Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of The Japanese Beetle by Dave "The Knave" White

Art: The art for the Japanese Beetle is, overall, quite well done. From giant robots to villains to commissioners...all are drawn well, and, for the most part, distinctively. Of course, there are some exceptions...as already noted, the hero, his girlfriend, and his roomie all tend to look rather a lot alike. Possibly this has something to do with their age group? Nevertheless, for the most part, the art in the Japanese Beetle is quite flawless. Characters: Well, the Japanese Beetle is a superhero parody, so I suppose it's inevitable that the peronalities aren't going to be the most complex. Yet, if not complex, one would assume that all the characters would be interesting...which is, unfortunately, not always the case. The commissioner and several of the supervillains are rather interesting in their own, briefly exposed ways...the hero, the roomie, and the girlfriend, on the other hand...are not. I've seen a million Japanese Beetles before, in one form or another...dimwit, lazy guys whose tact seems inversely related to their rather high levels of testosterone. After all, they're pretty much the staple of humorous parodies everywhere. The roomie hasn't demonstrated himself to have a personality as of yet, other than a desire to have our hero actually pay his half of the rent on time for once. And, finally, the girl...well, she just seems rather bland and uninteresting. Possibly later on, the roomie and the girl will prove to be somewhat interesting...I've great faith in our hero staying in his already clearly demonstrated path, however. Story: It's a superhero parody. You've seen them. Overall, it's an average read, occasionally hitting its mark with the humor. The squirrel-y supervillain, the commissioner, amidst other events, did make me snigger every once in awhile...but overall, it didn't really keep me rolling on the floor with laughter or even keep me that interested. Overall: A somewhat average superhero comic with above average art, it's good enough for a nice read, but nothing special thus far. A 5.5 out of 10. Review by Luthorne Mon Feb 09 2004 01:08 PM

Art:I like the slick presentation of "Japanese Beetle", and I think the art fits the content: relatively simple, but also striking at times (usually for entrances or dramatic moments). But.... Characters:...it needs a LOT of work on the character design. If you changed Ken's roommate's clothes and haircut, he would be his girlfriend. The same applies to Asashi's friend, though to a lesser extent. The only reason that Ken stands out is his hair color, honestly. I can tell the people apart, but not by their faces. Along the same lines, Asashi and Ken's roommate don't have much that makes them interesting; in fact, the roommate seems more like a vehicle for gags than a real person. Story: Like comic books, "Japanese Beetle" doesn't really have an overarching story. Rather, it's got short sequences against one villain or another. We've already seen Ken go through three in this incarnation, and he's currently teaming up with "Max Factor" against a fourth-though that might be done with at this point. Beyond this, there is a subplot of Ken trying to make a relationship with Asashi...but right now, it's not very large. Writing: Average. Japanese Beetle can set up some interesting situations, but it doesn't carry through as well. Joe McCarthy's appearance was a nice parody of 50's anticommunism comics, but the rest of it petered out-with the exception of the pants. The police commissioner was a nice touch, and I'm glad that being a super hero parody doesn't mean we get knock offs of Superman, Captain America and the like....but I would like to see some definition of the city beyond the random fights, and more of the other super heros. Max Factor was a start, but we've already been told that other heros are around. Why aren't they appearing? Overall: "The Japanese Beetle" makes some interesting points about superheroes with its parody (and as a comic book geek, I loved Ken's comment about Green Arrow near the beginning), but the points have been made before. And that means it's easier to spot the flaws in the setting. 6 out of 10. Review by Benor Mon Feb 09 2004 12:46 AM

A review of The Japanese Beetle by Kajamir the Giant The Japanese Beetle a comedic webcomic true to Phantom Critic's analogy of 'The Tick' series. Weekly silly enemies, plenty satire, and a hero of questionable competence greet the reader who explores this superhero. This webcomic features some fun styled black and white art, breathing life into all the character's rendered. Befitting the nature of the comic, anything superhero comic related here is pretty silly; half reveling in it's own absurdity while the other half pays homages. The art is probably good enough on it's own merit to attract readers. With the comic being rather short as of this review, the plot follows a formula of the latest silly badguy who gets trounced or manages to run, and then scenes of the hero trying halfheartedly to live like other people, ala paying rent and dating. Verse, chorus, verse. I really wasn't too engaged by how the formula works. While the villains were interesting to look at, there was no reason to care what was going on. The fights are more an excuse to see something comical happen than for anyone to feel involved. As a comparison, even The Tick had adventures befitting a hero. The Japanese Beetle skirmishes and calls it a day, maybe a little too limited by the idea it's only a job for him. Tied in with this is the characterization. Some, like the Commissioner and what little are given to the villains, are amusing. The Japanese Beetle and his friends, however, don't quite compare. In particular, the hero is surprisingly unlikable. Vain, ignorant, snide... he occurs to me as a high school jock or an arrogant version Fry from Futurama with superpowers. I'm not really sure why he's set up to be so thoroughly annoying as opposed to cartoonishly amusing. It certainly doesn't help the comic's case for appealing new readers. Lastly, there are several moments in the comic where the transition of speech or action just doesn't seem to sync up very well. I would best liken it to a record that skips for a moment but keeps playing past it. The Japanese Beetle is alright, but missing several things to make it good. By itself, it would constitute a decent humorous superhero parody, in need of only better overall writing and a hero worth reading about. If you can look mainly at the art and comedic homages, you'll probably enjoy it. I give The Japanese Beetle a 5 of 10 stars. Review by Kajamir the Giant Tue Feb 03 2004 10:01 PM

