What Did I Learn?

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High Moon
by David Gallaher, Steve Ellis and Scott O Brown

High Moon is a very popular comic on the new Zudacomics.com site. It combines many stories elements I enjoy, such as Westerns and Mysteries. There are also strong characters to go with a solidly building story.

Having said that, High Moon does contain some things that just aren't my cup of tea. I'm also not completely sold on the comic interface, but it's not bad for a first try by one of the big comic companies. I mention my preferences just so you won't wonder why I don't mention the obvious elephant in the room. There are, however, some very good things to see in High Moon.

I like the artwork and the style it is presented in. The artwork has strong line with great flow and heavy blacks - that's a link to the High Moon blog. You can see a lot of fitting background detail and I'd say that the artist either does a lot of research or loves Westerns. The panel cuts are refreshing too. When you add subtle, muted western colors and textures it really becomes more than its parts.

It's also nice to see a storyline develop reasonably. Many comics rush the introductions of characters and go straight to pushing the story forward. Very few spend any time dwelling on the characters and let you get to know them. I think all comic creators feel some kind of push to get the story moving and there's a fear that the audience will desert you if you take just a little too long on anything else. I think we might be under estimating the audience. I think they can appreciate a good story and are willing to enjoy the build.

That is not to say that High Moon has a slowly building story. If anything, I would say that there is no wasted time or space. Where most comics sprint for the finish, High Moon is building up to a much bigger finish than most webcomics aim for.

What did I learn?
Try out some slower paced stories and see if your audience wants to be indulged. You need to give them something in return for their most prized posession - their attention. Check out High Moon and see if you don't agree.

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.