Reviews by Salen Stormwing

"Welcome to another week of Salen's Comic Review. This week, we fight our way through hordes of monsters, in the hopes of EXP, GIL, and ITEMS! Yes, this week is RPG World Comic!"

"So, what is it about this comic that makes it what it is? Well, like a LOT of webcomics, RPG World is all about taking roleplaying games you might have played on the Playstation or other console systems, and decided to parody those games in the form of a web comic. Because a LOT of comics do this, some of them are good, and a lot of them aren't so good. So what about RPG World? Lets take a look."

Artwork: "Like I've said before, art can make or break a comic. In RPG World, the art is somewhat influenced by anime. The art is very clean, with very distinct lines, and while perhaps not the most technically minded artwork seen in the comic, the fact it remains fairly consistant is a bonus. It does evolve somewhat from the beginning, but mostly these changes seem to only improve the look of the comic, while still looking 'correct' to the style."

"But, that doesn't explain everything about the comic. The comic plays up the fact that its a 'video game' RPG called "RPG World", and so it comes with its own menus, damage counters, save crystals, Save Point messages, and all of these really help to make you feel your watching a video game being played and not really reading a comic per say. Either way, you get a distinct video game feel while reading the comic."

Characters: "Whats an RPG game without characters? And here, you have quite a few. All the characters in the comic seem to be well developed and while you might not see it to begin with, they all do. Some are following along for various reasons, just as are the bad guys and even some of the NPCs (Non-Player Characters). No real worry here about confusing character X with character Y either. The characters all have their own appearance and never seem to conflict with any others."

"Ok, not all the characters are developed. Like some RPGs, a few characters are just around to say one or two things and thats about it. Like the "Sigh. Times are tough." bar-goer. Suprisingly, the humor seems to flow pretty easily between characters. And thats probably what makes this comic enjoyable is the interactions, along with the humor."

Writing & Plot: "The plot, well, is based on your typical RPG game. Therefore its not exactly the most logical of plots but since this is a comic based on making the reader thing someone is playing a game called 'RPG World', it makes sense that it does the same as other RPGs."

"As for the Writing, its pretty good. Its got a good sense of humor, and while not bust out laughing every day, it is quite humorous. Combine that with Real Life breaks taken by the 'player' of the game, and you get even more humor. Humorous, hell yeah."

Overall: "I really like this comic, since its one of my 67 web comics I always read. You really can't go wrong with this, if you like Roleplaying games, or just video game humor. If you like Adventurers!, you'll most definantly like this comic. And if you like this comic, you'll probably like Adventurers! as well.

Plus the artists have done an occasional cross-over comic between the two, so you may want to read both just to enjoy it even more."

"So, if your looking for a good comic that mocks roleplaying video games, while still being funny, and true to its source, you should read this comic! If nothing else, there are some really cool filler comics at times, such as the Halloween comics, where the cast of RPGWorld dress up like different video game characters. The only way this comic could really be more enjoyable is if it was more than 3 days a week."

Score: 9.5 out of 10

Fri May 21 2004 01:14 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Another week, another comic. And this week we have Diesel Sweeties, a comic about robots, humans, and mostly about sex jokes. At least the first 200 comics are about that. And frankly, I'm pretty sure the other 750+ comics are the same."

"So, based on the fact that I stopped reading the comic after comic #200... I should probably mention the general basis for the comic. Its about a robot named Clango, and his relationship with folks around him. And his 'relationships' as well."

Art: "A comic lives or dies by its art, usually. The problem with Diesel Sweeties is that its ALL done in sprites. Ok. I know that sprite comics can be QUITE good. Comics like Kid Radd and 8-Bit Theater prove sprite comics can be good. The problem here is instead of taking the Sprite medium and innovating it, it instead suffers and lags in the dulldroms of Sprites."

"Or put simply, if you want a comic that will bore you with its less than inspiring spritework, then man you've found the comic made for you."

Characters: "Other than Clango, and perhaps the killer red robot, all the other characters just seem to be... there. The only real motivations for any of them seems to be telling painfully boring jokes, or even worst, alluding to sex to a point of almost excess. Really."

"And thats probably why I like Red Robot #C-63. The motivation of "KILL THE HU-MANS!" is actually a nice break from the standard jokes on sex. *sigh* Other than him though, I just couldn't get really attached to any of the characters."

Writing & Plot: "First off, there is no plot. Not that I saw. Its more like a 'joke of the day' comic, where if a comic does relate to another, its more just a tiny story arch. So if you expect a ton of development from huge moving stories... MAN, have you picked the wrong comic."

"As for the writing... Uh... Ok. Honestly, its not that great. I mean, how many times MUST someone write a joke about having sexual relations with a robot? Or just sexual relations in general?"

Overall: "The jokes just get really, it gets really... really... absolutely old after a while. Combine that with characters I don't care about, and with an artistic flare that will leave you yawning for more, and you have Diesel Sweeties. I know it sounds harsh, but at this point, I want to DESTROY THE HU-MAN responsible for this comic. Not really, but it sounded about right though."

"So thats why I stopped at comic #200. It wasn't getting any better. It wasn't even giving me a single reason to enjoy the comic. Nothing jumped out at me and said "Care for me, because I'm really a cool comic under this horrible sprite exterior." I'm sorry, but even a killer red robot isn't enough for this ferret."

Score: 1.5 out of 10 (just because of C-63 made the comic less painful than it was)

Note: "Really, read Kid Radd and 8-Bit Theater if you want a good sprite comic. It'll save you a lot of headaches."

Mon May 10 2004 09:18 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Back from a 4 week tour of busy, busy work, Salen reviews... Buttlord GT! Can the Super Mustelidan survive this comic, or will the universe be destroyed?!?"

"Well folks, its review time, and this week is Buttlord GT. Its the web comic that parodies potentially one of the worst* anime series of all times, Dragon Ball Z. So, how does Buttlord GT compare with the original DBZ?"

"To be truthful, its painful to read. In other words its just like watching DBZ. The only big difference is the potentially excessive use** of the words butt, balls, ass, and at least 3 dozen various crude words. Really, the comic reads a kid wrote down all the 'cool' words he could think of while writing his own DBZ comic. Suprisingly, the comic is still about as intelligent as the original DBZ episodes. Then again, thats not saying much."

Art: "Ah, the thing that hits the viewer first and foremost when they look at a comic. The art is a parody of the original DBZ anime style, although much less refined when compared to the typical anime style of DBZ. Still, at least its recognizable as mimicing DBZ's over-the-top style of fighting. Still, it could have been better though, but eh, you can't have everything."

Characters: "All the characters in the comic are just parodies of DBZ characters, although most have been modified to be more crude in general. Really, its pretty sad. "

Writing & Plot: "This section is gunna be hard to write, because the plot is sort of taken from a section of DBZ, and then heavily modified to help make the comic as crude as possible. And the writing isn't much better. Sure, some of the words are misspelled on purpose, but some look like they were misspelled on accident, only lending an air of 'amateurism'. In otherwords, don't expect much more than crude jokes, situations, and things of that ilk."

"About the only thing it does well is parody Dragon Ball Z very well. So in that respect, it is pretty entertaining, but thats about it. This is good if you hate DBZ to begin with, but to someone who's never been tortured at seeing the show, this comic is gunna get dragged over the coals."

Overall: "Even as bad as this comic is, its still probably more enjoyable than the original DBZ episodes. Still, that fact alone can't save the comic from being just generally bad. Anyone having not seen DBZ is gunna probably be turned off at the comic."

"If you REALLY need a parody of DBZ to read, why not read Elf Only Inn, where you can see Goku666 power up to 5.9720197 million bazillionth level and blow things up. Or something like that anyways."

Score: 3 out of 10 (only because I hate DBZ that much)

* I lied. Dragon Ball Z is the worst anime of all time. I was just trying to be nice. Because in theory, there might be a series even worst than DBZ. In theory anyways.

