8th Leg: Flatwood

A new find! "About freaking time!" you say? You'd be right. A month is a long time... but what can I say? I've been so busy i haven't had time to read my usual comics, much less find new ones.

Anyways on to the long-awaited find:



Comic: Flatwood
By: Zachary Parker

Genre and Setting: Surreal, Horror, Mystery

Art Style: Pencil, Greyscale, Stylized Cartoony

Is About: Alex, who wakes up in what seems to be a deserted motel. He has no memory of who he is and how he got there, but the Flat Wood in which the monsters lie waiting in the dark is the only place he can find his answers.

Website: http://flatwood.keenspace.com
Frequency: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You might get an additional day if you vote a lot, though.
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
Firstly, I've got to say the art is impressively distinct. It looks like well done pencil-work, all in glorious greyscale. The text looks to be handwritten (?) but whatever it works!

The website is simple, black and functional. You can't really ask for more than that, really.


The Concept:
The 'wake-up-with-amnesia' plot device is a common one, but none the worse for being used here. In fact, Zachary's spin on it is indeed a great improvement. The fact that he wakes up in some kind of creepy motel that's crawling with creepy horn-mouthed things and that the motel is surrounded by an even creepier wood makes is great.

If I may say so, Flatwood really reminds me of this webcomic called Ancient Messages. It was a really old comic and I think it's no longer available on the net. The art was never really good, but the story was one of the few that could send a chill up my spine.

All in all, very good concept.


The Art:

The whole comic is beautifully done in pencil. Full use is made of pencil textures and large areas of flat black. The beginning few pages are ludicrously difficult to read due to the bad (miniscule) Arial Narrow font, but once Zachary switches to his own handwriting it all comes together perfectly.

I put 'cartoony' in the 'Art' field, and in a way it is... Large eyes and heads (but not manga-style), with disporportionately small bodies... but it works so well I never had any objection. The distorted porportions of the art really help to convey the nightmarish feel of the comic... it reminds me of Edvard Munch's The Scream and other similar work, for some reason.

I also like the fact that the entire comic doesn't have colours. It somehow seems just right... it's a dull and drab and dead world, somehow having colour makes it look wrong. As most of the scenes are partly in the dark, one can imagine backgrounds not being a problem. Not being one to be skive off, however, there's lot of nice background details to give it an atmospheric feel. From the rundown state of the motel to the spooky eyes in the the woods... creepy.

I should also mention there's some cool GIF animations used once or twice during the pivotal moments.


The Writing:
Possibly the best part of the comic. The story is sometimes confusing, but it's a nice kind of confusing, because you can tell the "clearing-up" will be dealing with that soon. There is a lot of obvious planning and foreshadowing... little things in the beginning make perfect sense later on... and I'm particularly tickled at how hitting a ball of light with a flaming racquet can make so much perfect sense!

The dialogue is is also markedly different for your usual webcomic fare. It uses what I call 'fairy-tale' dialogue, and you get phrases like "We have tarried here too long" and "We are ever and anon about our Father's business". I do notice, however, that the main character, Alex, speaks like a normal person (modern language) further emphasizing the fact he has been plonked in Flatwood from the modern world.

Most of all the story is succeeds in doing what every good horror story should do: send chills up your spine. I was postively going "OMG this is SO good!" when reading it, and shivering in horror... in a good way, of course.


Problems:
Mainly in the beginning. The horrible horrible teeny font in the beginning is nigh-impossible to read. In fact, after the first page, I gave up and skipped until the font got a bit clearer and bigger. I'm only 21, and if my eyes can't read it, it must be pretty bad for the older people. ;)

There are also some sequences near the beginning where the page layout and bad placement of the speech blocks had me reading the text in the wrong order.


Overall:
This one is a gem.

Horror comics are all too rare, I was incredibly pleased to find one that could make me genuinely scared. The art and story combine so well, I came to the end of the archives too soon and found myself wishing for more Flatwood. I can see this one going in my daily list of comics to read.

