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This is a textbook example of why writers are an essential part of webcomics. I saw the first strip and I thought, "wow, this may be a really good webcomic, neat original art, the beginnings of what could be a cool story, lets check this out" unfortunately, I acted on that impulse, and to merely say that the other comics were not as good as the setup would do a disservice. The other comics WERE AWFUL! The art while still good could not begin to stem the immense failings of the writing.
The comic consists mainly of pop culture references and a story that simultaneously goes too fast and to slow, character development is muted at best, and jokes, either fail, or are incomprehensible.
Let me show you what I mean, the fifteenth comic Sarah Zero 015 - Ohhhh YEAAAHHHHHH!! features as the joke the kool-aid man jumping out of a wall near the street race two of the characters are participating in (why they are street racing, that i have no idea) why the kool-aid man pops out of the wall, no clue, it might have been funny the first time it was done this millennium, but Family guy did it, Penny-arcade did it. And for both of them, it at least made sense, and was moderately funny. Instead, here it is random, and pointless a pop culture reference, that is as empty and bland as the comic itself.
Now, can the use of pop culture references make a good comic? why, yes they can, on the kool-aid man angle, we look at one of the recent Applegeeks and see the exact same pop culture reference, however, here it works, as opposed to being tepid and dull. Applegeeks Issue 187 | Oh Yeah! a pop culture reference used to enhance a comic, rather than just exist.
now, back to Sarah Zero (although switching from Applegeeks to Sarah Zero is depressing) Sarah Zero gets just that recommendation from me, zero, while I did enjoy the art, this was a perfect case of the import of writing in a comic. If your comic doesn’t have an at least decent script, no amount of art will cover that flaw. |
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Tue Apr 19 2005 03:25 PM |
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art as has been said, i cant say that much about the art, i think however that the copy paste bit was very well done and added impact, although, the addition of voltron seemed somewhat stupid...
everything else this is a comic strip made by young liberals for young liberals. it's near sole focus is that of concerend college students, lukely for them, i am one of that group. however, the points were maide in a bit too offensive tone with them overusing certain words for emphasis. the points they made were not bad, but they were not made in a way to influence anyones ideas. i generally agreed with them, but it showed me also the big problem the liberal are facing. it comes off as if the liberals do not support the troops, and so, i think peces like "Get Your War On" my be more unhelpfull than not...
overall 5/10, very limited, but somewhat funny, worth it if you are a young liberal, otherwise, steer clear |
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Mon Jun 16 2003 06:24 AM |
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yes, i was able to find time to get a comic read and formulate a review. hopefully his wont be the last time...
ART:
not bad, not the best ive seen either, it was fairly clean and not very detailed, it (to me) slid a fine line between detail and general, and never really made up its mind, somewhat annoying in my opinion... given the stroy type, i wouldve perfered mroe detail...
STORY:
fairly baisic, with some neater newer elements. not bad, but nothing that really caught my eye either.
CAST:
they are there, and due to the shortness of this comic, none of them have been really fleshed out yet. so i have litte to say about them
OVERALL:
its just starting out. it needs work, but is'nt bad. i givve it...
2pi(6.283)/10 orange cattle |
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Sun Jun 15 2003 06:29 AM |
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when i read ozy and millie, i think back on the the day when i was 5 years old, and first found clavin ahd hobbes. i have always thought of calvin and hobbes as the best comic in the history of comics. re reading the old books, i still feel that deep connection swelling up inside of me, the land of imagination and greatness, with that being said, my revew will be very bias. so here goes.
art
clean and neat. very newspaper cartoonish. i like. no ambiguity about the characters, just clean and nice.
story
generally gag a day strips, but has the moderately long storylines. here it does have a definite watterston feel. even in the storyline strips, each comic holds its own.
cast
Ozy: similar in use to hobbes, the calming force in the duo, while also being an instigator sometimes. very neat character.
Millie: very similar to Calvin, the instegator, the rebel, the wierd one. i can see millie coming up with the idea of calvinball. at the same time, liek calvin, millie is very smart.
Stephan. a nerd, a geek, a dork, and proud of it.
Ozy's Dad: another interesting character. one of the best characters in the strip as a whole. i just like him for some reason
Ms. Mudd: very very much liek calvins mom. does the same things, acts the same way. even sometimes looks similar. but not in a copywright stealing way. just the average mom of a kid.
Timulty: a little kid. very innocent, and very, dare i say it, funny.
thats all i have time to do.
overall i really do enjoy reading every new strip of ozy and millie, the Zen references, the calvin and Hobbes simlaritys, it is a strip that seems made for me. and so i loath to give it anythign but a
10 out of 10 purple striped rocks. |
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Fri Mar 28 2003 05:35 PM |
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Cammander Kitty
a good if not very long webcomic
art
very clean and crisp. nor very realistic, but thats good in a webcomic, all in all very nice art.
story
so far it hasnt gone anywhere. i like it so for, i cant wait to see what happens later
cast
commander kitty
funny. stupid insane and high-larious. thats all i can say aobut him.
