Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of Zebra Girl by Joe England

A review of Zebra Girl By Kajamir the Giant This week's selection is a 100% b/w webcomic updated every Friday. It features an evolving storyline that begins at awkward attempts at humor usually of a slapstick nature, and then becomes a dark perhaps gothic tale of becoming a monster. Needless to say, I loved it. First off, Zebra Girl has some excellent art. It's sort of a cartoonish Gigeresque. The latter portion of that mix doesn't become more apparent until the storyline becomes more dire, but the artist improves overrall by that time. Zebra Girl's design is simply phenomenal. She's highly complex in appearance, and for her to be rendered continuously as the main character must certainly be a lot of effort, which I find impressive. I see a lot of creators nowadays simply adopt whatever is quick, cute, and easy to render, and they make characters based from that. Zebra Girl herself lacks much any notion of this. Rather, she becomes more detailed as time goes on. I can appreciate the strain that must be in this artist's hand. The rest of the character's generally remain very cartoonish looking, but as the storyline turns a deeper shade of black, they befitting look more grim. Sam, and eventually Jack, are good examples of this. And some characters are simply otherworldly, particularly the raving insane tyrant, Tool. Zebra Girl does an excellent job when it comes to stylish appearance. The story is a bit more variable. While I grew to really like how things turned out, Zebra Girl didn't capture me in the beginning. It was more goofy for the sake of being goofy than anything terribly humorous. But as Sandra transforms irreversibly into Zebra Girl, the kid gloves come off. The humor strains away into all consuming darkness, a serious tale in a strange secondary world. Think the Napping Cat's Dream minus the superpowers, and a whole lot more blackhearted. The story has a strong modern day gritty fantasy flavor to it. Maybe a touch goofy by setting, but again, dark in content. As such, Zebra Girl grew on me. The characters are interesting enough. Aside from Jack's ditzy and deeply in denial sister who doesn't seem to expand much beyond her starting parameters, the rest of them either grow or maintain themselves in a way where they simply are interesting (Tool and Prof Broadshoulders). But really, the comic is about Sandra and she doesn't disappoint. There's nothing too trite about her existence into a monster. A little cliche' here and there, but that's expected. If I have any issues about Zebra Girl, it's just two. First off, the text is just painful to read. Tightly squished together is not kind on the eyes. Second, I could do without the creator's lethargic anthromorphic self appearances in the comic. I find them kind of detracting, sort of a call back to the inconsistent humor in the beginning, and more a nod to his own insecurities and foibles, which I don't feel at all belong in a publically enjoyed comic. It could be considered cute, but it's somewhat lame too. I've just seen it too many times. Please, creators, artists, etc... keep the self depreciation and pointless bits of sidetracking randomness out of your comics! Save it for your friends, Deadjournals, or diaries. You're only shooting yourself in the foot creatively otherwise. As a whole, I do like Zebra Girl quite a bit. It's of a subject matter that appeals to me and the art is pure sour candy. I'd recommend it to anyone with an attention span (since it only updates weekly). Zebra Girls gets my thumbs up, garnering 9 out of 10 stars. Ignoring the few detractors it has, creatively, this is a great work of design. Review by Kajamir the Giant Sun Aug 24 2003 11:04 AM

Art: I like the art of Zebra Girl, it's a nice change from the anime-heavy styles out there. The black and white look works, and as Benor mentioned, the contrast is often startling, though I personally like it. Characters: The characters seem to start out somewhat stereotypical, but later on develop more fully, as the comic makes the shift from the ridiculous to the more serious. I liked the fact that they were more than the stereotypes that they portrayed, and seemed to have more facets than was orignally apparent. Plot: The plot started out somewhat banal, though funny, though it swung early on to being more serious, though that edge of humor that was there at the beginning is still present at times. Overall: I've been reading Zebra Girl for some time now, and it's one of my favorites. I like the art, and used it as a reference early on to develop my own style. Zebra Girl's not my absolute favorite webcomic, but it's up there. Nine out of ten. Review by Luthorne Thu Aug 21 2003 05:10 PM