Welcome to another comic review by Salen Stormwing. When we last left our hero, he was just about to review the web comic, "The Japanese Beetle". Will this comic spell the DOOM for our hero?!? "Probably not. Its actually pretty good." "Yes, this week's review is the super hero comic "The Japanese Beetle". Its not so much a super hero comic as much as a parody on super heroes and their comics. And while its at it, it'll parody whatever else it might want to parody at the time." Artwork: "The artwork of 'TJB' is pretty good. Its not totally refined, but in no way does this make the artwork feel haphazard. No, the art is pretty stylized, and because of that, 'TJB' has a specific look. And its consistant. So you shouldn't have much of a problem with this category." Characters: "Lets see, you have our hero, the Japanese Beetle, his roommate, the girl he's dating (sort of), the Commisioner, and an assortment of villians and others. Like a lot of other spoofs, the characters are more humorous than dangerous. But hey, its a spoof. They're supposed to be silly." "Oh, and did I mention the Flying Squirrel? Remember, squirrels have sharp claws." Writing: "The writing for TJB is pretty good too, since its a spoof more times than not, and so it stays fairly humorous. If your looking for a comic thats more about humor and less about the epic battle of good fighting against overwelming amounts of evil, then this should be right up your alley. That, and you can see a Big O-style robot attack the city. Like I said, its a spoof." "Oh, and don't expect all of it to make sense. Like... the 'giant grasshopper who wanted an acorn' story. WTH???" Plot: "The plot's fairly standard. Each section of the story is your typical hero verses some sort of badguy. And then you have a few filler comics inbetween to pad the transition from one situation to another. As a parody, its hard to say if its just gunna keep this up, or if we'll see something with a bit more definiative of a long term plot. But since the comic just restarted, its easy to forgive it of this problem right now." Overall: "TJB is a pretty good comic. Its pretty funny, it makes fun of super heroes, and its a spoof. I can't fault it for much. I would like to see it use more color though, since the few times it did use color, it looked very good. But thats just a personal opinion. In the end, its a pretty neat comic, and I might add it to the plithora of other comics I already read. I just hope that the plot might get tweeked here or there to be more than just a 'villian a week'. I'm not sure how, but hey, like I said, I'd need to see where the comic goes from here." Score: 8 Death-Rays out of 10 Super-Villians. Review by Salen Stormwing Tue Feb 03 2004 07:49 AM

Superman has been parodied at least as far back as "Mad" comics from the 1950's and you'd think Superman-spoofs would have been done to death by this point, but nonetheless, I found the teaser opening of "The Japanese Beetle" a hilarious riff on the Man of Steel's origin. If only the rest of the comic had been as funny. "The Japanese Beetle" is a superhero parody somewhat reminiscent of "The Tick" in tone and genre. The Japanese Beetle himself (Ken) is a self-centered, callow young man who is rather unlikable. He's not particularly sharp, or even devious enough in his self-interested pursuits to be all that entertaining (compare with a Bruno the Bandit whose selfishness really is engaging). I'm not sure exactly what the appeal of Ken's personality was for the creator to base a strip around. But he sure looks great. Everything in "The Japanese Beetle" looked great—characters, props, vehicles, backgrounds—you name it. It was a slick, professional looking B&W webcomic that wasn't too slick either. There was a buoyancy and looseness to the characters and their expressions that generated a real sense of fun. I enjoyed the comic as much as I did primarily because of the art. Even the pacing of the panels had a nice comedic rhythm. But the writing either needed a lot more absurd humor thrown in (that actually worked), or it needed to take itself seriously enough to be enjoyed as a comedic adventure. The over-the-top super-villains arrived on the scene and were dispatched rather rapidly with no genuine sense of threat. This would be fine if the comedy from the encounters actually paid off. There was one climax invloving Joe McCarthy's secret weapon to defeat a communist super-villain that was truly hilarious, but every encounter should have had material on that level for the strip to really work. When he wasn't superhero-ing, Ken's exploits resembled a rather tepid twenty-something sitcom revolving around roommates and romance. Neither the girlfriend nor the roommate had particularly memorable personalities. I really wish I could be more enthusiastic about this one, because when the comedy occasionally worked, it really worked and the strip always looked great. Maybe part of my problem is that I'm just burnt out on the whole concept of superhero spoofs. I already know how ridiculous the tropes of superhero comics are, and skewering those conventions has now become its own convention. I enjoyed the strip more when it satirized things like the city employee bureaucracy, and I would hope that future strips would go more in that direction—commenting on real life things with superheroes rather than just riffing on superhero silliness. Review by The Phantom Critic Mon Feb 02 2004 06:29 PM

Offsite Review Summaries

"The Japanese Beetle is a web comic created by Dave 'The Knave' White. It features the adventures of Ken Watanabe, aka 'The Japanese Beetle', who serves for justice in his own hilarious way. It debuted in 1996." more... Read Full Review by Wikipedia contributors at Wikipedia Sun May 30 2004

Summary Reviews for this title | Submit a title for review | Title Index