Webtoon Reviews
BAM the webcomic
I haven't reviewed anything in awhile, mostly because kickstarters are taking their sweet time. So I paid a quick visit to the Black Comic Creators and found this interesting gem. It reads like a mix of Invincible, Spider-man, and Dragon Ball. It's an odd webcomic that works well with the right blend.
The heroes of Earth are tired of the constant complaints by the people over the heroes' activities, and decide to bye felicia the planet. 10 years later, Wymond and his friend Joon are orphan teenagers living in an abandoned library, barely scraping a living selling scrap. Apparently after the heroes left, the world became Somalia (since they probably didn't take the villains with them). During a fight with Prism gang members, Wymond's powers activate and he takes them down. With his friend and a hero mechanic, they fight to restore order to the city. Unfortunately for them, the Prism gang's not taking the challenge to their drug trade lying down.
The artwork is a bit simple and less refined compared to other works I've read. Since this is a webcomic, that's to be expected since the format is not as free as a standard paper comic. Though I feel the art team can do a better job on lettering and typos. Typos are very distracting.
You can find BAM! at Avocomics. Watch out for some copied pages and some misdirected links. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Here's a new one for me, readers- a webtoon! I haven't covered a webtoon from Webtoons.com before. The writer asked for reviews so let's get to it!
The cover painting makes me think of a Dungeons & Dragons board game cover. From the cover and the title, you can tell this is an epic fantasy of some sort with a slight religious bent to it. I typically don't read epic fantasy so I can't think of any novels in this subgenre, but Niobe comes to mind. Is this another Niobe, you're wondering? Perhaps.
The story focuses on an 'underworld' realm of sorts, where we follow elf-like beings Nina and her twin sister Kara, along with their friend Dwain. Kara and Dwain are members of the town guild but Nina has yet to pass the test. Nina feels her sister and friend leaving her behind and tries desperately to get in. However this puts her loved ones at risk. Meanwhile there is a side plot of demonoids escaped from a local jail and heading for the way back to Earth. A demonic prison warden chases after them. How the two plotlines merge will be revealed in future episodes, since I only read up to issue 12.
Now we must talk about the art. Those unfamiliar with Webtoon might feel it jarring to have full color in the first few pages but not the rest of the first issue. I liked this because it enhances the importance of the scene. Also I am a little familiar with Webtoon's requirements and they like this sort of thing, whereas I feel some readers wouldn't like the inconsistency. Me personally, I liked the shifts in art style throughout the story.
What I didn't like was some of the paneling. Some scenes had a lot more 'dead space' over character's heads than I liked. This is a common webtoon design flaw, since you're reading top-to-bottom rather than pages like a comic book. Thus, you're always going to have some dead space. When I draw my own webcomic some day, I'll use frame edges to remove some of the dead space and make the reading much tighter. Creator Marc Blair does a good job of making tight panels here, especially during dialogs, but some of issue 9 had the problem. Also, the art doesn't "slap" like a real comic book or even other webtoons like Perfect Hybrid. Some scenes lack definition, while others are well-defined and have fully formed backgrounds. You'll see the Colosseum in one scene and a very tightly stenciled Korean hanok village in another. While I like this, I worry the author might get into a copyright fight if the design is too much like the inspirational piece.
Overall, I'd say this story is a cut above many webtoons out there, but it lacks the artistic flavor of the more famous toons. The plotline doesn't tightly pull in the reader, unless you like heroes and fantasy arcs. But as I read the graveyard scene and the end of issue 12, I could see the plotlines and general story arc starting to form. He's got a good block of 14 issues so far and has started publishing after a long delay, which I find a good sign the story will stick around. That gives me hope in Marc's artwork and paneling for future issues.
I give UnEarthed a gravely concerned score of 3.5 out of 5 stars. Get out the shovel, folks! We've found silver in these webtoon hills!
Your can read UnEarthed at Webtoons here.
Here's something different- a webcomic about chess! Or...is it?
Klani is your average teenager who has to move to a new city, until tragedy strikes. Under what circumstances the tragedy has to deal with the main chararcter Klani's older brother remains to be seen. But in this city, chess is more than just a hobby. It's almost a way of life, of success, of rising in the social hierarchy. Klani must become the best grandmaster to find out what happened to her older brother, who disappeared after beating a grandmaster in a thrilling match 8 years earlier.
The artwork is fairly standard for a webtoon. You're not going to be blown away by it though I feel he draws the characters a bit better in the later issues. The only real problem with the art comes from the lettering. The artist or letterer really needs to improve how the letters are arranged as there are some grammar errors galore and other things that could have been done.
Nonetheless, if you like a semi-serious slow burner of a teen-style mystery drama, you're in luck. Don't worry too much about the story, the art carries it a bit more and the middle chapters really clarify things. You can find this 4 star wonderpiece at Naver Webtoon by clicking the picture.
Where can the zombie genre go now? We've got sci-fi zombies, Victorian era zombies, modern zombies, old zombies, high school zombies, and now... Kindergarten zombies!
The zombie gas spreads in the city and zombies attack elementary school PS 43 in da Bronx! 9-year-old (really 10) LETITIA JOHNSON hears the initial attack and goes to her younger sister's kindergarten class and keeps them safe. The other classes bail or are overwhelmed, leaving her to protect JAHAYRA and the rest of the kindergarteners. Can she keep the little kids from exposing their position, or are they doomed to die...in PS43!
The comic updates every Monday. Update: My original thought was that the series was delayed, but as of Mon 4/24 that is not the case!
The artwork is better than average for a webtoon, but not super glittery or computerized like a Naver or Kakao Webtoon. So expect good art and decent paneling along with scary atmospherics. I really liked how they dimmed the scene for nighttime, adding realism with the terror of the night filled with zombie monsters.
