2011 WEB COMIC REVIEW 24: GUEST IN PURGATORY

WEB COMIC: GUEST IN PURGATORY
CREATOR: ORIBE
UPDATES: MONDAY, WENDSDAY AND FRIDAY
ARCHIVE : 230 PAGES

          This is a good candidate for the mini review, it's called Guest In Purgatory. The art is good and the story seems written well but I could not bring my self to read much more when the the guy on guy action starts here. In the immortal words of "Seinfeld" "Not that there's anything wrong with that".I'm Sorry, I'm open minded and as a creator you do any type of story you want even if it offends other people. For me this is that boundary line for me. I'm straight heterosexual over here. This comic would not be one read any further. I am aware that there are gay, lesbian or bi sexual readers and artist that may enjoy this one. Or did I miss something? They don't put this in what there story is about in their "about page" and there is no parental warning? The one thing what I hate about hardcore anime. You can't tell the girls from the guys at a glance or  sometimes even a closer look. You have been warned.

SYNOPSIS: Guests in Purgatory boils down to two teenage boys, Yuki and Aki, that have died long before their scheduled departure of the living world. Complete strangers to each other, they must live together in Purgatory while their accompanying death god Rin tries to figure out what to do with them. Will Yuki and Aki stay separated as they expiate for sins they haven't committed yet? Or will their blackened thread of fate keep them together and possibly lead to more?
          My  hang up with that stuff aside. The art looks decent and when colored looks cool. The cell shading is average at best. Looks mostly like a plain black and white comic. The site looks nicely done with comic press and loads fast. Their page rank of 4 isn't to shabby. The below score could of been higher but the lack of a description of gay situations would of been nice. I would of been more prepared or just backed out of this site slowly. I wrote down way more then I wanted for this one, I needed to explain this fully. Enough already, the end!


THE OVER ALL SCORE AT A GLANCE: 7.5
RANK:  AVERAGE
WHAT WORDS DESCRIBE THIS COMIC: In need of a parental or reader WARNING heads up!

2011 WEB COMIC REVIEW 23: 8-BIT THEATER

WEB COMIC: 8 BIT THEATER
CREATOR: BRIAN CLEVINGER
UPDATES: ENDED IN 2010
ARCHIVE: 1221
GENRE: SPRITE COMIC

Welcome to a full web comic review. I think made a good choice here. Today's comic is called 8-bit Theater. I never heard about until I was browsing online trying to find what comics seem to get high Page Rank. This comic begins as a sprite comic but the art work comes in later updates and just blew me away. News flash! Delos of the acalaimed "artpaitent" blog informed me that 8 bit theater ended last year. They don't mention this on their blog but their archive just stops.

PROS: The site looks interesting and is easy to navigate. One of the more funny comics I have read online. A lively forum(check the rules!). A HUGE archive! This comic is just one of many comics that  is featured on the Nuclear Power site. This comic is easy to find in a search engine. The pages load fast and the are no err.

CONS: It's a sprite comic... and most people don't like sprite comics. No parental warning. Does not say when this comic updates. That doesn't matter now, It ended last year some time.