Mittens
my favorite member of the cast, mittens does all he can do and he always gets knocked on. a great character.
socks
okay, not really fleshed out yet, but okay
the rest of the crew
they havent yet gotten going so im not quite sure how they will turn out. we will see neh?
overall impressions
good but short. i woulldve liked to revew this comic in another month or two so i could get a few more strips read.
anyway, this so far looks to be a great webcomic and i rate it...
7 out of 10 sleeping lizards. |
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Fri Mar 21 2003 08:07 PM |
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Stubble
art
it was okay most of the time. bad some of the time, and great some of the time. like everything about this comic strip, the art fluctuated greatly. i can see a progression in style over the years, but it still fluctuates a lot.
story
im not a fan. sometimes it could be good and engaging, but usually, it seemed trite to me. the chartacters seemed so sorry for themselves i just wanted to hit them and tell them how good they had it. it got me even more angry when he would write the strip or two about dork and the sterotypical geeks knocking on them. i know there were only a few of them, but they really hit close to me. i got a baisic impression of white teenage angst. and that just ticks me off.
cast
there are a lot, so in the itrest of im lazy, i will choose 5 of them
Clint: good at everything he does, yet he feels sorry for himself. his mother own a well of resturant and he gets tuition free acceptance to a good university. his father is dead and i understand sorrow coming form that, but he doesnt realize how good he has it.
Shane: this is the only character (other than timmy, who everyone has seen irl) that i see in real life. the "nice goth" i like to call it. hes a nice guy it seems. thats i i can really say about him.
Josh: he came out of the blue recently, i dont remember him in many of the older strips he seems to be another self hating kid. and just in genral i dont like that. i would prefer a real problem than just being to shy to get a girlfriend.
Roland: i have trouble beleving that any high schooler is this obsessed about popularity. he said he had a good reason to hate clint, but he doesnt show it.
tim (not timmy): if there was a better way to seriously piss me off i dont know it. i think that the creator josh merman, never met anyone who would go into the sciences or engineering, so he made up someone. i know he is supposed to be baised on tim as an adult version. but chrissakes he ahd to make him an engineering major. one can even see the vein in my forhead throbbing when i read that.
little extra bits
every once and a while, mistead of one copy of the comic, 2-4 would load up, side by side or one on top of the other. it annoyed me to say the least.
final views
again i am not the one to be reviwing this strip. it gets me right under the skin, its these rich, lucky white kids who feel sorry for themselves. and that really gets me. however, regardless of that the strips could ve very good to very bad. clicking the next strip button was really a toss up. there were some strips that were great. others the exact opposite.
rating 4-10 loud invoices |
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Tue Mar 11 2003 10:21 AM |
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i didnt think i would get a chance to review romb, but i did get time to read it and so, here goes!
RULES OF MAKE BELEVE
art
superb. easily the best artistic comic i have seen in a while. although i am a big fan of the comic look, this was a nice change, sometimes the backgrounds were a bit too detaled however, but that has been mentioned
cast
this comic has not gone far enough to make =me have any opionons on the cast
story
it started slow, but once they got into the arcade, it picked up. the whole GF bit is verey neat and they make the entire GF system seem plausable (hell i would really like to play it)
overall
good. it needs development and may not be suitible for younger audences. the art is supereb, deserves to be in book form (when it is finished that is)
8.345678924357983 out of out of 10 white kangaroo |
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Thu Mar 06 2003 01:05 PM |
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in response to your query PC. no, he is not asian. he is big and black.
as to nowhere girl, i shall now make my review
art
the art of the first chapter was great. it had a dark feel that really fit. the blocks of color were a nice touch, the second chapter, i didnt like nearly as much art wise.
story
depressing for the first chapter. in general, the story was not very good in my mind as i am very cynical about things, however, this story was better than most of the feel sorry for the main character because she has problems storys,usually i felt a bit sorry for her where i would normally just be annoyed at the whining, (which i was a bit) however, most of this is just my reacion and lately ive been going through a depresased period, so dont take my word on it.
the second chapter semeed a bit apologetic. and also a bit unconnected, i never made the real jump from one to the other the gap was two large and i didnt see them as the same entity, but rather as completely different comics
cast
they didnt stick with me. i made no real connection with them.
overall
i am not the best to be reviewing this comic, because, quite frankly, i am not a fan esspessaly now, of the type. however, the art was great. the art in the first chapter really fit the story, however, it is just my naturer to want to yell at these people (not the artists and creators, but the cast) "GET OVER IT" maybe, later i will read and see much more in this webcomic...
7 out of 10 rabid donkeys |
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Mon Feb 24 2003 08:17 AM |
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as someone who goes to college park (University of Maryland (where this comic takes place)) regularly, i can tell you that the setting is right on the money.
