Review a comic. It's the decent thing to do.




The Temple of a Thousand Tears
[ By: trevoramueller ]

TToTT is a well written comic that has it ups and downs as far as consistent art is concerned. At times you are blown away by the faces and other times there are akward bodies and huge heads. (there has been much less of that as of late!) But with that being said the comic itself is wonderful. The characters are very interesting and easy to get attached to (or to hate on a personal level). Another I really like about this comic is it is a story driven comic with some action tossed into it. We get to see how characters handle everything from discrimination to religion to bloody hand-to-hand combat. I would like it better if the backgrounds were hand drawn, or something besides a black space, but I have to admit the photo backgrounds have grown on me a bit. The biggest problem I see with them is how they mess up the "3-Dism" (yes I am making up words now) of some panels.

But again it is the characters and how they interact with one another that makes this comic such a good read. Most of the characters are deep and have their own tone and are by no means interchangable in the story. The story on the whole has the epic feel of an adventure without most cliche parts. The hero is far from perfect but is far from "emo."

Because there is a story with twist and turns I will no comment further on it besides saying it feels very well thought and is a great ride!

I can honestly say this is a comic well worth checking out here on the DD! Make sure you do!

This is a comic that's been on my "to read" list for quite a while here, and I'm glad this gave me the excuse.

By and large one of the better "serious" webcomics I've read, Temple of a Thousand Tears feels like what would happen if Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone, and Quentin Tarantino were left alone in a cabin with nothing but some whiskey and a game of Mad-Libs. In a good way, of course.

The basic plot is a familiar one: A lone warrior with a mysterious past encounters a rag-tag group of diverse characters searching for a sacred artifact. Though that might cause some to dismiss it, the author injects enough style and character into things to keep it from feeling like the same old story. The writing is pleasantly frank and to-the-point, never lingering on something longer than it needs to.

The art articulates the mood of the story very well, and though some might bemoan the lack of backgrounds, I think it gives the panels a surreal, dreamlike quality that helps pull you into the comics world. The use of real photographs for backgrounds works better than I would of expected, as well. Although there are some occasional problems with proportion, such as the sometimes chibi-sized heads, the character designs are solid and unique (the Bishops are great). The art sometimes looks choppy when characters clearly drawn on white paper are placed onto black backgrounds, and some of the word bubbles are weird, but on the whole everything is crisp and professional.

My one complaint with the characters is that we simply don't see enough of them. With the story almost at completion, we've only seen brief glimpses into who they are and how their interactions with the rest of the cast play out, which is a shame since most of them are pretty damn interesting.

If you're looking for a moody, enjoyable adventure story with great characters, then get off your ass and read Temple of a Thousand Tears, so our esteemed Mr.Mueller will have reason to write sequel after sequel until his hands bleed and his mind begs for the sweet relief of death.

Temple of a Thousand Tears. Good stuff.

A little less conversation, a little more reviewin'.

Art-

So this is one of those comics (Like most on the site, my own included) that is constantly changing stylistically due to the artist's skill improving. You can really see the art evolving throughout the course of the comic, and I think Mr. Mueller has made some good headway here. I mean, you're not gonna see his art on the front of any big-time publication in the near future, but if he keeps this stuff up I don't think it's too much of a stretch to imagine in a few years or so. He knows how to do dynamic shading pretty well, and his varying line weight keeps things interesting for the most part. Also, he has this very unique style that's all his own, all his characters seem more... rectilinear, I guess? You'll just have to read it to see what I'm talking about. But I still don't think he's quite found a real consistent niche yet. There are some improvements to be made to the overall style, such as working on the head size in relation to the body as someone earlier said, and just keeping everything in overall proportion. Every once in a while I'd come across a page that looked really good save for one drawing which was proportionally off, which then affected the rest of the page. I think just giving the artist enough time to work through this would produce some really cool results.

Other than that, there were also a few other problems. Mainly, again as someone else said, I think the artist needs to spend a few minutes after finishing a page to make sure there aren't any spots that still need cleaning up. Often times a page would either have white spots around the outline of a character because the black background wasn't drawn all the way to the line, or there would just be white specks on the background because I guess it wasn't completely colored in. It would really take only a few minutes to fix these problems, and I think the comic would come out a lot better for it.