** I lied again. It's really excessive.

PS: Sorry about the lack of reviews from me Pitch. Work got hectic and stuff. But woo! I'm back!

Tue May 04 2004 02:35 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Ooooh! Its that time again! Its time to play some of our old 8-bit ROMs, and review 'Kid Radd', a Sprite comic that isn't a sprite comic."

"Ok, Kid Radd is the comic about an 8-bit character named Radd, and his 'life' inside the game, Kid Radd, and later his life outside the game when he's freed from the ROM. Got all that so far? Good, because from there, it goes on an interesting ride of action and adventure as our hero tries to survive, explore new video games, fight unskilled ninjas, meet computer viruses, and a bunch of other things that are totally trippy."

Artwork: "Sure, it may only be made of sprites, but there's a lot of love that's gone into making the assorted sprites. Except for a few sprite images that were imported into the comic to give it a nostalgia feel such as some of the items and monsters from Super Mario Brothers, everything is done by the comic's creator."

"Some of the characters you can see the influence from. The crazy Dr. Amp has a definant 'Dr. Wily' feel to him, even if only in they seem to ride around in hover vehicles. Still, the characters a pleasure to see. Its pretty easy to tell the main characters apart from each other. No one really looks the same (unless they're standing next to a copy of themselves or happen to be one of the MANY similiar sprite monsters from a particular game)."

"Also, the addition of movement in the comic makes this comic groove quite well. It really makes the comic look a bit different than other comics that add animation to their comics. In Kid Radd, the animation really does help grab your attention and BLAST you with a Mega Radd blast that'll have you seeing stars. Ok, some of the animated backgrounds were hard to stare at, like the Tetris-like blocks that flickered. Oh man, those things were giving me a headache. Dizzy."

"Still, even with that, it totally rocks, artistically, and for a comic using Sprites, thats hard to do. Plus, I've never seen a sprite comic ever use the 'Matrix' 360-spinning pan-shot before, and I have to say that was a SUPER cool effect.

Dooka."

Characters: "The characters in the game are varied, and all seem to have their own ideas and thoughts to deal with. Sure, some of those characters are just following their coded programming, but all of the characters have some sort of motivation."

"Its really different to see a sprite character contemplating life and fighting and existance. And its probably a good change too."

Plot & Writing "Without a good plot, most sprite comics flounder and die. This one doesn't, as its powered by a story of Radd and his friends as they go through quite unusual situations. And without writing, such a plot would flounder. This doesn't happen because of wonderful comedic moments which help the comic make you laugh as well as possibly dumbfound you in its obsurdness. Its funny funny stuff with a good compelling story. The comic just makes you want to know what's next, and usually that is answered with something that will just make you laugh."

"Expect a lot of 80s jokes, and Sprite game jokes, and video game jokes, and internet jokes, and... well, a lot of jokes. But its all good!"

Overall: "After the first 20 comics, I had ALREADY added this to my MUST READ comic list. Yes, this comic now is comic 65 in my list of comics I read. The humor is top notched, the story great, the characters memorable, the villians silly, the animation extraordianry... If you like comics in the least bit, then you should probably give this comic a good look."

"Really, this has to be my new all-time fav sprite comic for the simple fact that isn't really a sprite comic at all (and its exceptionally great). Its a comic with its own sprites, and a great sense of humor. Yes, I even rate this comic higher than the almighty 8-Bit Theater. 8-Bit Theater is good, but there's something very refreshing about Kid Radd that I love. Maybe its the humor, or the animation, or just the whole concept. But its a comic you should be reading. No... really. I mean now. You... Reader... Go... Read Comic..."

Score: 8-Bits out of 8-Bits (or 10 out of 10 for the non-video game players out there)

Tue Mar 30 2004 09:57 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"This week, Salen gets to review a comic about God, sort of, and also ponders other things. This week is 'Nearly Forgotten'. Its the comic that I'm trying to figure out. So lets go straight into the review."

"When is a comic not a comic? Well, this is probably as close to Not-A-Comic as comics can get. Why? I'll discuss that in a bit. First, the comic is about God coming down to Earth and deciding to spend time as a human. Or its just a deeply introspective crazy guy with a camera. Take your pick."

Artwork: "Uh, dook? There is no artwork, only Zuul... err.. I mean photographs. Yes, the comic is told by real-life photographs, arranged in such a way that you have to scroll around the whole screen to get to other parts of it."

"Needless to say, its not really a comic in that sense and its annoying how you have to move around the comic when you do. And did I mention the overly painful use of repeating pictures? Uh..."

Characters: "Everything passes through this comic like a stranger on the street. You meet someone, and then they're gone, except for that narrator, who like I said, is either God, or a crazy person who likes to ponder things a bit too much."

Writing & Plot: "There is no plot... only another bad joke about there being a person wandering around aimlessly while trying to think deep thoughts. I wasn't really awed by any of those deep thoughts. I was more awed by how painful trying to get to different parts of the comic was, because of the layout. Its hard to enjoy the flow of the writing when you have to scroll around to the next part to think more deeply on other thoughts, while inwardly cursing at having to move around the layout."

Overall: "Uh, this isn't a comic. Not to me anyways. I'm sure to someone else it might. But to me, this is a piece of Art. Art is meant to be experienced. I know that because that's what my Abstract art teacher seemed to believe, or something like that. Needless to say, this isn't really a comic. Comics should be... drawn. I don't care if it was badly drawn with a pencil and on lined paper, as long as it was drawn... I'd have no problem with the comic being what it is. This doesn't seem like a comic to me."

"Even as Art though, I'm not really compelled by it. So, anyways, I'm sure if your curious about this not-a-comic, then check it out. Just don't expect a lot from the comic."

Score: 1 out of 10.

Sun Mar 28 2004 11:36 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Welcome to Salen Writes a Previously Missed Comic Review. This time the comic is... 'When I Am King'. Its a short comic that covers the problems of 1 King, and 2 days of hectic, bizzare, and somewhat offensive nature."

"Ok, so we have a comic about a King, and some of the characters he runs into during the 2 days of 'problems'. The problems consist of having his loin cloth eaten by a camel and his crown lost, and not being able to prove to his guards who he is. And then he goes on a quest (not really but it sounds better than saying he goes into town) to get some new underwear."

Art: "This isn't quite a sprite comic. The reason its not is it doesn't utilize sprites, per say, but does utilize a lot of prerendered elements in somewhat of a similiar fashion as you'd see in a sprite comic. On the plus side, it is clean, and also there's a lot of other stuff done to spice up the artwork, such as movement. Thats a plus."

Characters: "There really aren't that many. There's the King, the two guards, a camel, five children, a shopkeep that looks like Elvis, two ladies, and a bunch of bees and flowers. None are really explored into in much detail, since no one actually 'talks' in the comic as much as just has speech bubbles you might sort of expect from The Sims."

"Then again, this comic seems not so much as to be worried about character developement as just being silly and crude."

Plot & Writing: "Like I said, its the story about a king trying to get back to his home, and hopefully get some clothes while he's at it. Otherwise, the plot isn't what you'd call involved."

"Writing though, well, tends to go from being Silly, to being 'Crude', and then doing both at the same time. Really. Thats it. Personally, while the humor was there, sometimes I just really felt the crudeness was just there to try and spice up the comic. I didn't really care for the crude humor. Yeah, it was sort of funny, to begin with, but it just seemed to drag on after a while. But I guess you're gunna have moments like that when a comic is mostly revolving around a king without any clothes on."

Overall: "I guess I should say... I didn't particularly care for the comic. The good news is it was short. The bad news is that the vulgar-ish humor just really didn't do anything for me, after a while. It was nice to see the whole comic through, but I really couldn't say I'd wanna read it again. And I really wouldn't recommend this to anyone either. Its ok. But just."

Score: 5 Bees out of 10 Flowers (Mostly because the comic was nice and short).

Sun Mar 28 2004 11:11 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"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.

