What Did I Learn?

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Theater Hopper
by Tom Brazelton

Theater Hopper is a neat little comic sprinkled with movie reviews. The characters are always doing something movie related, whether that is making fun of them directly or by the characters using movie phrases. While the main thrust is all about movies, there are short character story arcs that go on - so it's not all just about the movies.

The backgrounds are usually done with color fades, sometimes having movie posters or other objects of interest behind the characters. These are well done, having just enough visual "oomph" to provide a bit of context, but not too much.

Movie buffs will enjoy reading through the archives and enjoying the side jokes and diversions that the characters get into. However, this is a solidly entertaining comic even for those of us who aren't avid movie lovers. It's very mainstream movie fun and doesn't focus on film nerd sorts of topics. Theater Hopper is very enjoyable as a casual read.

One last thing that I want to note is that Theater Hopper has been around since 2002 and has had a consistent four panel style. It's very easy as an artist to want to do something different all the time, so keeping things basically the same over six years (as of this review) is noteworthy. Mr. Brazelton deserves kudos all around.

What did I learn?
Keep at it and keep doing it because you love it. Make it better as you go and keep it focused. Give your audience that something that you enjoy. Theater Hopper regularly updates on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays.

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.