Mac Hall
art
i loved it, i am a fan of the comic computer made look. the backgrounds were good, and made me say, "hey, i was right there on thursday!" the people were done well, and it was generally good all around. the art did not distract form the dialouge, and unlike shaw island, it was a big part of the strip.
story
usually one off strips, unconnected by a storyline. a few storylines, but not that many. the storylines that they did have are usually good. the contenunity is usually good. (i particualarlly like the computer science teacher strips)
cast
theres a lot fo them, so i will go down the list...
Drew he is a UM comp sci major. the UM comp sci department is evil. the CS advisors do their best to have NO students, i guess thats why UM is so highly rated in comp sci... anyway, the ones who remain are evil it seems.and drew definitely fits. i read him and i think steve!, thats STEVE!, (my friend in CS at UMD)
JM a nice philosopher character. he reminds me of a few other people i know. and that is what the greatest comics do. possibly one of my favorite characters. okay, thats all i have to say on that
ian i like the character. i dont have much to say on him however...
micah another character that i feel like i know. i see him and i think Marcus! the lazyness, the addiction to vidio games, the smoothness, everything.
matt again, i dont have much to say on him, i like the character however...
those are the main ones, so i will leave it at that.
overall so sometimes the updates are infrequent, but hey, all in all its a great comic. the art the story the setting, everything, i know im a bit biased because i live in maryland and i go to UMD often, but still, a great webcomic
9 out of 10 frestanding coffies |
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Sun Feb 16 2003 12:05 PM |
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Space Opera
well lets go down the list
art
i wasnt a fan of it, i am not a fan of most art where its hard to tell the sex of the people in it, this applies to a good deal of anime art. i thought the ferret (at least i think it was an anthro ferret) in particular was not well done the aliends with the plates were not very good either, that being said, there was ovious improvemnet over the length of the comic.
story
disinteresting usually, switched between fast and slow paced, and sometime very hard to follow. the action senes needed work, as many of them were all blab no action, and the talk scenes needed a bit more meat.
cast
uninspired, the thing about the alien on his nec and the good/evil fight just didnt cut it for me.
overall
it needs a lot of work, i can see how these two could create a neat webcomic, but, for me at least, space opera is not it, i realize i am a harsh critic, and i become harsher when it comes to science fiction, but i stand by my critique
3 out of 10 Funky Mech's
[edit] due to unintended offense, i changed the rating from its previous titile to funky mechs [/edit] |
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Sun Feb 09 2003 12:11 PM |
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well, it has taken me some time, but here comes my review, finally.
demonology 101 was good, but not my type of webcomic. i did enjoy the art, but the loading times were vile for a few of the episodes.
the story, i could follow and made sense most of the time, and the high school scenes, (not when they were talking about deamons, but when they were being everyday kids) i enjoyed as it did mesh with my experiences of high school.
the art was nice, and i likeed the watercolor look to it, although much of the cast looked similar.
so i think it was well done mostly. however, it is not what i look for in a webcomic. i want something that is a little more cartoony, and less serious, however, this comic was not directed towards me. it is great at what it does. unlike most webcomics of this genre, i could read it wihtout getting bored and annoyed.
i give this a 7 out of 10 squeaky toadstools
P.S. i really did enjoy the principal, one of the best all around characters i have ever seen. in fact, i think of him as more of a good guy than the rest. |
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Thu Feb 06 2003 12:31 PM |
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Shaw island
art nice and clean. very cartoony, but i think it fits with the syle of the entire strip. nice crisp lines and good inking. does not to mee seem like a copy of any particular style although it does seem influenced by cartoon strips in the paper.
lettering i have no beef with it, simple and easy to read.
plot a nice mix of a contenuing storyline and one off jokes. much like some of my favorite webcomics. of which i now count this as one.
cast i loved near every strip wiht the hamster king, the hamster mafia storyline was great, and the hamster delagate is greatly enjoyable, the crabs are also great with cortez being a wonderfull addition.
as to the humans, i found the stalker to be very irritating. although, i guess thats what he was there for... and i am not a fan of the two jims. gaming jesus is a nice little addition, although it seems a bit reminicent of the penny-arcade strips with jesus in it.
and the main three remain
zeb, i found a bit whiny. a little too much in fact. but he was not bad over all
ben was great. he is high-larious! one of hte best cast members in the strip.
sue is great for what she is. she is the peacemaker... somewhat... another good character
overall i was glad to be given a reason to re-read shaw island and it was quite good. this is one of the better webcomics out there. the little cameo of one of my favorite books "walking the path of piece" by thich naht hanh was one of those little things that draw the reader even further in. i rate this.
nine out of ten infinite series |
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Sun Jan 26 2003 11:10 AM |
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Shifters...
firts of all, i loved the artwork. it was excelent. that i will get out right off the bat.
one problem i had was the lettering however. at least on my screen it was a bit to small and was hard to make out.
the storyline did nt catch me very much and coupled with the hardness to read of the lettering i have to say it didnt hold me...
when i could follow the lettering the story i found a bit hard to follow...
however the art was great... if that was all i was looking for, this woud be an excelent cartoon... however, i am looking for slightly more...
i rate this a 2 stars out of five |
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Sun Jan 19 2003 12:10 PM |
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