And yeah, I voted ;) The split screen voting system is actually quite ingenious.


The Next Leg:
There's no links page, BUT there's a handy-dandy set of button down the left side of the page.

There's a whole nice bunch of comics to pick from, but after the recent hoo hah about Scott Kurtz and this Tauhid fella, I'm curious about Spells and Whistles.

So Spells and Whistles it is!

7th Leg: Scary Go-Round (Sidetracked)

Howdy, Folks! I'm aware it's been a long time since the last leg, but I've been talking a nice vacation on a nice tropical island (and I don't mean webcomic-wise). Of course, remote tropical islands don't have internet connections, so no logging in. Plus the bad bout of flu I had... (and am still having)

But now I'm back I'd like to present my log of my visit to not Flatwood as I promised earlier, but Scary-Go-Round.

What happened was basically this: Back in the links page of No Rest For The Wicked, I choose Flatwood as my next destination, but I accidentally clicked on the link for Scary-Go-Round instead. (Blame the malfunctioning scrollwheel) Normally I'd jsut go back, but I saw the art and stopped short. You see, I recognised the distinctive art style of John Allison, who did Bobbins, one of my favourite Keenspot comic which ended ages ago. Before I knew it, I was through most of the archives.

And since I did read through all that, I might as well post a log. I'll go back to Flatwood after this, but currently I guess I got sidetracked.



Comic: Scary Go Round
By: John Allison

Genre and Setting: Surreal-life, Modern Times, England

Art Style: Unique. Flat-colour, Cut-out, looks like Flash-work.

Is About: The outright weird adventures of a group of young adults.

Website: http://www.scarygoround.com/ (Dumbrella)
Frequency: Mondays to Fridays
(Originally I couldn't find the information anywhere on the site, but God bless Ash Young and the Webcomic List)
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
Pretty much: Oh my Goodness!!! That looks like Bobbins! It IS Bobbins! Except it's not Bobbins... But Oh hell, it's still Bobbins!

The Concept:
The concept isn't anything very spectacular. In fact I might say that the description sounds deceptively boring. I mean, 'The wacky adventures of Shelly Winters and her friends'? (The 'In England' part is optional, but shouldn't really change anything). Still, it seems to be factor that makes people remember it, because it's uh... English. Personally, I don't think it's really English, but more like what people who are not English think the English are like.


The Art:
The defining part of the comic. There are very people capable of doing John Allison's art style, although I reckon Rodrigo Pin Nitto's Flash-work could give him a run for his money.

But back to the point the art for Scary-Go-Round. Just stunning. Very thin or non-existent heavily outlines, flat-colours and odd but working porportions. The comic also has excellent layout and dynamic angles.

There's also another factor which makes the art enjoyable. And it doesn't directly relate to Jon's skill... except that it does. *everyone else is dizzy trying to make that out* If you've followed Jon Allinson's work back in Bobbins, you'd be amazed how this ever turned into this. Quite a difference, isn't it? If it doesn't inspire and give you hope, nothing does.


The Writing:
I think the most frequently used word to describe this series is 'quirky'.

Personally, the story and plots are downright strange and illogical, yet they do make sense in a round-a-bout fashion. (Hence the name Scary-Go-Round?) And despite the fact I live in London, I still don't get a lot of the jokes. Some people call this 'british wit'. Feh.

I really do like one aspect of the storytelling: Jon tells the story in seperate, self-contained chapters. Each story however, does have bearing on the next, making for some interesting continuity.

The stories do require some suspension of disbelief to enjoy as the plots frequently don't make sense. But then this series was never meant to be serious or realistic, but wacky. Hence, I don't think you should expect it to make sense.


Problems:
Well, the comic is great, but sometimes it loses me. Also, I don't get some of the jokes, or the odd dialogue in general. It's may be just a problem with me, but it does hamper my enjoyment of what is otherwise a fantastic comic.


Overall:
Go in with an open mind, don't expect it to be serious and enjoy.


