Eternity

Flora heals the hearts of everyone who listens to her radio show. Everyone, except her mysterious friend - Daniel causing her to seek for the truth. But before neither of them are anywhere near it, they land themselves in the eternal quest of love.

This review might be biased, since I'm no fan of romance, and reading Eternity is kind of like going to see the latest romantic comedy with Meg Ryan; you pretty much know what you're getting into when you sit down in the theatre. If you don't like romance stories, you aren't going to like Eternity. If you do like romance stories, it's a pretty typical example of the genre. It offers you just about everything you'd expect, and nothing more.

The Art

The art in Eternity is a simplified anime style, with grayscale shading and screentones tossed in for good measure. It's cute, mood-appropriate, and conveys the scenes well enough. The comic doesn't have heavy action scenes or special effects, so the simplicity of it works. Nothing about it is awe inspiring, but there's a kind of charm to it.

But there's plenty of room for improvement. Some of the issues I have, like overly large eyes and sloped noses, can be chalked up to stylistic differences. There are some issues with the pages that hurt the overall flow and readability of the comic, however. The pages are often crowded, with too much stuff crammed into too small a space. This also results in the text bubbles being crammed together or shoved into places where they won't cover the artwork, making it hard to follow which bubbles are supposed to come after each other. If the pages were bigger, more space could be put between the panels, which would make them easier to follow.

The screentones also vary wildly in quality. In some panels, the screentones are masterfully done and really help the scene. In others, they're jarring and stand out, detracting from the comic overall. This is often the case with the backgrounds, which never seem to be "in sync" with the characters in the foregrounds, but some of the patterns used on the clothing also stand out harshly.

The Story

Fiona is a sweet and sunny radio hostess who helps people solve their problems. Daniel is a brooding and silent man who works at her station. They met in the past, and now they've run into each other again. Most of the comic is spent with Daniel getting huffy about Fiona, Fiona wondering about Daniel, and the two of them staring at each other. The story reads like it drove into a laundry line of cliches and can't quite get them off the windshield.

There's not much beyond that. There's certainly nothing in the comic that makes it feel like it hasn't been done before. Fiona is a spirited and cheerful girl who likes flowers and wants to help people like her mother did. But she doesn't seem to have any internal conflict, or any flaws, so she's not terribly interesting to read about. There's nothing there to relate to, save the occasional "Jeez, what's HIS problem!" moments, but they pass quickly, leaving her to revert to the status quo. I realize that not all of her backstory has been revealed, but she shouldn't need it to be interesting.

What are her other hobbies? Does she listen to other radio stations? Is she ever conflicted about her work? Does she worry she's giving the wrong advice to people? What's her favorite type of jelly bean? We don't know; the comic never really goes there.

One thing about the dialogue that can easily be fixed it the grammar. I don't know if the author is a native English speaker; my guess is not, but English is such a terrible language that even native speakers get it wrong half the time. If someone could volunteer as a proofreader, or if the readers could help correct the grammar issues, it would help make the dialogue much better.

In Conclusion: Eternity likes to use music a lot, and it's a lot like a familiar tune itself, just with different words to it. You might like the tune, but you've heard it before - and if you don't like the tune, the new words don't make it better.

Eternity Comic

To put it simply Eternity Comic is a story about people. As a comic book reader I am some one who favors story above all else and there have been many romantic stories that have had moving, powerful stories. Whether it be a comic book like Bone (with the sweet crush that Bone has on Rose), a movie like Waitress, or even Romeo and Juliet, when a story has romance and works it is usually fantastic; but when a story has romance and it doesn’t work, well. Unfortunately Eternity just doesn’t get it right.
Art
Eternity Comic has over one hundred pages. That right there deserves some kudos. But the art in over one hundred pages has not improved. Which would be fine but the art has several problems that never get fixed. Simple problems like proportions to other characters or buildings flux all the time. Things like this could be forgiven if they improved but they don’t. Except in chapter five in which the little things start to improve, hopefully this will continue. I could mention the character art but I believe that it is an artistic choice and being such would be unfair to critique it just because I don’t happen to like it. However that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some problems, well one problem, with it. 90% of the time the expressions of the characters don’t change. I didn’t really notice this in till Chp2pg7. This might also be chalked up to an artistic choice, using expression to represent characters but except in cases of drastic emotional changes it is hard to feel or make a connection for any characters because they don’t seem to feel anything.
Story
One inherent problem with romantic stories is that everything has been done before. Eternity Comic doesn’t escape that. And thus is the main problem with the series. There is just nothing special about it. Now granted this can be said for a lot of successful comics and Eternity Comics is lucky because it has a built in audience. The characters are actually thought out I will admit; but even with all of their back story they never act in a rational manner. Now characters acting strangely is a staple of the genre and as such most of the oddities of this series can be forgiven, but not all of them. I won’t go into detail about all of the problems I have with the story for two reasons. One, some are just personal preferences. And two there is a bigger reason that causes all of the smaller reasons. Eternity Comic follows the clichés of the romantic genre fairly close. Nothing inherently wrong with that; except besides those clichés, the familiar plot points of a romantic story, Eternity Comic doesn’t have anything else planned. The entire story seems to follow a pattern we already know. It isn’t that a break in the pattern is needed but the story doesn’t seem to have a plan. This is going to sound really simple but bear with me. In order to move forward the story needs to progress. In order for that something needs to happen. Chp4pg25 was a perfect chance for this to happen but instead the story reset itself to square one. Understandably as a web comic the author plans on having it around for awhile but not advancing the plot is no excuse. In one hundred pages something should have happen.
Text
It has been mention that perhaps English isn’t the native tongue of the author but regardless this story needs an editor. Certain pages just make no since. But every so often a word is bold and in a different font. And there is no rhyme of reason for this.
Summary
Eternity Comic isn’t for everyone, it has its share of problems and it’s rough. But there isn’t anything inherently wrong with it. To but it a better way, all the problems with Eternity Comic can be fixed. And when it does it will work. Ready for the line you can put in you sig? Eternity Comic has all the possibility to become one of the great romantic comics. The problems just need to be fixed. -2/5

