Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of PartiallyClips by Robert T. Balder

Visuals: There isn't much to the visuals of Partially Clips, since it's all clip art, but I don't really think it needs any more. If anything, it's an interesting constraint to place upon yourself. Essence: PartiallyClips is a "gag a day" strip; no continuing plots, no repeating characters, and not connection between two strips (well, there is one, but that's mostly an apology for the previous strip). The problem with PartiallyClips is that the humor is very polarizing; either you hate it or you love it. I find myself laughing at most of the strips, though about a quater of them made no difference to me. So unless you happen to love weird, cruel, or quirky humor, you should probably pass. Website: I mostly have this category as a reserve to confusing set-ups, but that is not the case here. It's qucik, effecient, easy for me to find various things, and overall peachy. Final Grade: C+ Mostly because the humor tends to have a very narrow audience. Review by Taua Boswell Sun Oct 12 2003 12:45 PM

Partially Clips is, at least, a step above Get Your War On. However, while it has individual flashes, a lot of the strips are less than inspired. Art: Nothing. The quality is all right....but it's clip art, so that doesn't count towards the comic. Characters: Also nothing...though Partially Clips, at least, doesn't try to make anyone recurring. Plot: Yet again, nothing. Each of the comics is a separate gag, so there's no plot to tie them together. Writing: With the chosen format of Partially Clips, this is the area that could have made the comic great. But...consistency is not to be had. I like the biting humor of Partially Clips on occasion, but it doesn't keep going. And while my initial reaction was very positive, I found that I had no desire to go back and keep up with the comic. I knew that the humorous strips were too few to wait around for another. Overall: Partially Clips could be very good, if the writing was up to the challenge of the images. But I don't think it will reach that point, and that kills my interest. 3 out of 10. Review by Benor Sat Oct 11 2003 08:55 PM

Note: If you tell someone, especially this PG, not to look at something it is a sure bet some people, like me, will. ;=3 That being said, here is my review. Art: Well, as has been mentioned, there is no original art. The entire "comic" uses ready made clip art. So a score of 0 (zero). Characters: See above, with same score. Writing: This is not as easy as it seems. the "author" of the comic has to come up with something to fit the "art" he chose. I'll grant most of it is dark, and morbid, at times. There are times he does pull off a good funny piece. The one with the tank and "Kool Aid" strikes me as funny, especially if you remember those old commercials. Reading the "commentary", which is screwed up in some places; i.e. the wrong commentary for a given "strip", gives insight to the creative process. I'll give it a 5. Premise/Orginality: Well, this has it's originality questioned, I can't blame the questions. If done properly, with related clip art for the three different panels, then the orginality would score higher The premise of the strip would score higher if it had a continuing theme, which it does not. So a score of 4 and 4. Overall: It is not as bad as some reviewers have said, at least in my eyes. It has it moments and it even got a chuckle or two from me. So averaging the above scores I give it a 2.6 out of a possible 10. Review by Don M. Wed Oct 08 2003 04:57 PM

A review of PartiallyClips by Kajamir the Giant Ah, clip art. An entire comic of it no less. Is there an antithesis to the word, 'huzzah'? When I first saw this, I groaned in irritation. Having read the entire content of Get Your War On in a previous review, an abominable static clip art based comic that appears regularly in Rollingstone, I was not looking forward to this. Entering with a downward cast look, I found it wasn't as bad as the sensational tripe that was Get Your War On. However, it's still a clip art toon, and not really an impressive foundation to speak about. I'm afraid I have to disagree with Xenix about the potential of this medium. Seriously, how much can anyone say complimentary about this genre? It's very lazy looking (one would not think it could get worse than a sprite comic, but here we are), not at all interesting to behold, and from what I've seen so far, relies on black humor and/or attitude. You couldn't really tell a story from borrowed clip art like this, so you get an endless blast of dull images with snappy words tagged on. Not a huge selling point, particularly in the creativity department. While PartiallyClips is slightly better than the previous clip comic review, the very idea of it has little mileage beyond a quick smirk. Again, what is there to say? PartiallyClips uses a different clip art piece for each three panel comic and runs a black humor joke from it. So that alone, gives it the tiniest boost over Get Your War On. What we've got here is generally repetitive, but not half as monotonous as the comparitive piece. The jokes are alright, here and there. Like Luthorne says, there's a few moments of amusement to be found. However, some are just more sick than anything. Clip art featuring innocent happier scenes are made depressive and borderline vulgar by content. I would not mind that much if it was a concentrated effort to feature something like that as a theme, but PartiallyClips is a different animal each day, sometimes from the same species. So, there's no logic to anything. Just slap whatever on there and hope people give donations, eh? End result: better than Get Your War On. However, it's still rather inane and clip art comics are just not worthwhile experiences from what I can determine. Inspiration is bleak at best, and talent apparently can't show in something like this. Nor can I get over how incredibly slovenly this whole genre is. I guess if it gets the author some donations from people with a dollar burning a hole in their pocket, great. But if you're looking for something satisfying, don't make this detour. Drive the scenic route for another exit. I give PartiallyClips a 2 of 10 stars, due to the immense con vs pro nature of this medium. I probably won't bother to continue reading it. And preferably, no other webcomic that's clip art based. Or with this punny of a title. Review by Kajamir the Giant Wed Oct 08 2003 03:27 AM

