Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of Gene Catlow by Albert Temple

"Gene Catlow" had some interesting situations....but the tone of the comic irritated me. Hopefully I'll be able to put the reason into words in this review. Art: I had very few complaints here. The style is cartoony, but at the same time, it is mostly realistic in how the characters are treated; after I got past the beginning (which had some exaggerated features), I stopped thinking that we would see "Looney Tunes" action. And I enjoyed the backgrounds-though I do wish the "Sight Of The Soul" had more than a blank slate. Fading out the characters and then putting them against a white background annoyed me. Characters: In visual design, I really liked the characters. Regardless of the species, I could easily pick out any of the characters-but at the same time, the few who were related showed a family resemblance. I suspect this is part of the reason for the cartoonish style, and it paid off in spades. In terms of personality, though, I wasn't as impressed. Cotton wasn't interesting, he was irritating. It took a long time for me to accept him as a real character, rather than an awkward fusion of a character and a plot device-and even now, I suspect that was his origin. I do like Gene, though his relationship with Catwhiskers would be cliche...if others didn't comment on it for us. And I will say that I liked how the minor characters got personalities as well. Story: There are a few unexpected twists and turns, but the story is decent instead of good. I could accept what was happening, and why. However, I was never worried about what would happen next, and I rarely felt suspense. Writing: Here goes. The creator of "Gene Catlow" does one great thing with his setting-he makes the anthropomorphs a subject of derision and disdain in times past, and some of them still meet that with their own negative emotions. Though the past hasn't really been clarified, I don't want it to be-giving us a full explanation would probably end up disappointing. However, there's a lot of easy redemptions in this comic. As long as someone says the right thing to a 'bad guy' in "Gene Catlow", they'll see the error of their ways and do something to be good. And that's just grating. I don't like it when neutral or 'evil' characters suddenly switch around, especially since they never get much help with their reasoning in "Gene Catlow". Real prejudice has had time to lock in, then develop rationale and 'science' to support itself-here, that doesn't happen. Only Avariss has any argument to sustain his beliefs, flawed though they may be-and only one character actually takes time to be convinced he's wrong. Everyone else gets a change of heart, meets someone who says a few simple words to convince them, or gets killed-and that's too simple. I always found myself believing in the hatred the characters possessed, until it was actually tested. And then it folded like a deck of cards. While I don't mind the cameo comics much in "Gene Catlow", they do distract from the story...and there were also several comics where children possessed strange powers, aside from the popular "Sight Of The Soul". And no real explanation was given in the comic-they were just there. Perhaps we were supposed to know what they did already, but that's unfair to a new or inexperienced reader. And on a very minor (and slightly petty) note, there was a decided tendency towards ! and ? as the only ways to end a sentence. Overall: "Gene Catlow" is enjoyable, but several important factors limit the comic to me. I'd like to see more sustainable antagonists, and at least one who feels they're doing the right thing without being labeled as "insane". 5 out of 10. Review by Benor Thu Mar 18 2004 03:25 PM

A review of Gene Catlow by Kajamir the Giant I'd heard of this webcomic several times. Seems like Gene Catlow is a bit better advertised compared to others or I've been running into all the right places. My first real taste of Gene Catlow was a thankfully soft and cuter cameo in the Jack comic, but I see this comic holds it's own pretty well too. I was kind of partial to the art here. While the characters are sort of squishy faced, that's the style. And no, I don't think they look remiscent of Looney Tunes characters since those were also rubbery bodied. Gene Catlow characters are kind of cute looking, sort of holding their visual characterizations well in their world. Not everything has to be realistic or edgy looking, just so long as it works within itself. It was kind of nice to see characters, even evil ones, who didn't scream OMG I HAVE KEWL ATTITUDE upon first glance. This is reflected in the more diplomatic nature of the characters too. They actually talk things out. However, the artist is less proficient when it comes to humans. Something about them does have a passable Elmer Fudd quality around the face at least. They're suitably cute looking as well, but a bit more awkward in graphic execution. I like the background story Gene Catlow had concerning humans and anthros. If you've ever read Suburban Jungle, there's a variant going on there (concerning Carnivores and Herbivores), but not nearly so well defined. Catlow's explanation is simple, but at least it was there, so it feels like there's some justification for the segregation between the furries and humans. I'm not sure I'd call it realistic, but it more or less works. Cohesive fantasy, perhaps. Something I don't get here is the comic's name. Despite being called Gene Catlow, from what I've read, Gene's mainly a secondary character in his own comic! The lead seems entirely focused for the first two years (at least) around his friend, Cotton Taylor, with brief scenes of Gene at the most. I can only shrug unknowingly at this. Maybe a long time fan would know why this is. Characterization... I'm kind of varied here. Cotton Taylor is nicely defined. However, I say this because he essentially gets nearly all the page time. Other characters like Gene, we only get a general feel for how they are, and others like Catwhisker, could blend in a crowd. In truth, from the part I read, Gene didn't have much more definition than the security dog or the lunchlady Taylor associated with. I think the comic could have shortened it's focus a little in this respect. Instead of involving every small bit character in some known definition, focus more on the common side characters like Gene himself. What I know of his life could fit a thimble. Well, let me say this comic does not as Cobra so eloquently put it, suck. It's not the best webcomic I've read nor one of the ones high on my list, but it's pretty good, and comparitively, better than The Gneech's Suburban Jungle. I give Gene Catlow a 8 out of 10. Characterizations a bit weak, but it's a nice execution. I imagine I'll follow it in my spare time. Review by Kajamir the Giant Sat Mar 13 2004 12:38 AM