Fri Mar 05 2004 08:12 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Another week, another comic, as reviewed by Salen Stormwing. This week, Catharsis. A loving story about a girl, her pet dragon, and a squirrel with a bad attitude."

"Catharsis isn't very serious, nor does it handle hard hitting issues. It's actually probably a lot closer to the sort of comic you might expect to read in your local newspaper. You don't have to really start from the beginning to enjoy the comic, but it doesn't hurt either."

Artwork: "While the artwork starts off fairly plain in the beginning, it does change some as the comic continues, and with the addition of color, its not a huge leap forward but it doesn't really hurt either. Plus, colors are nice to see, if just because it lets you see things in colors. Yeah, that'll indepth reviewing at its finest." Salen facepalms and sighs.

Characters: "Well, lets see, you have Gwen, who's your not-so typical working girl, with a tomgirl 8-year old alter-ego. Weee. Then you have Rremly, who's her dragon, but to everyone else he looks like a dog. Did I mention he's not exactly the smartest egg in the nest. And then you have Baxter, a squirrel who ends up being the cause of many problems for Gwen, or maybe just one really large headache."

"Then there are dust bunnies, cute guys, and work, and other things like that. If you've read the Sunday comics page, you'll probably have an idea on the interactions that happen."

Writing & Plot: "Remember what I said about typical Sunday comic interaction? Thats about the same here. I guess I'm not sure how to really explain it. There are a few things that do follow a plot arch, every now and then. I found it entertaining though, but then again, I read 50+ comics a day, I'm not exactly picky about what I read."

Overall: "Don't ask me why, but I like this comic. Its cute. Its not very serious. And I find it entertaining. I guess in the end, you should read the comic for yourself, and see if you enjoy the light humor. If you don't, there are plenty of serious comics for which you could read."

Score: 7 3/4 Wild Cherries out of 10.

PS: Sorry this review is so short. I don't feel well currently. x_x I'll do better next week.

Sun Feb 29 2004 09:37 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"This week on Salen Reviews Too Many Comics, our favorite ferret takes on Unicorn Jelly in a fight that's straight out of Dragon Warrior! Ok, maybe not."

"Either way, this week's comic, Unicorn Jelly was sort of a suprise for me. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from it. Ok, I had a hunch it was probably going to be something fantasy based sort of like out of a Dragon Warrior video game. Mostly thats because there are Slimes and Jellies in DW, and well... it seemed like a good guess. But what I got was a much larger story of survival from a doomed world, and other stuff too."

Artwork: "Artwork can make or break a comic. The art itself isn't very impressive. Hmm. No. Let me revise that. The character art isn't very impressive. The large background scenes with ships, and cities, and world plates and what not... now those are impressive. Especially since the artwork is done in a rather basic mouse drawn style."

"The character designs though, they really don't help the story much. The slimes and jellies are cute, but the human designs... its just something thats sort of brings the overall enjoyment of the comic down. Usually there is enough to tell one character apart from another, but some times its still a pain to say "Who's that supposed to be?"."

"One of the good things though is the artist does do some motion based comics. And those are pretty nifty, since they sort of give you an idea of how cool the scene is. Sometimes it's used very subtle like, in the margins, where little crystals sparkle to show that they're being used as fuel. These moving comics tended to jump out a lot more than the rest of the comic, and really put a bit of spark into it."

Characters: "Now, if the art was hit-or-miss, adding this to a hit-or-miss set of characters. Most of the main ones seem to be ok and you can tell them apart from others, but sometimes the sheer volumn of characters in the comic who are only around once in a while really drags down the story. Its almost like reading a Robert Jordan book, where you get a TON of characters thrown at you, and you have to figure out who they are."

"Chou stands out as probably one of the most interesting and recognizable of the characters, mostly because she speaks in a different 'font' than everyone else, in a very analytical style. Its probably a good thing its easy to recognize her, since she plays such a large role in the comic."

"And Uni, the unicorn jelly... You know, I really started to wonder what happened to him after I noticed he was just gone from the comic. Considering up to that point, the jelly was pretty much around all the time, it just seemed weird for him not to be there. And the story never really tells you WHAT happened to him, only suggests what might have happened."

"But... really, while all the characters were talking about this or that, I really just couldn't get into what was going on too much. The characters were ok, but I just couldn't seem to find a way to come out and say "I'm worried about these characters." I wanted to try and feel something of concern about the characters, but all that I ever did was hit the NEXT button in the hopes that something might distract me from how indifferent I felt for most of the characters."

Writing & Plot: "The writing and plot though, are much larger than the art would let on. What seems like a small story is a huge story of doom and survival. And there's a LOT of information on the world, how things work, designs, and just a multitude of other widgets and whatnot. And if the comic was a psuedo-science book, it would be required reading for the folks who live in that world, but unfortunately, technical insight doesn't really make for the greatest for dramatic writing. Don't get me wrong, you're showered with info at points, but I just can't say I understood much of it, nor how it all related to what I was seeing."

Overall: "Call me easily confused, but I guess reading a comic should be less of about learning technical stuff, and more about enjoying the characters and their actions. Unfortunately, I just couldn't seem to do that with this comic. Maybe I just didn't have the desire to really enjoy the comic. Or maybe it was just too much info in too little of a time. At over 600 comics, it can be quite a feet to read it all in the span of a day."

"Is the comic worth a look at for someone new? Maybe. I'd probably suggest reading it 50 comics at a time. Read the first 50 comics. Does the comic have your interest? Yes? Read 50 more tomorrow. No? Go find another comic out there. If you want fantasy-based comic, go read Mixed Myth. Want a good space-based comic, go read Freefall."

"Don't think that the comic isn't worth at least a small looksee though. Hey, you might like it. Anything is possible. But its not something I really enjoyed. But at least it was had some neat dramatic background scenes in some shots. That has to count for something."

Score: 5.5 cute jellies out of 10.

Tue Feb 17 2004 07:17 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Ah, lets see... its another week, another comic for Salen to review. This week we have The Morning Improv, where one comic artist takes on wierd or witty or totally random titles from his fellow forumites and makes a comic based on it."

"To say that this comic's different comics random is calling the ocean sort of deep. Its just all over the place. One day you may have something rather short, another, you have a really long comic about a walrus. Its just sort of bizarre. But thats probably because it is an improv style comic."

Artwork: "Well, considering the myriad of different art styles used by the myriad of different strips, its hard not to say that the artist isn't working overtime. I mean, that many different styles of art has to have some skill behind it. BUT, there is a lot of use of repeating elements in some of the comics. But thats about the worst I could fault the comic for."

Characters: "This is one of those comics where you don't really need to know the characters, or more likely, your never really given a need to know them. They're usually just there, in that one comic, and you might see one pop up in the background later on in another. I think I liked the polygon personally. Although I think the bucket of kittens probably scaries me the most."

Writing & Plot: "Writing, in an improv comic? Well, the writing is way out there, and the plot seems to almost non-existant really, except for a few comics which actually try to have some sort of continuation. Otherwise, the writing for each strip is about all you deal with."

"To summize the plot and writing... Most of the comics hurt my head. A few are pretty funny, but I think partaking of large quantities of alcohol might make understanding it easier."

Overall: "While it can be sort of funny at times, or just bizarrely weird, I just couldn't see going back to reading this comic maybe more than once a year. Its different. Its got a lot of artistic talent behind it, but I just don't like it. Yeah. Thats probably my fault. Maybe its just that the comic just is too random for my own good. I like the comedic elements in it, but I don't really care to read all the other random elements just to get to the few shiny comedy moments."

"On the plus side, it only took me about a half hour to get through the archive, on a high speed connection."

Score: 5 Buckets of Kittens out of 10.

Mon Feb 09 2004 03:11 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

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.

Tue Feb 03 2004 04:49 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Tada... its another comic, another week, and this ferret's done all his work, so lets get to this week's comic, Flipside!"

