Harry Potter and the Milking of Media

So this week I’ve been spreading the word about my new comic, Star Trax. Updates Mondays and Thursdays. God, I hope it doesn’t get reviewed. I’ll get some excuses ready just in case. Trying to advertise on a budget of feck all is tough though. It’s all about trollin’ forums and things with links. And Space Pirates. Everywhere I look there’s advertising for that new Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince: The Motion Film. I honestly couldn’t care. Sure, like many, I read some of the books. But then they became a mile long and dragged out for no reason. So I stopped. Also, I grew up. If I could get that kind of advertising… *eyes glaze over*…. Well! That’s where you kids come in. Advertise Star Trax and I will… Um… Be eternally grateful? I really can’t offer much else.

Man, so I’m a little late with this, but Good Ship Chronicles by Tauhid Bondia has now seemingly returned to regular updates. This means awesome space-based funnies for all involved! GSC is excellent from the get go, being well drawn and hilarious. It’s gonna be big. Bigger than it already is. I prophesied this.

And now on to today’s review. D. Long got in touch with his comic “Edmund Finney’s Quest to Find the Meaning of Life”. I read this right the way through immediately (I am unemployed after all) and I was taken with it. It’s the story of Edmund Finney, a writer and traveller who yearns for adventure… Though not as much now that he’s tasted it. This comic is a good read, and to accompany it there’s many a random strip. EFQtFtMoL (so much for abbreviation) started on March 8th (New-Webcomic and Give-Trax-a-Gift-Day eve) and maintains a solid style throughout. This is a story comic that’s worth hopping on board with now while it’s young. I mean, like, new, as in fresh? Don’t hop on the young. It’s frowned upon.

How is this comic written? The humour style is situational/observational. The various plot points drives the comedy stylings, with many of the main funnies coming from current affairs. It’s extremely well written. Occasionally we see what Edmund has written in his journal, as well as his thoughts, but we also get some good comic dialogue going. It’s written as one main story, with shorter arcs. I don't think we can mention the 'meaning of life' without touching on Monty Python. There are some slight elements of Pythonesque humour here and there, especially in the juxtaposition of the character and the scenarios he faces, but it's all entirely original and doesn't once allude to Python at all. As well as the main storyline, there are also semi-random updates not relating to the story. They’re mostly sketches or off-beat funnies that wouldn’t fit.

The artwork is very good. At first it reminded me of a similar style to a newspaper comic, but then I remembered that it was from the Horrible Histories books. Anyone not from Ireland or the UK probably has no idea what I mean. These are a series of history books aimed at teenage kids. The illustration (by Martin Brown) is comparable to D. Long’s style. Not the same, mind you, there’s a lot of differences. Mr Long’s work has quite a bit of detail, and the character design is very well done. Kinda sketchy, but it gives it a nice “down-home cookin’” feeling. And seeing his off-comic sketches in the random stuff proves exactly that. The overall black and white motif works very well with the content. Check out my favourite part here:

This comic is outstanding, in its humour and its drawing style. I’m giving it 4 out of 5 paw-things and I’ll be definitely keeping up with it.

Edmund Finney updates every Tuesday and Friday. It’s a great read, and is one to watch for the future. Seriously, if you don’t check it out, I’ll come after you.

Peace out.
Coyote Trax