London Underworld

Set in Victorian London. An upper class girl, Amelia Worton- bored of her pampered life- looks for fun in Londons underworld, making friends with crooks and con artists. But, soon Amelia will discover how dangerous Londons underbelly can be.

London Underworld starts with a lighthearted game almost, where lovable characters rip off members of the aristocracy for fun and profit. And then things get dark. Overall, it's a solid storyline that's easy to get into. Set in a world torn in two with classic Marxist bourgeoisie and proletariats, it's an interesting tale that walks the line between the have's and have-not's, and we see those who would both defend those lines and those would would abolish them.

The art style is definitely European, though despite the less stylized approach there is a magnificent amount of detail paid to every aspect of the world and its characters, from the constant grimaces of the boss to the varied shades of humor and sadness that surround Harry, to the... rambunctions notions of Amelia. It's a comic that actually inspires some form of emotion when you read it. When there is fun and merriment, you can feel that too. When there is conflict between characters, you can feel that too.

Bottom line; who would have thought that a comic about people who wear four layers of clothing and half of it lace could end up being amusing? Don't get me wrong, this comic is not about gags and witty one liners, but the humor has a very natural and comfortable feel to it that I think most people could enjoy, and after reading enough pages to get into it you might just find yourself coming back for more.

"London Underworld" is a charming comic featuring the adventures of one Amelia Worton, who, bored with her posh lifestyle, gets wrapped up in the disreputable side of Victorian London. With her two sidekicks, both petty thieves, she gets her kicks pulling con jobs on other aristocrats, but soon finds herself in way over her head.

THE ART. Quite extraordinary art. The detail of both characters and backgrounds is incredible. Character designs are more Western than Japanese, however, there is some manga influence in the occasional "super-deformed" panel, particularly on the part of Amelia.
The backgrounds are second to none, especially the city scenes, which are always drawn in intricate detail. There's obviously a lot of work and love going into each and every panel, and a round of applause is deserved.

THE STORYLINE. Starts off very light, with an amusing con played on a stupid and greedy Duke, but quickly goes dark when we see someone hiring the same chaps who hang around with Amelia to kill someone in their sleep. And then we see Amelia's own family scheming against her for her inheritance money... It's an intriguing and immersive storyline, which always makes you want to see more.

THE CHARACTERS. Are well thought out, from the cunning, spoiled rich girl to the rough, ruthless leader of the criminal gang and Amelia's scheming family. You either love these characters or love to hate them, there's no middle ground.

THE HUMOUR. Not so much comedy as a generally amusing tone, but it works, and it's well contrasted with some of the darker elements in the story. Not much else to say on this front, really. Oh, drunken Harry is funny. So is the ease with which they successfully ripped off the Duke...
So, yeah. Amusing.

SUMMARY. You have to read this one for the art and story alone. It's magnificent. If I can say one negative thing, it's that sometimes it's hard to tell what people are actually doing, with the style and layout of many of the pages and panels, coupled with several wordless pages. Still, its good points more than make up for that tiny flaw, and London Underworld is a must read.

9/10

Thank you for your lovely reviews, guys, I really appreciate getting any feedback, let alone really nice feedback!!! :D Also, I have taken in pieguys minor critisism on board for future comiking! Thank you so much for the great reviews!! :)

What to say what to say? Well London Underground is the story Of Amelia Worton. She comes from a high class family but is bored with it and hangs with petty thieves to run scams on pompous high class people. Starts off light but does take a serious note rather quickly.

The story, though not my cup of tea, is easy to get into and follow. Characters are well put together and you can tell the author put some thoughts into them.

The art, well I like aspects of it. The characters are well drawn, and fully express whatever emotion the author is trying to get across. The backgrounds are well drawn and detailed. Now for the cons. Sometimes the layouts are confusing as to what is going on and where my eye should go next. Sometimes the panels feel to blank with not enough background and sometimes they feel to detailed to have characters in them. Now don't get me wrong the panels that are just background shots are perfect, but some panels which have character interaction in them feel like there is just too much stuff going on in the panel to follow along.

Overall I think this is a good read. If you are looking for suspenseful, light humored comic then this is for you. On the other hand if you are looking for gunfights and lots of action you might want to try somewhere else.

This is one of theorah best works yet!

Art: I really love how the style is so different from her previous comics. The style of the people looks so fluid in any pose or close up. The inking is great. It's an amazing combo of satire British cartoons and manga style. The backgrounds are a little light but they are detailed and the style still blends with the simple figures.

The only down side might be with the lack of tones, black hair or crosshatching it can be difficult to tell the characters apart expect for Missie and the guy with cat whiskers. One can at least tell which is the higher and lower class by the outfits and teeth.

The story is good. The hook took awhile. Took til I found out Missie's uncle wants her dead for the story to get moving. I like how Missie handled it. She seems pretty head strong and confident and I thought the latest scene really showed that.

Other things interesting. They really sound like that have English accents with the writing, but I can at least understand the dialogue.

So all in all, this comic is really an example of how much a webcomic artist can evolve. The story isn't very long yet, but it's simplicity and fast pace makes it work. I wouldn't be surprised to see this comic selling in print.

Thankyou for your reviews, domja and jillyfoo! You made good points that I am working on right now to try and improve on, I really appreciate the nice things you said tolo! Thank you for taking the time to review and read my comic! :)

This will be one of my shorter reviews only because I feel that others here have better expressed my potential views on this comic. I'd just like to add a few thoughts before giving my score.

Theorah's London Underworld is a very good web comic. It achieves so much of what makes what we do such a unique and powerful medium. Not only is the artwork unique, but so is the story. Its like something pulled straight from Charles Dickens, but crazy enough that you never thought anyone would make a web comic about it. Let me add that there's crazy for the sake of drawing attention to your comic because it sucks, and there's crazy for making a web comic that has a setting and a theme so alien from mainstream comics and making it special and memorable. Sarah Ellerton's Phoenix Requiem is the only other web comic I can think of that uses the "Victorian" setting so well.

Back to the artwork, I really liked it. The linework is simply superb. It reminds me of Sumi-e ink drawings. Theorah should really consider coloring this book in a style similar to Capcom's Okami. However, if s/he wants to leave it the way it is, you'll get no argument from me.

Great comic. According to your posts, it appears that you're looking to end this comic. Hopefully you have some sort of follow-up planned, as well as some sort of LU collected edition. I'd love to see London Underworld in print, a I'm sure I'm not alone in my sentiment.

9/10