Review of The Day: LowRoad75

LowRoad75, created by Carlos G., has all the gothy stylings of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy mixed with the teen relationship humor of a John Hughes movie. The main characters consist of a goth girl named Natasha with an aversion to R and B music, a demon inhabiting a stuffed pig named Doom Piggy, and a nerd with a crush on Natasha named Eugene. Updated...wait. It's been on idefinite hiatus since August. And here I already have the review written. Ragh! Well, I'll go ahead and give it a short review anyway, because it's the one I had ready for today. Sorry about this....

The art for Lowroad went quickly from ok to really good. Nice shading effects mixed with the sepia tone the comic has is really different from the b&w and color we usually get, and I liked it for that reason. The chibi-esque style the characters are drawn in isn't overly annoying, even though I don't really care for the anime style for the most part. The pages are layed out pretty professionaly, and aren't hard for the eye to follow at all, as with some comics which are sloppily put together.

The comic starts out introducing Doom Piggy, which I thought would play a bigger part in the comic than he turns out to, as he simply fades into the background after a while. Natasha is the most interesting as she is goth without being too pretentious or being completely holier than thou, but she still doesn't like the trappings of mainstream society. The writers interest in large breasts is all too apparent as a lot of jokes center around this issue, which gets a bit creepy after a while, unless you're into that sorta thing too. The comic as a whole hasn't decided whether or not it's a humor story comic or a straight forward gag comic yet. I would like to see it move more toward story with humor though, as I see a lot of potential in the characters, and would like to see where the Eugene/Natasha romance could lead. Pretty well written so far.

LowRoad75 is a decent goth comic with good characters, great art, and not bad writing. It could use a good sense of where it's headed, but otherwise I would give it a read if I were you. As of this writing, and I mentioned it above, it's in hiatus, but I would like to see it continue. Check it out and let Carlos know that it's worth being resurrected.

I give LowRoad75...

(This comic should be considered pretty adult by the language and sometimes overt
sexual nature of the jokes.)

Back from the half dead!

Hi all, just wanted to let you know I haven't decided to shut down the site or anything. The fact is I've been so sick for the past week that I haven't had the energy to even get online, much less do reviews or interviews and the like. My girlfriend and her son are also sick(we were at the hospital till 4 in the morning two nights ago for him), and we've both missed a couple days of work. I promise to have a new review up tomorrow, and get back into the swing of things. Keep the contest entries coming in too, because it's going to be really interesting to see who wins! Thanks for the support!!!!!!

Webcomic Beacon: New venture coming soon!

Hi all, just stopping in to inform you of a new podcast coming your way soon called The Webcomic Beacon, created by Fesworks of P.S.I. and Two Cents In 60 Seconds fame. This site will feature a weekly podcast about webcomics for amateurs, by amateurs. Joining Fesworks will be his cohost Tanya Higgins of the charming BetaPwned and Wednesday Webcomic Weview, and I will hopefully be playing some small part as well. The estimated day of arrival for the first podcast is Dec. 7th, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for podcast goodness!

Contest recap!

Hey everyone, Jack here letting you know that I've received a few entries into the create a comic from just a title contest, and they're looking good! You have all the time in the world(well, until the 24th of Dec.)to enter, so check out the contest by scrolling down and enter ENTER ENTER!!!!! Flex those creative muscles, and win a prize to boot!

Todays Review: FUI: Flying Under The Influence

Flying Under The Influence, by Devin Dion, updated on Mondays and Fridays, is the story of Dariel, an angel who has been kicked out of Heaven for his rebellious nature, much like the nature of any teenager. I doubt you would be able to get drunk in heaven, which Dariel does to pass the time, but this is a comic, after all. Dariel must then quest to regain his presence in Heaven, all the while making friends with humans.

There is lots to see here. From traveling to the deepest bowels of Hell to being in High School, it all translates nicely to the page in Devin's style. I enjoyed seeing his drawn image of Hell and it's many components. I liked the art style with it's muppet-esque characters with their huge eyes, and the thick brush/pen strokes evoking many comics I grew up with, as opposed to the perfectly calculated, no line out of place look that is so common in todays wacom tablet-carefully edited webcomic era. The coloring is also well done with great use of shading and blending effects.

