Pixelated Toaster

URL: pixelatedtoaster.smackjeeves.com
Creator/s: Jeremy Nordstrom, Cameron Wiens, Ashley Semen
Run: 4/11-current
Schedule: Two random days a week
Section: Strips 66-86

Website: There's a "Gallery" page, which just has a link that goes to the page the link's on.
And... that's it.

As for the update schedule, comics, and especially strips, should have a regular schedule. The comic seems to update twice a week, so the creators should pick two days and stick to them. The site says it updates Sundays and Wednesdays, but this isn't even close to true.

Also, I noticed the strips are 1,200 pixels wide, and this will cause users with smaller monitors to have to scroll horizontally to read the whole strip, which isn't ideal.

Writing: Fortunately, the creators already reviewed their own comic, so I can save some time and hassle by linking to this.

The gags in this comic are flat-out terrible, and I feel like a lot of the strips involve the writers poking fun at themselves for how incompetent they are. Except, these self-derisive strips are somehow even less entertaining than the rest of the comic, so they only make the problem worse. Boasting about how bad your webcomic is isn't clever, and in any case, there are many bad webcomics, and few good ones.

My advice to the comic's creators? Take a step back from this whole thing and try to reassess your attitude. Writing's a skill, and just like any other skill, it can be improved through learning and practice. Since they're already up to almost 100 strips, I assume they take their project at least a little seriously... so why not put some effort in and try to steer it in the right direction?

Art: Yet another attempt to rip off Penny Arcade while displaying barely a fraction of the ability Mike Krahulik has. I was already tired of Penny Arcade clones when I first got into webcomics back in 2005, and Penny Arcade was already getting kinda old back then. The creators should try to come up with a style that's at least somewhat original.

As for the quality of the artwork, it's barely better than the writing. The weird pyramid legs are especially hard to look at. Also, the creators should check out what I wrote about the "pocket effect" in my review of Rangetsu. It's the case here, except instead of finding creative ways to hide hands, the creators just... don't draw hands. If the creators really have to be that lazy, they can at least give their characters mittens, or something.

Overall: I almost didn't bother to write this review, because I figured the creators didn't care about creating a quality product or attracting readers. But after reconsidering, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, and assuming they're merely misguided. Pixelated Toaster isn't quite beyond redemption yet, but unless serious changes are made, it's going to suffer the same dismal fate as the seemingly hundreds of crappy Penny Arcade clones that have already come and gone.

1.5/5