LAST WORD: This comic is well written with humor. I easily enjoyed it and  recommend you take look. The sprite comic style doesn't bother me too much. This just would not be a comic I would read faithfully with out the art work I just saw.This was a art style that come from no where, in the latest update that is lights out. I understand almost everyone doesn't' like sprite style comics, period. I can't understand this when so many people will read some of the most simple made comics like Dinosaur comics and that stick figure comic XkCD and rave how great they are. Which is why I can't give those types of comic any type of respect except for there super human ability to acquire "high page rank referral links". Do I like sprite comics? I'm pretty neutral on this front. I had some friends that did do sprite comics and found them to be funny and interesting and not as easy to produce as you would think. I would say people who do these types of comics should be brilliant writers. A sprite comic is also hard for me rate. They all seem to look the same. Some are organized a little better then others. I know they have a lot of steps you have to do to complete one of them so I will at least give a 5.0 for that alone. I do hope the creator starts up again he does more art like the one on the most recent page.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.0 CONCEPT: 8.5 Final fantasy one, theme. It is a sprite/drawn style that is a surprise to see both art forms blend together. Not original but not run of the mill ether. ART/SPRITE: 7.5 I will  judge the art on that one page here that is flawless! You should do more of these Brian! The characters are drawn in the way that gives them life and expression from panel  to panel. The backgrounds are nicely done. The Art gets a 10 here. The sprite style looks fine with how the scene is organized but as with most sprite comics the characters look blurry close up. the Sprite work gets a 5.0! COLORING: 10 The use of light a shadows here caught me by surprise! These colors pop like pop corn!( this is for that one art page I saw people!) WRITTING AND SPELLING: 8.0 One of the best written sprite comics I read. The spelling and grammar look good on that drawn page but on the sprite updates there are errors a plenty.You can easily tell what's going on. WEB PAGE LAYOUT: 9.0 This comic would have done a little better here if info was available or easy to find. You don't know when they update or that there is language in this comic. The archive is well organized (thank god!)  It is colorful site that loads fast and is easy to navigate for what is there. There are other web comics to check out there as well.  ENTERTAINMENT: 9.5 This comic is real easy to read and enjoy. It is quite funny too. POST FREQUENCY: 3.0 They never said this comic ended and they don't say when they post anyway! There is a 1221 archive to dive into. POPULARITY: 7.5 This comic has Page Rank of 5 and it has other web comics on the nuclear power that link to it. It has forum that doesn't possess the "post numbers" of Penny Arcade but does okay.

2011 WEB COMIC REVIEW 22: THE NEW LUCIEFER

WEB COMIC: THE NEW LUCIFER
CREATOR ZAC
UPDATES RANDOM 1-3 TIMES A WEEK ( but currently could be on a extended hiatus)
ARCHIVE : 38 PAGES

Here's another "mini web comic review". This artist looks like has a lot fun doing his comic beside the current lack of fan support.  The comic is called THE NEW LUCIEFER and you can find it on WEvolt.

SYNOPSIS: This is in the creators own words "I came up with this in 2005 as a joke towards one of the girls in a high school drama class. I later scrapped that comic and started it over as the New Luciefer which is the current canon." Not the traditional "about page" but this will do.

The art work is work in progress as the artist tries to find his style. The pencils are okay as well as the shading. The fonts  sometimes don't reside in the same zip code as they float off the page or are poorly written so can't see them.He does improve some pages later. Zac does show some flashes drawing talent with some small things he does like character expressions and mapping out scene.This is fan comic of sorts and the artist seems to be using his web comic experience as practice. For this reason I wouldn't do my hard review of this comic. This guy needs a chance to grow and not have some one come destory his confidence.
Keep on working on your style and you could be one of better web comics some day.

OVER ALL SCORE AT A GLANCE: 5.5
RANK: BELOW AVERAGE
MY ONE WORD TO SUM UP THIS COMIC: HIATUS

TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION.

While checking on some blogs of interest I came across the question from Daily Inspiration Blog author, Harley king.  Here is the question:

If you had to choose between fame and fortune in your lifetime or having your creative work celebrated a thousand years from now, which would you choose?

I chose the fame and fortune. I'm thinking, more the fortune then the fame. The other choice was tempting being a artist my self but I know some artist that don't get recognition until they are dead and in a box. I say show me the money now, I can't take it with me. If you want to answer this question just check out his blog by following the above link. He also has plenty inspirational writings and authors for you to brows over.

Also if your like me you may want to brush up on your math skills, quick and easy. There is a site online called Math.com. You can do math problems online to keep your brain fresh. I try to be a well rounded individual. You should too.