The Next Leg:

I promised Flatwood, but I got side-tracked. Going back on track now. Stay tuned, folks!

6th Leg: No Rest For The Wicked

After the last leg at Saturnalia, I ventured out of Keenspace and into the uncharted regions of webcomic-dom ;) I feel like a traveller who's going into uncharted country for some reason...



Comic: No Rest For The Wicked
By: Andrea L. Peterson

Genre and Setting: Traditional Fairy-tale

Art Style: Manga, Greyscale, Inks

Is About: Princess November, who since the disappearance of the moon, is unable to sleep. When a mysterious beggar woman tells her that the only cure for her insomnia is finding the missing moon and releasing it, November runs away from her impending marriage and sets off in the quest to find it.

Website: http://www.icarusfalls.com/wicked/
Frequency: Thursdays
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
Wow!

More purple again, but the main page is done in a gorgeous split page look. Navigation on the left, and a lovely dreamy fairy-tale rendering of what I presume is our heroine.

Like most indie webcomics, the comic isn't on the main page, but there are 'latest page' links for easy access.


The Concept:
No Rest for the Wicked tosses several well-known fairy-tales (Little Red Riding Hood, Puss-in-Boots etc.), into one coherent story. Princess November herself is obviously the princess from The Princess and the Pea.

The idea of taking several well-known characters from different stories and throwing them together isn't exactly new. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (The COMIC, not the @#$@%@$ movie!) did this, so do a number of other other movies and books (Shrek, anyone?) This kind of setting is sometimes a risky business, because it usually requires pre-knowledge on the part of the readers to 'get' the story.

But if done correctly, this kind of story can be incredibly good, because not only do you get a good story, but you are assured that each of the characters involved have their own interesting backstories which lend a depth otherwise unattainable in their characters.


The Art:
After the dreamy and gorgeous front page, I was expecting the rest of the comic to be all dream-like as well. I was slightly disappointed to see it was harsher inks and greyscale, but the disappointment only lasted a page, because the art was quite pretty in its own way.

Like I previously mentioned, the art is done in a manga-style. Unlike the crisp lines and correct porportions of Saturnalia, Andrea's art style is much more 'loose'. This is not a bad thing, but the way, because it gives the comic a more unrestrained and expressive feel. Very much in keeping with the fairy-tale setting. The eyes do strike me as huge... (I haven't seen eyes that big since Cardcaptor Sakura) but I am happy to say after the initial surprise, my mind just accepted it and I never thought any more about it. All in all, Andrea stretches the porportions, but that woman makes those porportions work!

(BTW, you'll notice when I'm awed by a fellow female creator's work, I start referring to them as woman. I'd do the same for the males, if not for the obvious connotations that would bring *rolls eyes* )

I love the landscapes and backgrounds. Instead of going for all-out realism, the scenery is, for the lack of a better word: 'fairy-tale like'. Simplified, Ever-changing and a bit abstract sometimes, but gives you room for imagination.

Also, a salute for the little details put in, like the varying sizes of the frogs here.


The Writing:
Like the Malaysians like to say for all things superlatively good: Best!

I've mentioned that the concept for the comic is risky if the audience don't know already the fairy-tales involved, but Andrea overcomes this by providing a short explanation of the characters as they are introduced. These introductions, I might add, are never boring and never break the flow of the story. In fact, they seem to enhance it.

The time flow is not presented in serial order as the story jumps to and fro, but it is never jarring. The foreshadowing in the story is good too, and doesn't give away too much. I also have to give a thumbs up to the dialogue. Thank god it isn't the cheesy fairy-tale speaketh frequently found in some other attempts at this genre.

All in all, what I've seen convinces me that Andrea is a gifted storyteller.


Problems:
Nothing much. If you want to be nitpicky, the schedule is a bit slow, but there's an update notice service available.


Overall:
I love it! This is another find indeed!

The story epitomises everthing in the fairly-tale genre: dreamy fantasy and romance, all with chilling threat of something macabre underneath it all.

