What Did I Learn?

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Zip and Li'l Bit by Trade Loeffler.

It's the little things that sometimes make a big difference. If you look closely, you'll see details like basement windows meticulously drawn in by proper perspective, books tipped upside down and different sorts of lampshades. All these sort of thing combine to really give you a sense of place, which it turns out to be a house with active kids.

The story arc covered in this review is 'the Upside Down Me' and I won't spoil it here. Don't worry. However, it was not until nearly the end that I realized what theme was repeating itself and how the title perfectly fits. It's that theme that makes you relish in that childlike sense of discovery you get as you follow the tale. One nice thing about longer works is how you can stick to a few important bits and how that helps tie things together.

Something else that brings this comic together is the very regular layouts. They are not all the same, of course, but the ones that are different are different for very specific storytelling purposes. For example, a panel showing Zip floating in the night sky has no solid outline, giving it a real sense of openess. You're probably saying to me that this non-outline is an old trick that folks like Scott McCloud and Eisner talked about...which they've done. In this case, it is very very powerful because the rest of the comic has those strong outlines. Proof that you can lead audience expectation with just a line, as Alex Toth and other veterans will tell us.

I also really enjoy how Li'l Bit doesn't speak. Those moments where she expresses herself despite not talking are endearing and nicely done. It's quite a thing to be able to pull it off well. It adds an awful lot of charm for such a small detail. That's why I say it is the little things that can make all the difference.

What did I learn?
Details, details, details.Themes are very important to a longer work to hold it together. What themes do those of us with daily gags use in our shorter works? Do the layouts do their part to advance the stories we are creating? If you took the dialogue away, would the story still work? Would it be enhanced if you tried to create your next comic in a wordless style? It certainly would be an interesting experiment. You'll have to read all 63 episodes of Zip and Li'l Bit for yourself to see more of these little but important things. I'm also going to enjoy the next arc entitled the Sky Kayak. From those previews, you can see that it'll be great fun when it starts up in September (2007.)

Next week's review: Boxcar Astronaut.

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.