It's been out a couple of weeks but Blender 2.57b looks works pretty good. I had to stop the 3D animation for fear of spending allot of time doing something and then have to do it again.This has happened already when I was working with 2.55! I wonder is I should wait until the final version of 2.58 even though they say this version is stable.

2011 WEB COMIC REVIEW 21: FREAK ANGLES

WEB COMIC: FREAK ANGLES
WRITER: WARREN ELLIS
ARTIST: PUAL DUFFIELD
UPDATES: ONCE AWEEK
ARCHIVE: EPISODES 135 IN A 5 BOOK SET
RATED: MATURE
GENRE: APPOCALITIC FUTURE

This week should be a  good week I should be able to do at least 3 web comic reviews. This webcomic I came across while looking for a different type of comic to look over. This comic is called Freak Angles. This is another post apocalyptic comic but it's different from most I see online and the title is miss leading. Let's take closer look.

PROS: The refreshing art style captures the atmosphere of this comic very well. The writing is superb with how the characters come to life with smart dialog. That being said there is plenty of profanity in this one, hence the A nice size archive of for new readers to dive into. It is easy to navigate this site and there is busy forum to join.

CONS: This is just a average web page for a comic press template. The page turn buttons work fine but they are a bit different from what we are used to. You can't easily go from the first page to the last page. You have to use those side archive links to do that. One big  downer for this comic is you can't post your comments on the pages. I guess you'll have to use the forum.

LAST WORD: Wow... this story is griping right from the get. Excellent work Warren! This comic I first thought-- I would have to force myself to read 10 or more pages. I was wrong, the story just kept my interest. I highly recommend this one. Yayyy no zombies in site. I like zombie movies as much as everyone else but they seem to be tied to much to apocalyptic futures way too much for me. It has been a real struggle to find a well drawn comic that has PR over 4 and I'm glad I found one. It gives me hope. You guys would have scored higher if you web page was a little more flashy.

OVERALL SCORE: 8.6 CONCEPT: 10 Freak Angles is about is about 12 strange children who born 23 years ago and then 6 years ago the world ended. This story tells what happens next. The story comes off different then what you would expect. Very original! ART: 9.5 The art from the figure drawing to the backgrounds is well done. I like that artist gives this world his own touch with each character. A job well done Paul. COLORING: 9.0 The coloring fits the web comic well, but it doesn't have that pop or take it to another level with affects like Red's Planet or Drowtales . WRITTING AND SPELLING: 10 The writing for this story is what keeps your interest on this comic. A excellent job Warren! The spelling and grammar appear to be flawless. WEB PAGE LAYOUT: 7.5 I was not impressed at all with this template but it works and it loads fast. It is pretty easy to navigate this site but you have know where to look to go to the very first page. All these options are on the right side of this comic. You can flip through recent pages just the buttons are different. You can't comment on pages you must join the forum that seems lively.  ENTERTAINMENT: 9.5 Not a easy comic to stop reading once you begin. Some comics I have to skip from the beginning to almost the middle, because that's when they start to get really good. This is not one of them, I think you will read this from cover to cover... POST FREQUENCY: 5.5 Once a week in full color is okay. I am unsure if they mean one page or one episode which is 6 pages at once? You know I don't like to guess so I will say the post one page. POPULARITY: 8.0 Now this comic has there act together with the right balance of a great story, very good art and a Page Rank of 5. The don't have a set up for comment so I don't know how many people tune in but their forum looks lively. This comic also has decent PRs of a 2-3 on previous pages. How did they manage to do that?!

THE MOST OVERATED VIDEO GAMES I EVER PLAYED: FALLOUT 3

Well this post will get some responses, but I'm sorry. I heard so much about about this game called  FallOut 3. I was and I still am still am gravely disappointed. I love RPG's, ever since Zelda I played any that I found that the story was entertaining. Final Fantasy 7 was the next game that just blew me away and I tried some of the lesser RPGs that came inbetween the Final Fantasy installments. To be honest, I never liked the sci-fi RPG's as much. I played  some of those "Star Wars" Old Republic ones, but only the demos. I was never moved to buy one. The Xenosaga series for PS2 was my first real sci-fi RPG I did play and like. It wasn't great but it was fun and entertaining to play. The only sci-fi game that I liked so much I couldn't put down was the Mass Affect series. I can't wait till the third one comes out!

