Hey readers,
As you may have noticed, most of my posts are reviews over comedic webcomic strips. The main reason behind this is that I love comedy strips. Their short-but-sweet punchlines put a smile on my face and keep me from slamming my face into my keyboard while at work. Today, however, I'm bringing you a webcomic that's from a different genre. This webcomic resembles a more traditional print-page comic style and artwork. It's called Ned the Chainsaw Guy. It's a bit graphic so if you're under the age of 14 I would advise getting some form of permission from SOMEONE before you check it out. ;)
Introduction:
Oren Kramek, Omer Goodovich, and Marcia Patricio are the writers/authors of Ned the Chainsaw Guy. It revolves around two main characters: Ned and Toadie. Ned is the badass with a sense of humor that only talks when the opportunity presents itself as funny or needed. He wields a giant sword with chainsaw-razored edges. Toadie is, of course, the silly sidekick that keeps the humor flowing. This dynamic of badass and baboon has been done and repeated thousands of times and is in no way original, but it does make for a great story doesn't it? This comic isn't very old, but the story and artwork is so well done that it makes it seem as though it's been around for years.
Artwork:
The most impressive piece of this comic is by far the artwork. The smoothness of colors and textures combines in this comic to make beautiful digital pages. To the left you can see one of the strips from the archive that exemplifies the hard work and skill that goes into making the artwork for this comic. Notice their use of color and texture around the shrubbery.When you look closely you see just a jumble of colors, but by adding the dark spots and highlighting bits and pieces of the tops of the trees you get the feel of being in a lustrous forest. Their style in this artwork is stunning. You can really see that these artists have a gift for coloring and details.
Take a look at this STRIP. Notice the use of color here to emphasize the characters. Toadie is beautiful and full of color while the bartender and Ned are somewhat grayed. Toadie's character is the one being emphasized because of his drunkeness and conversation. He is the most interesting character in this strip and the authors use the artwork to reflect the dialogue. By dulling out the other characters the reader focuses more on the colorful one. This shows a great eye for imagery and story telling. Great job!
One thing I want to point out in this artwork is that while this comic is generally stimulating and gorgeous there are times when my eyes get overstimulated by the use of colors and detail. Of course colors and detail are an essential and vital part of comics and usually the more the better. However, knowing how to use the color is just as important as using it. Look at this STRIP. Kramek and Goodovich's eye for detail is shown brilliantly in this page, but doesn't it seem a bit confusing in the battle scene among the shrooms? It's hard to tell what exactly is going on. I can tell Ned had jumped from the aircraft into the midst of what appears to be humanoids and shrooms, but other than that I can't exactly tell what he's doing or what the humanoids exactly are. This hasn't happened much in this comic, but I've noticed my eye squinting a few times to figure out what was happening in a few frames. A bit of dulling the background used here, like what was used above, would go a long way.
Writing:
Not only is the artwork amazing in this comic, but the story is as well. Kramek and Goodovich really have an understanding for what makes a story intense and interesting. In fact, their storytelling style reminds me of the mid-90's cartoons that used to dominate my Saturday mornings. When you read this comic you get the feeling that you're watching a very consuming animated film. I don't want to give you a synopsis because I really feel like you should check it out yourself.
The comic's characterization is very well done. Each character has a distinct personality and is very consistent throughout. Within the first 3 or 4 strips you look at you get a grasp of who each character is. Look at the strip to the right. From this page you can tell that Toadie, the minotaur, is a bit of a self-confident loud-mouth that's not afraid to puncture an ego. Also, from this page you get the feeling that Ned is the boss-man. He's sitting back with his feet on the table simply stamping each page while everyone else is doing the work. You definitely get a sense of his badass-ness from looking at this. This display of characterization is refreshing! It's very seldom that I come across a comic as well developed as this. Of course we haven't seen much of the back story of each character, but I have a feeling each has their own unique and well plotted history.
One, very small, flaw I found when looking through the archives is the spelling. Every now and then I found a single word that was mispelled. Nothing too major, but definitely something worth squashing. :)
Conclusion:
With its amazing artwork and brilliant storytelling I will definitely be adding this to my bookmarks. This print-page comic style is perfect for the story and helps add some WOW factor into my emotions. If this comic were posted consistently on time I would give it a somewhat higher score, but Ned the Chainsaw Guy is getting a 90 out of 100! This is the best score so far for any comic that has been reviewed on The Tattler. Great job Marcia, Oren, and Omer! Keep up the good work and I will definitely be keeping up with your story!
Thanks again,
Josh Engle
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