I highly recommend this one.


The Next Leg:

The Links page for this comic is a perfect model of how link pages should be organised. A little button showing off the art style on the left, and descriptions on the right. YES!

There are a lot of familiar faces in the linkslist, but I'm going to look for something new if I can.

The last link on the list caught my eye because if its distinctive art style. Flatwood may be another Keenspace comic, but it looks extremely interesting and different. The description is interesting as well:

FLATWOOD -- A young man wakes up with a fragmented memory in a nightmarish place that's both familiar and alien. Seriously creepy and a bit surreal; leaves you wondering what the heck is going on, and eager to keep reading and find out.

I guess I'll make a quick trip home to see what I've missed.

5th Leg: Saturnalia (Backtracked)

If you recall, in our last entry, there were no comic links from the site, so I was compelled to backtrack to the links page ofDiety Permit (third leg) and pick another link. In the end, I narrowed the links down to two possible comics, and decided which one to take by flipping a coin.



Comic:Saturnalia
By: Space Coyote (Mysteeee-rious Pseudonym)

Genre and Setting: Sci-Fi, Futuristic, Cyberpunk

Art Style: Manga, Inks, Greyscale, sometimes color.

Is About: Sysreq, a loud-mouthed, hot-headed police officer who works for the city of Ampersand. While struggling to handle his personal problems, he inadvertantly stumbles across something that might shed light on why the humanoid androids in the futuristic city keep 'commiting suicide'.

Website: http://saturnalia.keenspace.com/
Frequency: Sporadic, to quote the site's own words.
Availability: Free

------------------------------------------

Edit 19/08/2004: I've been asked to take down the review.

To fill you guys in on what you might have missed; it was a glowing review and I was very very very impressed and delighted with Saturnalia.

------------------------------------------

The Next Leg:
A quick visit to Saturnalia's Links page (YES! Descriptions!) comes up with a lovely bunch of comics I've never heard of. The desciption for No Rest for the Wicked immediately catches my eye.

Based on various fairy tales. Very whimsical and fun to read. Nice, unique artwork, excellent writing.

Other than the magic words 'fairy tales', this is a independently-hosted comic, which gives it an edge because my last 5 comics were Keenspace ones. Nothing against Keenspace, but one can't stay in the same continent forever ;) . I don't want to end up like certain people, who live in the same country throughout their lives, and assume everything elsewhere should conform to them, and expect other people to know everything about their country yet display breath-taking ignorance about anything foreign. (People who think Malaysia is a province of China, or that it is next to Portugal, yeah I'm talking to you!). Oh, and I'm ranting now... whoops. Sorry.

Anyway... time to go abroad!

4th Leg: Twice Destined

Comic: Twice Destined
By: The Loser Hero (Pseudonym, well duh)

Genre and Setting: Fantasy

Art Style: Manga, Pencils, Greyscale

Is About: Esher, a mysterious girl who seems to be a prophesised doombringer, and Celia, who seems to be the futuristic reincarnation of Esher. Both are locked in struggles in worlds and lives that do not want them.

Website: http://twicedestined.keenspace.com
Frequency:Erratic. Sundays, sometimes multiple pages
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
Well, the website is... black. And I am greeted with a fairly pretty rendering of an angel and a girl as the comic. The tag-board on the right seems to be filled with positive comments, however, so this should be good.

Website design is spartan, but at the time of this writing the navigation menu does not work. *frustrated clicking at void links* As there are no comic links on the main page I forsee some problems for me in the near future. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, so...


The Concept:
Two interwining stories told by alternating chapters. The idea of the reincarnation in webcomics is quite rare, and although I'm not a big fan of the 'prophesised doombringer' dohickey and the neglected rich child setting, having both of them as part of the same thing is certainly something new.


The Art:
Variable. Coming on the heels of another similar manga comic, there's always the tendency to compare it to the previous one. In this case, the art of Twice Destined is sometimes good enough to go in a Clamp book, at others times, rather rough and the porportions drift off a bit.

