Webcomic Book Club Full Reviews of 1/0 by Mason "Tailsteak" Williams

Art: at the start the art was very basic, and partly crud. no background no variation. But it developed and became better. indeed it is not as good as some but it grew to be visually intresting, with a large variety. Backgrounds developed and changed, details grew and were kept together. well done. Story: The story is half of what makes this comic shine. Its the development of a comic, from creation as charectors get added, to end when they all leave. It has a very definite start, (let their be light!) and end (let there be darkness!) It develops changes twists and turns. It creates new ideas which have never been used in comics before. A varying Fourth wall, direct interaction with other dimensions. very facinating to watch develop. Charectors: The other half. The charectors are wonderful from start to finish. They ponder their own existance, develop their own stories and attitudes. It's great to see the detail of the devlopment, as they literally fight with their own creator the comic artist, and debate even his ideas as he writes them. they have their own personalities and seem even to suprise the author at times. Page Style: Pretty plain. white background, nothing very viusal. the load up was annoying at times. and once in a while the whole site seemed to be down making it impossible for me to read the comics. nothing really grabbed my attention. Overall: 8/10 A good story, well designed and well finished. Slow at times, and some stories on religon got tedious, but still well developed. Review by Jordin The Learned Thu Oct 02 2003 12:29 AM

Visual: I was the one who recommended this comic, but I forgot about the art in the beginning. The beginning strips were very crude, but it improved a lot over time. The style of the strip is definitely "minimalist", without any extravagance. If it was a painting, I would be disappointed. But here, I find it pleasant. His style grew on me over time. Verbal: Of course, 1/0 isn't about the art; it's about the story. Again, it starts out crude, but improves drastically over time. It's mostly improvised, but that causes it to give the reader twists and turns that do not seem to come out of nowhere. Every discussion is important, and nothing is forgotten in the long run. The end left me left with wanting more, but with no clue on how to continue it. It seems my favorite stories are always like that. Trimmings: During it's run, the Keenspace site had some of the standard extras; links to other comics, a page for fanart, and FAQ. Tailsteak also had some unusual extra's, such as contests, self-made flash games, an IAQ (Infrequently Asked Questions) and his Incoherent Ramblings. Some have fallen into disrepair, which is a shame. The site itself is also minimalist, with very little sprucing up. All together, it has a nice cohesive feeling to it. Grade: A Review by Taua Boswell Sat Sep 27 2003 11:59 PM

1/0 was definitely an experience. I'm not so sure it makes a good webcomic, but it was a good read. Art: There isn't much to say about the art of 1/0. It's pretty crude to start off with, and stays that way for a while. It does eventually improve, but it remains pretty basic-the point is not to impress with the drawing, but the writing. I can respect that to an extent, but I would have liked to see more of an improvement by the end. Characters: This department starts off pretty bare-the first character is stolen, and the next three made by a device taken straight from the Bible. At first, it's rather silly. But as the comic progresses, the characters start to become serious...and then introspective without being angst-ridden, as they explore the space along with the meaning of who they are. That's probably the best feature of 1/0, in my opinion. Story: There is a progression to 1/0-it's certainly not a gag-a-day strip. But there aren't any separate plot arcs-things don't return to normal, because everything is continuous. Nothing is put by the wayside...it just isn't seen for a short time. Writing: At first, the writing for 1/0 is at the same level as the art. Or it seems to be, at least. But it picks up much faster, and it was the reason I kept reading. I wasn't sure where 1/0 would end up, but I wanted to find out. While I was wary of the creator speaking with his creations, I thought it was handled very well. They have a deity of sorts in Tailsteak...but a flawed one, and who won't try to hide it. While he is 'toying' with them, to an extend, he also sees the characters as living creatures. He doesn't manipulate them to make something happen, but lets it come out of their own interactions. Of course, he writes their reactions as well, but I think he did a fine job of it. The meditations on character, and fourth wall interactions, were also a high point of the writing. Some of the arguments about whether Tailsteak was a creator or a god were quite interesting...and I was glad that the 'truth' didn't come out immediately. It would have been too easy and unsatisfying, to me. While some of the characters could be long-winded, I was rarely bored, and kept on reading. Overall: I was quite pleased with 1/0, though I thought it had a rather slow start-both for the story, and the load times. The ending also gave me mixed feelings...the closer was good, but also forced. I give it 8 out of 10, and hope others take a look. Review by Benor Sat Sep 27 2003 11:08 PM

I'll be brief: I've found 1/0 to be more like a good book than a webcomic; that is I'll keep it bookmarked when I'm finished and go back to read the whole thing again some day. That's VERY high praise: 9/10 Review by Deized Wed Sep 24 2003 11:36 PM

