The best way to describe the Artwork of Harkovast is to compare it to an old medieval tapestry.
In those days epics were told on streams of cloth that had the imagery woven into it and laid in order like a story board or comic strip.
Like these tapestries the artwork looks flat and with poor perspective but still captures the image of an old tapestry given a modernizing and bringing it into the modern day.

meemjar
The best way to describe the Artwork of Harkovast is to compare it to an old medieval tapestry.
In those days epics were told on streams of cloth that had the imagery woven into it and laid in order like a story board or comic strip.
Like these tapestries the artwork looks flat and with poor perspective but still captures the image of an old tapestry given a modernizing and bringing it into the modern day.

Like a furry tapestry.

Ok then, reviewing Harkovast.

When I personally read comics I usually look at the overall impression I get from browsing through the archives. My very first impression was that it was just another comic, filled with fight scenes and unrealistic magic. I decided to just start at the beginning and see if my first impression was true.

It wasn't.
Reading the beginning of the story didn't really make much sense at first, after a couple of pages the focus of attention gets shifted to some completely different characters. Only after you really get into the story it starts making sense, the oulines of a grand quest have been laid out in the first few pages, making many of the later pages easier to place in the big battle that is to come.

The main elements of the story aren't that unique, a group of characters set out to defeat an evil master. It's the details that grow into the story later on that sets it apart from many other, similar, (web)comics, games and movies. It isn't just a kid in his basement that decides to make some cats fight each other, it's a grown man that decides to write a new world (with some help from his friends and wife). Instead of fighting for the sake of fighting it's more so that the fighting is a neccesary thing to get out of the way before the story can continue. The detail put in to the story, and the world of harkovast, can also be found in a massive forum for those that are interested.

The writing is obviously my favourite part of the story.

A thing I'm less happy about is the choice of animal characters. Even though it has been used in a good way, not the thoughtless furry sex that can be found in many other comics, I still think it would have been interesting to see harkovast in a different style. Humans are used in most comics, and for me it's usually easier to identify myself with human characters. I think it would be interesting to see Harkovast retold with human characters.

All the different races in Harkovast have their own culture, which have been mostly variations of actual human cultures in the comic up to now. It seems to me personally that the use of animals has been mostly because of the hate Mr. Stribley has against hobbits and elves.

The art finally is something I am a great fan of, the linework doesn't look like Marvel or DC but that isn't something that can be expected from people outside the business. Furthermore the character design is always consistent and the characters are easily recognisable. The cats, vultures and other animals have also been affected very little by Disney, something I like.

The harko-team has chosen a style that is completely their own, coloring with pencils isn't done much in this modern age, making the art look unique and for lack of a better word retro. The anatomy of characters is thought through rather good, and even though the joints seem to be placed wrong sometimes that is again mostly due to the choice of animal characters.

I would definitely buy this comic if it were available, and I am planning on buying some of the harkomerch in the near future.
The only things I really miss are chapter covers and a different design for the comics website.

And that's it. Time for some tea and crumpets, jolly good old chap.

I like the idea of creating a furry tapestry.
That should be the sub heading-
"HARKOVAST- A furry tapestry!"