"Well, its time for another 'Salen Reviews Another Comic'. Luckily, I've been reading this week's comic for a while, so giving a decent review shouldn't be a problem. Anyways, on with the SHOW!" "Gene Catlow is a furry comic strip. It takes place in a world much like our own, but has both humans and furry types inhabiting it. Ok, sounds simple enough, right? Well, like you might expect, things aren't very harmonious in this world, even though most of the people in it wish it were." Artwork: "As I've said many times before, Art can make or break a comic. The artwork for Gene Catlow is more slanted towards the cartoonish side of character design, and the art is very consistant. The designs themselves might 'underwelm' some folks, who are used to the pop and snap of more realisticly designed characters though." Characters: "Since this is a furry comic, it makes sense that we'd have a good number of furries as main characters. And then you have some humans too. And then there's some 'other' characters that show up later on in the story that I won't spoil. And... well, there are a HECK of a lot of characters in this comic." "The main character is Cotton, a rabbit and technician. His coworker is Gene Catlow (if you were curious why the comic's name is what it is) and the story pretty much revolves around these two, and their lives amongst 'interesting' times." "But then again, there are a ton of other characters in the comic as well. Some get more screen time than others. Some don't see much development, some get a lot of character development. There's acts of evil done, prejudices made and broken, lives lived, lives ruined, lives redeemed... Its all very confusing at times. With a large cast of characters moving around Cotton and Gene, it can be confusing when you try to keep up with it all." "Oh, and expect the characters to be a bit long winded at time. But I'll talk about this in the next section..." Writing & Plot: "Ok, of all the things about Gene Catlow, this has to be the one thing that bugs me the most when I read it. The story starts off pretty small, and starts to balloon outward, till you get a huge mess of mini-plotlines running through the main story. I'm all for complex stories and what not, but it can get very confusing at times." "And thats probably because the long explainations don't really explain everything to the extend I would really hope for. But because some of the explainations do get very long at times, I couldn't imagine it being practical to extend them out moreso just to make it easier for me to understand the story." "I guess what I'm saying is, when I read the comic, some times I have to just nod my head and pretend I know whats going on. Ok, so I probably don't, and I still probably don't understand all the different bits of Gene Catlow, even after reading it as long as I have." "Long Story made Very Short: The story is complex, and its confusing at times." Overall: "Gene Catlow is probably one of those comics you'll either like it or you'll hate it. Its a Slice of Life comic that sometimes seems less like a Slice of Life comic and more like a... uh... you know, I don't know. But needless to say, some folks will like it, some won't. And some of us will read it and be confused as all get-out, and read it anyways." "I'll admit, I read the comic, even if I don't understand it all the time. Why? Well, because its different from most of the other comics I read. And because I LOVE the spin-off Gene Catlow comic series, Marble & Tavatiana. Marble's one of the reasons I'm a ferret, so go read the comic already." Score: 7 cups of coffee out of 10. Review by Salen Stormwing Fri Mar 05 2004 11:12 AM

