Review: Zuda Roundup April '09

The Rise and Fall of the Penguin

This shocking exposé will reveal the truth behind the celebrity penguin and his not-so-family-oriented life.

Penguin is one fucking hilarious webcomic. I especially loved the scene of the Penguin snorting coke and fucking his groupies. 

The art, on the other hand, was less than spectacular.

The Kind You Don't Bring Home to Mother

You can think of it as a romantic comedy with a macabre twist, or a werewolf story without the werewolves.

This is a really good (and really funny) webcomic. I loved reading it... but it doesn't feel like it belongs on Zuda. It feels like a better fit for the Sunday papers.

Pirate Eye

Pirate turned detective, Smitty, PIRATE EYE, will solve any case for a HEFTY FEE. This latest case will test him, uncover an ancient mystery, and reveal his bloodline holds secrets, even from himself.

He's called a "Pirate Eye" because he's a pirate detective but all we see in the 8-page story is a detective dressed like a pirate. The Asian stereotypes turned me off too.

Cancer Troop 4

Galaxy Qubart is under attack by the parasitic JELLYS! But worry not my friends! CANCER TROOP 4 IS HERE TO EXTERMINATE ANY JELLYS INFECTING YOUR MOON, HARVEST WORLD OR EVEN YOUR OWN HOME!

Too many pretty colors, not enough... anything else. Maybe if this were a cartoon on Nickelodeon or something it might be different... as a webcomic I wasn't really impressed.

The Daemon Brethren: Advent of Chaos

When Alyra Daniels’ brother gets killed in front of her, her life changed. Now she has to face the ancient powerful group of beings, known as the Sins of Chaos.

Daemon Brethren is a decent story but I didn't like the way the "good guys" were able to figure out without any reasonable explanation that the "bad guy" of the story was "just a pawn." That and the over-use of airbrushes in the art were a turn off.

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Review: Spy6teen (Zuda)

Spy6teen

Cally Calhoon wants to be the model high school student, but that’s not easy when her after school job is with a secret government unit called The Quad! Hi-Spy espionage before the first bell rings!

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Spy6teen felt pretty average until I saw the twist at the end... It's still not the best comic of the month, but it's pretty damn good.

I love when comics blend character, action and plot and present it with some nice art. Spy6teen has all of that. The stylish art emphasizes the action almost perfectly. There's some great character designs in here as well.

The part that felt "average" (at least at first) was the writing. I was expecting a campier story, and to be honest it felt a little camp for the most part. But the solid blending of character, plot and action helped me to overlook all that. 

Overall, Spy6teen is a solid webcomic with a little bit of everything. It's definitely worth checking out and I wouldn't mind reading more, should it win this month's competition.

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Review: Myth (Zuda)

Myth

A tenacious orphan returns from a fallen kingdom of fantasy with a giant at his side. Together, the two set out to battle evil in both the realm of adults and the supernatural.

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What would happen if Sin City had a love child with Calvin and Hobbs? They'd have a little webcomic baby named 'Myth'

The artistic style of Myth looks like it was ripped straight from Calvin and Hobbs. On top of that, the main character is a young boy about Calvin's age. And judging by the synopsis and the last few pages, they've replaced Hobbs with a "giant." 

The twisted nature of the story about a boy abandoned by his parents only to be chained to a wall in an old couple's basement like a prisoner mixed with the black and white/greyscale art also reminded me of the Sin City movie (never read the comic.)

All of this is blended flawlessly into an amazing webcomic with plenty of action and plot. The pacing is smooth (and fast) with a couple of "holy fuck!" moments thrown in for good measure.

The overall for this comic is "nearly perfect." The fact that it's not my prefered genre didn't stop me from loving every page.

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Review: Earthbuilders (Zuda)

Earthbuilders

Their mission is to make barren planets hospitable for mankind... but in a frozen colony called New Sapmi lays a mysterious force that not even the resourceful Earthbuilders are ready for.

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Looks like the April competition on Zuda has a lot of SciFi Space Adventures... and that's fine with me. 

The first one is Earthbuilders. This comic does almost everything right. It doesn't do it "the best" but it does do it right. At least, everything but the sphincter jokes. 

After seeing the starship on the first page I was kinda hoping to see some space battles. The ship and vehicle designs are pretty good. There's a familiar feel to them, but they also manage to stay unique enough that you aren't reminded of other scifi stories.

The other aspects of the art are just as good. There were a few places where the facial expressions bugged me, but other than that the comic looks really good.

The story itself does a great job of drawing you into the world (or in this case worlds?) these characters live in and a few of the characters even get a little backstory thrown in. You walk away with a good feel for what's going on. The fact that there's a little action thrown in is a plus.

The only complaint I had (aside from the completely unnecessary sphincter jokes) was the dialogue. It wasn't that it was over-the-top cliche, it's more that it just felt a little flat. It's fine when the characters say what they have to say to advance the story, but the "personality through dialogue" aspects felt a little forces.

Overall it's a fun story to read. It's deffinetly different for a space adventure, and not in a bad way. 

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