There's a lot of fanservicy art in this comic. Nothing wrong with that, as long as it's equal treatment... but Twice Destined does seem to have a terrible amount of it ;) But one thing I found highly amusing was that in the various nude scenes in the comic, the unclothed characters for some reason seem to have no trace of genitalia whatsoever. And it's not that the characters in the world have different physiology or anything, as this page here illustates.

Don't think I'm demanding explicit pictures or anything, but I am a firm believer that if you're going to show nudity in your comic, at least have the decency to do it properly and believably. If you can't bring yourself to draw it, either don't or hide it... either with scenery or clothes. Do you know how traumatising it is to young readers who grow up thinking men have Ken-doll crotches only to find out they don't?!

And stop laughing. I'm serious here, you.

I should also make some mention of The Loser Hero's masterly use of camera angles, stunning establishing shots and beautiful backgrounds. There are too many 'fight' splash pages for my taste; I'm more of a 'get down to the story' kind of girl. (Fight scenes are great, but spending several full panel pages in succession is a bit too much for me.) No denying however, that most of the fight pages do look good, and the use of perspective in the comic is impressive.

All and all, the art is pretty good, although variable. There are times when it looks worthy of Tokyopop, and at others it feels like it's off and there's just something wrong with it that I can't quite put my finger on...


The Writing:
One hell of a convoluted story. Very interesting and complicated, obviously well-planned out in advance.

I have a gripe with the characters though. Some of the main characters, and the inconsistent Celia in particular, just don't seem to come off as believable to me. One moment sweet spoiled child, the next this gracious little lady who doesn't take much offense at being punched in the stomach by a guy who's supposed to be her rescuer, then a non-squeamish surgeon the next.

On the other hand, a few of the secondary characters are incredibly realistic. *SPOILER* Celia's mother, while showing a rather odd lack of apprehension at finding a naked boy in her bedroom (Most Mums, including mine, would throw a fit), does a very believable mother-sheilding-child-from-daddy act, while the enjoyably detestable Sister Agatha ranks as one of the most believably hatable 'villians' I've seen in a while.


Problems:

FILLERS!!!! I think Twice Destined could give Megatokyo's 'Sad Girls in the Snow' a run for their money with their 'Sexy Exam Studying' filler strips.

Fanservice is fine, but when there's too much of it, it does ruin the enjoyment of a comic. The erratic schedule probably doesn't help the filler strips any either.


Overall:
Twice Destined seem to be a pretty good comic, with a nice story concept and art but... I'm sorry to say it's not my cup of tea.

I do hate not being able to leave with a positive glowing review, but despite everything, the comic somehow does not appeal with me enough to be a regular reader. Still, like I said, it's not a bad comic, so it's probably more a question of personal taste.

So, the best way to judge is to read it yourself, really.


The Next Leg:

As I mentioned earlier, there are no comic links on the main page, and the links page does not seem to be linked. So looks like I'll have to do my first backtrack all the way back to Deity Permit's links page and choose another comic from there.

This poses a problem. Alex and Ilia I have done already, while I have snarkish feeling I shouldn't review Fallen Angels Used Books, because knowing the creator personally, I won't be able to do a fair job. Alex and Ilia was hard enough as it is. Jack is a thought, but I think I've seen a review of it on other review sites before. I'm already fan of Loxie and Zoot, so that leaves Nishichi 27, Saturnalia and Treading Ground.

The description for Treading Ground doesn't seem like what I'd like:

A hilarious strip about a guy, his rather sucky life, and his nerve-wrackingly illegal relationship with the 16-year-old "girl nextdoor..."

So looks like it's between Saturnalia and Nishichi 27. I'm not sure if Saturnalia has been reviewed somewhere else before, but I'm so tired at this stage I'm just going to leave this to chance.

I have a coin and I'm going to flip it. 'Heads' it's Saturnalia. 'Tails' it's Nishichi 27.