A review of 1/0 by Kajamir the Giant Thanks to the provided mirror site, I was able to view this rather interesting piece of work. What begins as a crudely drawn comic about nothing in particular becomes an engaging look into just about everything one can think of, albeit still crudely drawn. 1/0 is a beautifully cerebral webcomic, intellectual and creatively involving. As a self reflective creation, this is what Checkerboard Nightmare should've been. 1/0 is a success in my eyes. Whether it was an experiment or truly some strange effort to get girls, it was a long enjoyable journey. Despite a slow beginning, which I thought wasn't as uncertain as the others have mention, we see the beginnings of something great. Steadily, a sparse world is created by Tailsteak the author, wherein he speaks to the little inhabitants he creates. He talks to them and we watch as their world is manifested in a way one might look upon a god. The people gain higher sentience while the land grows grass and later, develops rain. For both man and god, it is a growing experience. There isn't so much a single plotline as a setting where these little people live and develop. We watch them create a structure, life, inter-relations, feel love/hate, and later, debate the existence of god and their own fates. This is immense stuff. While some parts of fairly dry as the strip grows very exposition heavy or even trite in some places (the 600-700 strips didn't enthuse me much) the total intellectual nature of 1/0 as a whole is immense. A genius work even. This is no mere webcomic. This is like a highly involved Maxis series game. This would be SimExistence. I'm simply impressed with the breadth and depth of 1/0. It's hardly perfect but it's incredible for what little it appears to be. The end is a real kicker too, one I dare not reveal and should not be jumped to early. 1/0 is simply a comic I can't begin to praise enough for it's cleverness. If there's anything wrong with 1/0, it's the author's interjected heavy handed of opinions, sometimes very biased or ill informed. However, this is tempered by the possibility of simply showing that while he was a god to his creations, he too was very imperfect and possibly unmoral as well. As such, 1/0 can be looked upon as a very neutral but well expressed creation. I highly commend 1/0. It's interesting, it's smart, and it's clever. I give 1/0 a 9 of 10 stars. I could only wish... well, you'll just have to read it to know what I mean. I recommend you too, begin the 1/0 journey. For anyone looking to write, this webcomic really should be experienced. Review by Kajamir the Giant Tue Sep 23 2003 11:55 PM

This is one of those webcomics that I had seen before and even poked my nose into once or twice. I didn't stay with it, though. Reading through from beginning to end was a curious experience, though. Now, then... 1/0 is a story, first and foremost, but it was a tad unique in that it truly does explore self-referentiality. The story starts off in a rather, to put it bluntly, stupid manner, and the artwork is of about the same quality. The latter improves, but not by enormous margins. I won't hold that against 1/0, though. There are times when the art doesn't matter as much as the story, and this is one of those times. It could have stood to be better, but that would merely be icing on the cake. The former, however, grows. I feel that this webcomic is a superb study in self-reference. Why? Because the more of it that there is, the more complex/defined/undefined/etc it becomes. It has actually become something by the very last strip, although exactly what it has become is up for debate. The change is clearly noticeable over time, however, and any stops and starts are to be expected from any being developing itself from the ground up. **Beware the Spoilers of Doom*** The internal plot is curious and waxes and wanes as far as how interesting or entertaining it might be. A few of the arcs piqued my interest, especially the rather large one starting with Marcus fourth-walling. I didn't catch the little 4s the first time around and had to back-up a few strips when they were mentioned by another character. The climax was intriguing, although not entirely unexpected. The reasons for its conception are equally intriguing and just as semi-expected. One strip shortly after the aforementioned climax, really stuck with me. The characters... Ah, yes, the characters. Two were stolen, three were 'Eden'ed in, one was spontaneously created, three were born from the death of another, and four were built from the environment. All had personalities, of a sort, and many of them grew and changed as the strip went on. Maybe not the deepest of characters, but then, maybe they're deeper than most other webcomic characters, in some ways. I like them, at least. To repeat myself, an excellent study in self-reference, a story without compare (for, truly, you cannot really compare a story to anything besides itself), and an experience that I feel I am all the richer for having had. Grab a link, settle yourself in for some bumpy sections, and remember that it is not where you get, but how you get there that matters. Eight and a Half out of Ten. Review by Xenix Mon Sep 22 2003 06:31 PM

Art: The art in 1/0 is not the world's most impressive, not by a long shot. Shading is, for the most part, nil, the characters drawn simplistically, as is the scenery. Overall, definitely below average stuff, in my opinion. Characters: Well, these aren't the most complex people you'll see around the place, at least at first. They eventually wind up being themselves after awhile, but, overall, this isn't the most original bunch of characters I've ever seen. Story: The story is...different. Hard to say if that's a good thing or a bad thing. At the beginning of the comic, the storyline is pretty much nonexistent. Just your usual, barely funny junk. However, after awhile...the story solidifies. This webcomic has a beginning and an end, and I get the impression that the artist had little to no idea what it was going to turn into at the beginning. Yet as the characters break out of their molds, blackmail the artist, and develop fourth walls...the whole thing turns into a rather philisophical piece. Overall: When I first started reading this, I must admit that I was wondering why anyone would recommend this webcomic. It seemed below average, unoriginal, and not really worth my time. Yet, as I read on, more out of a sense of obligation to do a good review than any real interest, I found that it was becoming something...more. The relationship between the author and his characters wasn't exactly unique at first...but then, when one of the characters developed a fourth wall...it suddenly became more interesting. It goes on from there...changing from below average to something that I believe to be truly original. At the beginning, the artist might not have known what he was doing, but when it hit it's stride, I found myself impressed. Overall, if you can get past the unoriginal beginning segment, and start getting into the meat of this webcomic...it's certainly worth a read. 7/10 Review by Luthorne Mon Sep 22 2003 12:26 AM

Offsite Review Summaries

"The comic is characterized by a general lack of a fourth wall — most of the characters are fully aware that they are fictional, and indeed frequently converse with Tailsteak himself. To a greater degree than most works of fiction which lack fourth walls, 1/0 explores the nature of fictionality itself. Characters create other characters, and even create their own miniature works of fiction, about which they have debates on such matters as whether it is immoral to inflict harm upon their own, meta-fictional characters." more... Read Full Review by Wikipedia contributors at Wikipedia Fri Nov 12 2004

"While it begins haphazardly with the sole goal of having a comic-- indeed, it is a comic about making a comic whose only purpose is to be a comic-- it eventually grew far past this, to a transcendent metaphysical discussion of fiction and realities." more... Read Full Review by Mike Meginnis at The Webcomics Examiner Mon Jun 14 2004

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