One of the best RPG's ever!

To stay on the subject... FallOut 3 is no where as good as Mass Affect to me. I played this game as far as to the point that you are out the Vault and reside in a neighboring town with some side quest you must have to do to move on. The character control options or the various menus you have to know how to access was a real bother. I see why games like final fantasy and even Mass affect keep it simple. Even changing a weapon from one to another was a pain at first. I have a grasp of the controls now but finding quest can be a real puzzle. Let me explain, in most RPG's finding the person may be the hard part. Once you have that info it's just the challenge of earning the the prize in battle. Or it's in reverse... finding the person is easy but finding where something is hidden is hard. If you have the combo of it's hard to find both things in a fantasy RPG... then these type of  side quest  are near the end of the game with a item that is worth the headache. I see finding stuff to hard hard right away with this game. The battle is also haphazard with you trying to figure out where a enemy is located. I was not aware that I was playing CALL OF DUTY. The musical feel of this game is another annoyance. Too many games have been stuck in the 50's area. For that reason alone it made playing Bioshock a little less fun then I would like. In Bioshock's case at least the battles was sweet. I know I haven't scratched the surface of this FallOut 3 yet. Perhaps if I get half way through I'll find that sweet spot like I did with another game I did not like much till mid way through. Halo 3 ODST. I  wasn't feeling this game ether and then the battles became more fun and I had better support around me. I will still play FallOut 3 since I paid money for it. I'm just glad I only paid only $20.00 for it.

2011 WEB COMIC REVIEW 20: SHAMAN QUEST

WEB COMIC: SHAMAN QUEST
CREATOR: DARK PASCAL
UPDATES: RANDOM ABOUT 1-2 TIMES WEEK
ARCHIVE: 8 CHAPTERS OF A TOTAL OF 454 MORE PAGES

GENRE: 3D FANTASY

Hey guys, how have you been. I know you have been waiting for next web comic review so here it is. I've been busy tired and cranky. Trying to do too much I guess. Today's comic is Shaman Quest and it's a 3D comic!

PROS: The visuals are stunning in this 3D world. The creator really knows what he's doing. He won "Best 3D Poser finalist 2010"! I can't say enough how this guy knows how to tell action pack story and put together some nice scenes.A huge archive of 454 pages to dive into.

CONS: I think except for members of Drunk Duck you may never know this one exist you have to did deep in searches to find this one on that site. I admit Drunk Duck is where first presented my own web comic and it worked out fine. When I started reviewing the best web comics in the world however...the site lacked many things that would help your comic stand out more on line. This site also sometime has those annoying server errors. One reason why I don't go on there much. Some pages load and some just don't.