"In the beginning, it was a comic, in a fantasy world. And in this fantasy world was Maytag, a girl, not the company. But, then it gets sort of complicated, with mages, assassins, magic, and manga influenced art. Add into that a story of revenge, and other stuff... and well... I have no clue what to write next. So off to the next section..."

Artwork: "Art, thats what makes or breaks some comics, and this time, Flipside is manga-influenced. You can see it in the character designs and how some of the pages are set up and what not. The problem is the artist isn't quite as sure about what to do as you'd really hope. Things change somewhat, odd angles are used, or a scene just doesn't come together as well as you'd hope. It does improve over time. By Chapter 25, there's a lot better laying out of scenes and shots, but first you have to get through Chapters 1 through 24. Main problem with the art is just the stiffness of the characters in general, during the first 8 chapters."

Characters: "There are quite a few characters. Maytag is the center, but you still have a few characters who get quite a bit of screen time. One of the problems though is your never quite sure why a character acts a certain way (if it weren't for the little footnotes occasionally under each page) or if you do find out, it can sometimes be a VERY long time to get that information. Till then, your just sort of left hanging. And to date, I'm still not exactly whats up with Maytag or why her personality changes all the time. Maybe thats just one of those mysteries we haven't uncovered yet."

Writing: "Its ok. Its nothing I'd really write home about though. Then again, I couldn't write my way out of a wet paper bag. But overall, I guess this is probably the thing that doesn't work quite so well for Flipside. Its a decent comic, but sometimes I just wish it would suprise me more, instead of being just sort of there. Its not bad, but it doesn't do anything for me. Its like I was reading a book that I was only slightly interested in. It was interesting to see how things turned out, but this might have been better had I skipped the parts in the middle and got right to the good stuff."

"But I can't write my way out of a paper bag, so you'll have to decide for yourself."

Plot: "This goes along with the writing. The major arch takes you a while to get through, or it does on a dial-up account anyways, but it sometimes feels like a chore to go through it all. Anyways, at least it tries to keep things interesting."

Overall: "Ok, this isn't a bad comic. Its just not a great comic either. Its just... a comic. Maybe later on, it'll be worth reading more of it, but right now, I just can't really see recommending this comic as anything more than something to check out on occasion, if you've got nothing else to read. There are other fantasy manga-ish web comcis out there that just seem to have more pop and zing than Flipside. So maybe that's hurting my judgement of the comic."

Score: 6 out of 10 Jester Hats.

If you like Flipside, check out Van Von Hunter, Mixed Myth, and Poisonwind! Why? because they're all good comics that are either based on manga, fantasy, or both.

Sat Jan 31 2004 02:35 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Welcome to another round of Salen Reads Too Many Comics. This week's comic review is 'Return to Sender'. Its the comic about a guy, a totally crazy female costar, and a wierd apartment that recieves mysterious letters."

"How mysterious can they be? Very, seeing as those letters have our duo doing things that just seem very odd... That and the letters come out of a mail slot thats a wall and the other side of the mailslot is bricked over. Mysterious indeed!"

Artwork: "The artwork is nifty. Its very manga/anime-ish. Don't ask for specific ones, but its pretty cool. The comic itself is shaded in various shades of blue to black, so while its not really a color comic, it doesn't seem as annoying as black and white either. So woo!"

Characters: "Lets see, you have our main character, a newspaper editor type who seems to just want to go along with his life, and then you have Collete, our female main character, who's sort of like a modern day version of Ed from Cowboy Bebop, only with a larger vocabulary. Thats my impression anyways... Oh, and then you have the jay random people that these two interact with, from hobos, to pigeons, to small kids who have their heads caved in by meteorites, and some demons too! Did I mention that it all seems really wierd that all these folks are in the same comic and stuff?"

Writing: "The comic is an... uh... interesting read. I can't really complain about it, other than sometimes some of the dialogue was a bit hard to read because of the font size, but this is probably because the comic is still near the beginning of its life. Its a good excuse anyways."

Plot: "This is the main problem with RtS. Its just damn hard to tell WHY things are going on. As mentioned before (by others as well as myself), the comic is just doesn't have enough material yet to really help the comic seem to make some sort of sense currently. I'm sure with some more comics under its belt, it'll be MUCH easier to understand the comic. Right now, it just seems to be randomly wandering about."

Overall: "Well, its sort of a cool comic, and I could see reading this, just to see where the heck the comic is going. Sure, it currently seems to have the plot engine idling as it cruises along as a slow 5 miles an hour, but hopefully things will at least liven up a bit and maybe some of the reasons things are happening in the comic will come to light."

"But, maybe not. The comic isn't really that developed in its setting and plot, so it could go a lot of different places. This is one of those comics its probably just best to check out once in a while, until its fully cooked."

Score: 6 cooking references out of 10. Worth reading if only to get up to speed, then check back once in a while to see if its getting better.

Fri Jan 23 2004 03:36 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

(OOC Moment: Thanks for the new Webcomic Book Club picy, Furilius, Denise. Tis way cool. Ok, I'm done. Back to the comics.)

"Welcome again to... Salen Reads Too Many Web Comics. This week I review Jack. Sort of."

"First off, I need to appologize for this review, not that its bad, but that this review will only be covering Chapters 1 through 4, 6, and 14, out of the 16 main chapters. Why? Well, I'll get to that reason in a bit. First... the introduction."

"Jack, its a comic about... uh. Hell! Not exactly your common topic you find in most other comics, and thats pretty much how this comic works. It does things that most other comics wouldn't do in a bazillion years. The main character, Jack, happens to be the Sin of Wrath, but he just happens to have this Grim Reaper-ness to himself. Other than a few other characters in the comic, such as Fnar and various other Sins and Angels, the comic's focus is on those people that have their lives (and deaths) cross path with Jack. From Sinners to the Sinless..."

Artwork: "Overall, the art works. Its dark and forbodding when it needs to be, and tends to swing heavily towards the gore-factor. Death isn't a pretty thing, and neither does the comic try to make it that way. And the afterlife isn't much prettier. In fact, its really... totally fricking messed up looking. But if you want a comic that can make you cringe at the sheer volume of gore... you've found a comic worth looking at."

"Near the beginning of the comic, the writing is sometimes hard to read, mostly from the fact that the writing is all hand written, and some of the letters tend to get smished in close together, or is just sort of small. Later on though, this problem seems to go away and thats good, because reading the comic is VERY important."

Characters: "Like I said, other than a few characters, most of the characters in the stories are there for a story arch. But don't think that just because you only see them once in a story arch that you won't get attached to them. Or maybe just 'emotionally' involved at least. Each character seems to have their own motivations, fears, hates, whatever. Their emotions and ractions in very poiniant situations makes these characters who they are. And like it or not, you will tend to feel something about them by the time the story arch is over."

"Fnar has to be one of the more interesting characters in the comic, being able to see and talk about things that only others might think about, and usually helping to occasionally lessen some of the rather intense emotions that boil forth from the comic. That, and he's just a cool character."

Writing: "Well, if the art sets up the dark and usually depressing feel of the comic, the writing is what will drive it into your heart like a pick axe. While reading the comic, I couldn't help but FEEL things about the different characters in the comic. And thats a sign of a good writer. A great writer even. A writer that can make you anguish, or feel deep sorrow over things that he's writing about is one that is doing a damn good job. For me, I had to STOP reading the comic for a day before I could even read another chapter. And thats why I only read 6 out of 16 chapters. I really do NOT like feeling that depressed, or sorrowful, or a wide array of very unhappy feelings, over an extended period of time."

"Oh, the number of times I was on the verge of crying in Chapter 3 was quite a few. So... anyways, if (and thats a big IF) I ever read the comic again, I'll probably try and read just a chapter at most, in a single day. But, on the plus side, not ALL of the chapters end in really overly depressing endings. Thank goodness for small miricles I guess."

