What Did I Learn?

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Chateau Wonderful by Andre Richard

Chateau Wonderful is updated every Friday. Each episode is basically a two page spread with one panel over top of the other. I found the borderless panels to be a refreshing change from the typical, more structured comic. The linework is interesting and the grey inkwash tones add quite a bit of depth. There are a few comics without the tones but the artist goes back and adds inkwash tones later. There are also a few color pieces that I liked as well.

There is also a sense of French-ness or more properly, maybe it is French-Canadian-ness that surely comes from the creator and creates an interesting contrast against the ... place that the main character finds herself. (I don't want to spoil it.)

Juliet, the main character, leaves Meriville on a journey to Chateau Wonderful. It is there where all her dreams will come true and she meets some other characters that she has always idolized. Where this leads her is yet to be seen, but she has already experienced the heartbreak that real life brings. Now, I've avoided spoiling the main thrust of the comic thus far and it's very nice that the ending is not obvious to me at this point. I once ran across the phrase 'pregnant with possibility' and that's where the situation is. All the best stories take you to that point and then you breathlessly wait to see how things are resolved.

A new thing for me is that this comic is classified as a 'romance comic' so the pacing is quite different than other comics. It's kind of eye opening how much play you can get out of story events, depending on what you focus on.

What did I learn?
I shouldn't be afraid to retouch and revise my comics if it will strengthen then. Even if my comic is not a romance comic, could it be strengthened by giving the characters a real passion for something? What would it mean to achieve it? What will it cost? Where will the characters be later, after they have tried to reach for their desire? Can I bring the story I am creating to the point where something has to happen and then let it develop naturally from there? Can I pace it out for maximum effect? You might just enjoy Chateau Wonderful.

Next week's review: Real Life Comics.

Previous Reviews

Battlegate| Butterfly| Good Ship Chronicles| Evil, Inc.| Madscott| Jefbot| Chronicle| Sheldon| Stardrop| Theater Hopper| Knave| Lullaby| High Moon| Metadawn| Dead Days| PC Weenies| Ask Maridee | Tiny Folk | Gordian Algebra | Starslip Crisis | The Front | Coffee Time Comics | Patches | Little Creature | The Horrible Pirates | Serenity Tales | Crashlander | Girl Genius | This Is Me | Handle With Care | SuperFogeys | Copper | Eskimo Dave | Real Life | Chateau Wonderful | Count Your Sheep | Breakpoint City | Eeekeemo | Boxcar Astronaut | Zip and Li'l Bit | Wally & Osborne | Jump Leads | Dr. Sheep and the Aardvark | Station V3 | Dresden Codak | Lab Ratz | Toyzville | The Boids | Cow and Buffalo | Casey and Scotty | Just Outside | The Pretentious History of Everything | Tia's World | Quirks | Patrick Grey | For What It's Worth | The Sixth Dimension | Max and the Gorilla Goon Squad | Rainbow Orchid | Neko and Neko | Lions, Tigers and Bears | Spacequint | Lessons In Fire Safety | Corrupt Hardware | Enker's Tale | The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo | A Rusty Life | You'll Have That | From the Margin | Jitterati

About These Reviews

I love comics and I'm always looking at how I can improve my own work by examining other creators' works. It's such a wildly diverse field that it's not advisable to make sweeping generalizations and ignore special circumstances and subjects.

There's a lot we can learn from one another. And while there are many forums where you might discuss this, I haven't found any lengthy discussion on what we can do to make our comics more successful. There are a few good books on the subject but the aspiring webcomic creator is forced to learn by sheer brute force practice how to adapt his/her personal style to the medium. This is not as efficient as it could be.

Also, there are literally thousands of webcomics but only a handful of places where you can find decent, regular reviews. The focus of my reviews will be on trying to determine what is positive, successful and worth emulating about each comic. You might even get hooked on a given comic you read about here.

You may also wonder where the 'criticism' is and where the negative things about the comics are pointed out. As a matter of fact, I did mention some dissappointing issues with layout and such in my initial reviews. I quickly came to the realization that it's easy for any viewer to know what they like and what they don't. I don't need to call extra attention to the negative. I have, on a few occasions, emailed a webcomic author with a few ideas for improvements but there's no need to make that information public.

I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything, mind you. I just wish to have an open discussion about what good comics do. Hopefully, more voices will join in.