect. Chars As most of the comic is taken up with action sequences there is not alot of room for talking, most pages where his is talking there is alot of exposition in them. The title char, the Exile from Kriss, named Read, is well drawn, and follows through the story reasnably well, he comprises about 90% of all the action sequances, but subsequently only has 2 lines in the entire comic (2 i counted, well 3 including a .....) the rest of the charectors, have about as many line, except for the king of the land, who talks for about the last 5 panels straight. The villagers, are a well done group, for as little time as they are in it, you can read the charectors well, and have an understanding of their choices, throughout. Story The story is alright, hero sees parents killed before his eyes, gets driven into exile, grows up alone in the forest as a protector of the innocent, saves village, becomes royal whatever. it has been done before, there is nothing spectacular, or failing in the story, sadly it is a bit short and not much room for expostion, or background. Page Design The page design is fine a soft brown colour to offset the black and white of the comic with an intresting stylized girl in the corner, all the pages to the story are accesable from the bottom. Overall 6/10 not too bad story, great art, some well done chars, some who could use a bit more work, a good comic, overall Review by Jordin The Learned Thu Jun 26 2003 01:58 PM

A review of Exile from Kiirs by Kajamir the Giant Exile is a short story of a mysterious young man of supernatural talent, being persecuted by the natives around him for suspected crimes against the world. The boy is in fact, more a hero than anything and despite his best efforts, is demonized by them regardlessly. Only by chance intervention of a more understanding prince with a job offer, does he get his freedom. Largely, that's Exile in a nutshell. Bearing only about 69 smallish pages, it's a quick read, with not much room for development. Or perhaps, not much attempt. To start, many of the panels are action based. There's little dialogue in the story. What there is, comes mostly from the villagers or prince, but the hero, Raed, says virtually nothing. He looks pouty, and when he's not being held back, fights monsters. He also apparently has a good heart, but there's not much you can say about anyone presented in this story. Characterization is implied, but hurting for more. Art wise, Exile is pretty nice. Crisp black and white lines define characters. There's some style in their modes of dress, but I think this may have taken away from making the people themselves look different. Aside from the interesting hair styles on their head, everyone's face (save maybe the prince?) is interchangable, with the other possible exception of Raed's eyes compared to the villagers. The uniform look is a mixed aspect to me. It suggests a style by the artist, but also comes across as looking uninspired or mechanical. Regardless, on the whole, I think the art works well for Exile. The monsters, called 'bios' are particularly neat too. There's a level of brevity in this review because there's just not much to comment on in Exile, compared to webcomics with a longer run. The story's ending felt abrupt and predictable, which translates as unsatisfying for a conclusion. The lack of characterization also hinders it. It's a stand alone story, what you see is what you get. It needs more to make the reader care about what's going on. Depth is the issue at hand. Exile is okay. And really, it's just that. EfK is not bad, but I can't see myself recommending it to anyone who wouldn't appreciate it for anything else but the art. I think it's a fair stand-alone story, but it's not a selling point for what the creator can do. Rather, just a no frills item on the shelf. You can get it, it functions, but it's not the most appealing thing to buy. The site seems it might go more into the background, as I understand, but I'm just here to review the webcomic itself, and it didn't compel me to look at the ill spoken of background world. I give Exile from Kiirs a 5 of 10 stars as an acceptable, but unexceptional short graphic story. I don't outright advocate it, but I don't condemn it either. Review by Kajamir the Giant Thu Jun 26 2003 01:21 PM

Okay, I can't resist saying a little bit about it. I liked Soul Chaser Betty. Now, on to the real review! Exile from Kiirs was an interesting story, but the pacing seemed to be stop and start-the time lapses were not very clear, and I felt that several sequences were sped through to reach the fight that much sooner. Art: Exile from Kiirs was interesting, artistically. I liked the style, but except for the king, everyone seemed to have the same face. There was a good variance of costumes and hair styles, but not of facial features. The use of silent panels was good to me, but too many started to make this comic drag. Characters: As Pingu noted, there were basically three characters: Raed, the king, and the townspeople. Raed never spoke enough to gain much if any development; this made him somewhat mysterious, but for the wrong reasons. And to be honest, I must wonder why he would dress in all black, when dark greens and earthtones would probably work better for camouflage. The king looks regal enough, but I couldn't really understand WHY he'd come to the village himself. The townspeople, on the other hand, were very good. They didn't just change their minds about Raed, and honestly believed he was a dire threat to them. I liked that. Plot: The plot, unfortunately, didn't have much of a chance to develop, for lack of length. I did like the overall arc (after the somewhat confusing introduction), but the epilogue was very, VERY obvious. And tied things up too neatly. Writing: Exile from Kiirs didn't rely on much dialogue, compared to other comics, but the writing was very good during the big fight. I thought it was realistic, and the ending very much in character for Raed, considering his abilities. However, as I mentioned before, the pacing was inconsistent, and the villagers took more attention than they should have because they had better dialogue than Raed. Of course, considering how little Raed spoke, that wasn't hard. I give Exile from Kiirs a 6 out of 10. I liked it, but I'd like to see a better ending to the story, and a better view into Raed's motivations. As it stands now, both of them are considerable obstacles. Review by Benor Tue Jun 24 2003 10:24 AM