Plot: "Oh, each chapter is a plot basically. So you could read a single chapter and enjoy the plot. And a varied plot at that. From the ones I read, each chapter is something different, and the characters in them different as well. And in these plots, your likely to get things most folks would NEVER put in a comic. Example 1: A Colinbine-esque Highschool Shooting. And thats just one example. There's PLENTY more too. So much so, that I'll just say that the plot is varied, and rather poiniant and usually emotionally charged. Ok, next!"

Overall: "Ok, overall... I REALLY didn't like reading the comic. Not because it was bad. Far from it. Its GREAT! Its not because of anything with the art. Thats PERFECTLY fine for what it deals with. No, I just didn't like having my emotional little ferrety heart dragged through the bowels of the emotional Warzone that is the comic. In small doses, I'm sure I could have eventually read all of the chapters. But I don't think I'm really ready to read any more for a while. Maybe later... a LOT later."

"So, I'm going to grade the comic on its achievements and not off of the rather unhappy ferretness I was while reading the comic."

Score: 9.75 out of 10, only because the writing is hard to read in the beginning chapters. Other than that, its a great work that WILL make you feel emotions (most of them quite heavy and sad) or at least scare the living (or un-living) daylights out of you. That an Fnar really was cool in his own way.

Fri Jan 16 2004 01:40 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Weeee. Welcome to Salen's review of Sketchbook."

"I'm trying to think of the best way to summarize it. The comic itself is the classic tale of good verses almost overwelming evil. Pretty cut and dry basis, but then we find out that our unlikely hero is a highschool kid who draws in his... take a guess... sketchbook. His even less likely sidekick is a yellow... creature, with a single antenna and tiny wings. Oh, and a snarky attitude."

"Throw into this mix, a story of highschool tensions, a female friend, a fantasy world that relates back to the main character's father and grandfather, and you've got yourself one interesting comic. Oh, and then there's the two floating talking heads. But thats just some extra info... Its really sort of wierd."

Artwork: "Art! I like art. And this artwork is pretty cool. Its sort of manga-ish, in a way, but more in just being influenced than anything else. And occasionally the art shifts, or just changes slightly, depending on the situation, such as a flash back or dream or stuff like that. Its all very neat though, and its very stylized."

Characters: "There's plenty of characters going on. Ones in the real world, and those in the world of... uh... the place I can't remember how to spell. But yeah, there's characters there too. And like some of the others said, the characters aren't as developed as some would like. Even though the comic is quite large at this point, I still feel that the comic is just now starting to really getting out of the 'beginning' and get to the real fun stuff. I'm sure in time, we'll find out the connection of the fantasy world with Abe's grandfather and father, and how his father's death affected it as well. But right now, some characters are just more stereotypical, like the evil Teacher from Hell. But hey, there's time for that. Right now, I'm having fun enjoying the comic."

Writing: "Words! There's lots of words going on here. And overall, I can't complain about the writing. Its interesting, it keeps my attention, and some of it I just expect. The only thing that probably threw off my reading in the comic was that it doesn't follow a standard pattern of flow. Instead of using a typical style of comic panels, the artist instead uses a line to connect the first panel to the next, and so on and so forth. Its like a big game of Candy-Land. Once I figured out that I had to follow the line from panel to panel, reading it made MUCH more sense. Really. But thats about the biggest complaint I can state with it."

Plot: "I here to save the world! No, actually I just was told I can save the world and I got dragged here." "That pretty much explains the very basics of the story. Its more complicated, from some of the things I've mentioned, but in the end, its a story of good verses evil. But its a classic and it works. Go with it..."

Overall: "I like this comic, a lot. It's cool, it's got action, it's got adventure, it's got witty banter, it's got fantasy, it's got magic, and i'ts got a monster named Harry. Don't ask about that last one. Anyways, it's very cool, and it'll be a treat to see where it goes next. And other than that small flub with not knowing how to read the comic right, its really been a fun read."

Score: 9.25 out of 10.

Sat Dec 20 2003 03:18 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"In late 2003, Salen Stormwing, a comic-reviewing ferret, set out on his latest task..."

"To review Teaching Baby Paranoia. Dook! And yes, thats how this review is going to start. Much like almost every comic of TBP (I'll use this term since Teaching Baby Paranoia is a lot to write out), I have set the stage."

"The comic itself is one of presenting facts about historical and 'historically fictional' events in an entertaining way. Or at the very least, in a vague, car-accident that you want to see what happened if just because its different and somewhat disturbing. Its mostly humorous, but not in the usual fashion. Its more like funny in a fact is scarier than fiction sort of way.

Artwork: "Its clean, it works for the comic, and all the people in the comic sort of blend together. You never really can tell who's who in the comic, but considering that the comic jumps to different 'stories' almost every single comic, with very few 'story archs' appearing, the fact that the characters tend to look vaguly similiar doesn't really hurt the comic. Your gunna be told who's who in the comic, so no worries. At times though, the greyscale, or near gray scale seems a bit wierd, but I guess in the grand scheme of coloring, it works for the comic. No need for tons of color. There are a few comics with color, but most of them are muted if they do."

"In the grand scheme of things, the art is pretty plain, but is much better overall than some comics, and there's nothing overtly wront with the style. It might not wow you, but it works."

Characters: "Characters, except for a few story archs, almost all the characters are just one time deals that you'll see. Only a few characters seem to have any sort of recurring roles, like the artist and a few others. Not much to report on."

Writing: "Ok, this is where the comic works overtime. A lot of the writing involves taking stories and tales, and writing them in such a way to be humorous, or at least just be disturbingly funny. Sometimes its hard to tell early on, if a story is based on fact, or the author's fictitious stories. Later on, it becomes easier, as the author adds footnotes to the stories, to help provide information about each strip. In some way... reading the comic was like reading a Penny Arcade comic, but instead of talking about video games or some such... its about stories of fact and fiction, showing you the dark and humorous side of the world. Or maybe not. I actually meant what I said as a compliment."

"Early on, the comic didn't seem to have as much focus as it does later on. Earlier, it seems to be a mish of 'stories' and 'political commentary' but later on, its more centered towards presenting the stories. Some of the humor in some of the comics can be a bit hit or miss on occasion, but usually its pretty good at getting a chuckle out of me, even if its a chuckle that I'd rather not admit to."

Plot: "Not much on this field to mention, as the comic has very few story archs to mention as well."

Overall: "Its a good comic. Its sort of dark and sort of disturbing, but at the same time, you really do wonder what you're gunna see next. Not all the stories were as funny or interesting as others, but most of them were. I'm not sure I'd continue to read this comic or not though. While the small stories in each comic are entertaining to read, I'm not sure I'd read each comic as it comes along, but probably more in waiting a month or two and reading a bunch of them in one sitting instead."

"The one bad point of the comic, more than anything else, is the text. Early on, its unbearably hard to read, to the point that you have to read one word three or four times to figure out what the word is, and then you have more words to figure out after that. Later on, this problem pretty much disappears, but it is sad that the beginning was just painful to try to read, not because of the writing, but because of how small and squished the letters were."

"But still, its a good comic, even if I can't figure out what the title of the comic is supposed to mean. Maybe it doesn't mean anything. *shrug* No clue. Oh well, anyways, if you have some time to spare, and a Modern tales account, you should probably check this comic out."

Score: 8 shinies out of 10.

Fri Dec 12 2003 05:09 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Dook. Its Salen's Comic Review, where Salen... uh... reviews comics. Dook. Onward valiant readers to the review of Tween!"

"Tween, a comic that takes an old school artistic flavor, combines it with a story of good and evil, and liberally mixes in humor. Lots of humor. As The Phantom Critic stated, the comic reminds me a LOT of the film "Wizards" as well. About the only glaring thing I can say about the comic right now, is I wish there was more to read. But I'll get to that in a bit."

Artwork: "The artwork for Tween is clean, its colorful, and really does seem to harken back to "Wizards". The style that people in the comic and the backgrounds definantly suggest an older style than you'd normally see, and for a fantasy based comic, in a mystical world... its probably pretty darn appropriate. I like the artwork. Its just really nice and clean. And it definantly looks 'fantasy'-ish."

