Saturday 2 May 2009

Webcomics are Like a Fine Wine.

Watching an old episode of the Trek, and I can’t help wondering how the new film is going to go. I’m excited about it. Very excited. Not THAT kind of excited, chief. That’s wrong. It could go either way, but then time travel is involved, so if it’s bad they can always cry “alternate timeline” and all will be well. Remember First Contact? All the crickets started chirping and then they learned of the old time travel paradox in films involving universes and things. Also: physics! So who knows, it will either be good time travel or bad time travel.
So, back to the webcomics. Recently I learned about a comic that’s been going for years, George. You may have read it, or know of it, but I only discovered it when I joined twitter (also: join twitter). I have to say, the artwork is cartoony but very professional, like a comic should be. The humour is very broad too so, unless you have some severe funny-dysfunction in your brain-sensor, you’re guaranteed a laugh.

Aside from that, I have a great new webcomic for you today, swine ‘flu be damned! Scott “Mighty Duck” Ferguson offers us “Nerf This” a humour-based comic with plenty of random laugh-me-ups and a small monster with teeth. It kicked off on the 12th of March, so there’s not much catching up to do there. And like all new comics, it starts a little slow, but not too slow thankfully and soon hits a decent calibre of humour. Here’s a quick run-down of the main characters:
Chase: The nerf-gun toting, Spiderman-obsessed owner of Monty, the Monster.
Monty: Small monster thing with wings owned by Chase. Likes to bite him and is afraid of Smurfs.
Tony: Chase’s good friend, acts as the straight man when Chase is around. Funny in his own right, too.
Steph: Tony’s girlfriend. Angry, angry lady. She acts as straight man for those ‘Tony and Steph’ moments. Or should that be “straight person”? I don’t know, political corectness was never my forté.

Ok, now let’s get down and dirty with this thing. The writing is pretty good, and the humour is overall decent with the frequent twist of hilarity. The first storyline, wherein many of the characters are introduced, is a little slow and is by far the least funny. Now that’s not saying it isn’t funny, but compare it to the next few storylines and you’ll see a drastic improvement in the humour. Literally, each story is funnier than the last. I guess the humour is best characterised as random and observational, with a little unrealistic realism thrown in for good measure. It makes for a good mix. Personally, I don’t get the character of Monty. Well, I do, but I don’t see the point in terms of long-term plot development. But if my eyes work like I think they do, I believe I saw him in the second instalment of “Scout Crossover, also done by Mr Ferguson (and shall be reviewed with gusto once its had some time to mature, comics are like a fine wine in that respect... Well, they're like a wine... Well, they're like booze). So are we looking at a pan-webcomic marketing strategy or just one strange mans obsession with small winged monsters? We may never know.

Oblige my ears m’dears, and listen to my noodlings of the doodlings. What? I don’t even know. The artwork started off as black and white styled in a some-what conservative sketchy/cartoonish fashion. It has since started dabbling in colour (much like America in the mid-20th century) but still retains its sketchy charm. Not much else to say really. It’s of good quality and there's nary a bad word to say about it. Facial expressions could be made a little better I guess, but that might impinge on the unique style, which shouldn’t have to suffer needlessly.I’m gonna give Nerf This 3.5 out of 5 paw-things. I like it. It can be, and will be, funnier as time goes on. It updates M/W/F, and no doubt I’ll be keeping an eye on it as it goes on. And so can you! Teaser below (Matron!). And I’ll be watching Scout Crossover. Don’t think I won’t! Nothing gets past Coyote Tiberius Trax!

Peace.


3 comments:

Richard said...

Ooh! Looks good.

Great review, as usual.

Lifon said...

Just got finished readin' the Archives, I can see what ya mean. It's humor isn't all that great towards the beginning, but once I got to the storyline your teaser is in, I started to actually laugh out loud. And, of course, awesome review, and thanks once again! Yet another comic to add to my "Update Watch" Folder.

John Norton said...

Hey, thanks a bunch for the kind words about George! I really appreciate it. I always get that little flutter in my stomach when I hear someone's reviewed my comic, and when it turns out to be a positive review it's the greatest feeling ever. So, thanks again.