8-bit Theater

Today's Webcomic Review: 8-bit Theater !

1st comic of 8-bit Theater

Status: Completed

Updates: None

What's it about?

    This is a parody of one fo the most successful and popular RPGs ever made by the Japanese: The Final Fantasy Series! This comic, however, concentrates more on the very 1st game of the series, thus the pixel graphics. Enter Black Mage and Fighter's to become the light warriors!

My Rating:

Story

   The story's pretty funny and it's definitely something I can go to once in a while when I feel nostalgic for old final fantasy games. What I like about this story is it's usually gags but it advances the story at the same time. It has an actual plot which is engaging but is also light and funny. This is a nice read for those who love the first and original Final Fantasy game, those who like parodies and light comics.

       

Art

   
     Well once again we have a comic which uses a game's sprite, but then if you actually check out the game, you'll see that the game's sprite's movements are very limited, so most of their actions are drawn by Brian Clevinger himself. I really like it when sprites are used this way [either animation or comics], for me, it always has that cute factor and likeability which comes from a person's familiarity with the game. 

    From this point you can definitely guess I'm a big fan of parody comics [specially ragnarok ones]. I found out about this comic from my S.O. which was one of the stuff we bonded over about.


     A quick trivia: Brian Clevinger likes to play tricks on his readers. :P

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

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Ragnarok Wisdom

Today's Webcomic Review: Ragnarok Wisdom  !

Status: Ongoing

Updates: Irregular

What's it about?

    It is yet another parody comic, this time about the ever famous MMORPG, Ragnarok Online. It's a comic about the in-game jokes and also references other games occasionally. It stars an acolyte named Aragan and his friends like the swordsman Sniff the Raven, Nth Power the alchemist and etc.

My Rating:

Story

     The first time I started reading this, it made me laugh and I can actually relate since most of Aragan's comics back then were definitely centered on the in-game jokes, but as time passed, he started to reference other things that are not related to Ragnarok Online. It was still kind of funny, but then it seemed to concentrate more on it than on the original concept of in-game jokes. I started to get lost while reading it and could not exactly relate to it as much as I did before. 


     After a few months of reading it, I eventually became too busy to check back on it. When I checked it out today while I was browsing through possible webcomics I could review, the latest comics were either filled with jokes that couldn't really make me laugh or jokes that I didn't quite understand. The humorous tone of the comic changed, but I'm not saying it's just not funny anymore, it's just not as funny to me as it used to be. 

     

       

Art

Ragnarok Wisdom's First Comic

     The first art that the comic produced was not well made and a little rough, but I guess you can say that  its kind of impressive as well if you consider the fact that this was only done in MS Paint. I used to sprite and draw a bit on MS Paint, but it is very difficult and tiring, and the fact that this guy can make sketches in that program the way he can draw using pencil and pen is pretty cool...

Ragnarok Wisdom's Recent Comic

     ...and it just gets better from there. the recent art used in his most recent comics are amazingly detailed. From the line art to the coloring to the shading and the editing, it absolutely far off from what he started with. it still looks like he drew it from MS Paint, but I'm not quite sure. One part about this comic's art style that I really love is that it uses pixels, not just the regular soft and smooth lines. That style is what made it original and I'm pretty glad he didn't change it.




I absolutely don't remember how I found this, just like my other old webcomics, though I sorta wish I could remember. What I do remember is looking through Ragnarok Online-themed webcomics through the internet when I was bored and had this obsession with Ragnarok and its sprites.

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

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Hanna is not a Boy's Name!

Today's Webcomic Review: Hanna is not a Boy's Name! !

Status: CMIA [Creator Missing in Action] 

Updates: None

What's it about?

     Hanna is not a Boy's Name is about this paranormal detective who sucks in his job. One fateful day, a zombie knocks on his door asking to be hired by him! And it doesn't just stop there. They eventually befriend a vampire, face off a siren and many more I do not want to spoil!

My Rating:

Story


     The story is not the usual stories you read when it comes to the paranormal and what not. To tell you the truth, the story itself is pretty basic and simple, what carries it along for the ride is the Art.
       

Art

     The art is absolutely astonishing. Tessa Stone [the creator] has her own style of making comics and breaks away from the norms. It's not the usual 4 panel comic or the comics with white dividers and what not, it's absolutely unique! The way she draws is stylized and the way she colors the whole thing is simply amazing. Every page is just so wonderful to look at.




      This comic has got to be one of the comics back in my high school days that I frequently visited. A while after I went to college, I stopped visiting. A few years later, when I decided to write this blog, I rediscovered it... and to my surprise, the comic stopped updating, and Tessa Stone was nowhere to be found. 


     I found out from her site that she had this habit of abandoning her projects and creating new ones. If that was the case, even if she wouldn't come back to making Hanna is not a Boy's Name [though I hope not], I still want to know what happened to her, coz if she made something new, then I'd be one of the people who definitely want to see it!

     

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

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Evil Diva

Today's Webcomic Review: Evil Diva !