One thing trevoramueller did really well (Even better near the end) was facial expressions. He's pretty much got that part of it down, and the way he draws the characters' faces really adds to the emotion and makes it easier to relate to how the characters are feeling. Except for the old guy... the way he was drawn just didn't allow for a lot of emotion in the first place XD Also, the use of real pictures for backgrounds was sorta hit-and-miss; sometimes it worked pretty well, others it just seemed cheesy.

Oh, and for the record: I like the blood. Blood is good.

So overall, decent art, nice shading and faces, work on proportion. Improving art is really only about three things: Getting more experience, looking at other artists for inspiration, and spending more time on it. Good luck.

3.5/5

Story-

So I don't want to give anything away, but pretty much this dude meets up with these other dudes and grudgingly helps them search for the keys to paradise. In theory, the main character is pretty archetypal; just your standard haunted-past hero who gets wrapped up with people he doesn't like but becomes friends with, etc. But he's still an interesting character nonetheless, simply because Mueller knows what makes a character interesting: backstory! (Among other things, of course) This is one of the things that ToaTT does really well. I'd say a good fifth of the comic so far is backstory, and it really helps the reader get a better feel for the character. As the story progresses, you learn more and more about this guy's past and what happened to him to make him so grumpy all the time. Now, this is all well and good for the main character, but for the most part the other characters don't really get this treatment, and aren't as interesting. It does happen in a few cases, and the characters definitely each have their own distinct personalities, but I found after reading it that I really didn't care much for a few of the characters, simply because at this point in the story they haven't really broken out of a stereotypical mold. I think if more time was spent developing some of the characters he's travelling with, it would definitely help this comic.

And I wanna see more of the bishops, man! They seem like these real badass guys who could really kick some ass, but we haven't really seen them in action yet, they've just kind of been lurking in the shadows, and not much has been explained about them. I demand bishop!

In all, a story that will keep your interest, but won't blow your mind. I think with a few unexpected twists it could get a lot better. Not to say it's bad by any means, but it's just not "different" enough as is.

3/5

Overall, a good read. Shouldn't take you much more than a half hour to 45 minutes to read it through, but I would recommend it to anyone who's looking for a worthwhile comic to read. I remember the artist saying he was gonna start a few prequels too, so that will hopefully add to the depth of the story.

I enjoyed it. Keep it up, man.

ok, first the good:

The story has a feel to it that I can only describe as "Action RPG", which is a good thing in my book. I had a dvd playing in the background while I was reading TToaT and I have to say that reading this with an orchestral soundtrack in the background really gives this comic a cinematic flair. I think it could easily be reproduced in live action. The narration and dialog has an eloquence about it that really makes this comic worth reading, focusing more on the characters than the action. I also like the methodical pacing of this book, it really takes its time to let you get into the heads of the characters, but also has enough action to keep the reader from getting bored.

Now the bad:

Unfortunately, the artwork isn't as good as the writing. The art isn't terrible, but the fact that the comic isn't inked keeps it from looking like a finished work to me, even with the tones. Like somebody said earlier, you've got facial expressions down, but the anatomy and proportions of the characters still need some work. The artwork is gradually progressing as the comic goes on, but I think you could benefit from using photo references when you draw certain scenes and poses. Another thing that bothered me was the lack of backgrounds. we very rarely see a background unless it's a photo insert, which really draws attention away from your main focal point, because the photo stands out so much. I think it would have worked out better if you just used the photos backdrops as a drawing reference.

So overall, despite my minor gripes regarding the art, I feel that Temple of a Thousand Tears is a well written story that is definately worth a read. Anybody that into fantasy adventures with interesting characters won't be disappointed.
3/5

Thanks for all of the really great feedback so far, everyone. There seems to be some consistencies from each of the reviews (namely, the story and writing are pretty good, but the art needs work every now and then). I know that the story has been a wild ride thus far (with even more twists and turns scheduled before the ending), and there's going to be some plot holes tied up in the prequels and sequels to it.

