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.

SuperFogeys by Brock Heasley

SuperFogeys is described this way: "Where do old superfolk go when it's time to get out of the game? To Valhalla - Home for the Supertired." I love the concept, especially when you see superheroes and supervillains in the same retirement home and the things that mix will lead to. Even the names of some of the cast are worth relishing in; Captain Spectacular, Mr. Crook, Spy Gal and Docter Rocket, to name a few. Plus, there's a pig with a very unique ... power. I don't want to spoil that for you, gentle reader.

This is a novel take on the superhero genre. It's inspirational in a way - it is very difficult to remain true to supers but do something different. SuperFogeys manages to hit all of the fun things about superheroes and show us a new side, too.

The art has great line work that is full of graceful curves and sharp turns. There's just the right amount of detail to focus the reader on the story while enjoying the characters. I like the design of all the characters, both visually and personality-wise. I'd much prefer you experience them as you read them for yourself, but they are exactly and delightfully just like you'd want geriatric superheroes to be.

Another thing I like is that the creator has a place where he discusses some of his thoughts that led to certain characters or strips. The first couple of posts in this forum show us a little of how things developed. Later, he even talks about the pig and where that bit came from. Fun stuff.

The myspace pages for the characters are hilarious! Make sure you read them over. This is a fun promo idea that might help create some buzz for the comic.

This happened to be a good time to write a review of SuperFogeys, because Mr. Heasley is having a contest. You can create a character for the comic and the character will then be part of the strip, with their own writeup and myspace page. You also get some of the original art. The contest closes Nov 20th, so HURRY. What a fun promotional idea!

What did I learn?
Nothing is ever too far gone or overused that a new spin can't be put on it. You can always create fresh material from the tried and true. Once again, likable and unique characters in a novel setting rule the webcomic world. DOn't be afraid to do something mildly crazy to promote your work. After you've read through SuperFogeys, you may want to check out the character submission contest rules here or here. Hurry!

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.