What Did I Learn?

Please note: This page is no longer updated.

New reviews are posted weekly on the blog page. These reviews are being slightyl updated and ported over to that blog to be republished every Wednesday. They are all scheduled to post and this page will remain until October 2009. You may wish to change your bookmarks.

Crashlander by James Hutchinson

Crashlander is an enjoyable comic published monthly in Edge magazine. It more or less speaks for itself, but let me give you some information about it.

It stars Merrin, a blonde girl who is cheerfully billed as a "social agitator." Spork is a white hairless alien about three and a half feet tall, with an impressive intellect. The robot is Asbo, who is not only very strong but can also fluently speak 802point11n. Dale is the blue, bitter shellfish created in the lab with the inferiority complex. He also (shudder) hates science and has Pierce Brosnan posters (bigger shudder.) Mr. Gubbins is the little microchip who sounds like a bee and is chronicly shy. Finally, Granpa is an ex-soldier who has some issues of his own. By now, I am sure you are asking 'Just what is this comic about?' Below is your answer, as cribbed from the About section of the Cast page:

"Howlin' Bob Maddison was all set to enjoy his retirement from a classified military research institute in Aldershot when he was made to look after an alien and a robot from the planet Ogg Vorbis, by order of the Queen.
-
His biggest challenge, however, would be to adopt his granddaughter, orphaned in a sickening teleportation accident.
-
A bashful computer chip and talking blue shellfish further complicate matters."

I hope that clears up a few things. This may help further: A Crashlander is "someone who jumps to different dimensions on the orders of the government."

I like the crisp linework and colors. The backgrounds are great, sometimes just filled with shadows of color shapes. It's a fun effect. One of my favorite strips has some rays of light fading into the sky. Smooth but striking.

The characters all have fun dialogue and sometimes border on snarky attitudes. They are well designed both visually and personality wise. It's a fun read.

What did I learn?
Sometimes a webcomic is just something to be enjoyed and can't be over analyzed. If it has good art and fun characters, you really can't go wrong. I'm sure you'll enjoy Crashlander as much as I have. Have fun with it.

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.