Well, I obviously can't review this as I would an ordinary webcomic. The art is clip art, taken from other sources, there are no characters that last more than one strip, and the closest thing that ever happened to a story was when one of the strips referred to one of the previous ones in a poor attempt at humor involving breaking the fourth wall. So art, story, and characters would be all getting zero, zero, zero, since they don't have any. Some of the strips are perhaps amusing, but frankly, you can find good jokes elsewhere and get a storyline to go along with it. If you want a webcomic that may or may not entertain you, no message, and almost no irredeemable traits...tada. You've found your webcomic. For everyone else, though, I'll have to go with a 2/10 for being mildly amusing at times. Review by Luthorne Tue Oct 07 2003 10:35 AM

To begin with, this was not "Partially Clips", it was "Entirely Clips". It bears disturbing similarities to "Get Your War On" by David Rees. One is monotonously horrible and the other is horribly monotonous. While I have no real objections to clip-art work (other than the obvious plagiarism comment), some effort should at least be made to make the strip move. Everything, and I mean, everything in this piece was driven by the text. That isn't a good thing when the text itself falls flat time and time again. I had to stop reading after the fortieth strip, and only one of those was even remotely amusing. I can understand the appeal of an episodic clip-art comic. They have the potential to be quite entertaining, if executed with creativity and ingenuity. This piece of work, however, has neither. Text nearly worthy of the title 'drivel' is slapped onto bland and static art. Zero out of Ten. Do not click. Do not read. Do not bother. Review by Xenix Tue Oct 07 2003 09:16 AM

Visitor Reviews & Comments

PartiallyClips is one of the best web comics out there. The fact that there are no reoccurring charters or story lines makes this comic perfect for relaxing. The humor spans the spectrum from sublime to weird with an overall average that most people can identify with. The commentary is part of the comic and I consider it a must read. I disagree with the idea that creating artwork and having charters is required for a comic. The brilliance here is the writing. Some of you need to get a new grading scale. In fact great writing can make up for poor images, or no images, but great images never make up for poor writing. Review by Robert K Tue Feb 01 2005 01:02 PM

These reviewers are self-important assholes. Most comic art sucks to begin with, so who cares if Balder uses clip-art. It's a self imposed limitation that forces creativity. In fact, I'd say that is where the humor comes mostly from. Any decent comic writer can write something funny and draw a peice of shit picture to go with it. This guy stares at a pre-made picture and comes up with some crazy shit to go along with it. most of the time it's pure genious! Sometimes I don't laugh, but I bet the ones that make me tear up with laughter go over the heads of most. Humor is subjective, and this strip plays to my brand of it most of the time. Anyway, Balder, ignore the retards posing as critics. Your brain is awsome. Review by guy that CAN draw Thu Oct 30 2003 12:21 PM

Each day my morning routine involves Sluggy, PartiallyClips and Goats, in that order. Sure Clips has no story line or character development. It was never intended to. That's like complaining that a romantic movie doesn't have a car chase. The website is smooth and efficient. Like the comic, the page itself aspires to minimalism. I give this comic a 7 out of 10 only due to erratic updates. Review by MollyMock Fri Oct 17 2003 01:55 PM

You guys all suck. (except Eddie) PartiallyClips isn't a freakin' saga. It's a comic. It's short. It harkens back to, in a more electronic manner, the days of single-framed humor. Gary Larsen made a mint on just such things (and I daresay there's never a situation in your miserable life that can't be summed up by one of his quips). I think Mr. Balder's strip and style are great. Sure, the art's not drawn, but honestly, that's not the point. The point is the humor's not all about a toilet (although that which is, is often hilarious). The point is that the humor makes you think, much in the same way that the twist in Philip K. Dick novel grabs you at the end. Get a life, you condescenders. Two out of a possible ten? I suppose you could do better?! As for my own rating, let's just say that there's a tab on my shortcut bar that I use to check to see when the comic's been changed. It's the only such link on my browser. Rock on, Mr. Balder. Never mind the peanut gallery. Review by Scott Mon Oct 13 2003 11:48 PM

Partially Clips. I am going to put my cards on the table, and state right here I like this webcomic. Yes, some of the preceding comments have a point, but if you read the introductory pages, you will why Mr. Balder tried this approach. He fully admits he can't draw, but would still like to entertain in some way. I can empathise with that, and believe his humour has some merit. In response to Xenix I quote 'I had to stop reading after the fortieth strip'. Well Duh! I believe this comic is not about ploughing through strip after strip. Think of it more like a coffee table book that you can just dip into once in a while, and get a snigger, or a guffaw. I will admit, possibly not the best webcomic overall, but it is worthwhile for the author to continue. 7/10 I challenge anyone to read the strip with the drug test on a crane operator, and not laugh. Goddamn, I had to clean drool off my keyboard, I laughed so hard. You can't buy humour like that. P.s. It was drool. Review by Eddie Mon Oct 13 2003 01:32 PM

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