Ruin-Nation

URL: zack-cafferykerr.squarespace.com
Creator/s: Zack Caffery-Kerr
Run: ?
Schedule: ?

Website: It has Facebook and Twitter pages, but the creator hasn't updated the Facebook page in more than two months, and he hasn't tweeted about the webcomic in more than four months. Other than that, the site's pretty basic, as it has a blank background and a few text navigation buttons. The "About" page could also some work, as it's currently just a few sentences about the creator and the comic's plot.

Writing: It's a bad sign that the creator misspelled "to" in the first line of the first panel, and having a tombstone in the fourth panel incorrectly say "Beloveved Mother" is another indication that this isn't going to be a quality webcomic. However, this is actually the most coherent, well-written page of a comic that quickly devolves into unreadable nonsense.

Imagine attempting to read a webcomic with dialogue like this:

"Kennidy Assination" "Bin Laide" (Page 2)

"If you fuck this up the only job anyone with the last name 'Tion' is working in a Chinese sweet shop!" (Page 2)

"Yeah, a masked man belongs who to a terriost orginasation brke in stole some files, killed Dregg and assulted three others while escaping" "Wait Im confussed" (Page 5)

"Yes, and it's some pretty good reefer too, and no I'm not crazy because of this, you see time travel can make people go 'loopy' especially if if you have been the mind is not equipt for it, it's kinda of like trying to run the Internet through a strand of fishing line weed and a little phycadelics make it like running through fibro optics" (Page 7)

"[...] because use two are the ones who have come close to saving the world from nucalur ennilation" (Page 8)

"What the fuck is the 'Corporation', Jesus you guys leave me with more questions then when I finished watching Inception, and wa I havent agreed to anything yet so how about you stop time traveling or what evaer the fuck your doing me around and let me get my sea legs" (Page 11)

"I dont know Frank, to be honest I dont think it exist and maybe it's not a trait your born with. [...] but the truth is it's always been here, waiting behind the curtin waiting for another encore, another civiliastion to dystroy" (Page 18)

"This is one out of thousands of abondoned homes located in Detriot." (Page 18)

"[...] it's this unknown that fills me like water in a fishbowl, but without a goldfist" (Page 18)

"[...] I could see solidiers running,... runiing for there lives" (Page 19)

"Im not hat person anymore I dont even know what type of person he was, Im happy now. But atleast with the new infomation I've learnt today it probably wont matter the person I am" (Page 19)

"[...] kill them all in the most brutal manor you can conceive, I'm quiet confident in your abilitys" (Page 20)

"Yes there probally going to die over a long period of time and probally screaming with there last breath ha ha" (Page 20)

"Good question, maybe that would of been to easy, but I think the writing on the wall suggest he has a different stratergy" (Page 22)

"We all know thats gotta be a trap right, we walk threw them doors there gonna have a firin' squad ready to shoot like fish in a barrel" (Page 22)

"[...] they think they are fighting from a postion of strengh" (Page 22)

"Well they are bigger, but they aren't smarter then us and if we can use that against them we can bring them to there knees and and in the words of a great man 'put a shotgun in their mouth like a big black cock of death'" "And plus we called in the calvary" "What's up cocksukers" (Page 22)

"The gas disapated into the air going from mustards yellow to clear like an assisin disapears into the night" (Page 23)

"[...] for a momemnt there was a sigh of relief, I heard someone priase there god. [...] My mouth tasted metalic and my skin was melting like wax under a hot flame. Moments like this I wounder about my gods plan, if even has one" (Page 23)

It's obvious that the Australian creator struggles with the English language, but another problem is that the webcomic's extremely text-heavy, putting an overwhelming amount of strain on the creator's limited writing ability. It would make more sense for him to start off doing simplistic pages with fewer panels and only two or three sentences of dialogue. And plus, having a ton of dialogue is generally a bad idea anyways, as it messes up the pacing and takes up page space.

Art: The Chapter 1 cover looks great, but the artwork in the actual pages is much worse. A big issue in particular is that faces are very cartoony while the anatomy and clothing are more detailed and realistic, resulting in a confusing, unappealing style. In fact, I think the main reason the cover looks so much better is that the character in it is wearing a mask.

Still, it's clear that the creator's at least trying, which is more than I can say for some other webcomics. There's some variety with perspectives and poses, the anatomy of male characters is somewhat tolerable, the inking's okay, and there are some decent action sequences. Still, while the art could be worse, it's too ugly for a general audience, and I expect that most readers would close their browser tab in disinterest after seeing one or two pages. A step in the right direction would be to have fewer panels with larger, more detailed illustrations.

Overall: Ruin-Nation is way too ambitious of a project for someone of the creator's skill level. At this point in his creative development, he should be reading beginner-level books and/or taking classes. If he likes the concept, then the best thing he could do would be to set it aside for a few years, and then start fresh from Page 1 when he's finally ready to work on it. For now, though, the comic's awful to the point of being unintentionally funny.

1.5/5