Monday, March 2, 2009

Testing Testing

Vernon and the Midge

Art - Again nothing too horrible. The background is good enough to know where the characters are and they characters themselves are drawn well. However, it look as if the shading has been scaled back and I think I like this look better as it just looks clear

Plus, half the shading Scott does anyway is just plain weird

Story - I just plain don't get the joke.

I understand the set-up that it's ironic the "midge" (since he has no name) actually comes to like the idea that insulted him, but it's not very funny.

Even though the next strip explains to idea of what that awkward pause between the two meant did anyone chuckle at this premise?

Postcards for the Midge

Art - Well the shading is back but it is pretty good. Francis' hand and sleeves are drawn well in the last frame. The cheek shadow is gone or reduced which is less distracting. I liked the drawing of Brent's face in panel 3 as it showed good emotion but starting with Francis in that frame it's basically in CAD mode (sitting with their mouths open with some copy and paste of Brent in the last two frames)Francis' hand and sleeves are drawn well in the last frame

Also, the background in the first frame is great as we know we are immediately back in the office but it gets lost in the next 4 frames. Even if the background for those frames was just a zoom in of the first background it would still be better then dull gray walls

Story - Again like the previous strip I didn't get the joke. This is the last strip of the arc (I should know I posted this late enough I know the next one is a one-off) and it took the whole month of February. What was the ultimate joke or punchline? Brent and Francis talking about a picture of Midget with a mustache and everything returns to status quo.

While I do admit the IDEA of the joke is funny seeing Brent and Francis talking about it isn't. I think if we actually got to see the picture (likely Vernon and "the midge" recreating Francis' sketch) the joke and the overall arc would have been left on a better note

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

What?

Chris Dunning said...

Eh, it's about as much info as we've been getting lately anyway. Nice to at least have a thread started.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@ Chris
Yuk Yuk

Chris Dunning said...

Sorry, I didn't mean that as a dig against you, more as a dig against ES and FS. Where are those guys? Last we heard from FS was close to two months ago. I do appreciate what you've contributed so far though.

Again, sorry.

Chris Dunning said...

Also... It's exactly the problem you pointed out at the end of the first half of your post that makes me wish Scott would do more 8 cell strips. In book form, the two strips back to back would make sense. Here, it leaves you hanging for the punch line till the next day.

(Of course, I post this on a day where we get a double strip.)

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@ Chris

It was a friendy "yuk yuk" and not a sarcastic one.

You SHOULd have clearly known :)

R.W.McGee said...

where ARE ES and FS? It's been a long time.

Jim Thorpe said...

The title is funny.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

From my last communication with FSM both he and ES are busy with work.

I've fallen into that trap, but I try to make up with critiques are there but a little late.

I will try to finish this criqitue and the "ombudsmen" strip up by then end of the night

Sko said...

I think making a 'placeholder' post for the current strip, even if you haven't yet got round to talking about it yourself is a good move.

Sometimes, when the site has been a strip or two behind, I didn't really want to add anything because when the update came, people move to that post and it feels like what you wrote gets overlooked.

fandangamo said...

Loved the 'Ombudsmen." Loved it.

Brett Schiller (Sage) said...

@Rdy -
Cool I'll start doing more of that then

Jai said...

Holy shit, Ombudsmen is fucking amazing. Is it PVP-related? Not yet, but I don't care. It's awesome. It was so incredible that I was shocked. I felt like I was at a different comic strip site, or something.

Mr. Kurtz, I am astonished. That strip is easily worth the price of checking PVP a couple of times a week and expecting only mild disappointment.

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