Twokinds

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TITLE: Twokinds
DATE OF REVIEW: 9/15/08

Misc. Info
URL: http://www.2kinds.com
Author: Tom Fischbach
Other Works: N/A
Started: 10/22/03
Number of Comics: 400+
Voting: TWC
Incentives: Yes
Incentive Updates: Weeklyish
Genre: Furry, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Humor
Rating: MA - Mature Audiences Only. Some violence, but sexual themes on numerous occasions.
Notes: I thought I'd start with something near the top of TWC. Something someone might recognize, but hasn't been reviewed. I thought I'd feel cheap if I chose the top comic for the first review. That comes later. So here's number two. Ironically, Twokinds.

Art
Coloring: Color
Style: Manga
Effort: 5/5. Each comic is clearly crafted with care. There are 'fillers', but it is pretty rare as of late. As soon as the comic started coming out in color, there was never a black and white. More modern comics have what appears to be computer generated skies for backgrounds. If not, they are beautiful. Sadly, it seems it will be hard for be to complain about Twokind's art.
General: Okay, so this probably goes without saying in a Furry comic that I consider MA, but there are numerous sexual themes throughout. I figured this note belonged here more than later on, because they're images in truth. Brass tax is, while they don't outright SHOW sex (they do get close), it is implied on a couple occasions and characters are often put in sexual situations. If you're not comfortable with that, this comic is definitely not for you. There is a lot of 'fan-service' for the furry fans, so don't be surprised about themes here. Overall, art looks good, characters are easily distinguishable. Has heavy anime/manga styles present.

Story
Background: To put things simply, the new leader of the 'Templar', a power hungry organization of mage-warriors, has amnesia and befriended a Keidran, an animal-person that the templar so fiercely oppose. Problems ensue when his old, cruel personality's life mixes with his new, friendlier life.
Complexity: There is certainly a level of mystery at several points in the comic, and it does well to keep it interesting. The writer clearly has a storyline he is following and knows what is coming, but keeps the fans speculating (as I've noted from a quick scan of the forums, there is a large amount of theorycraft at work).
Continuity: One plot. While split into chapters, the story is all literally one story, so it doesn't really have the ability to trip up here if written properly. It appears written properly.
Clarity: For the most part. On occasion things will happen without explanation, and at one point the story jumps without warning to a point distantly in the future of the current plot, then jumps back. It is not uncommon for things to simply be explained as 'magic'. While there are no plot-destroying issues, it could be cleared up.
Substructure: Might as well not exist. While split into chapters, there's no navigation to the different chapters and the chapters don't have unique arcs. There are chapter 'cover pages'. They don't make a difference.
Draw: The story is enough to keep you going, but you won't be interested in it at all if you don't like the genre. I'm really into comics for the story, so on a personal level, I could care less whether or not it's a 'furry' comic. What I can tell you is that the author puts in a fair amount of fanservice (something I and other nonfurries probably aren't interested in) when it doesn't interrupt the story, and that you won't crave updates unless you just adore this comic. It'll be a nice thing to look into, but a missed update won't break your heart.
Overall: Story's okay. It's not great. It's great in scope, it goes on a 'day-by-day' basis, so there will be normal events, and getting things done takes time. There are no major 'arcs', but there are different goals. Each character is given depth, motivation, inner-conflict, and goals. Background is provided often when needed to fuel the fantasy world that is largely unique, but following some general 'fantasy' themes (lacking any of the standard races but humans, of course, substituting two new races of its own). Brass tax? You'll see better. You'll like this more if this is your thing, you'll probably drop it immediately if it's not.

Upkeep
Update: Stated: Weekly. Actual: >2 weeks since last update.
Site Design: Site design is good. Has everything a site needs. Easy access to comic info, the latest update, archives, and forums.
Comic Navigation: Bad. This is what hurts you. It has the standard next, previous, first, and last, but with no method of searching, and since comics are organized by date and not number or any type of title, it becomes a real pain to find any particular comic. Because forum-goers are constantly looking to the past for information, I'm sure this hurts them (I see a lot of links in argument threads, those must be painful to find). Frankly, a search system or easy-to-navigate archive is vital.

Metascore
Art: 5. I hate to say it, but he did good. Watch out for the content though.
Story: 3. It's good, but it's not great. You'll enjoy the story, but it will not drag you on and on. Like any good comic, you'll want to read it in a sitting (impossible without a few hours, but you can get in a few sittings), but this one isn't the kind that makes you suffer when an update doesn't come around.
Upkeep: 3. Tom, get in the game and add a better way to look at the old stuff. And admittedly I noticed from old updates your personal life got in the way, but please don't say you update weekly if you don't. Haitus is better than leading people on.
Final Grade: 4. It's good. It's impressive even. If the author will fix their site upkeep, it'd really help. The author can't really help if their story doesn't have widespread appeal: that comes with the territory when you write about a stigmatized subject such as furries. On the other hand, he presents a strong story with good evolution of art and character development. Nice work.

Closing Remarks
That wasn't near as angry, depressed, or negative as I had hoped. I'll just have to try harder next time. Expect an update before Sunday ends.