Evil Diva's first cover page

Status: On-going

Updates: Tuesdays and Thursdays [if there are donations]

What's it about?

     In this webcomic's world, angels and devils live together, and each one of them is expected to act their part; an angel must be good, and a devil must be bad. However, there is just one devil who refuses to conform to the norms of socitey, a devil named Diva Beelze.

     Now hearing her name, you'd probably think of some bratty, spoiled, rich kid, but this girl's the opposite. She has unnatural urges to be nice and good. This poses a problem since, as I said before, angels and devils are expected to act their part, and if they don't, they will face consequences.

     Because of this, their grumpy looking counselor, Mr. Virgil, who discovered her good nature and is not an angel or a devil, decided to entrust to her a magical power in a form of a wand [the one she's holding on the cover page].

     An adventure ensues with her angel bestfriend, angel crush, angel arch nemisis and devil family! 

My Rating:

Story


     Well for my ratings, it would be divided into 2, diva as a preteen and diva as a teen.

     You see, for the first half, the story felt light-hearted and absolutely cutesy and sweet. It just felt like something new and enticing to read. However, when the story suddenly switched to a new direction [like 180 degrees] it just felt like one of those generic comics with the teen angst theme. Don't get me wrong, I love teen angst and all that mumbo jumbo, but the thing is, they already had a great thing going for them and they just decided to completely change it! Though I don't totally hate the new story, I miss and prefer the old Evil Diva's plots.

    

Art

Evil Diva Art by Brinson

     This is the first ever Evil Diva art style. As you can see, it's all cutesy and sweet looking just like the story itself. I really love the art and it's what made me fell in love with the comic in the first place...

Evil Diva Art by HollywoodArtChick

     ...and then Evil Diva get's a new artist! I'm sorry to say but it is not really up to par with the 1st artist's drawings, but atleast it's a bit close to the old style. But then...

Evil Diva Art by HAI (?) [not sure on this one but it's another style change]

     ...the art style just completely changes a few issues later. It isn't the worst kind of art style, but the thing is about art style changes, there is something to compare. It's either the art style becomes waaaaaay better than the last one and become more popular, or just get boring and fail to reach the standards of the first one. In this case, it was the second scenario.

     I really hope this webcomic manages to turn things around... I mean this used to be my favorite. It's not just the art direction change and story change that bothered me though, it was also the new policy. Just recently, they started requiring people to donate before they release a new page or update. The fact is, it could be a good way to raise money and fund the site but at the same time, it just feels like robbing the viewers of their money [no offense]. If they want to really raise enough, they should find other ways like actually publishing printed copies or selling more evil diva merchandise. 

     

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

-009-

Finally... REST! Though there's lots of work to be done...

     Hello people~! I guess I won't be going to school today so I'll try and make a longer webcomic review. I didn't feel that well yesterday and when I woke up today, I didn't feel so nice either so even though I didn't really get a fever, I felt that I should get some rest anyways since everything's been so hectic these past few days [2d animation: animating those styrofoam bunnies and editing was hell]. Buuuut~! I won't just be wasting the day doing absolutely nothin', I actually have a lot of work that needs to be done like making a the webcomic review, making a script for AVP, making a draft of the print ad for Advertising, drawing characters for our game project in general psychology [we're cool liek that], and thinking up of a theme for our IC scrapbook. 

     Phew, it's a lot but with me home, I can take it easy. I'd be working then when I want a break I could play a few games like this Sandbox of God and Infinite Game Works I just recently got.

     Well, wish me luck in accomplishing all these :)) I hope I could atleast finish half of these and I'm happy~!


     In other news, it has occurred to me that in order to correctly review anything or any webcomic, I can't just tell the pros of the comic but also the cons. With that said, I may also give negative reviews about the webcomics I like, starting with this next one I'm working on.

Kawaii Not

Today's Webcomic Review: Kawaii Not !

Status: Ongoing

Updates: Mondays and Thursdays (according to comixpedia)

What's it about?

     It's basically a comic about these different inanimate objects saying cute and ridiculous stuff.

    

My Rating:

Story

     Well, there really isn't a coherent or plot heavy story behind it, it's just basically like a gag comic, a four-panel joke. It might not be for every webcomic reader, but it's good for a quick laugh or just to see something cute.

Art


     The art is absolutely cute. Again, one of the most important things when it comes to the simple webcomics: it might not be completely detailed, but it has to be CUTE.


     
     This is actually another one of the webcomics I discovered from my high school bestfriend. She seems to like these kind of gag 4-panel comics. XP

     

     Sorry it's short, but I don't really have much to say about it and I don't really feel totally well. 

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

-008-

Today's Webcomic Review: No Rest For The Wicked !

First ever page to be drawn for No Rest For The Wicked

Status: Dead (?)

Updates: Not Active

What's it about?

     It's a story about a girl, a princess to be exact, named November and her problems with insomnia because of the disappearance of the moon. She sets off on an adventure to find out what happened to the moon, meeting a few friends like the puss in boots and red riding hood along the way.

