So, are we reviewing comics or what?



Mob Ties

Well I really do not read manga at all, so if something I say contradicts some manga code, then I apologize.

Overview: Mob Ties is a manga styled comic about a over weight american that is oddly tangled up with the mob.

Art Style: I really enjoyed the art style. It is a cartoony manga style. Mika was drawn well, and the change in clothes and hair, shows off the art well. The expressions for all the characters are great, and that added a good element to the comic. Another thing I enjoyed about the art style was when color was used. The coloring skills the author has is shown every once in awhile in the comic, and in every cover. And I know that it is a pain, the author mentions it a few times. But it adds a lot to the comic. And I would take color over more updates. One problem with the art, is the lack of action. The author mentions multiple times that they are bad at action scene. But it would help the progression of action scenes, instead of switching to some side character conversation to avoid it. Another little problem was a few times the drawing was too busy, that I did not really understand what was going on. And it is not the most original style. Overall though, the drawing went well the comic, and I greatly enjoyed it.

8.75/10

Storyline: The storyline is very, very odd. The storyline is based on an american living in japan. He gets involved with the mob, by saying he would marry the mob boss's daughter while he was drunk. Maybe it's a manga thing, or something, but the very odd storyline really wasn't working for me. While it was put together pretty well there were some problems. One problem was in the middle of the comic there is a few references that Sidney was going to marry Mika at age 18, when the rest of the comic says it will be when she's 16. Another plot problem was that in the middle of the comic I think they referred to Sidney Burns as Sidney Barns. And I think Barns was referred as the right way to spell it. I also think that the suicide plots is a little too serious for a silly manga type comic. It seems that comic is trying to be both a funny manga, and a serious one. And at times it just does not work well. There will be a long funny section, then a long serious section. I think that the comic could improve if it just choose one side.

6.5/10

Dialogue: The comic is quite hilarious. The tie that Sidney wears, which show basically his emotions, is pretty funny. The writing is pretty good. Each character speaks as a stereotypical goth, geek, etc. All when characters started going on and on, I liked that at the end of the speech bubbles it just said "blah blah" a bunch. The grammar as a few mistypes, but other wise it is great. Sometimes the dialogue is a little awkward at times, because they will go into monologues. And that comes off, as a bit unnatural.

8/10

Other: This is more focused on the web page. I do like the idea on how the whole theme is suppose to be Sidney's shirt. This might just be me, but the flannel tile in that tan green mix is not all the visually appealing. Also I know that space limits what you can do, but the tie in that awkward flip, looks odd. And when I clicked on one link, another link to your myspace popped up. For some reason that is not on your comic page.

Summary: Mob Ties is a manga styled comic, that has enough pages, and humor to last you a good while. Recommended read, reading through the whole archive should take a good while. I got it done in about 2 days, cause I was determined to get this thing wrote out.

8/10

Overview: Mob Ties is a cartoony manga style webcomic about love, yakuza, and Japan. It can be funny, but it can also be a bad case of a Japanese overload. 7.5/10

Art Style: In a world of anime inspired art, there is your cartoony, your realistic, and your "OMG! SUPER KAWAII AND SHINY PINK BUBBLES LOL" ala Snafu-Bleedman. The art of 'Mob Ties' relies more on a cartoony side of manga art, often used for children's comics that reminds me a bit of a cross between Garfield and Crayon Shin-chan. So, if you're a detail freak, don't look here. This is worthy of a good ole comic strip. You can recognize the characters at least. To be honest, (this is probably because I grew up reading it and I overloaded on Calvin n Hobbes a long time ago) I'm not a huge fan of this style. Also, (this is probably hypocritical of me) I kinda like backgrounds. Even pattern overlay backgrounds. Blankspace irks me to no end.

7/10

Storyline: The story is...confusing? I got the jist of it about an american guy living in japan who gets mixed up with the yakuza when he lands a hot gothpunk chick. Although I love gothpunk fashions and japan, I have to say its the overload factor again. The webcomic world is simply FLOODED with stories based in japan, dealing with japaneses myth or culture, that by the time something like this rolls along you're like "AUGH!" Charlie Brown style. The humor aspect I get but the story...could use a little tweaking. There are parts where its serious and then funny again, which would make it more like a black comedy but the ART makes you think its light hearted so, something's gotta give.

7/10

Dialogue: The dialogue is funny, which adds to some of the visual gags of the comic. I like the tie that shows emotions gag that reminds of me American comics where, lets use Sinfest as an example, a picture in the background would show the mood or emotion of the character. I'm not sure if I can talk about this here, but kanji (or is it hiranga) is used and I have no idea what they say since I'm not really a Japanese speak but I'm sure Japanese and Wapanese nerds will enjoy it.

6.5/10

Other: I REALLY like the style of the webpage. I wish I could style my own webpage like that, so I glare enviously at it. The author has a mastery of coding, or is at least better than me at it. The pages work well.

8/10

Summary: Mob Ties is a good comic for a laugh when you love American comic strips with a manga feel and if you really love Japan. But, if you're really "anti-animu", you should skip it unless you want to fly into a spasmatic rage.

Art:
The art features Clean lines and smooth gradients, but doesn't have the 'wow' feature overall. The lack of any line width to the art gives it a dull feel and nonexistent backgrounds don't help. Luckily the artist has a more keen view on stylized anatomy and pulls it off with the female characters and intersting character designs. The color pages outdo the bland black and white ones, making you wish the author would actually just sit down with the art and color them- which is what i suggest to the author. That and lessening down on the SD faces that appear in 90% of the panels
6.5/10

Web Site Design:
This will seem harsh but for the sake of the author finding new fans i hope he changes it. I didn't get the theme was Sydney's shirt till late in the comic, while the idea is very creative the execution is terrible.
At first glance There's an x-mas themed broken 'sword' object that cringes against the orange plaid background, buttons for next/last keys, and a hideous purple blob beneath the broken sword.
Once you figure out what they are it's kind of clever, but till' then you just scream 'what was he thinking?!' despite the fact that the author clearly has a knack at web coding.
4/10

Story:
The real plus here- the dialog is smooth and hilarious, the overall plot is pretty creative, and the cast is great. It balances the funny vs. serious comic pretty well, though at times you wish it were more funny. I thought the part were Sydney got drunk and promised to marry the mob bosses daughter was pretty creative. The only major downside is the 'lol japan!desu! xD' factor. While the Japanese culture plays a HUGE part in mob-ties it get's pretty redundant after a while. In fact some of the dialog even includes kanji- the biggest no-no ever in making a weeaboo comic.
Either way the humor and witty dialog fuels it along.
8.5/10

Overall:
A comic with a huge archive, lots of problems, and tons of laughs. All it's faults can be flattened out if the author put in the time to do so. So If you're into Japanese culture then defiantly give this comic a whirl-if not then maybe the jokes and plot about a lazy american guy caught up the mob with a sexy goth-punk fiancee might appeal to you. ;)
7/10

The artwork is instantly recognizable as being manga inspired but the author also applies his own style to it. I just wish everyone didn't look so sharp and pointy! If you kissed on of these dudes he'd cut your face. I agree with others that this comic looks best in color.
I don't really understand the humor. I guess I have to be more immersed into Japanese culture to really "get it." It's hard to pick apart a comic for that so I wont. I will say it seems like he knows the audience he's going for and for that he does well.
I also can't complain about the website design since I know nothing about making webpages myself but I will say I like that the navagation buttons are actually buttons!

8.3 out of 11.

The humorous and over-the-top comic Mob Ties, by Author Ninja, is one of those reads that you may end up scratching your head over a few times... one of those funny, strange, original stories that you can't help but like. Of course it has a few cons to the pros--while the story is very interesting and the characters are thought out, the art can be a little off and the effects can be a bit cringe-worthy. The dialogue, while funny at many spots, can sort of tilt into the awkward grammar dilemnia many comickers struggle with.

Story: 8/10

The story is very well thought-out, but it does suffer from cliche's common in the comedy world. However, the reader can look over many of these and thoroughly enjoy the entire affair.

Art: 7/10

The art is okay, but at some moments the anatomy can be cringe-worthy and there is little to no background in the entirety of the comic. The thick lines are a little too thick--details are lost in them, I personally think. As for details, the characters lack important things like shadows and tints. This makes the reader a little detatched, considering they have to bond with characters that aren't very three-dimensional in that aspect.

And while the panels are stylishly done on many occasions, the gradient fill-ins and photoshop work isn't quite on par with a 6/10. It is used as a frequent excuse for a background.

Overall: 7.5/10

It's worthwhile, and it delivers. It's an extremely fun ride with odd stories and decent artwork. The plot alone is enough to check this monster 20 issues out. :)

Overview: Mob Ties is a manga-styled parody of manga cliches and stereotypes that is both humorous and serious.

Art Style: The art style in Mob Ties was simple, but still paid attention to details. Color is not present, which could possibly add greatly to the comic, however. I am not the biggest fan of the cartoony anime style used in some of the panels, but it is alreight.

7/10

Storyline: I am quite a fan of the storyline in mob ties. It is weird, but also original in many respects. There is a continuity issue in which the age Mika is to marry is 18 and 16, but these mentions are few and far between (the author originally used 18, but then learned that in Japan, girls can marry at 16, and tried to go through and change it all for canonocity; he missed some of the references). My biggest issue with Mob Ties story is that it feels like the author is making it up as he goes rather than planning it out. There are twists and I'm always left wondering, but recent plot developments seem contradictory to how certain characters acted towards each other in the early story. For example, it was recently revealed that Burns was at one time engaged to Nariko. However, Nariko's early treatment of Burns doesn't fit with this, where Burns apparently has not met Nariko before. However, I enjoy the switching from humorous and serious, because we all need a bit of both in life. It should be noted that many characters incorrectly in the comic refer to Burns as Barns, which is a plot device used to create distance between the main character and all of the other characters.

9/10

Dialogue: The dialogue is interesting, much like the story, because it is one of the main tools the author uses to switch between humor and serious story telling. However, I feel that the dialogue could use some work. I don't know how, exactly, but it just doesn't feel quite there yet.

7/10

Other: Probably one of the things I didn't originally appreciate about Mob Ties until later was the intentional use of manga cliches to parody the style (such as Burns and Mika going down the dark alley to get home when they lived literally across the street). Being a naturally sarcastic person, I really appreciate a good parody, and this was no exception, once I realized that the author wasn't innately using these cliches. However, on the flip side, the site could use some work. It just isn't visually appealing, and with my monitor setting, the tie begins to loop near the bottom, but is cut off.

7/10

Summary: I rushed through Mob Ties in a day, so I probably missed some of the subtleties, but overall, I liked Mob Ties and recommend others read it. The story is done well enough to keep you guessing, and while I'm not fond of the few behavioral canonicty issues related to early planning, it also means that you rarely see the plot twists coming, which is a nice change for those who can normally guess the ending at the beginning based on behavior and dialogue.

7.5/10

Mob Ties

I recently read through this...

Art
Well put together and very consistent, sadly it is often hard to follow what is going on due to poor visual story telling. Fortunately it does get better as the story progresses. Also the lack of backgrounds is very noticeable and detracts from the art.
Now many of you may know all about the review from a certain review comic in which MT got slated all round, well despite the author getting very angry about the review he has clearly taken a lot of the comments on board and sought to improve. The difference is again noticeable, even though we are not talking leaps and bounds but it is there to be seen.

It all looks very tidy though and the comic is well presented, the design of the Mob Ties pages is very good although slightly of centre.

The downside is that I found the art completely unappealing, at a glance each page just looks too busy and the characters all look silly, I don't like the design at all.

