The latest Zuda Comics are up for competition.
Once again, I'm not impressed. Instead of complete-ish 8 page stories, or even set up pages, most this cycle end with a hook. The monster is attacking, the villain is about to go on a rampage, whatever, only to be completed if they get the contract. All tease. no climax. Some have an art style that I personally cannot stand, but some must like.
What do you think?

They're teasers. It's supposed to get people interested in a possible ongoing story. There's many different ways to creating a teaser (such as doing a one-shot side story or something) but for the most part, leaving a cliffhanger is a good way to get someone interested in seeing the rest of your work.

I like what zuda is trying to accomplish. They're getting talent from that band of comic designers who like working alone or in small groups and it's drawing a variety of talent. I thought about entering myself but I'm just not comfortable with deadlines. One page a week is nothing, but I go through crazy mood swings and I can go months without drawing.

I agree with ABG on this one. I think an open ended 8 page story would be far more successful than a 8 page story that comes to a conclusion. 8 pages is not alot, but that introduction is probably the most important part of any comic; it sets the tone, builds the characters.

It makes more sense to write it with the assumption that it's a stroy thats going to continue. If you write the comic so that it ends on page 8, but then it's successful, your pacing is going to be way dijointed when you start back up again, whereas if you leave off as if that's just the 8th page of the regular storyline, you can justpick up where you left off and it'll be seemless.

I think this round of comics is far better than the frist round. The first round had, on a whole, better art, but the writing and pacing closely matched print comics, and the same rules don't apply to both print and web

I think it takes a lot more talent to write and draw a GOOD 8-page short story than it does to make a mediocre teaser. If someone can impress me with a complete pre-story story (like a behind the scenes look at Character X before he became a superhero/bad guy/ninja/cyborg), I'll want to read more and I'll respect the creator of that work.

For example, who hasn't enjoyed most of the little short animations before the Pixar movies? They're short, cute and generally not too obnoxious -- they tell a little story and end. You'd want to see more by those animators, because they're creative and can get to the point. If one of those sets of creators did a full-length Pixar movie and the ad for the movie said "By the animators who brought you (animated short)" and they showed 3 seconds of the short, you'd remember it -- and that you liked it -- and you just might go see that movie.

The opposite example is like a bad Dragonball-Z episode. Everything seems chaotic, rushed, you feel the urgency building, there's a challenge, a bunch of screaming and powering up and -- tune in next week to see if DBZ lives, dies or just screams some more! That's why I stopped watching DBZ years ago.

Sometimes it is about the quality...

this month's zuda competition has been an interesting one. Avaste Ye was illustrated by me and written by a friend. there's been so much talk and controversy and "press" from outside of zuda about our comic. it's like a circus sometimes.