right from the start, it is obvious, eternity is going to be a comic of romance, drama and emotional characters. so obviously this comic might not appeal to everyone. but, for those who enjoy an emotional story, i have no doubt that they will thoroughly enjoy this comic! i have only read the first chapter and the short prolougue, but i am already getting caught up in eternity. no fuss is taken into getting right into the main story. right away we are given a nice introduction to the main character, and the kind of person she is. What I found impressive was how she was introduced. rather then having that typical lead character narration most romance/shojo inspired comics have at the beginning, this one introduces its character through the story and setting surrounding her. This is very engaging, right away I am interested. Other characters, and possible relationships are dealt with in the same way.
The characters themselves are interesting enough, I have a feeling as chapters go on they will be explored more. Characters are a crucial part of a story in this genre, and already our main character is charismatic, charming and genuine.

Art wise, I think this is the thing that lets the comic down the most, but something that has potential and will naturally improve. And, to be honest, the artwork is good enough that it is easy to understand and not very noticeable to a reader who is not looking to critique.
In terms of paneling, the comic works fine, it flows nicely, and pacing is used to its full potential. It is the presentation of the artwork that really lets it down, things are right now quite untidy and unrefined. Still, it is nothing that can't be easily fixed with some advice! Also, at the beginning of the comic, the artwork itself is slightly unrefined, but I've looked at recent pages, and it seems the artist develops a nice personal style, which is very expressive and emotional.



Overall, Eternity is perfect for someone looking for a emotional, drama-based story with strong characters. Story-wise there is no fuss, it is entertaining and instantly engaging. Art-wise, things improve quickly and decently, and there is nothing bad enough that it effects the flow in any way. A definite read for shojo fans!

Opening: Its probably never a good sign when the first things that go up in a review are disclaimers, but I actually think its necesary to make some notes. As stated in previous posts, I'm not a big manga style comic fan, nor have I read many mangas. So when I get the privilege of reviewing manga style comcis on Drunk Duck, I usually try to look at other aspects of the comic that I like or dislike. And with that, I had not problems finding several things about Eternity that I found impressive and noteworthy.

Big Picture: Several reviews before have noted that this is a dramatic and romantic comic, and they're right. It is themed like that and so should be read with that motivation. In that case, the story develops characters very well. I think Farah, does a great job introducing the characters as well as emphasizing on the relationships between them. Its a black and white comic which, I'm also not a fond of, but I actually think it works better for this strip. It brings out a more solemn and serious tone, in a good way. You know immediately the kind of feel this strip is going to have. The strip still does a good job throwing in little bits of humor or more fun expressions that are common in most manga, so the feel of the strip has a good balance.

Small Picture: One detail that kept catching my eye was the use of texture in this comic. You may notice a lot of the clothing of the characters or backgrounds have very intricate and impressive textures and fills. I think this has made a real depth in the feel of the comic strip and mixes well with the black and white. The drawing style is more of a "old-school" manga feel, what I mean is it has less of a cartoony feel which also is appropriate for the story and characters. Lots of small details, such as the way the hair is drawn in a wispy feel as well as how theres a shine added in characters with dark hair, really come together nicely. I would suggest that the lines be made a little darker and clearer, a better scan of the drawings might help with that. The art could improve a bit in terms of perspective, shape and proportion. Sometimes the strip moves into a more cartoony feel despite the story still being more serious. The creator has definitly improved since earlier strips, that is something I look for. The drawings in later pages is much more clean and sharp, so that is the right track. The body of work is at the very least, impressive!

Conclusion: This is a comic that will find its strength in the story and characters more than the art. The art is not bad, but might be better if Farah focuses on its strengths, such as the textured fills or the details that give the images depth. Its always the small details, that make the bigger picture give off a good impression. Romance is harder to show in comic form, when the average reader has a short attention span and is looking for a quick laugh or a colorful eye pleaser, so the creator of this comic has done an impressive job in developing a sense of emotion and relationship within Eternity's characters. Keep up the good work and here's to at least 5 more chapters!

I can't say I enjoyed this comic, and keep in mind I do enjoy stories with a romantic touch to them, but this comic is clearly aimed entirely for women. No offense to any women could there of course.

The artwork is rather plain, but it works, and it is done fairly well. Most of the paneling is well thought out, and work nicely.

The story doesn't really go anywhere, simply revolving arounnd the boring lives of its characters. Some people might enjoy comics like this, but personally it wasn't for me.

Overall, I give this comic a 6/10. It's not bad at all, it might be great - just for the right readers.

the art is trying so hard to be manga but i fall over becase of that
perprstons are way off it kind of makes me shudder also it seems all poraly put together they shold in vest in some how to draw mannga books insed of blindly trying to copy it