What Did I Learn?

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Dresden Codak by Aaron Diaz.

From the Website:
"Dresden Codak is an illustrated celebration of science, death and human folly." Sounds promising, doesn't it?

First of all, I love the crazily creative panel layouts of the more recent comics. It's very effective montage that not only communicates a lot going on but also shows details that would otherwise be missed. You get a much better sense of the world than you do in most comics. It's something else to try out - Personally, I'd have to be careful to make sure that to use powerful contrasts to lead the viewer's eye to the next panel.

Secondly, the art is very good. Strong highlights and shadows, good line and a great variety of textures. Combining unusual panel layouts with strong artwork is very attention getting... I'd almost say it demands attention.

Adding to this is science information in the comments below, such as debate quotes from Einstein and Bohr. I don't understand as much of it as I'd like to but what it accomplishes is to get the reader's brain ratcheting up into a higher gear. This is a different kind of stimulation and experience that most comics don't give you. We aren't all science buffs but we can all add more in-depth material out of our interests to add to the feel of our comics.

What did I learn?
Try at least an occasional montage and don't be afraid to experiment with the panel layouts. Also, textures are powerful and just a splash of color can indicate texture. Thirdly, if at all possible, add related information to the comments attached to the comic. If you haven't already looked it over, see what you can learn from Dresden Codak.



Next week's review: Station V3.

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.