Roomies....

Roomies, created by Marko Fithian, follows the misadventures of a group of roommates that includes a robot, a ninja, and a genius inventor. Pretty odd mix wouldn't you say? Stories range from fanatical Jesus zealots to a zombie attack. The comic also boasts a pretty impressive archive for you to check out.

At first glance the art is nothing to get excited about, as the characters seem like cardboard cutouts with only two basic expressions: a smile; and a surprised look that resembles the face of a blow up doll(don't ask me why I know what a blow up doll's face looks like). It even kind of reminded me of those comics you used to make when you were a kid and would fold a sheet of paper in half. But look a little closer and you'll see that Marko takes time to put extensive backgrounds and a solid coloring job into every comic, and his love of this project shows. The art actually started growing on me as I read further and further. Eventually I got past my earlier misconceptions and decided that it was well suited for the comic.

Reading through the chapters gave me some smiles, but also some "groan" moments. I didn't care for the zombie musical bit as it came across really cheesy to me. Also I don't think it works having the characters interact or have conversations with the creator of the comic. To the writers credit though the characters all have their own likable and distinct personalities, and there is a huge variety in storylines, which is good for keeping the audience guessing as to what's going to happen to these guys next. Being able to keep a comic fresh with such a large archive isn't easy, but Marko keeps chugging along.

Roomies is one of those comics that some people will hate and some people will love, but I think you have to go into it with an open mind. Don't just blow through, look at a few comics and say "Agh, the art sucks" or "another roommates comic? Blech!". Take a little time and give it a good read through and I believe it could grow on you. If anything, you'll probably dig the crazy-ass ninja!


This comic is...Indifferent