*flips coin*

Heads. Saturnalia,here we come.

3rd Leg: Deity Permit

Comic: Diety Permit
By: Soap Committee (Pseudonym, obviously)

Genre and Setting: Humour, Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Alternate-Reality, Present Day

Art Style: Manga inks, Greyscale, Occasional Guest Colour

Is About: Rika, a girl who doesn't seem to feel cold. On a walk on the cold Hawaiian beach, Rika is kidnapped by a mysterious woman who believes that Rika is 'infected' with something that is responsible for her condition.

Website: http://pele.keenspace.com
Frequency: Erratic. Generally Tuesdays, but sometimes other days as well. Has an update-notice service though.
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
Wham!
On arriving on the site I am greeted by an apology-for-lack-of-updates filler comic with a picture of a manga girl... a pretty well-done manga girl... but it looks like it's done in MSpaint. I didn't think such things were possible ;) . Still, not a very auspicious start, although it could really be just bad timing on my part.

Note inserted later: The lack of new comics seems to stem from computer problems, so looks like it IS bad timing on my part.

Website is simple but pretty, with some good use of space, although there's a lot of black and blue... but really, I shouldn't be one to talk ;)


The Concept:
Is pretty unusual and intriguing... and water-based. The idea of a cold Hawaii and an underwater hospital is pretty cool. So much more cooler is the whole 'cold disease' idea. Thumbs up.


The Art:
Damn, that woman can draw! Very pretty traditional manga-style art at that. The lineart is skillful and so is the use of the grey gradients and screentones. I am particularly impressed by Soap's skill at anatomy, makes me wish I could draw the human figure like she does.

In the beginning, there was a distinct lack of backgrounds in the comic, and the characters seemed to be floating in a white space most of the time, but later on she amends this error, and when she draws backgrounds, she draws backgrounds! I especially admire Soap's use of screentones and pattern fills. Unlike most comics, they blend with the art instead of standing out like sore thumbs.


The Writing:
Confusing and unorganised in the beginning.

During the first half of the comic I was quite confused to what was going on as the storytelling was rather choppy and jumpy. However, about half-way through it started getting interesting, although when the flashback came I had absolutely no idea it was a flashback. The writing does improve considerably and shows more planning as the comic goes on, and by the end of it I was quite absorbed in the predicament of Rika as the whole comic began to form a coherent story.

The characters are a rather flaky bunch, and sometimes act rather incomphrehensibly. As with most mangas, you have your slapstick chibi moments, then your serious brooding moments a few seconds later, which can sometimes be a bit jarring.

But it looks like there's a really interesting story comic coming up, and as the story flow becomes smoother, I think I'm going to like it.


Problems:
Other than the aforementioned initial choppiness of the story, the comic updates erratically and s-l-o-w-l-y. There's a update notice service available, so that does help things a little, but thank goodness the fillers and non-comics are kept to a minimum.


Overall:
I kinda like Deity Permit, but there really isn't really enough of it out yet to be able to judge properly. All in all I think it's interesting, and although the erratic schedule means that though I won't be a regular reader, I will be checking back once in a while to see what happens.


The Next Leg:
There are no webcomic links other than the Keenspace NewsHack (NewsBox) in the main page, so to the links page we go.

There's a nice list of links on the links page, and glory be: descriptions! I love links page that have descriptions, it makes my decisions so much easier.

A lot of the comics listed are pretty well-known but one at the bottom seems interesting. The description for Twice Destined runs thus:

Don't let the nun-fanservice throw you off. This is an amazingly-drawn story about two women in different ages of the world, with their own trials and terrors to spare.

I've not heard of this one before, so it sounds like a good candidate as any.

Note: I realise that the three comics I have visited so far are all Keenspace comics and this looks to be another one. What can I say? I'm trying not to review comics that have been reviewed (usually popular ones) before, and the Keenspace community IS tight so they tend to link one another. Still, I'm not targeting Keenspace in particular, it just happens to be that way.

