7-15-05

Underachieving

This is going to be hard for me, because Daryl Spaulding has said some very nice things about Casual Notice on his site.  Also, I've gained a bit of a reputation on the Webcomics List Forum for handing out softball critiques when people pimp their site.  This is not, however a peer critique on a message forum, but a review of his comic and a justification of its presence in my links list.  No soft balls here.
          1944: Tide of Eons is a good comic.  I would be lying if I didn't say that.  The dialogue is tight, the characters are developing, and the art is clean and easy on the eyes.  The comic jumps right into the story of Chris Eschel, a science fiction tinkerer in the classic Campbell vein, who accidentally creates a means of going forward in time while somehow locking his physical age at 12.  He is accompanied by his granddaughter, Julie, who has also been afflicted by the effects of Eschel's time machine.  He is hunted by Philip Cross, an employee of a company in the early 20th century's nascent Military-Industrial complex (he is also positive proof why a disproportionate number of Phils end up as squirrels).  Almost immediately, we learn that Chris is neither as good, nor is Phil as evil, as circumstance would have us believe.  It's a really nice premise, augmented, as I said, by tight scripting and skilled artwork.  The comic as a whole, however, utterly fails to live up to its potential.
          Taking into account that the strip, posted in comic book style, is only on its sixteenth page, the story needs more development.  Every bit of plot in the above paragraph came from the cast page and not from direct reading of the comic.  There are huge chunks of backstory missing from the action.  Some of them, admittedly, can wait until a good time for exposing them presents itself, but much of the action is confusing, frustratingly so without the basic information.  That information is supplied in the Cast page, but that's a lot like having to look at the program to find out what's going on in a play.
          The art is fantastic.  I wish I could draw as well as Spaulding.  I wish Spaulding would draw as well as Spaulding.  Every panel of every page, especially in the early pages, seems unfinished.  The characters, done in a rounded style reminiscent of early animes like Astro Boy and Marine Boy, are often left unshaded or minimally shaded.  Some pages are done entirely in pencil.  The reader is often left to wonder if Spaulding was bouncing against a deadline and had to post his work as-is.  And the thing is, it's obvious that Spaulding can do better.  The character art is excellent, movement, flow, and emotion are all artfully conveyed in meticulous line work.  The backgrounds, when they exist, are also well-done.  There are no stray lines, no paper grey; it's clean art work.  It just has an unfinished feeling, like that painting of George Washington that just stops five inches above the bottom of the canvas.
          This begs the question:  "Why bother reading it at all?"  The answer is a complex and confusing as the comic itself.  For one thing, while the backstory—the point of it all—is out of reach, the characters and the action are almost engaging enough to make you want to wait around and find out when it will all come together.  And the art is really good.  Spaulding unfinished is miles ahead of the best thing Piro ever did.  The only way most webcomic artists could get into his league is by buying a ticket at the gate.  Expect to be thrilled.  Expect to be drawn in.  Expect to be frustrated.

Updates:  Inconsistent
Caveats:  None
Rating: