Crooked Gremlins? Are there straight gremlins too?

Hello readers,

So I did some searching over the past few days to find a webcomic that I didn't previously know. I wanted to find a unique and comical medium that I could enjoy writing a review/critique on for today's blog. What I found was a gem! Crooked Gremlins is a webcomic for gamers, pop-culture enthusiasts, and lovers of political satyre. :) Let's anatomize this comic a bit to see what's goin' on from the inside.

Carter Fort and Paul Lucci are the creators of this merry little comic. Fort and Lucci's story revolves around 4 gremlins that are carrying on the traditions of their forefathers to make life for humans hell! The story ends there however because there is no ongoing story with these four creatures. Each potential story line ends after two or three strips only. Fort and Lucci don't make an effort to have a developing story or thickening plot, but this doesn't seem to be hurting the comic. In fact, the lack of development in the story seems to work for it rather than against it because their impulsive humor and impulsive story lines are very cohesive. We'll see if this strategy continues to work for them.

This creative team hasn't developed much of a story yet, but they have developed a very delectable humor. Their mix of crudeness and teenage-boy behavior made me chortle (odd word so i had to use it! ) quite a few times while intensely drifting through their strips. Much of their humor comes from their love of video games, but they also use graceless means to create laughable situations. Imagine 4 mischievous teenage brothers for a night on the town and you can get the feel of this comic strip. Perhaps a combination that could possibly help exemplify the dynamic of this group of gremlins would be between The Ninja Turtles and Chris Farley and David Spade. Weird I know, but it works.

Fort and Lucci have created a uniquely delectable piece of artwork that had me laughing on every strip. I predict this newly founded webcomic to be on its way to becoming a well-liked and admired strip for a large fan base. One note that I wanted to append on this review was about the user interface and the design of their website. Their site is not very pleasing to the eye. :( Their choice of color scheme and overall layout/format of their site is very displeasing and a little confusing. However, with some tiny adjustments and more time I'm sure Crooked Gremlins' site will be just dandy.

My overall appraisal of Crooked Gremlins: 80

(Score from 0-100)

Thanks again,

Josh Engle

P.S.

If anyone has a webcomic that they're wanting to be reviewed/critqued/dismantled just let me know by e-mail webcomictattler@gmail.com or by leaving comments here on the blog. Also, if any of you have any ideas for the blog of how to make it better or bigger feel free to use that e-mail and comment too! :)

The Pixelton Fairy!

Hey guys, 

     So I've been following Welcome to Pixelton for awhile now and this sarcastic medium has extravagantly changed over the past few months. Josh Farkas, the creator and artist of WP has been a little occupied. Let's take a critical look at what batty innovations he's been putting this webcomic through and why.

     The first and most noticeable change WP has transitioned through is quantifying the art. Mr. Farkas has joined the ranks of the numerous comic owners and started giving pieces to fans 4 times per month as opposed to his normal once a month. As a reader I appreciate the added sarcasm in my personality diet, but has this weakened the strength of the comic? In my opinion it has. My explanation for this logic follows.

    

    The second change Josh has put WP through is changing the once ultra-colorfied artwork into simple black and white strips for the sake of posting his art 1-week. This style works for many comics. On the other hand, I felt like the biggest strength WP had was its artwork. Josh worked very hard on his strips and it showed. I would enjoy just looking at his art almost as much as the story he was sharing which leads me to my next point. My opinion has always been that the art is half the story in the webcomic world so by taking away the vitality of his artwork Josh has sliced the life of his story in half! 

     Now, if you have been a fan of Josh's work with Welcome to Pixelton as long as I have you can almost excuse this drastic transtition because he has been busy working on something far more important! His Welcome to Pixelton Graphic Novel has been his baby for a year now. He has been working diligently to bring his fans something we can hold and enjoy, but he needs to be careful because many of his fans, including myself, are expecting the same style of artwork he was displaying during his first year of posting on Welcome to Pixelton. If he fails to deliver I predict he'll lose a large portion of his fan base because fans don't like to be disappointed. 

     With all that said I do wish Josh the best of luck and hope he continues making this comic because it really is one of the best out there. I'll be hoping for more than luck however, because I do keep wanting him to return to his original style of colorful pages and complicated storyline.

                   My overall Appraisal of Welcome to Pixelton:  85

                                (Score from 0-100)

     Thanks again,

           Josh Engle 

The Beginning of a TattleTale

I want to begin my blogging endeavors by explaining exactly what I'm doing. In short I am writing a tattletale. I enjoy belly flopping into the different worlds that webcomic artists create and therefore, I naturally want to thrust down your throats my biased and highly underrated opinions about these different worlds. Webcomics like Welcome to Pixelton, The Noob, and xkcd.com are widely known to the webcomic connoisseur, but most of these patrons of the digital pages don't venture beyond the digital ink and ask the important questions like:

Why is this comic funny?
Why is it relevant?
Why do I keep coming back to this comic?
Why is this sewage-of-a-webomic so popular and making so much money?

All of these are important questions that need to be answered because without understanding these questions then we're really just cyber drifters looking for instant gratification. Which is okay by me, but when you revisit their pages of fun for new and inspiring art or satyre you begin to drift away from instant gratification and metamorphose into what the industry likes to call "a fan". When that transformation happens you will no longer simply amble by these webcomics. Instead, you will want to know the answers to these questions.

Thus is the importance of my righteous critiques on this fantasy world of stick figures and colorful MMORPG characters. So please enjoy my slights and flatteries as they will be offered multiple times a week !

Thanks
Josh Engle