So anyway, next stop: Twice Destined!

2nd Leg: the N00b

Comic: the N00b
By: Gianna Masetti

Genre and Setting: Gaming, Fantasy, RPG Parody

Art Style: Cartoony inks, alternates between colour and grayscale

Is About: A Newbie (N00b)'s adventures and interactions with the gameworld of Clichquest.

Website: http://www.thenoobcomic.com
Frequency: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Variable but reliable.
Availability: Free

First Impressions and Presentation:
Well, to be honest, I wasn't very impressed with the N00b when I first saw the page. The website itself is unbeautifully spartan but functional, although the tables could use some cell-padding *hint hint*. Despite my dislike for Comic Sans, the use of it as the main font seems oddly suitable, for some reason.

The art seems mediocre. Not bad, but following in the wake of Alex and Ilia,it suffers in unfair comparison. I almost wish I hadn't chosen the N00b in the previous leg of the journey, not because the comic is bad or anything, but I can tell that this seems to be a young comic, and I won't be able to give it a just review because I'm only seeing the beginning.


The Concept:
A newbie player (the N00b) starts off on Clichequest, a new Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game (MMPORPG). This comic is a parody of the RPG genre. Not, a particularly original concept, you'll have to admit, but given the title of the comic, I should have expected it.


The Art:
Like I said earlier, cartoony, as in newspaper-strip cartoony.

All that said, the art is quite competent in its own way, and while unimpressive on first glance, a second look reveals that Gianna is more skillful than her comic art suggests. Sure, the art is simplistic, but this seems to be more of the stylistic preference, as her anatomy is spot-on, and she carries off drawing monsters, rats (and a few other things that you don't realise are hard to draw until you do them yourself) splendidly.

The backgrounds for the N00b are plentiful, simple and suitable. They also blend in quite well with the character art. The colouring is also quite passable: skillful and tasteful use of simple gradients, no ugly artifacts... and a lot of subtle little details.

There's nothing very flashy or attractive about the art, to be honest, but it just works for the comic.


The Writing:
Oh the funny!!!
This is where the comic shines, well and truly... I rolled my eyes and thought "Oh no, not other RPG gaming comic" when I read the first page. By page two I was laughing my head off.

Gianna seems to have a wicked and cheeky sense of humour, and she spares us none of it. The best part of her humour is that it seems to be everything we've ever privately thought about and while playing RPG games, only they've been said out loud. From silly character class screens to sly pokes at Diablo 2 and every other RPG that makes animals drop loot, the N00b had me snickering and laughing most of the way.

The dialogue emulates that of online games, and hence is a hodge podge of the hated 1337 and role-playing jargon. Very realistically modelled and believable. The story is your run-of-mill RPG run-though, but the jokes and slapstick humour makes it one hell of a fun ride.


Problems:
As a regrettable Diablo 2 Battle-Net ex-addict, I know all to well the fun and frustrations of playing a MMORPG. However, anyone who doesn't play RPG games will probably not understand most of the jokes and RPG terms (level, PK, steal kill etc) and most probably wouldn't enjoy the comic.


Overall:
I was pleasantly surprised to discover I liked this comic.

I'm ashamed to admit I almost judged the N00b by it's cover. How wrong my initial impression was! Reading the comic was such fun that I was genuinely sorry when I came to the end of the short read.

I was wondering why Rodrigo Pin bothered to link such a young comic on his main page. As it turns out, his linking was more than justified. :)


The Next Leg:
At the bottom the the main page of the N00b is a set of links. There's a bunch of popular comic like Elf Only Inn and 8-Bit Theatre. However, most of these comics have been reviewed by other sites before, and nothing on earth save for Hard's permission and blessing will convince me to do one of Sexy Losers, so I'm not touching those.

This leaves the list of Keenspace comics. Amongst those Diety Permit stands out. I have a vague memory of glancing over it when it was in its very early stages, but I haven't really read that comic for almost a year.

Looks like time for a revisit.