Characters: "Characters, not a ton here to mention, mostly because there just aren't a lot of characters in the story right now. You have an overstressed elf, a 'bean' smoking wizard, a female 'entertainer', an evil force, and an evil wizard and his pet vulture. Oh, and the narrator. Like I said, not a lot. While all the characters seem to have their own personality and things, some of them at this point don't seem very developed. Then again, that could be because there's just not as many comics as you'd hope for an 'epic' comic. One trait that all the characters (or a good majority anyways) seem to have is a sense of humor to them. Not like finding something funny at a time, but more a 'punchline' joke being thrown out near the end of each comic."

Writing: "Remember what I said about humor? Well, thats mostly what the comic seems to involve around delievering. In some respects, it reminds me of Sluggy Freelance, with the 'Joke of the Day' in each comic. While most of the humor I enjoyed, I'm not sure it really is as funny as Sluggy Freelance. Plus, it feels weird reading an 'epic' comic of Good and Evil, and getting the amount of humor the comic tosses the readers way. I'm not saying its bad, I'm just saying that it feels weird at times. Thats all..."

Plot: "It's Good verses Evil, with humor. And the story is just really moving right now. With the lack of a large volume of comics, it's hard to tell what direction the comic is gunna take, although I'd suspect a large amount of wise-cracks throughout it. That seems to be a constant."

Overall: "So... what do I think of Tween? Its different. I could see reading every now and then. Its funny, although some folks might not enjoy the comedy as much as others. One thing I'm not sure I like is the large number of comics on each 'page' of the archive. For us on dialup... viewing all the comics can take some time to load up. But I guess getting a 'weekly' section of comics might be nicer if I was cruising on a high speed connection."

"Still, other than having to wait for the comics to load up, I liked the comic. And the artistic style really is refreshing in a way. Its just a style you don't really see. So anyways, if you happen to have a Modern Tales subscription, consider reading this comic. It couldn't hurt."

Score: 8.5 Shiny Swords out of 10.

Sat Dec 06 2003 01:54 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Dooka. Its time for Salen's Comic Review."

"No funny intros this week, since I'm sort of behind on getting this review going... American Born Chinese is a really cool comic. Its not as long or established as other comics I'm familiar with, but what it lacks in content, it makes up for with being just really neat.

Yeah, I know thats not very professional sounding, but its just a very neat comic."

Art: "The art is really nice, clean, and is just very pleasant to look at. The artwork specifically revolving around the Monkey King really feel very appropriate, seeing as the Monkey King legend is an old story. But more on that later. But in the end... its very easy to just appreciate the comic for its art..."

Characters: "Characters, there are a few. Most of the important ones seem to jump out at you, in the amount of screen time they seem to get, but even then, all the characters get the same artistic touch to show that each is important, even if they're just scenery. But since the comic seems to have two distinctive 'stories' going on, the characters end up splitting their 'screentime' up. I really can't fault anyone of the characters on the way they act, or react. The Monkey King's sort of 'focused' but I would assume that would have more to do that the Monkey King's legend showed him in much the same way. And the other characters in the 'modern' half of the story seem just to be average people, with concerns. Sure, they might not be important to us, but not everything is, and so showing that they're just 'regular' types is good."

Story: "This should read "Stories". There are two distinct stories, as far as I can tell. The Monkey King legend, and the more modern half of the story. The stories themselves seem mixed up. With one taking over, then the other. Its sort of like pulling lots out of a hat as to what we'll see next. But since the comic seems to still be in the early process of building up its own content, and helping set the comic, perhaps this is just one of those things where the stories will show some sort of similiarity or lesson or something. Or perhaps not. Either way, even with the confusion of which story line you get, its not that hard to get into the next one."

Writing: "Weeee. Writing! There be words here! But me, I'll skip them to tell you that the writing just seems to be pretty good. At points, it really is funny. And making me laugh once in a while is a good thing. Its actually pretty pleasant to read the comics. I never once felt I was having material go over my head or just rambled to. Combine that with the rest, and well... its really good.

Dook."

Overall: "In summary... This comic is pretty cool. Its not very long right now, so you don't have to read a TON of comics to get up to date, and the stories are neat to both read and look at. Really, read this comic. Its nifty."

Score: 8.5 Staff Wielding Monkeys out of 10.

Sun Nov 30 2003 11:38 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Welcome to another round of 'Salen Reads Too Many Web Comics'. This week, Salen reviews 'The New Adventures of Death'. Dook!"

"Trying to describe this comic is a bit hard, but that probably has something to do with the very random nature of the comic. The main character is 'Death'. No, he's not really THE Death, but just some skeleton-person. Whatever... It works."

"The story itself is just mostly a collection of 'interesting things' that happen in and around Death's 'life', or the insanity one would call a life anyways. Not really a story at all. There are a few story archs that do go into quite a few pages, but inevitably, the comics will go into a different direction, as soon as the story arch ends."

"I liked this comic though. It's cute in its own little way. The humor is sometimes hit and miss, and the comics sometimes seem mostly to be situational humor, even if in not in a 'normal' way. The best example would be the first few comics, where Death is working on making dinner for his guests who will be showing up, and the potatos he was going to cook decide to hold Death and his friend at knifepoint so they can escape, even though the potato can't even hold the knife."

"Its bizarre. Its not really a comic that seems to WANT to make sense most of the times. In some ways, it reminds me of the old Rein & Stimpy show, but with less grossness and just more randomness. And maybe because of that, I could laugh some at what was going on throughout the comic."

"Artwise, the comic is pretty simple, and doesn't really grate you mentally to look at it, so in that aspect alone, I like it. Partly the art helps to complement the absurdness of some of the situations. I can't really say much more on this. If you want realistic art, or stuff with high detail though, maybe you won't like it though."

"Characters, yup, got lots of them. But not so many that you have to worry. Most characters seem to show up for a specific story arch, and are then disappear, although some, such as Ares, Anubis, and the potatos seem to be repeating characters, even if only on occasion. The characters act... well... bizarrely. Between barking cakes, and a whole myriad of other things, some characters just seem to be there to try to blend into the wierdness that is the comic."

"Plot, we don't need no stinking plot! Err, ok, maybe a little, but usually it contains itself to each story arch. So I'm not sure you'd be able to unify all the different elements of plot from the story archs, since it seems that there is no way. But in each arch, the name of the game is 'wierdness'. And usually making the wierdness of a situation seeming fairly normal to those in the scene seems even more common. Perhaps I'm over thinking this though, and the comic is just trying to be wierd for the sakes of being wierd. And I can handle that. Like I said, the comic is sort of 'situational comedy'-like, and so being wierd with the comedy seems to be what it does a lot."

"Writing seems ok, but like the plot, its wierd at times. But thats probably because of the plot. Not much to report here. The comedy is ok, if somewhat hit or miss at times though."

"Overall, I liked it. Its bizarre, and it doesn't really make a lot of sense, and the humor can be hit or miss and thats probably the only thing that will discourage folks from the comic. I could actually see reading this comic more, if I didn't have to pay for it, but I'm not really sure I'd pay for a subscription just for it though. Still, in the grand scheme of things, I've enjoyed the comic, and it made me laugh at times, and for me, thats important."

Score: 6.75 Shinies out of 10.

Mon Nov 17 2003 05:22 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Dook. Its that time again. Its another 'Salen Reads Too Many Web Comics For His Own Good' Review. In this review, I cover Hutch Owen - Public Relations!."

"Ok, time to start this review. To best describe the comic, its a combination of social satire on society, marketing, advertising, business, and life in general, in the form of a rant. And not just one rant. In this comic, you get drawn out rants on society, the evils of corporations, the oppression of the downtrodden..."

"And you know what? I honestly did NOT enjoy the comic. It comes off without anything to keep one entertained at all. Unless your concept of entertainment is listening to someone drone on about the rights and wrongs of society and how things work. It gets to the point where I honestly think that CNN or Fox News is more entertaining to listen to."