This is one time when I have more to say about the writing than the art. I liked the mix of gag style humor with storylines such as an attempt to slay Satan for entrance back into heaven. Devin bridges the gap between situational comedy and action sequences very well. There is lots of metaphysical mumbo jumbo, and it's layed on pretty thickly, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Who knows, maybe someone will learn something from all of the messages being layed down in the comic. It's very interesting to see his take on Hell and the sorts of things people are punished for.
On a different note, here's one thing I would like to mention. From the moment Dariel finds himself on Earth, he's very confused, like a country hick in the big city for the first time, but more so. He doesn't know what a phone is or how to use it. He doesn't know what a car is for. So why does he know the slang term "chicks" for women? I didn't get that. One small blip on the radar, but not a big deal, I just found it odd. Aside from that, I didn't really find anything to complain about in the writing, but I did take slight offense to a bit of the "artistic license" taken in the way Heaven is portrayed, seeing as how I come from a Christian background, but this is, again, a webcomic, and for entertainment purposes only. I still enjoyed the comic, and even with over a hundred comics in the archive, I breezed through it in one sitting with no problem and my interest kept throughout.

FUI doesn't take a lot of time and energy to read as it is fun, well illustrated, and brightly colored. I'll be honest and tell you that the premise had me a little skittish about reading and reviewing it, but there is no overtly insulting or offensive material here, aside from a couple of slight curse words. One thing I didn't care for was the one shot comics interspersed in the comic that have nothing to do with the story. Perhaps a seperate archive for those would be best, to not distract from the storyline? Something to think about. In closing, Flying Under The Influence is a very good comic and you could do worse than to check it out. I'm going to continue reading it, because I like Dariel as a character and I think you will too. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you'll have a "Hell" of a time with FUI!

I give Flying Under The Influence:

Mini Review-Pick Of The Week: Crowfeathers...

Hi again everyone, I'm here with a sorta new feature, the pick of the week. Here I'll pick a great comic to mini review and let you all know about, if you don't already, and suggest that you give it a try. And away we go!

Crowfeathers is the story of Chase Corbeau, well, let's let Amy Watson, creator of said comic, tell it in her own words: Crowfeathers is the coming of age story of the legendary 1880's Arizona Territory bounty hunter, Chase Corbeau. A jinku child (half human/half harukulkuun, or nature spirit), he has more than his fair share of challenges in life. Plagued by nightmares, spirits of all kinds, the unpredictability of his genetic inheritance, witches out to destroy him, and slightly more mundane hardships, he is forced into adulthood before his time. However, he is never completely alone on his journey, and finds himself in the company of good friends from both the human and spirit worlds.

If you like very professional and dynamic manga-esque black and white art(I would love to see some color though, although it isn't screaming for it) and intricate well plotted out writing with twists and turns at every corner, then you'll like this comic. I've read a good portion of it, and it's an enjoyable experience with an original story and plenty of archives to pass the time with. Updating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and rated for ages 16 and up, you may find yourself eagerly awaiting that next page. This is one comic that is steadily climbing up the popularity charts, so why not get in on the groundfloor? I'm going to give Crowfeathers a chimp ranking of

for a job well done and suggest you check it out when you get the chance. Read more webcomics!

BRAND SPANKIN NEW CONTEST!!!!

Hey everyone, it took me a few days to recover from getting my stomach pumped from too much bird on Thanksgiving, and that stuffing, oh man, that stuffing. Anyway, I have a great new fun contest cooking, and I'm sure you'll want to taste it. Here it is!

I know you all love to draw, so why not draw something and enter it into this contest? Okay, the jist. I want you all to check out the list of titles below. They are simply names of comics that could be. What I want is for you to pick a title, and create a brand new comic out of it! With the title you pick be sure to create brand new original characters and settings, not use the characters from one of your own comics. It can be a three panel gag, four panel, full page, any format you want. The most original, creative,and just plain best will win the contest! Simple, right? The contest starts now and ends on Dec. 24th, with the winner being announced on Christmas Day! That's right, you'll get an extra present that day by finding out if you won! What will you win? Well, a complete art set, which means pens, pencils, rulers, paper, notepads, and whatever else I can think of to throw in there, and if you have a webcomic of your own, you get a permanent banner on the site. Intrigued? Well, here are the titles:

Stick And Moove
Stalemate
PigTales
Buttercup Sunrise
French Tickler
Cram Session
Apples And Oranges
Dawg
Happy Go Lucky
Blood Simple
Chris Mess

There they are! Entries can be any size, for I will shrink them to what I need. By the way, you can enter as many as you want, of as many different titles as you want. Email entries to uncaringmachine@aol.com in Jpeg or Gif format under a subject name like "Contest Submission", and be sure and have the title you worked with in the comic or in the email. Now, get drawing, because I can't wait to see what all you talented people out there come up with!