Inspired by a news story.
If this were how the story actually ended, I might consider it newsworthy.
I guess the humor could be a little more clear. After beta testing it on my first three readers here at home, two of them stood and stared for a few minutes before exclaiming, “OHHHH!!!”, one of them I had to explain it to, which by my standards means that it’s completely a lost cause (although he WAS high as shit), and one of the first two just now looked at it again and went, “OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! NOW I fucking get it!!!”
Part of me wants to think I just live with a bunch of dumbasses, but they’re all pretty damn sharp and I’d also like to think that I’m not so morally bankrupt that I’d decry their intelligence just so I could justify my own artistic competence. So I’m just going to assume that it’s crap and make another better one tomorrow.
Please do let me know if it makes sense, or if it doesn’t. The thing about a comic is that you can’t teleport yourself over the shoulder of everyone who reads it to explain what the hell is going on- you have to make yourself clear in one shot, no exceptions, no mercy. So a little feedback would go a long way in figuring whether my test audience’s reaction was just an isolated incidence of mental thickness, or if if this piece really does suck that bad.
On other notes:
– It’s one of my first times playing with extreme lighting special effects kind of drawings and I feel okay about the way that turned out. Just okay.
– Also Jimmy in the second panel could definitely have a more natural pose and look less like he’s trying to eat his own teeth.
– Finally, I’m not sure if the mini segue panel between 3 and 4 reads clearly. HINT: It’s fucking skeletons being disintegrated by the light, heat and magnetism of a star suddenly exploding in their faces. If you didn’t get that before I just told you, then I’m not doing my job right, so tell me, dammit.
My own rating: All in all, for a comic it’s pretty crappy, but for a 30 minute comic it’s not terrible.
I’d also like to put it out there that, despite my in-depth analysis and requests for critique, I actually don’t care as much what people would think of it as you might gather from my nit-picky post, for one reason- I had a LOT of fun drawing it. I was laughing my ass off from start to finish, and whether I have trouble communicating what’s going on in my head, or even if my sense of humor is just idiotic and bland to everyone except me… I honestly couldn’t care less whether anyone else enjoys my dumb little test run of a comic, because I’m enjoying it enough to make up for everyone else, critics be damned. I think I’ve finally found the core of what all this is really about.
Also, if you did just happen to enjoy today’s little aneurysm, come back Monday. The next one has a pterodactyl in it.
Fever-Induced Paranoid Ravings 