Misfile

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TITLE: Misfile
DATE OF REVIEW: 9/18/08

Misc. Info
URL: http://www.misfile.com/
Author: Chris Hazelton
Other Works: N/A
Started: ?
Number of Comics: 1042
Voting: BCX. TWC?
Incentives: ?
Incentive Updates: N/A
Genre: Real Life, Magic, Transgender
Rating: PG-13 - Sexual themes and slight violence.
Notes: Reviewed by suggestion. Going in, the art looks pretty good. Not knowing much of the story ahead of time, the three main characters sound... unique to say the least.

Art
Coloring: Pencil/Grayscale
Style: Manga
Effort: Not bad. Art is, for the most part, clear and looks nice. The few times there are color it looks fantastic. The comic favors a lot of simple backgrounds. It could be improved, yes, but it is quality work. Sometimes character placement is a little awkward, but strong panel variation and impressive emotion ranges create distinct characters, each with their own set of mannerisms.
General: It should become apparent from the storyline rather quickly that there will be sexual themes here. That's to be expected. There will be less than church-worthy material here, considering the angels, but it's not central to the piece. I was happy to find that not only does the art make a strong presentation, but also that the comic didn't degenerate into transgender art. Overall the art is respectable and has refined without evolving much (not necessarily bad). I'd really like to see it colored (there were a couple colored pages under fan art- someone must have done a recolor), but we all have our vices, no?

Story
Background: A pot-smoking angel screws up and turns a high school guy into a girl, and a senior girl into a sophomore. They try to cover it up an get Rumsiel (the angel) back into Heaven so he can fix everything.
Complexity: I think John Solomon, another comic reviewer, makes a good point in one of his latest updates. While I tend to disagree with his manner of evaluation, he points out that a good writer knows his characters as he knows himself. This is certainly true of Chris, who answers questions in character that he receives on a separate email address, as the character Ash. Each character is very distinct in persona, and this is certainly not a comic of cliches. The author is a car enthusiast and knows a thing or two about cars.
Continuity: 24 fillers in over 1000 comics. Not bad. Comic flows throughout the story with no lapse in continuity.
Clarity: Clarity is fair enough. They tend to answer questions as they come.
Substructure: Split by books. Works well for archives.
Draw: The comic is a surprisingly interesting one. When I was first asked to review this, I had my doubts: I'll be the first to admit I was a little prejudiced against any TG comics. After reading it I realized that the real draw here is some actual realistic human interaction (very rare in modern comics), so even if the story isn't your thing (oh God, at first I wrote 'if the plotline isn't a turn on for you': the horror!).
Overall: Strong presentation for the story. Well rounded, deep characters help perpetuate the story, since the plot is literally what goes on in their lives. The story is not perfect. Characters do occasionally seem a little static, and often the story centers far more on Ash than Emily. One change may be more interesting, but that still doesn't explain why Ash has been the center of attention so often. The story itself doesn't have an end in sight, which isn't necessarilly a bad thing, but the fact is that there is no real driving force behind the plot. Oh well, you can't have it all I suppose.

Upkeep
Update: Updates every weekday. Updates have missed a couple times lately, I think they might have a new child in the family (based on news updates). I guess life happens, so it's excusable. It's certainly updating a lot more than many comics.
Site Design: Site design is strong. You'll get everything you need here and more with little issue. The Ask Ash feature is nice: you email the author on his alternate email account and he answers quests in character as the main character. Good to know someone knows their characters.
Comic Navigation: Buttons appear all to be in order. With 1000+ comics, I wish there was a search option. Archives are sorted by book number.

Metascore
Art: 4. This comic looks good. But aside from that, I fail to see much of anything wrong with it, but it lacks the "wow" factor necessary for a 5. Simple backgrounds and pencil grayscale are the art's vices.
Story: 5. Well rounded story, especially for characters. Here's wishing for a little more dynanacism and spotlight on the other characters.
Upkeep: 4. You get what you need and more. Could use some fine-tuning, but looks nice for the most part. Here's to wishing there was a more in-depth FAQ, and maybe information about the authors/general comic.
Final Grade: 4. Strong balance overall. I'm not surprised that this comic has a suitable following and holds 3rd on BCX. Its strength is in characters. Its weakness is in details. It has everything it needs to be a good comic, it has everything to be above average, but a lacking something to make it shoot up and above other comics, it's at a four. Realistic characterization are a big strength.

Closing Remarks
I enjoyed this comic a lot more than I expected. Today I received another comic request as well, so I'll add that to my list ahead of EGS (since someone suggested that I review that, rather than being author request).

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.