Honestly, this was my first web comic, and it's certainly been a learning experience - and you have all helped with that so far, so thank you for your honest and constructive feedback. That said, this comic is far from over - with The Legend of Abraham in production and Bushido in pre-production, there's plenty more Temple on the way!

It sounds like there are some mixed reviews about using photos for the backgrounds, but how do you guys feel about the black and white color scheme? How about the sparse use of color for blood and electricity? I know that one person commented on the lack of inking, but how do the rest of you feel about it?

Thanks for the great reviews and feedback thus far, and I look forward to hearing more - everything you say helps this comic improve and grow and get better. :D

I actually really like the way Temple of a Thousand Tears is drawn. The angular look of the character designs and the high-contrast inking style add to the mood and gives the comic a unique feel. Not to say that it's not without caveats in that regard, sometimes the heads are drawn too large (and I realize that I'm not the first to point that out,) and a few of the poses in the earlier pages look a bit strange. Maybe a stylistic decision, but it's still a little jarring.
Most of the characters seem well thought out, although I found the exposition in the earlier pages a bit heavy-handed and slowed down the story. But then again, that's simply one of the hazards of doing exposition. All the same, the characters are interesting, with the possible exception of the Swordsman. Maybe it's just me but I just didn't like him, he's such a jerk!

Overall 3.8/5

Thanks for the kind words, patrickdevine. I think the large heads were a lack of artistic ability more so than a stylistic purpose. :P Also, I'm glad that you don't care for the swordsman. He's actually not supposed to be a character that you like - because you're right, he IS a jerk. However, it helps if you can sympathize with his situation.

I just added a new shading style to the comic, so perhaps people can also comment on that? The comic also is currently ranked in the top 200 comic book stories, and the top 300 overall web comics on DD!

Thanks for all the support, feedback, and comments!

This comic is great


Art:
Like everyone has mentioned, sometimes there are proportion problems, but it does improve. The characters all have a distinct look and style. The shading is great as it looks deep and rich. It has improved with each new page. The splash of red on the pages to give a little color to the artwork is done well on each page.

Writing:
I literally sat down in front of my computer and read ALL OF IT in one sitting. Each page pulls you with the characters interaction with each other. The writing is some of the best I've witnessed in a web comic. Each character talks different from each other like a real person. If you heard a certain line you could identify the characters.

Overall, I'm a fan of this series and I look forward to see where it goes. :)

I'm curious if people's feelings have changed at all since the introduction of the prequel story - with a new artist, Olivia Kasle.

Feel free to comment.

The temple of a thousand tears contains the story of a man seeking vengeance and then the prequel to this. Although these parts differ in storytelling and art, they are nicely linked together and make up a whole that is well worth reading. One of the strengths of this comic is the depth of the charachters.

The art was uneven and with photos cut in as backgrounds in the main story. The drawings were very nicely done though. The artist had made a good choice in adding some red colour to the otherwise grayscaled art.
The prequel looks entirely different, with a more realistic style. The light, airy watercolours really do catch your eye.
It is hard to say which style you like most, as the first is very fitting for a gory and darker story, whereas the latter is beautiful art.

Do not turn your eye away from this comic although the first pages looks very generic. It takes you straight into a seemingly meaningless and limb chopping fight without any deeper explanation as to why the fight is happening. The winner of the fight teams up with a group of people on a quest to find some long lost keys and the bad guys starts plotting. Even though I'm sure you've seen that sort of plot many times before, in this case it is well worth a read. The charachter development and the story is easy to follow, sure to captivate you as well.

the original drawing style wasn't much to my liking though i have to say i'm warming up to the new drawing style.

writing wise the story the story is a little cliche and push a little to quick, and i prefer the artwork to do the talking for stories like this instead of monologues, that said great world that was created though more background info of the world could have been provided in the comic.

all in all TToTT is an average comic but have lots of potential with the world so i would have to give this a 5.5/10 and a +1 cookie points for makeing the acronym look like a crying face.