(I had ninja'd this review the week before. Get Your War On was the perfect spur to read something - anything other than the webcomic) Before I start this review, can I ask a question. What is it about bangs? I mean, I can't think of a more unsuitible hairstyle for anyone that might get into combat. You don't want your hair whipping in front of you at the last damn second just when you're sighting on someone. In fact, long hair in general is a serious weak link. *AHEM* Time to get on with my opinions, eh? Art Art is the premise of others to comment on. It didn't wow me, it didn't make me go bleah. The art was sutible for the purpose of the story. Characters What a good guy Raed is. He practically has the stamp 'Lawful Good' on his forehead. And right alongside that, 'Total Sympathy Magnet'. Considering the story focuses on Raed, it's amazing how little of Raed's sense of self we see. We're encouraged to focus on his virtues, rather than his personality. As an example, when he beats up the first bio in an attempt to save those kids, there doesn't seem to be any compelling reason why he would do that, beyond him being 'good'. I dunno, perhaps he's looking for some more XPs to level up. It's a harsh judgement to make, but Raed doesn't exist, for me, as a character. The King. This character seems to exude 'good king stereotype'. Either that, or he's a cunning swine. I don't see enough of him to make my mind up about him, to be honest. However, either way, I'm not impressed by him. The Villagers. Whoa dude! Someone with character! It's possibly rude of me to say so, but I think the villagers, even though they were stereotyped, were much more three dimensional - even to the point of trying to mug Raed after he did in that Monster Bios. Kudos to Felaxx for that. Story Ho-hum. See it all before, I'm afraid. Meet the outcast, see the persecution, see the deepening misunderstanding and hatred all on one side, see the virtuous orphan, blah blah blah. Then the Outcast saves the village and the village weither turns on him or lauds him. Next please! Positive Points to make: a) Nice point with the village not being the reason why the boy is an orphan. Finally, we're saved from the dreadfully old cliche of the lad watching his parents die in front of him by the villagers. b) Nicely executed battle. I loved the fight - neither side got off easy. Although everythig seemed to lead up to. and revolve around the fight. c) Nice progression of time, as seen through the hunters. And nice dodging of the issue how Raed would still fit into his clothing, as he's seemingly already become a 'young adult'. (although I think Geists have it BAD. Puberty for eternity? That would SUCK heinously) d) VERY nice how everything took place in one isolated volcano type place. That came, for me, completely out of left field. Overall The comic is done and dusted. If it's goal was to sell me on the Reman Mythology, then I dunno. Nice art, nice fight, but I'm not hooked on the main character from this. I don't want to find out what's happened to him. And that would be what's most important. If it's goal was for me to enjoy a story, then I enjoyed the fight. Uhh.... that's about it, really. Pingu rates it: A six-pack. Commentry Now, that was that for Exile from Kiirs. Having a nose around on Felaxx's Gallery, I find that quite a lot of the of the other bits and pieces on the website are bloody good, with interesting (at least, to me) stories.. I'd recomend looking around at the other stuff, and not to judge Felaxx just on this. Review by Pingu the Great Mon Jun 23 2003 04:31 PM

Offsite Review Summaries

"Reman Mythology is a manga-style web comic by Amy Kim Ganter (b. 1980). The artwork in the regular comic imitates the layout of a black and white manga page. There is also a sidebar story Escape from Kiirs, which uses a more flexible layout. In addition to the comic itself the Reman Mythology website features lots of background detail on the series' characters, costumes, religion and geography." more... Read Full Review by Wikipedia contributors at Wikipedia Sun Dec 26 2004

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