Contemporary Eclipse
[ By: flyingwind66 ]

It's a quest to find the pieces of a spell manuscript ripped apart by the Devil himself. The pieces are scattering across the world and time and can only be pursued by perfectly balanced souls that can see this quest through to the end. "Contemporary Eclipse" focuses on the romance between the two main characters but also handles major themes such as past lives, reincarnation and fate.

Well, lets get a look into C.E.:

Dialogue: Well, it looks like there's no jokes, but not every comic needs jokes. The dialogue looks to be straight forward and pulls in the audience to keep reading. I clearly understood who was talking (even if I noticed that the speech bubble seemed out of place sometimes.

Story: The story is probably pretty confusing to me, but that's because I can't keep up with a deep story that well. All I can tell, from just reading a couple pages is that it's a love story that moves very slowly (so, it just doesn't seem they fell all over each other in like... 2 minutes).

Tone: The tone feels dark, but it may just be the overall layout of the comic site and the black and white look of it. It just gives it a creepy sort of feeling that keeps the audience reading.

Drawing: The characters are drawn very well. I can tell who is who and I can tell the difference between genders. The backgrounds seem to be pretty simple sometimes, but at other times fairly interesting.

Colour: No real colour, since it's a black and white comic. The black and white works perfectly with the comic itself, but it could be pulled off better with the characters. The "colour" doesn't look organized or clean sometimes when it is used on the characters.

Layout: Well, it looks like I would read it from left-right. The panels are easy to follow, if you're used to following panels that are layed out the way C.E. lays them out (sort of like a backwards manga).

Overall, C.E. seems to be a good read for those looking for an interesting story with good art.

I'll give it: 3.5/5

Contemporary Eclipse

Overall, I thought this was a somber story with some deep themes and and emotional rollercoaster that will have more valley's than peaks. The characters are pretty well defined and we're not bowing under the weight of too many supporting cast.

The art: Is good but backgrounds are non-existent. The art is pleasing but regresses a bit in the middle of the run and then improves again. There are solid attempts made at using different perspective, not just one or two point shots. The black and white compliment the story, giving it an edge and atmosphere.

The writing: Nice stuff here, probably the best part of this project. Its an interesting story premise and the characters are pretty solid. The panel transitions are sometimes confusing leaving me wondering if I should read across, or vertically. The dialogue seems solid and interesting, if not entertaining. You're left wanting more and knowing more about the characters.

There are some pages where one or two fonts would have been better than several. I think this comic would do well in a print version at the comic store and comic cons. It'd be tremendous to see a little more effort on the backgrounds as the art has hit a nice clean flow. I see this project only improving in the future.

Overall its a good angsty comic and anyone digging angst and manga-goth will certainly like this. I give it a solid 3 out of 5, and having one panel per page with a good background would nail it to a solid 4 out of 5.

This is my first real review. I'm gonna try to do these pretty often, though, not only to give input to my fellow artists but also so I'll be set in case the day comes that I'll need my comic reviewed. I'll try to keep it as concise as possible, but I'm gonna try my best to be honest, too, even if the truth hurts, because I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that people can't imporve without honest criticism.

Enough about me, though. So, Contemporary Eclipse. Let's get this thing started! *Rubs hands together*

First of all, I wanted to say that I read through the entire thing so far. I'm gonna try to make a habit of doing this, I think I owe it to the artist.

Story: 3/5

About a girl named Crimson and her adventures in the Astral Realm, and all the fun stuff in between! Now, as far as continuity goes, I was having some issues. Sometimes the transitions between places and times would be very sudden, with little or no explanation, and it would take a few pages to be able to tell what was really going on. Sometimes it seemed pretty arbitrary, and it was hard to tell whether the things that were happening between the realms were supposed to be happening right after one another, or at different times completely... But as far as the overarching story goes, it's relatively engaging in its own sort of way. I liked how the artist (flyingwind66, who seems like a really nice person, by the way) used biblical references and literature like Machiavelli to strengthen or deepen the story. There was even a page explaining all these clever little things. We get to see into both realms that Crimson inhabits, and they're two very different lives. The whole thing still feels kinda like an exposition at this point, like all this is just setting up for the real story to come, but... we'll see, yes?