Art 5/10


Writing.
The story is pretty much all over the show. the initial stuff about the marriage and so on is alright but handled poorly, but from there it just gets more and more absurd as it goes. The thing is that is precisely what a lot of people love about it, just not my thing.
Pacing... well it all just rattles along which works for it, I think a lot of elements would seem even more absurd if there was any dramatic pacing.
As for the overall plot... well I don't think it really has one, it is just the continuing adventures of a drunk school teacher and his underage bride to be. That is fine, not every comic(or story) is dependant on a coherent plot, some rely on their characters.

Sadly I didn't think much of the characters either, the of course the character developments later in the story seem out of place too. Oh well, I didn't like them to begin with so the changes didn't bother me, they just seemed 'Off'.

writing 4/10

Overall.
I hated it, sorry but reading through that many pages of a comic you don't like will make you hate it.
There maybe something for some people to enjoy (clearly as it is a popular comic) but I just don't see it.

4/10

The pages are generally busy and hard to look at, thought they do improve slightly later on in the comic. I think the comic would benefit from more thought about the layout and composition. A lot of the times there are many disparate elements together on the page, and it's just too hard to "read." In other words, it could be improved visually a lot.

I would suggest thinking about what someone would see if they just glanced at it or looked at it with poor vision. Usually, they'd see lots of random shapes and lines, nothing that stands out, and not anything cohesive that fits together. The point of good layout and composition is that it guides the reader's eye and shows them where to focus. The pages with color were a lot better in this regard, because they give your eye something to focus on. I especially like what is for me the most recent page, "paint bomb".

As for the characters' expressions, the author relies on manga style a lot, which I think is great, but something is missing. When good manga use exaggerated expressions and symbols, the characters still maintain their own individuality and it feels like they're expressing it, rather than just having a random manga face/symbol on the page. This comic often feels like the latter. I think it's because the character design feels a little generic, and it lacks basic understanding of anatomy. Even though manga style uses lots of exaggeration, it's combined with basic understanding of anatomy and unique, expressive character design (at least in good manga). I think if the author worked on anatomy some more, the characters would feel much more real and expressive. My personal favorite character was the woman with a mole on her breast.

I had trouble getting into the story due to the visuals. The text was a little small and crowded for me, too. The brown plaid background is even more distracting and busy, on top of everything else.

I think it could have some potential with more thought about layout, composition, and anatomy (not that characters need to be drawn totally realistically). Good luck!

Okay, I'll have a go at this one. -

Positive Feedback:

Being on the top rated comics, I just had to check this one out. Although the art is not exceptional, the humor is what got me hooked. After going through about 100 pages, I decided to add this one to my favorites.

I love how the hero is not the typical handsome stud, but instead a fat, drunk, war vet who's "seen some things". The other characters have been developed well enough to the point where they each have distinct personalities wheither that be likeable or not. That is something that is very important in creating a great comic.

I also enjoy the limit of color in each page. it catches my eye and creates a unique style. Although the artwork isn't one I can call my favorite here on drunk duck, the style stays consistent and the humor always keeps me comming back for more.

Negative Feedback:

looking at some of the other reviews, I can see many of the points have already been made so I wont get too far into the negative feedback.
Manga has never really been something I enjoyed just because it all starts looking the same, so my first impression of the art in this comic wasn't a very good one. While first reading this comic, the clutter became a little too much to handle to the point where I wanted to skip over a few pages. The writing turns into paragraphs at points in the story and it almost seems like you are trying to shove way too much information in the tiny panels.

Although I love the characters in this story, after a while I become very confused trying to remember who is who. Especially at this current part of the story with the fight on the pirate ship. It could just be me in this case since I always seem to strive for simplicity, but the characters are starting to get just as cluttered as the text. I almost feel like a re-cap is in order for the more simple minded like myself. x_x

So Anyway!

I will end by saying Mob Ties still remains on my list of Favorites. This comic continues to make me laugh once I get past the confusion. I can't wait for Sid to come back into the story and I love your little M.A.S.H references now and then. Keep up the great work.

Love, Jobo