http://www.drunkduck.com/Victory_Theme/

Eggbert is rockin'! Making up for lost time?

I'll review at lunch.

Here's a strip that's not too ambitious but takes its task to heart and does it well. Victory Theme is a good example of a web comic that is in the tradition of the newspaper funnies, but... you know, is on the internet. It's a mixture of multi-strip arcs and one-off jokes that either hit well or miss admirably.

The art is really good, if inconsistently so. The style changes a lot but the quality remains consistent between strips and styles anyhow. It's light and bouncy and just really fun-looking, which makes the strip easy to get into. The colouring is brights but not abraisive, so it looks really apetizing.

There are characters, but I don't really know their names or distinguishing features. They just appear to be recurring guys and at least one girl, more or less interchangeable. That's fine, it seems they're really just there for the gags, not in-depth character exploration, so it's not really a problem. The continuity and universe of the strip is malleable, often depicting the writer himself.

I like this one, I might even favourite it. I was very amused by several of the gags, and I'd encourage the author to continue to advance his craft so that he hits the joke harder more often.

Rating: A-

Time for another review. Like my last few, I'll do a few 'toons, skip to the middle and do it again, then to the end, followed by a summary.

1. AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Side-mouths! Does everybody here draw side-mouths? Otherwise, nice sense of motion, interesting box-balloons, and a good joke. I particularly like the guy with the chain saw in B&W. Nice touch.

2. Rock, Paper, Scissors. The art is crude, but sense of proportion and movement are there, and those are reall the hard parts. Very nice use of foreground/background emphasis- it really puts the action out front. Pretty good joke, but mildly trite, not very original. Still, well done.

3. The joke fell flat, but sometimes that happens. I'm genuinely hating the giant tongues in the open mouths- what the heck is that all about? Nice use of color and shading.

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14. Love the 5th panel- great sense of power and movement.

15. Yup, a doodle. Nothing else to add.

16. Okay, I actually snickered out loud. Great writing on this one. You're also showing great use of gutters and balloons- the round ones are less distracting than the boxes, just because it's what we're used to.

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35. How many people did this piss off? I was hoping for more improvement in the art, but it looks a lot like the first few panels. Focus on one thing and work on it. I suggest mouths, because while you sometimes get basic expression very well with the mouths, more often they are distracting. In this panel, the girls mouth, well, mouths just don't do that. I might also put a couple of dent lines in the couch to show he's actually laying on it, rather than above it. The writing remains strong, and that is usually the key to succes, so keep at it.

36. Again, strong writing and a good joke. What are the white spots in the background?

Conclusion- well written, and the artist has some of the more difficult concepts (proportion, movement) down well. Actually, he seems to have mastered the difficult concepts but not some of the more basic, and focusing on the drawing will make for huge improvement. The key, as for most comics, is good writing, and this one has it.

Ah, good reviews so far. Now, for some responses.

sewerman-
My art changes as much as it does because I have the attention span of a retarded monkey. After finishing a comic, I think- hey! colored ink lines! Pretty! Frankly, it's a miracle I don't change style in the middle of a comic. However, I was going for a light, accessible feel with the coloring, so it's good to know that's achieved, at least somewhat. As for the characters, I'm trying to make them at least somewhat-well developed characters, and not just interchangeable placeholders for jokes. As for not knowing their names, I'm sure I've mentioned them at least once or twice. Maybe I just need to drive them home a bit more.

dhonig-
I'll start by saying I regard most of my early comics as utter crap. Even a few of my newer crap I despise (WHY GOD WHY 35). On 36, the white spots were supposed to be stars. I didn't really like the background on that comic though, as I felt it was kinda distracting from the foreground. Also, can you describe some of the 'basic concepts' I should work on? I'd like a bit more detail on what I should learn to get better.

Basic concepts- mouths are a big deal. When you listen to people, you look at their mouths, whether you realize it or not. And when you read cartoons, you look at the mouth of the speaker. When the mouths don't match the talking, or do something unrealistic, it is a far greater distraction than other artistic errors. I respectfully suggest looking at your mouths, then at some other cartoons that you find really good, particularly those that NEVER distract you, where the art and writing work well together. Do some non-cartoon sketching (too many of us start with cartoons, without ever working on underlying reality). You have an amazing grasp of movement and perspective, particularly as compared to your much simpler drawing skills, and that indicates (to me, at least) great talent. But raw talent, that probably never did the real life sketches first. Once you do, positions, whether of arms or mouths, that don't work in real life will jar you, and your work will get far better. You will also note things that don't make sense, like the guy I pointed out lying ABOVE or just barely on the couch, rather than on/in (you really do sink in, you see) the couch.

You have real talent, and your writing is really strong. I just sense you skipped straight to cartoons, without working on drawing first. It will make you improve tremendously.

I don't mean you should change the raw style, because it works. But you can add significant skill to existing talent AROUND that style.

Really, this is a tremendously positive review. Anything above is intended as constructive, and offered in response to your request. I hope it is taken in that vein.

And stick around- you'll get your shots back at me soon. I think I'm now 5th in line.

Ok, here we go.

Art: Not much to say about this, because it seems like youre still exploring styles. The art doesn't standout, but it doesn't get in the way either and that's really all you need for a gag strip. I didn't find the mouths distracting for my part. Actually, I draw mouths pretty much the same way and no one has mentioned it to me as a problem.

Writing: To me the writing was just OK. The comedy was somewhat predictable and I seldom found myself really surprised by the gags. So much of comedy is about surprise, about leading the reader to expect something and then betraying that expectation, and I just didn't see a lot of that here. Still some gems in there though, a stand out is the extremely clever This Comic Reads from Left to Right .

Overall: I really don't feel comfortable saying much, because this comic is still in its infant stages. To me, the humor was too inconsistent. Still, a lot of strips start off inconsistent before finding their comedy niche. So really, dunno on this one.

Lets get started shall we?

I'm a big fan of VT. Its artwork caught my eye when I first glanced at it, and the artist is always changing style, finding something they like then moving it (or so it seems to me.) other people would say thats a weak point, but I think anyone that keeps changing will always end up better for it in the end.

Jokes, they are hit and miss, but hit more then the latter. Gags and story arcs are most of the time a good laugh. But the writing isn't what I'd call suprising in anyway, none of the jokes really got me saying 'wow I didn't see that coming'. But i'm not saying thats a weak point because the jokes still made me laugh even if I saw them coming.

One real con I have is the characters are kind of dull. There is no one thing that makes them stand out, so sometimes I think they are just random people they I find they have names, which makes some of the arcs hard to follow.

Besides my the one minor flaw I find it a very enjoyable comic.

Victory Theme. The first time I heard this I was expecting another Final Fantasy webcomic. Thankfully, I was quickly proven wrong.

Victory Theme is your generic webcomic. There's your main arc, which is what keeps you reading yet isn't the slightest bit deep, allowing you to jump in at any point, and your one off jokes which you'll either love or hate.

The one thing that is different about the writing is the fact that it can be very easily related to. We've all met these characters, we probably still know at least one, and we all see these people walking around every day. This gives it a familiarity which I enjoy.

The striking thing about it is the art however. It's simple, yet always fits the topic. It's easy on the eye, looks good and allows the author to produce issues quite easily. Also, the style goes through a ton of variations across various strips.

There's the important part, the art style backs up the writing and helps create mood and atmosphere, something many comics fail to do and most of which never even attempt in the first place.

All in all, I would reccommend reading this webcomic. You might not get hooked, but you will enjoy sampling it.