    

My Rating:

Story

     What's interesting about this webcomic is it makes use of different Grimm Brothers Fairytales and stitches them up together to for a coherent plot. I think its one of the most creative stories I've ever encountered. For me, it has that why-didn't-I-think-of-that factor. If you're a big fan of the Grimm Brothers' fairytales, then you'll certainly love this!

Art

     Other people might not totally like the art, but I like how it's absolutely different from other people's style. It actually reminds me of my classmates' style which is pretty cool and similar to it. It feels absolutely original and memorable!

     The comic has not updated since October 23. You're probably wondering why I'm here trying to promote a dead webcomic. It's true that it probably has no more chance of ever being updated, but I really loved this webcomic back when it was alive. I think it used to update weekly until one time, the author just started updating very irregularly and eventually stopped. I kept looking back at it every once in a while in hopes of seeing some changes and what not like how Poring Pelters and Everlasting Wanderers came back alive after months or even years of not updating.

     In one of her updates, I sort of became fascinated to find out that the author of this wonderful manga is a Filipina like me. She once posted about the Ondoy hurricane incident which made me realize she was [or it might also be that she's a foreigner who just happened to live in the Philippines].

     I remember once I showed this to my S.O. and his sister and they fell in love with the story even though he wasn't too fond of the art. His sister got annoyed when she found out it was a dead webcomic.

      It's kind of sad when you find out one of the things you like to check up on every now and then suddenly stops updating or just dies [this sentence is reminding me so much of my pet chick Chocobo who died after 6 days of taking care of her ='(]. These kinds of webcomics make you wonder what happened to the author. Questions like: Is she dead? Will she ever get back to her webcomic? Did she get bored of the story? and so on race through people's heads.

     Though I know it really probably won't update ever, I'm still hoping that one of these days it will.

     I really think there was a trailer of the comic in youtube, but I can't find it. It was either that the creator of the video took it down or it was a different comic. Anyways, if I ever find it, I'll make sure to post it.

   

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

-007-

The Noob

Today's Webcomic Review: The Noob Comic !

Status: Ongoing

Updates: Irreggular 

What's it about?

     This is basically a webcomic parodying MMORPGs. It starts off with this geek who buys his first copy of Clichequest and tells of his adventure as a noob. To enlighten those who don't know what a noob is, a noob is basically a newbie or beginner who doesn't know a thing about a particular subject yet, in this case, the game Clichequest. As the name of the game and the title of the comic implies, its all about this noob and all the cliches you can find in any MMORPG from overly used character names to roleplayers and tripping GMs.

     If you're one of those gamers who like MMORPG or experienced playing one, then you're gonna have a laugh with this!

    

My Rating:

Story: The story's pretty funny and kinda nice to get back to every now and then. It makes me nostalgic, specially when I remember my early Ragnarok days.

Art: The art is not the nicest but its not too bad. It has that silliness that complements the story. Still, if you compare the first comic to the most recent one, you'll find that there's a pretty big improvement in the art.


     I found out about this comic from my S.O. XD About the background of the comic, I can't really get that much info, but if you want to know more about the author, you can check the blog. Looking through her blog, I discovered some webcomics that look pretty nice and I might review them in the future.

     You can buy these in print here at Lulu.com

   

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

-006-

Changes in my reviews

First of all, I just want to announce that I'll be changing my way of rating the art and story. I wont be using stars to rate them [since it doesn't really make any difference since most (if not all) of the comics I'll be posting will be stuff I highly approve of and would get more than 3 stars most probably]. This time I'll only be giving my thoughts on the story and the art.

Poring Pelters

Today's Webcomic Review: Poring Pelters !

Status: Ongoing

Updates: Irreggular or Tuesdays and Fridays



What's it about?

     This is basically a webcomic which makes use of one of the biggest and most successful MMORPGs, Ragnarok Online. Anyways, the story makes use of the game's setting [with some additional details like having a Church in Geffen, or Alde Baran I think, which is non-existent in the game]. Each chapter features a different set of characters, telling their adventures around Midgard. The main characters of the story, though not always present in every comic or chapter, are Keithos, a Priest who has trouble with using his magic [needs 2 blue gemstones just to make a warp portal] and Ellsyria, a novice who is training to get her first job class. 

      Keithos is from a family with a bad reputation, Ellsy on the other hand is from a family of nobility. Romance ensues.

  

My Rating:

Story: ★ ★ ★ ★
[It's fairly interesting. Their back story is something to look out for.]

Art: ★ ★ ★ ★ 
[I've always been a big fan of Ragnarok sprites, and the editing used on the comic is not perfect but it's not bad at all.]


     


     I think I found this webcomic at around the same time I found Everlasting Wanderers. Anyways, I've been so in love with it for quite sometime, always waiting for updates and checking so often, wondering what will happen next, etc. etc.... then it just suddenly stopped updating! Angevon, the author, declared a hiatus, stating that she(?) may or may not come back to continue the comic. It was probably a few years or months later that among my hopeful visits to her site that I found an update! I never really thought this comic would bounce back to life! 

  

That's all for now~! Ella blasting off~! XD

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