Another psuedo-manga comic!

http://www.drunkduck.com/Leo/

From what the author said in the begining of this comic, the comic has already been completed, which leads me to say that this person has an extremely great person drive to finish what they started, as well as an extremely great ability to put out comic pages.

That being said, this comic is extremely cliched and Shonen-Jumpish. I could say that it's Dragon Ball Z with a twist. Only overdone. This page was obviously put there so we'd know that this kid is an orphan, and that he's really sad about it. But it comes off as so hilarious! I mean, everyone's just loving their kids so much as the orphan walks handcuffed into town. It so ridiculous and staged as to be funny.

DBZ Moment.

Just like the last comic we reviewed, the sound effects are in Japanese and the comic is read from right to left. Why? I don't know. People just looove jumping onto the manga bandwagon.

Still, although the story is cliche and the manga influeces are completely dominant in this comic, it's still interesting. Plus the art is pretty good and the perspective is solid. Not to mention that you've got a good grip on the comics form, and there's a LOT of dynamic camera angles here.

Got some One Piece influence here I see.

But in the end I'm not really a fan of comics like One Piece or DBZ. I'm much more interesting in the smarter Shonen Jump stories such as Death Note. But you've done a good job mixing greek mythology and creatures with manga influences. The art improves, and the fact that this comic is complete and therefore a finished story which will (hopefully) be updated oneday is comendable.

Alright! My turn to review!
Right to it, then:
STORY: From what's been shown so far, the story seems to be pretty original. Definitely the first manga I've seen that deals with Greek mythology in this way. I'm looking forward to more development, but most stories deepen as they progress, and since you're only in the first few chapters, you have an excellent plot laid down.
8/10
ART: I may be rearing up in defense of a fellow mangaka, but people really need to stop taking one look at a comic and going, "oh, this looks just like ! what a rip off!". Seriously. It's not inconceivabole that someone develops a style on their own and it's just coincidence that it resembles another style. Granted, when I first looked at this comic, I thought it looked just like DBZ. On closer inspection, I realized that the style is actually very different from DBZ.
Apart from style, I love the angles in the comic. Even if they're not drawn 100% correctly, you get points for trying. Other than that, my only problem with the art is that in places it can seem very two dimensional and the characters sometimes look rigid. Last tip: you need to work on drawing girls. Gem kinda looks like a dude. But it's something that's hard for many male artists, so just keep working on it.
9/10
LAYOUT: Here I go with my rant. In the DD reviews for many manga-style comics, people have whined about the same things: right-to-left layout and Japanese sound effects. This may just be personal preference, but I really don't get what everyone's gripe is with Japanese sound effects and right-to-left layout is. If reading the little bangs and crashes means so much to you, look up what the characters mean, for cryin' out loud. Katakana are not hard to learn. I have no problem with Japanese sound effects, as long as they're done for appearance's sake and not simply to Japanify a comic. And you do an excellent job with drawing them. Nor do I have a problem with the right-to-left reading. With a comic as good as yours, things like an "irregular" layout can be gotten used to. (I mean, seriously- if it means that much to you to read a comic left-to-right, save the picture to your computer and flip it. Problem solved.) Anyway, again, I may be biased here, but these two things really shouldn't matter if the comic itself is good, which yours is.
10/10
TEXT/DIALOGUE/WRITING/WHATEVER YOU WANNA CALL IT: For the most part, the diologue is smooth, although it can get somewhat choppy and seems kinda lame in some parts. I agree with the guy before me that the drama of some scenes is decreased by the "staged" nature of them, as they can come across as phony instead of serious.
6/10
OVERALL: An excellent manga. Solid plot, memorable characters, and great artwork.
Final score: 8/10

(Again, I may be biased, but we need a mangaka's perspective somewhere in these reviews. It may seem like I'm being nice or trying to defend or whatever, but constructive criticism works a lot better than flaming.)

I used to read the "Dragonball" books a few years back, and its easy to see the influence here. I like Dragonball so nothing wrong there. The characters are well done and is often very expressive. Overall the artwork is nice and works well with the much varied panels and action pages.

The use of right to left reading and Jap sound fx feels silly, yes. If it HAD been a REAL japanese manga then i wouldnt mind, ive read many mangas that way. But as it stands its one of those, "hey lets pretend they did this comic in japan" things. I like it better when people try to do their own thing instead of following a guide book on how stuff are supposed to be.

Overall a fun comic to read with the obvious influences by a bunch of famous mangas.

This is my first review....so I hope its ok....

