Listen to me shit on Blizzard for half an hour... And also talk about this webcomic!
Read the comic here: http://www.lfgcomic.com/
Check out Hugo Junstrand's DeviantArt page here: http://hugge93.deviantart.com/
Check out more music from Daniel Zobonis here: https://soundcloud.com/daniel-zobonis
I think a lot of the issues this artist has with paneling and the pacing inside it has to do with how different a modern-day, sitcom-style comedy comic is constructed and paced than an epic, or even not-so-epic action/fantasy comic. His previous comic had drama here and there, but not exactly stuff like battles with monsters and whatnot.
ReplyDeleteSeeing straight-on, little-to-no perspective shots with static boxy panels can work great with a modern-day comedy, because it's usually the dialogue (of those daily strips, not a several-paged issue) that carries the 'action' and laughs.
In an action-fantasy, even with heavy comedy elements, the paneling that worked in this guy's previous story Least I Could Do (That's it, right?) just looks bland and even old-fashioned here.
It's wonderful how comics have evolved from those fairly static, narrative-heavy constrictive grid-panels of those 20's and 40s hero comics develop their own unique atmosphere, pacing, and paneling to signify anything from pace to art form to genre to emotions and beyond. There's really an infinite way to exploit paneling to spice up your story, and that makes my inner McCloud flip it's shit; so I'm sorry for the rant.
Even if all the dialogue in this comic remained the same, I think that with using things like paneling and lighting in more dynamic ways could have added at least a LITTLE more emotion and empathy for the story. The art is nice and polished, but without better angles and panels, it can be a bore for your eyes to slog through.
Considering the artist's previous comic, I 100% get how hard a genre shift it can be to move from modern comedy to MMORPG action-fantasy-adventure-comedy. I haven't caught up with recent pages, but I do have faith that they can learn a few of those paneling tricks to--hopefully--bring out more emotion beyond just (some very good) laughs. It's just too bad you have to wade through so much "MEH" to get to that potential.
Keep up the great reviews; I'm having a blast watching them all!
Good analysis. And yeah, the same team does Least I Can Do and this webcomic.
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