Webcomic Book Club Summary Reviews of Argon Zark! by Charlie Parker

"This week's web selection is a quirky lil sci-fi/internet age comic that originated in 1995. Argon Zark! as a comic, is a decent if chaotic read, interspersed with numerous secrets for the discerning reader. While this can be a nice touch, such easter eggs can be a bit of a hassle for those with slower computers. Being one such, I mainly read the comic as is, and didn't find it too shabby. The only real thing I have to complain about, is the very non-user friendly set up that had to be used to read the majority of this comic. As Furilius mentioned, pages are missing, 'next' buttons don't always work, and you have to sift around to look at things. To be honest, if Furilius didn't detail how to navigate the site, I would have never gone beyond several pages. The creator details the comic as a thing he wants to instill with quality. In that case, the web design really needs a solid tune up, not to mention condensation. It's not the sort of thing that's going to encourage the unsure reader to bother with it amidst a sea of many other webcomics." Review by Kajamir the Giant | Read Full Review | Read All Reviews of Argon Zark!

"Argon Zark! is the first webcomic I ever read. And you know what, it may still be my favorite. Does it have the most sophisticated story? No. The richest characters? No. The biggest laughs? No. The most regular updates? Hell no! So what does it have? More than any other webcomic that I can think of, it captures the sheer joy of reading a comic on the web and how rich the experience can be. Although it's been printed in book form, to me, any print version is a pale imitation. The brilliant colors, the "traveling through the Internet" plot, the web screen gags, the clever animations, and the numerous Easter eggs all demand a web viewing. If I were to point to any webcomic to introduce to a webcomics skeptic, it would be Argon Zark! Book One (no longer available online) is about a trio of characters: Programmer/inventor Argon Zark, his robot with bad voice recognition software, Cybert, and sexy delivery woman, Zeta Fairlight, who inadvertently get sucked into the Internet when Argon first tests his "Personal Transit Protocol." The trio fumble their way through the Internet while pursuing and being pursued by a creature called "Big Nasty Jump Jump". This premise allows for a number of extremely imaginative set pieces that really show off the possibilities of the webcomics medium while commenting upon the very act of surfing the web. The techniques used to fight and evade the BNJJ are all based in computer technology (such as a graphics software toolbox icons used as weapons). And the nature of the BNJJ monster is a cleverly Internet-based as well. The only really negative comment I can make is that it updates so infrequently that I almost never visit it anymore." Review by The Phantom Critic | Read Full Review | Read All Reviews of Argon Zark!

"It is literally a GOOFY ROMP through cyberspace. What a lot of fun. Yes, it is light and the characters have little development, and perhaps they will always be that way. As the characters move from inside jokes and through recognizable clichés, 'Argon Zark!' is just one big zany adventure. The Artist doing this is quite clearly having a lot of fun creating it. I wonder if nights of proper sleep are being spent instead at noodling up crazy new ideas. And the art that illuminates this, and I do mean ILLUMINATES, is eye popping. Not to be missed are the places on the artist's site wherein the tools used are given their due credit...Wherever you start though, bent humor is the rule. Some of the humor is for techies, but even for folks like me, who are not so technical, many of the word and visual jokes do work. Some of the more obscure ones take me longer, but even so, I have laughed at many of them when I realized what they were." Review by Yao Chi | Read Full Review | Read All Reviews of Argon Zark!

"In terms of art, I really like Argon Zark!. You could call it "comic book" style, but I just thought it was good. The use of Bryce was well-done, in my opinion, and the whole environment was rich. I felt that the background here got much more care than in many comics, too. It's just rich in detail overall, and feels a lot like someone having fun with their concepts, which I definitely approve of...The characters are nice. However, they haven't had much time to develop, unfortunately. Argon himself is definitely a geek of the highest order (and he has good taste--check out the album cover on Page 1), but there isn't much to him beyond that. The main problem, however, was Zeta. She gets very little development, and goes from being a delivery girl to Argon's companion without a hint of trouble. The story has yet to do much; the first book consisted of chasing a bad guy, and now the second is about chasing bad guys. It's interesting, but not very deep. Still, it entertains me because it makes sense so far, and I hope it will become complex later on. Starting slow is good, in my book." Review by Benor | Read Full Review | Read All Reviews of Argon Zark!

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