Well, when I first took a look at this comic so I review it I was astounded by the level of talent being displayed. The method of colouring was professional and clean, and thankfully has continued in quality. I was also surprised to see that it is in traditional manga format which I have become accustomed to having spent many a lonely night reading them! However, It may be helpful to palce a warning somewhere that'll show up all the time as it can be rather confusing unless you're forwarned.
You can definately see the DBZ influences throughout this comic. This does not mean, by any strectch of the imagination, that it is bad. Comic are afterall a way of expressing ideas...it's just some are better than others. Although, truth be known, I was never a real fan of Dragon Ball Z, it does not mean that my respect for the comic is any less. I think that it has done the style justice!
The storyline is perfectly balanced. Not too much action are broken up with moments of humor. Even the subject of orphans has a twitch of light-hearted mirth, which, considering, can sometimes be a bit touchy. This guy knows what he's doing. The plot moves along at a nice steady pace and odes not get off the topic too easily. In some comics you get a bunch of characters all in at once which can make it confusing! However, this does not happen THANK THE LORD!
And with that said i shall end with this...

Overall, I was impressed with this comic...and I am pretty picky....so...give it read...you may enjoy it!

This is Em...Signing off! :P

art: I definitely see a little bit of DBZ, but thankfully it's not all Super muscular ugly guys or even any of that in this comic. I was never a fan of super muscles, personally find them ugly so that's something I thank god for when I read this comic.
there's other styles mixed in, that helps detract from the dbz look, which makes for a nice style.
other influence I've noticed is One Piece, and many other shouen jump comics that you can think of.

The story: well, at this point we don't actually know much about the characters and the basic plot has only started to get off the ground.
I hope for the characters' backgrounds to delvop even more deeper later on ;)

Oh, one more thing, the Battle of the Shoes is awesome.

And to clarify why I don't like the sound effects in Japanese or the comic read right to left, it's not because I can't read them or make sense of the format. I know the first sound effect is "Go Go Go Go Go..." (not that that's how a car sounds, but still) and I know how to read Hiragana and Katagana. But the fact of the matter is, unless the format of the comic and the language of the sound effects are there for a particular reason, it just annoys people. Japanese comics are right to left because that's how the Japanese read. But if a comic is in english, having it read right to left doesn't ADD anything to the comic. Therefore it detracts from the comic as a whole.

Emma_Clare
The method of colouring was professional and clean, and thankfully has continued in quality.

I didn't see any coloring, no real grayscale shading either actually....?
Did we read the same comic? :shock:

The first few pages are in color, done with copic marker (in true manga fashion). I have to say, it's impressive coloring.

hey! well thanks for reviewing my manga.
hmm lets see, i dont know why everyone has a problem with reading right to left. use your imagination, its a manga not a comic :) you have to invision that it actually was made in a shonen style, otherwise wheres the fun?
i'm sorry if it annoys you, that means its a personal preference and not really my problem.
other than that i really don't see how it looks like dragonball, even though i love dragonball and maybe its subconcious to me. but to me it looks like one piece and naruto mixed in one if i had to describe it as anything.
but anyways keep reading! i'll have some more pages up (eventually) and make comments!! your likes and dislikes, i dont care, its the reason i post it on drunk duck.
thanks for reviewing!
cya!

alexhatzia
i dont know why everyone has a problem with reading right to left. use your imagination, its a manga not a comic

alexhatzia
i'm sorry if it annoys you, that means its a personal preference and not really my problem.

wow, thats some pretty funny statements. :?

well sorry its true 8)

sure manga is the literal translation for comic in japanese. but its a style as well, they use similar elements but there are also concrete differences.

By saying that, your saying all manga has got to fit inside certain perameters stylistically. I don't agree with that.

Anyway, this thread is for REVIEWS. Not bickering about manga. We have enough of that in other parts of this forum.

well in a way all manga is stylized. agree with it or not its true, thats what makes it obvious to distinguish a manga from a comic. now i dont agree that all manga MUST follow a certain criteria, but over the years it obviously has. from facial expressions, to attitude, to storyline (especially in shonen mangas) to drawing styles, all manga chew off one another in terms of inspiration and adaptation. for example, in manga (before america was so inspired by japanese comics) when characters get angry, they would have a vein on their head, or a sweat drop when they're feeling missunderstood. its a universal technique in the manga world. now i'm not saying that this rule must be followed, or that i myself follow it, but its a common japanese technique.
all manga read right to left. that just goes without saying. its intent is japanese, the style is driven by japanese artists in the past, so its format is japanese. otherwise its just known as a comic. its not discrimination between the two, its the pure differences that oppose each other.
now take shonen manga for example, their storylines are all pretty much the same; they explain the hardships and struggle youths (primerily boys) go through in order to achieve victory and success. starting from the bottom of the mountain, telling the tale as they climb its summits, and then finally reaching the peak. so yes all different branches of manga follow a certain criteria, to make it easier to distinguish one from another. most of the time some manga can't be fit into a certain category, which is fine. but the reason they do this is so they can expose it to readers who may be interested in the series.

You're only talking about mainstream shonen manga. While that's a large group, there's so many other catagories. Seinen manga hardly ever follows the plots of the ones your describing. Seinen manga also tends not to use sweat drops or those annoying little anger symbols.

But this is a review thread, and this is all off topic.