What Did I Learn?

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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.

[url=http://www.maxgorilla.com/]Max and the Gorilla Goon Squad[/url] by [url=http://www.comicspace.com/maxgorilla/]Kevin Richter[/url]. What is Max and the Gorilla Goon Squad about? The blurb reads this way: "The story of three gorillas, Frank, Sal and Earl, on the run from the police for the murder of their employer. They are befriended by a young boy, Max, who helps them solve the mystery as well as find their place in a world that doesn't quite accept them for who they are." Updates Tuesdays and Fridays. The art always conveys that certain serious mood that the storyline requires. There's a great quality even to little things like how gorilla-like the way they walk is shown. And I not only like the Gorillas themselves, but also Max and the supporting characters like the police and their way-cool floaty bikes. (I'm not sure how that will read to you, but that was a compliment in the spirit of 'neato!') The panel layouts are solid and properly emphasize the flow of story. The lines of action are very clear and there's no confusion about what's going on. Even the word balloons and lettering are handled very well. There are a number of other things to appreciate as well. The logo is well designed and the presentation directs your attention to the work. In the blog below the comic, Kevin talks about wanting his artwork perfect. You can tell he puts a lot of effort into every comic. Look at the preview of page 47 - you'll see what I mean. You can also tell it really saddens him when he misses a deadline. He almost agonizes over it. It's nice to see an artist who wants so badly to do a great job. And succeeding. What did I learn? It seems like I have to keep relearning this, but when the creators are truly excited and enthused about their work it really shines through. Keep working and improving no matter what. The effort will show. It certainly shows in [url=http://www.maxgorilla.com/]Max and the Gorilla Goon Squad[/url]. Next week's review: [url=http://t6d.backrowcrew.com/]The Sixth Dimension[/url].

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.