I'd have to say yes.

http://www.nightgig.com/subcultured/mute/index.php

Ah ha. Well, the art in this comic is certaintly good. The whole 'removed' feeling you get from it. You really get the emotional impact of this kid being a mute. It works.

The great thing I find about this comic is how it can be removed when it wants to be and then zoom in back on the kid's actual experience, like when he's getting bullied by Edgar. The text is also art in itself. This is the kind of art my art teacher would absolutely hate: a combination of the comics form with words as 'art'. Something like that is not 'art' as she describes...

Anyway this is an excellent comic. Usually I'd like to see more background and feel more engrossed in the story through a more traditional means, but you do your job here well. The art is really terrific in both color and B&W. I'm not sure if you have a fully developed grasp of the human body, though, since everything seems a bit altered. The might be style. Hard to tell on some pages.

Definitly original. Writing and art work well together. And it gets a real emotional reaction. Good job.

Okay then, here goes:

ARTWORK - big, bold, artsy but gritty. most decent webcomics get 1 or 2 of these things, but you manage all 4. i'm impressed. the artwork is better than what i've seen in many comic books. it's not the greatest ever (i'm not just throwing out compliments here) but its definately top-notch for a webcomic, i guess what i appreciate the most about the artwork is that it is appropriate for the story. many, many comic artists/writers fail to make that connection, but you pulled it off very well. one suggestion (and its a big one to me): what would have really *really* made Mute for me would have been if the text of the story were also drawn. page after page after page the text jumped out as computer generated / word-processer-esque which can only distract from the art. hand-lettering, however, would have made this look even more professional and would have caused me to read the story without even realizing i had read anything. dig?

STORYTELLING - my big thing is storytelling. Mute is original, told with just enough back-story to explain everything without making me wish it would move along. the pacing was good. however, original does not necessarily equal engaging and at times i was a bit bored (i just watched american idol and i don't know if a little Simon is coming out here). i expected something bigger from the fight scene. there was a lot of building up and then... fizzzz... he passes out. original but not engaging. i dont expect you to change your story, but in the future remember this: when you build the readers up, don't let them down.

so, overall, one of the most original, well-done and even emotionally thought-provoking comics i've review or read on the web in a long time. i do want to see what becomes of Mute, if he makes it as a boxer, if edgar finally gets his revenge and if Mute becomes stronger for it. But, alas, i see the last page is dated june '04. too bad...

hope this helps and that you got something from my review

Of course the art is good... but to me, if you've seen one of Subcultured's comics, you've seen them all...artwise that is.

I'm not saying there are pages that aren't great. This one for example really lets coloring shine. However, other ones like this fall rather short and show that this comic needs some detail editing (I'm speaking of the hands of course).

I'm not saying I don't like it.

I just read the archive and found the story...interesting. In fact, a Mute character was something I wanted to work with until I found Subcultured had something out like this. So he beat me to it.

Story-wise, I'd give it a 7 or 8, on account of being original...but finishing kind of softly. Art-wise is also a 7 or 8 on account of the little details (which I feel especially loving about) that seem to need more work.

The only other thing I can suggest is that fact that if you've seen one of Sub's characters, it looks like you've seen them all. The only usual difference is the outfit/face details (teeth, hair, etc.). I'd suggest mixing them up, because every character I've seen in any of your work (male or female) have all looked with the same kind of nose you'd find maybe in the phillipines.

Like always Sub, good work, and keep working at it.

Hmm, it's a much darker comic than I'm used to. Craftwise, the narration is pretty damn good, though there is the occaisonal bad transition. The "by the way I never told you why" page struck me the most like that, maybe because it was a direct "hey, yeah, I'm talking to -you"/breaking the fourth wall kinda thing. The comic, while narrated in first person, manages to bypass the directness almost all the time, making it seem like you're just listening to a story being told from the beginning. Those two times just kinda jarred the flow for me.

The colors! Why did they stop! Colors are so great for mood, and yet they stop half-way through the archives! Bring them back!

Now, we come to the question of whether or not I bookmarked this comic...I'm still up in the air with that. So far (40+pages), there isn't really anything to really hook me. Sure, I feel for Mute, but he has very few endearing qualities, and nothing that hints at anything but a psychopathic killer. His predicament is quite depressing, and though this trainer just kinda "rescued him," the light in the tunnel is pretty damn grim. And when was the last time it was updated? WILL THE DESPAIR NEVER END?

The short: Craft and story are original and well thought-out, though the story is lacking perhaps in dimension. I'm waiting for more.

I would totally review this comic, sub, but I am SO strapped for time it's not funny.

Please don't make excuse posts. That's kinda pointless.

I'm sure I don't need to bother saying how good the art and storytelling is in this one - those before me have already told you. So I will just quickly state that I agree with them.

In fact the only criticism I can come up with - other than "I prefer funny comics to serious ones" but that's just personal opinion - is that each individual page is not much on its own. By that I mean one page of the comic doesn't tell much of the story. You have to read lots of pages at once really. Really what I'm trying to say is, the comic is great but I think after reading the entire archive, I would probably get bored reading just one new issue every so often.

That's all I can think of I'm afraid. So, summary: it's good, keep it up. Maybe consider releasing sets of 3 or 4 new issues instead of individual ones?

As Dawginson said, I don't think I need to say anything about the art and storytelling, as everyone has already said it. It's not perfect, but it is still very well done.

The only criticism I can really think of kind of relates to the lack of detail on some pages mentioned before. Some of the pages are just amazing visually, but then some of them are only good. This inconsitency brings me out of the story a little bit to say, well, why isn't this page as good as the last one? It's a problem I know I have as well, where one page just isn't up to par with the rest, for whatever reason. I don't know how you might work on that, as it seems to be caused (for me) by the fact that some days I just can't do as well as others and I don't have the time to go back and fix it.

I'm certainly going to keep my eye on this, and have been reminded that I shouldn't steer away from all comics that aren't in the style I normally enjoy most.