"I actually TRIED to enjoy this comic. I did. I read this comic TWICE on the idea I had missed something totally obvious while reading the comic, and that was the reason I wasn't enjoying reading the comic. The first time I read it, and I was on comic 50, and I realized not once had I enjoyed what I had been presented. So I went back and read the whole thing... again."

"I guess I should go over specifics though. Graphically, the comic's artistic style is crude, rough, and a bit distorted. Considering that the artist is a cartoonist by profession and has been drawing Hutch Owen for so long, I can only assume this is totally deliberate to present a 'crude' world of 'reality' where things aren't pretty. And perhaps in that case, I can say it does a damn good job of it. But your average reader is gunna probably be turned off by the style. Even the lettering is a pain to read as while you can usually make out whats being said, again the lettering is 'crude', seeming to match the art."

"Plotwise, its not much of a plot as much as seemingly a huge rant on society. I'm sure that at some point when more comics come out, some things like the 'ghost', and the whole deal with using homeless and marketing thing will be explained a bit more, but frankly, anyone who's reading the comic that long probably deserves a mental endurance medal or something."

"Characters, there are quite a few, some of which seem to be tossed at you out of the blue, and never explained, not that I really want to know after reading what I did. About the only time you ever get to really see the character behind the characters is when they're ranting. And rant... and rant... and rant. Everyone else on screen seems to be there to just show the total banality of life, just to make the rantings seem true."

"Writing, this mostly involves a four letter word that starts with R. Thats right... Rant. *groan* You know, between the rants, and the mindless insanity of the whole setting of the comic, reading the comic is painful. Some times it felt like I had no CLUE what was going on, and perhaps thats why I'm not the person that should be reading this comic. I'm sure to someone out there, this comic's writing is full of deep information on society and why I should think more deeply into what the comic is talking about. Perhaps a small section of quote from comic 59 best explains my feelings."

Hutch: "Do You Even Know What I'm Talking About?!"
Jules: "No."

"That pretty much sums it up for me."

"Overall, I think if I really wanted to read something that points out stuff about society, politics, and life in general... I'll go read Ozy & Millie, watch the news on CNN or Fox, or a myriad of things that aren't this comic. I really tried to find something good to say about this comic. I did. I wanted say something nice about this comic. But I didn't. I've read comics that I didn't especially enjoy, and still do read them. I didn't like the stuff I read, but I still read them. I can't do that with this comic. If I want to listen to folks being pissed off and ranting about stuff, I'm sure I could watch a comedian and perhaps sometime in the 30 minutes of watching the comedian, I might get some small enjoyment from it."

"But this comic wasn't written for me. I'm sure someone out there, probably much deeper in thought will love this comic. But I am not that person."

Ferret Shiny Rating: 1 Shiny Out of 10, and thats only because I realized that the art is drawn that was on purpose.

Wed Nov 12 2003 02:22 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Welcome another edition of Salen Reads Too Many Web Comics For His Own Ferrety Good. This week's review is Vicious Souvenirs. Dook. Lets get right to the review, shall we?"

"Take two Not-so-petty thieves with super powers, add in one assassin, an ex-jewel thief, a whacked out person wanting to dominate the world, and throw in a ton of different styles of comics... and you got yourself Vicious Souvenirs. This comic reads like a super hero comic (actually super-VILLIAN, but thats just one of those details), but with more talking. But thats ok. The comic itself plays out a bit different from your average comic experience, as this one utilizes Flash to present the comic, and in some ways, it really helps seem to make the comic move totally unlike other comics out there..."

"Artwise, well... the art just WORKS with the style of comic. Its gritty, its dark at times, and each comic seems to have a somewhat different comic 'coloring' feel to it. You have Golden Age style comics interupting gritty comics, you have black and white comics, you have comics with a look of a late 70s, early 80's look to them... And it just seems to work... There's lot of stuff to just soak in, and the use of flash only seems to help make the comic even more artisticly cool, as it moves around, pieces falling into place as you view it."

"On the Plot homefront, you have the simple story of one guy, with super powers, and how his life changes when offered the chance to help someone take over the world. And it only seems to snowball from there."

"The world itself seems to have everything a gritty super-hero(villian) comic should. Government officials, super powered enemies, spys, powerful people trying to 'rule' the world, nuclear weapons, terrorist connections, ninjas, genetically altered secret service agents, furries... Yes, there seems to be a few furries in this comic. Maybe its just fan service. Maybe its just one of those things. Did I mention the cowboy fishman? *shrug* Uh... that too."

"Yet, amongst all this is a story of one guy dealing with a deal to help someone take over the world, and the ramifications of that choice. And what a choice..."

"Characters are diverse. REALLY diverse. And they all seem to have their own motivations for what they do, why they do it, and why they're around. This means things are very complex and the characters are very rich with emotions. It probably doesn't hurt there's a lot of talking in the strip when things aren't getting gunned down, which really lets you inside on what the characters are feeling and what not."

"And Overall, its a really cool comic. The comic is gritty, it has a feel of a familiar comic that you've read a hundred times before, and still can't get enough of. Figuring out 'whats next' seems to be very hard, if near impossible. And it proves just how messy making the world a 'better place' can make it a true 'hell on earth'. And probably make you a bit dizzy at how many plots folks are spinning in the world..."

"I give this comic a 9 out of 10 shinies. The reasons its not a pure 10, is this isn't really the type of comic I read, although with a comic this good, it probably would be soon, and the second reason is the comic does take a minute or so to load up on my dialup connection. Not unbearable, but still just a very VERY minor issue. At work though, the comic was VERY easy to load up on a 320k connection, so it actually rates a 9 and a half shinies."

"And just because I can add a few last lines to my review... I personally loved the 'Secret Agent' style comic and the 'prologue' comic, both seeming to be just really cool artistly. I do wonder about the history of the 'world' though, since there seem to be government super-heros, genetic engineering, super powers, furries, and just a mess of other stuff going on that make me want to ask the question, "How did all this get here?" But thats just me. Dook!"

Tue Nov 04 2003 02:29 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Dook. Welcome to Salen's Ferrety Review of Clan of the Cats. And on that note, on with the review!"

"CotC (Clan of the Cats) is a rather interesting comic. It combines a bunch of mythological stuff, such as magic, curses, werecreatures, vampires, and a slew of other things to give you a comic that follows the life of one werecat witch through her trials, tribulations, and other things that just involve trying to have a normal life."

"And of course, having a normal life is about the last thing that seems to happen to Chelsea. The comic swings from small sections of peace where Chelsea tries to come to terms with her new life, before being tossed head first into some new mythical danger."

"There's fighting, there's romance, there's super natural creatures of evil, there's relationships formed and broken... and through all of this, Chelsea finds herself near the middle of all of it."

"Artwise, I really like the way the comic comes across. The style seems to suit the comic, and I can't remember thinking at any point that the layout seemed confusing when I was reading it."

"Storywise, CotC does have small breaks between large events, where you really get to see the characters, before something large comes along to shake things up. At times, it can be a bit confusing to figure out WHAT is going on when a new story arch comes along, but part of the story is a bit of suspense. On the plus side, the world of CotC seems very fleshed out with its own 'supernatural history & rules'. And that helps the story, if nothing more than helping you realize that the world of CotC is 'fleshed out'. Some of the story archs though can be a bit confusing, but eh, overall its good."

"Characters, there are a lot of them. A lot. You get to know all of the main ones and see them grow quite a bit. But there's still a lot of other characters that are in the story that seem to have their own agenda in CotC. But it still can be tough trying to remembering who's who, but maybe that just has to do partly with how different story archs introduce new sets of characters and different things to deal with."