Art: 3/5

You can tell, even from a glance, that the artist watches lots of anime. :) It sounds like she was using manga paper and everything, but you can have all the tools in the world, but they don't mean nothin' if you can't build a house, right? Well, in that department, I think the comic still has a ways to go. It looks like her style is still evolving, and if given time, can be something really interesting, but sorry to say you ain't gonna be turning too many heads as is, flyingwind. (I don't want it to sound like I'm all "My art is so good compared to hers" because it ain't, it's pretty awful. I'm just callin' it like I see it.) But just the amount of improvement from the first page to the newest one is enough to respect this comic. This is why I say this could become something really good if the artist keeps working at it, because it's obvious that she's learning more about drawing as she goes along and is incorporating that knowledge into the comic. The toning wasn't at all bad, could've used more detail, but it works well at what it goes for.

*But you know what would instantly make this a lot better?*

MORE BACKGROUNDS.

And I did notice flyingwind using backgrounds more and more the further I got, and some of them were pretty good, like the wilderness as Crimson was going down to the riverbank. But I think if you really spent the extra time to draw in what's going on in the background instead of just using blank space or bubbles or patterns or whatever else, it would look 300 percent better. Try it, I think you'll be really pleased.

Other than that, not too shabby. Line quality's pretty good, the hair's pretty good (Especially on Obsidian), but in the grand scheme of things, room for improvement abounds. So go take advantage of it! A solid 3 in this department.

Other stuff:

Well, the dialogue did its job, and a few of the characters are a pleasure to get to know (Top of the Mountain!), but character development seemed a tad lacking. I suppose it's expected at this early stage, though, and the artist makes up for it somewhat by doing these bio pages for the two main characters (Complete with pretty colored drawings!) Speaking of pretty colored drawings, my favorite page in the whole thing was this one that she did with colored pencils, just character sketches, but it was really, really good. Something about the color and the style really brought life to the drawings. So kudos on that, I say experiment like that more often.

And that's about a wrap. I had a pretty good experience with this one, and I can tell flyingwind has put many hours into this, which she should be proud of. It's definitely helped her with her art, and I hope it continues to do so. It kept me entertained for the half hour or so I spent reading it, and it will be interesting to see where she takes the story. Some real potential here. Just keep pluggin' away, my friend. That's what art's all about.

Overall: 3/5

^_^ well it seems that I get the same thing from everybody who ever reads my comic "more backgrounds" ... so I guess that means I'll be working on that for sure now... well I have been for a while but more so than ever now *nod nod

everyone also seems to also have mixed feelings about my layouts... but from what people here have said and some of my friends it seems that if one is used to reading manga, then my panels are fine, but if one isn't then it's confusing *shrugs

I'm glad everyone seems to like my character designs and dialogue and I'm especially happy that the overall 'tone' and 'mood' of my comic translated well to my readers.

CoyoteLongshot you seem to think that my comic is about her adventures in the normal and the astral realm O.o I'm not exactly sure how that worked but I guess that means I need to be more clear with what's going on and my scene switching because she's only gone to the astral realm once in the comic so far XD (the bubbles and stuff in the background is supposed to show that it's the astral realm... the astral is a spirit realm... sort of an inbetween place... that's why they were nude and floating-ness...) I am going to take this that I need to be more clear with what's happening so everything is not so confusing.

Oh... well now it does make a little more sense :)

I was under the impression for some reason that the whole time it was showing her being sold as a slave and stuff, that was all supposed to take place in another realm because Obsidian didn't have a body in the real world, but I guess I should have paid a little closer attention. My bad.