By the way, since this is the 10th leg and all, it might be interesting if I explained how I write these review things a bit.
I have a set template for each leg of the journey, each with its own set of fields. The first field I fill for every review in is NOT Comic Name, but rather, the First Impressions and Presentation field. Why? Well... I think first impressions are very important. A lot of people judge by first impressions... thus I'm curious to note how accurate first impressions are.
As I proved in the review of The N00b, first impressions can sometimes be inaccurate, but it's fun shooting my mouth off at what I think the comic will be like.
Anyway, after I fill in the 'First Impressions' field, I READ the comic and review it.
Like I shall commence doing now.
Comic: GigaWhut?
By: Brian Maze
Genre and Setting: Real-Life, High School/University Story/Humour
Art Style: Stylised Cartoony, Black and White, Inked(?)
Is About: Some kid in university, apparently.
Website: http://www.elevatorfish.com
Frequency: Thursdays, but actual updating appears random and erratic
Availability: Free
First Impressions and Presentation:
Okay... let me just be honest and admit I wasn't very impressed by my first look. There shouldn't be any reason, really. The website design is sleek and professional... and the art while vaguely familiar is quite adequate...
Familiar? Ok. I retract my previous statement. I understand why this comic disturbs me now...
The art style and website design look like PvP clones!
Geez. Now I'm in a moral dilemma. I shouldn't judge a comic just by a resemblance... but HNTRAC sense, tingling... I have a baaaad feeling about this...
...which turns out to be justified. The first comic is a broken image dated last year, and the second one is a 'Coming Soon in two weeks' strip...
*blinks*
Holy Crap!
This comic is only threee (proper) strips old!
The Concept:
Can't really see much of it yet, but seems to me like another typical university story involving the wacky adventures of a guy and his wacky pals.
Or so I think.
The Art:
I said adequate, and so it is... nice clean lines and easily readable text...
But it lacks individuality because even if the artist did not intend it at all, the entire art style seems to scream: "I wanna be like Scott Kurtz!". In fact it reminds me of this How Not To Run a Comic strip by Digital War.
I guess I really value individuality, huh? But I don't think I'm imagining this one, folks. The art is eeriely close, down to the way they draw torsos... It's like Penny Arcade faces on PvP bodies!
The Writing:
Let's be realistic. There's been a grand total of three strips so far. I really am in no position to comment of the state of the writing.
I will say it seems passable, although forgettable. Narration done is first person seems to be smooth enough. There are no mistakes in the dialogue although I feel inclined to point out that 'Slogan' is spelled with an 'A' and not 'Slogon'.
Edit: I've been informed that the banner with the misspelled word in fact, belongs to another comic. My apologies on the mistake.
There really isn't enough for me to judge, really.
Problems:
Feels too much like a PvP clone, not enough strips in archive to disprove it yet.
Overall:
I'll reserve comment on this because it's not fair as it hasn't really gotten started yet.
Although if I were a casual reader I suspect I'd be tip-toeing away from this site before I even read the comic just because of the front page impression.
Sorry, but that's the truth.
This must be my first negative review. I guess I ought to not trust random choice, eh?
The Next Leg:
There's a nice bunch of dinky links button on the right of the main page.
Just because it stands out from the sea of human faces, I picked the chicken.