Update: I received word from the author that he has more pages to draw, so this story's ongoing and definitely worth a read if you're into horror and zombie comics. PS43 Survives
Ascension Chronicles #1-30 (Webtoon version)
When I first heard of this comic, it was hosted on some website and I tucked it into my "read eventually" list. How many years ago was that? (Check paper) 4 years ago??? Holy hell I'm late on this one! Anyway, now it's on Webtoon and I've decided to take a look.
We start off with a fairly boilerplate intro. Humans in space, etc, then bad aliens show up and the hero has to leave his family behind to die, on the orders of his father. Naturally, Hanzo Midori doesn't accept his father's decision and decides to join the Protectorate Navy. In his first mission with the forces, the dreaded Imperial Consortium shows up to raid the planet he's patrolling. With grit and clever use of imaging, the humans win the fight, or so they think. Hanzo and his fellow fighter pilot are unable to stop the theft of data but learn a deep dark secret hidden under the planet.
Because this wasn't originally made to be a webtoon, there are some artistic and stylish mistakes that aren't as serious in the website version. Though many of these are related to aspect ratio differences and the way the art team should have done the paneling. Most webtoon readers don't like lateral reading so they should've split the panels to make a long pole instead of filling a page.
Anyway, if you're interested in an exciting, CGI drawn space action comic, I think you're in for a treat, provided you're forgiving of the art foibles.
You can find The Ascension Chronicles at Webtoon.com or at https://ascensioncomic.com/comic/prologue/
PS43 Survives Issue #2
The author made some changes to their webtoon site when I went back to see if it was still active. The readability improved a bit so I decided to take a look at issue #2. At the end of #1, nobody in the school had died. Now, as you can see on the cover, someone died. Let's find out whom...
We continue with the storyline of Letitia leading the kindergarteners around the city. The kids are not quite an effective fighting force but Letitia does her best. Since they are little kids they are easily distracted by things, like puppies. The zombies are never distracted, only their hunger moves them. An evac order gives the kids a destination and they make a move to the island. Unfortunately, the zombies got there first and now they're trapped in the trainyard, where 2 of the kids pay the price. Can Letitia keep the rest of her young charges alive? Issue 3 is already in progress.
The artwork's improved from the start of the story. I think a new artist is at the helm and it shows. They still use the real-life photos in backgrounds to give the reader a sense of being in New York City, and the lack of people in the shots is something you never see in the real NYC (except at night). While less wavy, the art still lacked body and dept in some ways. The paneling improved but still lacked some creativity.
As usual, you can PS43 returns here. And my first review here.
Wrong Dial Episodes 4-6 on Zebra Comics
I return to this series to see if there are updates. Sure enough, there are! That's one thing that you can believe with Zebra Comics- they constantly output.
The story's 3 arcs continue with the first arc about Njonga being left at school while his father travels to the village. The second arc involves a quest for revenge against evil governor, this time with magic tech and a cool reveal sequence. The third arc feels a bit underdeveloped, but we find out more about the mecha golem that appeared in the first episode.
Salt plays a big role in this series. In the old days, salt was scarcer and of great importance. Didn't know it could power magic lightning drones or empower people, but the more you know...
Click here to see their whole lineup including this good comic.
Wrong Dial Episodes 1-3 on Zebra Comics
Zebra Comics has been appeared/spamming a lot in the Black Comics groups I frequent. Now they have our undivided attention. As I constantly remind creators, you might not want my attention. Today we find out if they're worth your attention with Wrong Dial, their AfroFuturist comic.
This is a webtoon hosted on Zebra Comic's website. The first 2 episodes are free, but if you want to read more, you should buy coins or subscribe. I bought coins because I wasn't feelin' episode 1.
Episode 1 introduces the main character Wahab who watches his village and brother get killed in a counter-terrorism raid by Cameroonian special forces. We then meet Tattah, a prince with a magic bracelet. As we learn in episode 2 and 3, the bracelet has powerful magic and there is a secret council of tribal leaders who are trying to track down the thieves who killed Tattah, and then Wahab wakes up some mechs hidden behind some hills. A good parking place, to be honest. In general, I found episode 2 and 3 to be pretty well-written as the story has depth to it and the characters (that survive) seem worth following.
The artwork is fairly standard for color webtoons. The art teams are going more for speed than beauty for the medium. Nowadays you can make improvements using special tools, but I don't know if they had them in this early episode. The artwork in episode 3 definitely looks more polished when compared to episode 1, as evident by the hologram/ghost effects one of the characters has.
Worth your time? At 3.5 stars, it's a maybe. If not, Zebra Comics has lots of choices that I will explore later this year, now that I've got coins. Click here to see their whole lineup including this good comic.
PS43 Survives Issue #3
It's been a minute since the last time I checked on those bratty kindy kids stuck in the Zombie apocalypse. Let's see how they're doing.
At the end of issue 2, Lucia left the safe house at night to go help some puppies. Letitia must lead her tiny charges into battle against the undead to get her back from the pet shop. Fortunately they find her, but...
The background art has really improved and the detail around the zombies has improved since Issue 2. I really like the framing this time. The brutality of the scenes weighs on the faces of the kids and the art style carries the emotion well. I'd say the art team has made substantial improvements.
I also like their new strat of disabling the zombies so they can't bite anyone. It's a clever idea you don't see much in other comics. The pet shop scene was really intense as well. You'll have to read it to appreciate it. And finally, the art team has published issue #4. I'll probably talk about it on Halloween.
As usual, you can read PS43 returns here. And my first review here.