"Overall, I like the comic. Its not a 'fast action' comic like some, but that hardly means there isn't a good bit of fighting and magic and other sorts of nastiness to make you continue to read. I'll admit I read the comic mostly for the shapeshifters, and I continue to read just to see 'what happens next'. I think the main reason I read the comic is because occasionally, there really is a good funny comical moment or phrase. I like comedy, and I won't deny it. And thats probably why I like Sebastian, is because if he's in the comic, 4 out of 5 times, he's doing something comical or just pointing the comedy out."

"So, this ferret will give Clan of the Cats an 8 out of 10. Go read this comic if you need your fix of werecreatures, magic, vampires, or stuff like that... Dook!"

Thu Oct 30 2003 10:11 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

Salen sits down and blinks. "Oooh? Subscription, so I can review stuff? Oh nifty. Oh, well, I guess I should get to my review of Elf Only Inn."

"Well, seeing as I hadn't read this comic before, except for 1 or 2 comics, I'd never really gone through and read the comic. When you read as many as I do, you tend to try and limit yourself and the amount of comics you read."

"But then I went and finally sat down and read the whole archive of the comic. Needless to say, I was dying with laughter. There's something about the comic that really hits home. Mostly the fact that I've 'Been There, Done That', and yet its so much worst as well. But worst in a GREAT way. The comic is all about roleplaying, chat rooms, and the dregs that are attracted to one in particular."

ART: "The Mainstay of all comics, except for those that aren't... In the beginning, the art is all Cut&Pasted, with some minor retouching of faces for different expressions. In one specific comic, all they did was flip the character image over to get him to lean to the left instead of the right, even though its obvious the image was just flipped."

"Normally, you'd shoot a comic because of stuff like this. But in Elf Only Inn, it just makes the surreal nature of the Chatroom/Elven Inn all that more rediculious."

"Later on, the C&P art is replaced with actual drawings. The art does get better, as well, and at the same time, you still feel like your reading the same comic. And thats good. In all actuality, drawing the characters allow for even more outrageous situations to be portrayed, like NINJAS! *tching!*"

PLOT: "There's plot here? Bah. Who needs plot when you have a bunch of horrible roleplayers all hanging out in a chat room, while a few not-so horrible roleplayers try and actually do stuff. Ok, so there is a sort of plot that goes through the comic, but mostly its all just to get to a big joke near the end. And thats good. Comics that can make you laugh at the absurdity of some situations just HAVE to be told. This is one of them."

CHARACTERS: "Uh... well, you've never seen such a mixed lot of stereotypical characters that aren't elven hanging out at an Elven Inn that it hurts. Really, some of the characters just hurt the brain. Like goku666. I think the phrase "what is ur pwr lvl?" will send chills through my brain like no other. *twitch* But in some way... the character just FITS the comic way to well, mostly for being that ONE person that just has NO clue whatsoever."

"If you learn anything at all kids, its that learning to spell, and learning to roleplay properly is good."

WRITING: "It hurts, it stings!" Salen shakes his head, "The only bad thing I have to say about that statement, is its true. Some of the writing is just HORRIBLE. But, in this comic, horrible writing is good, because this is a comic to spoof chatrooms and roleplaying that goes on in them. To say that the writing was horrible, is just a sad nod to the fact that its also very VERY true. And thats why its good.

Dook."

OVERALL: "Uh... well, if your idea of humor is poking fun at what comes from chatrooms and roleplaying, and bad roleplaying at that, well look no further! This is the comic you've always dreamed about. Its so bad, its GREAT! What are you waiting for? Go read this comic now? Oh, one final passing statistic before I go."

Amount Of Time Salen Laughed At The Phrase Homoerotic Disco Werewolf Sex!: 30 Minutes (No I'm not kidding either.)

SCORE: 10 Shinies out of 10!

Tue Oct 21 2003 05:18 AM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Its time again for Salen's Totally Ferrety Biased Comic Reading review.

Hmmm. Ok. Lets see what I can say about Kagerou."

"It's confusing."

"Sorry, I know thats not much of an explaination. Maybe its the fact that its got so much going on it, that my head feels all wiggly when I read it some days. Keeping track of who, what, when, where, and why are hard things to do, since the main character has so much going on with him, that its hard to tell what you're dealing with for a while."

"In a way, its sort of a mind trip. When I read the comic, and yes, I do read this one on my free time, I don't quite expect to understand everything thats going on. But thats ok, because it's got a rather interesting sense of humor at times. And thats probably what I like most about it... The humor."

"Which means the really dark depressing stuff doesn't really make me feel good.

I know, I'm just not really into the dark depressing stuff. Thats me. But then again, I read Black Tapestries, so its not like I'm one to stop reading a comic because its dark in parts."

"But anyways, I still like the comic. It starts off a bit on the slow side, and the art isn't quite the greatest originally either, but once the story gets moving, the art quickly gets better, and so folks who complain about the art probably are only complaining about the earlier comic pages."

"Blah. I'm writing a horrible review, aren't I? Oh well, I guess I'd like to say that while the comic probably isn't for everyone, it is different, and for some, they'll probably like it. Anyways, I give the comic 8 and a half shinies out of 10. If nothing else, just read the comic to see foxes leap out of someone's hair.

Dook!"

Mon Oct 13 2003 04:04 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"And now its time for Salen's totally non-objective review. Its important to remember Salen and his PG have been reading Suburban Jungle for a VERY long time and is probably the last person you'd want to give you an objective review."

Art: The art's gotten better over the years. Yes, The Gneech actually admits that fact. Then again, as artists, most people who continue to work on their art get better over time. Personally, I like the style. Its not a style I could draw, but I like it anyways. I can tell who's who, whats what, and its all good.

Story: Its silly. Its serious. Its sad. But mostly its silly. And I like silly comics. Having a good laugh is important. Personally I enjoy most of the geeky humor Dover brings to the comic, but Drezzer does make me laugh quite a bit as well.

Characters: All the characters have their own quirks and problems, and what they're trying to do is just make the best of a life for themselves. Nothing really complex, but sometimes just having a life, or trying to anyways, is about as complex as life needs to be, right? Plus speaking in code is silly.

I originally read the comic because Dover reminded me of myself. I stayed for the rest of the comic though.

Overall: I like this comic. Its not epic like some comics. Its just your standard comic with furries just trying to live their lives. And you know what... its not angsty. Oh sure its got its moments, where characters are down or depressed, but it doesn't STAY depressing. And thats why I like this comic. It makes me laugh and doesn't stay depressing long enough to make me depressed. Its good. And you should read good comics. So you should read this comic because I like it. I won't rank it, because to me it deserves a 10, but thats because I'm a rabid fan.

Fri Oct 03 2003 04:40 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

"Dook? Oooh. What? I get to post stuff about a comic I read religiously? Oh BOY! Uh... errr... Uh... what to say, what to say?"

"I guess I'll say that Commander Kitty is probably turning into one of my favorite 'non-daily' comics. Thats probably the only way I could say Commander Kitty would be better, is if I could get it 5-7 times a week. But I'll suffer with one ever 4-5 days."

"Oh, right, I love the story. Its light, its silly, its completely nuts, and reminds me of old Loony Toons cartoons, but only different..."

"Another thing is the small extra bits you might not notice unless you know what your looking at. Example would be the speaking done by Mouse. The neat thing is occasionally a // is appended to each line of speech, which is a direct reference to coding a comment into a program. Totally useless trivia, but its interesting to see it in use."

"OH, and lastly, it has the coolest, greastest, mostly specialist (is that a word?), favoriteist character in the whole universe!... MISTER SOCKS! Uh... You know, I don't know why, but I like Mister Socks a lot. Dook. I wonder why?

"

"Overall, its nice to read Commander Kitty, because while its got all the good stuff you'd expect from a rerun of Star Trek, its got a TON of humor, and overall, its just a nice, entertaining read. I mean, really, sometimes I just want to have a nice laugh. So smile, and go read Commander Kitty... Dooka Squeekie Dook Dook Dook!"

Sun Mar 16 2003 07:12 PM | Read All Reviews for this title

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