 LAST WORD: This comic made me re evaluate how I look at 3D comics. Originally I figured this work was real easy to produce or was not too creative at all. After delving my own hand 3D animation I found that is frigging hard work. The only easy part is there are plenty of places you get models for free. After that however you have pose and not only the models but the camera and the whole scene. I have to think that comic is little easier but still it's process especially when you first start in the beginning. The Drunk Duck site give out side readers as little info as possible when browsing comics. That wouldn't help this one at all with being found by new readers online. This comic would have did a little better if not for the website glitches that drive me crazy. Every time they update there site it is utter chaos.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.5 CONCEPT: 9.0 Shaman Quest is about? Couldn't find story summary so from what I gather this is 3D fantasy about guy with a big sword and attitude that meets, befriends a host characters in this epic. I story summary would have helped, buddy. 3D PRESENTATION: 9.0 Very good. The models and scenery is well done and laid out. The are next to no renders but they take one hell of a time anyway. COLORING, TEXURE AND AFFECTS: 9.5 It's hard to mess up coloring in 3D but textures are a different thing all together. Dark Pascal did very well here. The affects was incrediable! WRITTING AND SPELLING: 9.0 The are some typos here and there but it doesn't get out of control, so spelling is fine. The grammar appears to be fine. The story is easy to follow you just have read quite a bit to get what the goals are of the characters. WEB PAGE LAYOUT: 8.0 He did quite a bit with what he had to work with. His CSS script template looks like among the best on DD, but it can't compete with a domain web comic site with a jazzy Comic Press template. Plus the site can be erratic and load slow at any given  time. You can't find any basic info about this comic, like a charcater page or a story summary. You can find info if you go search for the thumbnail, but who wants to go through all that?  ENTERTAINMENT: 8.5 I do enjoy this story when I have a chance to read it.  The fact that I don't have a general idea what it is about, leaves me a little lost in the midst of all the action. The limits of web comic presentation on the Drunk Duck web site again. POST FREQUENCY: 5.5 One to two times a week is acceptable but you don't have any idea when this comic will post it's next page. POPULARITY: 2.0 This comic does okay on Drunk Duck, sometimes getting as many as 10 comments. It has no PR and is probably not known out side  the walls of  DD. I am sure more people would like this one if they knew it exist.

Videogames 4 Gamerz: Xbox Live: Indie Trial Game - Endless Midnight: Zombie Swarm

Videogames 4 Gamerz: Xbox Live: Indie Trial Game - Endless Midnight: Zombie Swarm It seems Video4Gamerz has some new tricks up his sleave. He did a very good game review of a Idie game you may want to check out. Click the link above to see more. I am sorry about the "all stop" with my blog and comic. The baby has me dead tired this last week, so much that I missed my show The Vampire Diaries Last night! I am working on stuff but it will be a little while til I post or maybe not. I'm in need of coffee or a nap!

2011 TRENDY 7: BIN LADEN DOWN!

Finally after all this time are mutual enemy is dead. Osama Bin Laden is dead! They best be sure however, I thought I say few years that he has body doubles out there that will gladly die for him. I assume if the US is putting this out then they are triple sure they got the right one. It seems Bin Laden's death has decreased the risk of doing business around the globe especially the middle east. Another amazing thing is that the  Bin Laden is dead face book page goes viral! Further news say the President says Bin Laden was shot it the head. Who shot ya!

The Navy SEALS stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach was responsible for the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. Who else could of have done it? The CIA did provide the intelligence however. We need to remember though that Al Qaeda operates as individual cells. I heard on the news that the Taliban are also all rilled up with the death of their leader. Many fear attacks could be imminent as a reprisal to the fall of Ben Laden. So everyone keep your eyes open! This isn't over by a long shot, but this has to be a crippling blow to those guys. I just hope Iran hasn't given those loony tunes any nuclear material yet. At least Osama Ben Laden death should bring closure to victims of 9/11.

THE MIGHTY THOR MOVIE AND VIDEO GAME?

Yup, I knew they would do it a Thor video game. Since this won't be a movie tie in there may be a chance. The graphics look good. I wonder about the game play. I like these type of games to have no button mashing problems. Thor was always a favorite character of mine since I was kid. Perhaps because he was a god. I think I really got into this character when Walt Simpson did his run. He really delve into the Norse mythology and had some major earth shattering events happen. I thought no one could top that-- then came  John Rominta Jr. and he "Powned" this title. I wonder if the movie will suck? The guy playing Thor seems to have just enough god swagger to pull it off. I'll see it though could be tricky since I have a baby now. Might have to get the bootleg...damn!

Speaking of the movie I am worried who is playing Loki. It might be a similar looking guy with demeanor that also plays in the video game. I always believe the main villain is more important then the hero. That who he will measure himself against. We'll see, let me know if you see this before I do.