Welcome to the first edition of "Mommy, that Cobra is a MEANIE!" This is my first review, so I want to make something clear: I'm not here to be nice. I'm not even here to be curteous. If I don't like a webcomic, I'll let you know in the most explicit way possible on these boards. With that, what a great example to start with! I'll say it right now: Gene Catlow sucks. It has an unoriginal concept and the art and writing makes me wonder whether clicking on the next comic is worth it. Anyway, let's break it down now. Art The creator draws the characters as if they were in a Saturday morning cartoon, which is the style of most other furry comics. The art style is highly reminiscent of Chuck Jones, but nowhere near as good. The Chuck Jones style is used in Looney Tunes for a reason: the characters' rubbery faces and bodies can be stretched, twisted and changed into any number of forms so kids can easily identify the emotions being presented and also to allow comedic exagerration. This is ideal for times when characters are getting brutally maimed and humiliated in a comedic manner, not in a preachy morality play. How can I take this comic seriously when the characters look like they'd rather be hitting eachother with hammers or falling off cliffs? The character's rubbery faces make for some bizarre situations. Whenever a character is angry or flabbergasted (and that happens a lot, sometimes for no reason at all), their faces stretch to proportions that go beyond anguish to just being rediculous. The other face I see a lot is the pouty face, which REALLY makes me want to barf, and there's someting like one in every panel. The height and proportions of the characters also fluctuates sometimes. There are even times when characters' heads turn 180 degrees around, which is just creepy. Another note: While the furries look passable in this comic, the humans don't look... human. Seriously, there are only two human head shapes in this comic: trapezoidal (like a bucket) and squishy (like Igor or the blob). Human proportions are also wonky, and they have those oh-my-God-kill-me-now pouty faces. The art doesn't change throughout the comic. At all. Story The world is populated by both humans and furries (it's never explained exactly how) and, of course, there are tensions between them. This tension, of course leads to distrust, hate crimes, etc. It's incredibly obvious that this comic is a thinly-veiled metaphor about how people in the real world view furries. In real life furries aren't discriminated against because it's a hobby, and once someone leavs his fursuit, they look just like every other person (albeit they probably have hairy backs and bad teeth, but I haven't met one so I can't say for sure). In this comic, furries are a seperate race from humans, and there's actual hate crimes and controversy, more reminiscent of the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. My big problem isn't the concept (which I don't really like anyway), but how it's all presented. It's pretty much everyone's either a bigot or a saint, with everyone saying that the other side is evil/inferior while the other says they are all equal (which they're not, being different animals and all). It gets really old and predictable as to what everyone's going to say. The 'furrism' is incredibly blatant and preachy. I'd much rather see some more SUBTLE implications of this discrimination, as many period pieces on the civil rights movement have done, than everyone just yelling their thoughts to everyone else. I also have a big problem with the concept in general. Why are cats, rabbits, eagles, lizards, and all sorts of anthropomorphs called furries while hairless apes are not? In the end, aren't they all just animals? Unless the point is that humans are the white guys of the animal kingdom... Characters The characters are incredibly annoying. They look ugly, have annoying and inexplicable personality quirks, and talk like they're on a different wavelength from me. Seriously, they talk a LOT, but about subjects that I have no idea what they are and I don't really care. This is a good example of the impression that I got. They get angry and/or flabbergasted for no reason, and look VERY HAPPY or VERY SAD the rest of the time. The main character is Cotton Taylor, not Gene Catlow. He is an annoying, bull-headed hot-tempered tech worker who drinks coffee that gives him psychic abilities and makes him even more of an ass. Great, just the guy I want to read about. The rest of the characters are either SUPER NICE or eternally grumpy. There's hardly any inbetween. Plot But here's the stuff that irks me most. Things happen that are so bizarre and rediculous and WRONG that I feel like I killed someone in a past life to deserve this. Cotton gets psychic powers from coffee, instantly gets branded as a hoax, goes nuts and attacks government agents, plays stupid mind games with the mayor and saves a foreign furry dignitary (who has psychic abilities as well) from a plot to kill her led by SUPER EVIL HUMAN! Oh yeah, and everyone's nude when they're in psychic visions, even though inanimate objects stick around. After the rescue, Cotton and the dignitary have a date in a seperate time stream. I didn't buy it either, and it doesn't get better. It's one of those comics that got stupider as I read it. At first I thought I was just predisposed against this kind of stuff, that it may get better when OH MY GOD THIS COMIC SUCKS! I still went on, though, and I finally decided to give up when a troublemaking kid decided to kill himself by squeezing his brain tumor for no fathomable reason. I just couldn't take it anymore. Another fun bad The archive doesn't link to the comic, but GIFs of the comic, so navigation requires going back and forth between the archives and the comics. Worse, the archive stops in the middle of '03, but it wasn't that much of a problem for me. In General So this comic sucks. It's ugly, overly preachy and it insults my intelligence and dignity. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. This is Cobra, saying, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful; hate me because I'm right." Review by Cobra Thu Mar 04 2004 12:55 AM

Visitor Reviews & Comments

I could go into a detailed analysis of this comic, but it really only merits one comment. This is just another in a long line of furry comics that are a means for the artist, by way of his "avatar" character, to be placed in situations where he can say "I am teh w1s3! Joo are teh suXX0rz." Throw in a web design that makes the comic a pain to read, the classic furry faux pas of paying fanservice to the author's friends, a caffine-induced prophecy early in the strip, and you have the makings of a strip with delusions of adequacy. Review by Kimochi-ii Mon Mar 15 2004 02:08 PM

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