Zebra Girl was a strange find for me. I hadn't really encountered a comic quite like it. But it's quite pleasant, and I certainly want to know more about what's going to happen. Art: Zebra Girl is quite nice, in regards to art. A good level of detail, and all of the characters are distinctive-though I feel that Jack and Crystal's designs could use some retooling to look less cartoony. While I like them, Zebra Girl very quickly changed from humor to drama, and so they seem a little out of place. Sandra more than Jack, though. Sam, on the other hand, is very....very....nice. I think his design is perfect for the environment, and his facial expressions in particular catch my eye. I am occasionally disconcerted by the creator's love for contrast, though. Characters: In terms of characters, I think Zebra Girl is very strong. Sandra, for example, has NOT just shrugged off her condition; it's still a very big problem for her to handle, and no one has just said 'live with it'. It wouldn't be very realistic, and in fact would insult me to an extent. While Jack has become more mature, he has not deviated much from his core personality-just added to it, and made it more complex. And Sam....well, Sam is one of the best anthropomorphic characters I've ever seen. He seems realistic to me, and very much understands that he is an alien to this world-even if Sandra, Crystal and Jack accept him, that doesn't mean others would. Of course, as he pointed out, they may just disbelieve him entirely. He doesn't care. And while I may have ragged on Crystal's visual design, I think she's fine as a character. Sure, she's an optimist, but not to an unrealistic degree. Plot: While I like the plot arcs that have appeared in Zebra Girl, the change from comedy to drama was too quick for my tastes. It did take place early on, so it wasn't a major shift when it happened....but on the other hand, we had very little time to meet Sandra before she changed so drastically. I do like how Professor Broadshoulders initiates some fo the action, though-it came as a very nice surprise to me. Jack's flashback, the most recent plot arc, was my favorite by far. Though if I had come in during the middle of it, I would certainly have gone crazy with anticipation. Writing: I like the dialogue in Zebra Girl, though there are few things that really jumped out at me. The actions, on the other hand, really stuck with me at points. I would say more, but I think that the art is intentionally the main focus. And I think that's fine, since the writing is strong enough to support it. I do like how Sandra's situation has been handled; the audience knows as much as the characters do. Which amounts to "She may be able to change back, but there's nothing definite." If I ever see a comic wher some mysterious figure talks about how to cure her, though, I will be greatly disappointed. Overall: I would like to see more from Zebra Girl, because I really enjoy it. But I think that it needs to start working towards an answer for Sandra soon, or else it may start to drag. I don't think it would personally, but it's a risk. Overall, I give it 8 out of 10. It's a good comic, and I don't see any glaring problems. But it could improve still. Review by Benor Thu Aug 21 2003 04:54 PM

Offsite Review Summaries

"The story centers around Sandra, a girl with a cynical streak who lives with her naïve best friend Crystal and Crystal's lecherous brother Jack. Due to a mishap involving Jack and a tome of ancient evil, Sandra is transformed into a demon. The title refers to Sandra's demonic features, which include black-and-white stripes and hooves. Less zebra-like features include purple hair, horns, a third eye in the forehead, caustic blood, and the ability to cause people (usually Jack) to spontaneously combust. It is a humor comic, but later installments have taken a more serious turn. The main comic is accompanied by a second comic, 'Sandra's Journal!', supposedly drawn by Sandra, describing her everyday life and her feelings about her demonic condition." more... Read Full Review by Wikipedia contributors at Wikipedia Tue Jul 20 2004

"Zebra Girl starts off as a screwball gag strip, but the big surprise (which I suppose I'm about to reveal ... ha) is that as the ongoing storyline picks up steam, it turns out to be a really good adventure strip, making a smooth transition from straight humor to serious storytelling with doses of humor. The initially one-note characters turn out to have full-fledged personalities that evolve as the series continues." more... Read Full Review by Layla Lawlor at Sequential Tart Tue Jun 01 2004

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