Heh, the first thing I thought of when I saw Robotnik's jaw: So I went down to my local comic shop to pick this up, but they didn't have it. Still snagged some Iron Man and Thor, though.
Personally, I thought the art looked pretty awesome from the preview alone, but then again, with most any things, I'm the oddball here. Oh well.
Cover looks decent, Sonic looks a bit horrid everywhere else (those eyebrow ridges and the obcession with shoe soles igh) and the scenary looks a bit bland and uninspired. Robotnik looks very good though.
The art style's fine, but never judge a comic's art by one issue alone. Sonic's no exception—different issue, different artist. It's more prevalent in something that comes out on a weekly basis, though. Still, the art style's pretty good, and it's a helluva lot better than it was back when Sonic looked like a blue Knuckles... The art style they've been going with since around the time Evil Sonic turned to Scourge is pretty good. Even when the artist in question isn't one of their best, at least it looks like a Sonic comic, rather than... whatever that was they were making back when Sonic looked like a blue Knuckles... And at least their hands aren't realistic to the point of scariness like they were back in the Ixis Naugus saga. *cringe*
Sonic's left arm on the cover is really short. It's not even foreshortened. Compare it to his right arm.
I don't see why some have to compare the way Sonic looks in this comic to the way he was drawn by other, even lesser artists in the past. Are we supposed to be grateful or something? A great artist drawing the comic is to be expected, isn't it? Okay, first check this shit out. I understand how some people add angles to their designs, it's one way of stylizing things. But this is ridiculous. There's pointy angles even on his eyebrows and the socks of his shoes. If you add too many angles, then the design becomes unbalanced. There should be smooth angles and pointy angles, which is what Yardley does, so that way the features of the character are readable. Not that it would help, since the way Sonic has his arms raised like one of those gorillas scratching their armpits. Look at Sonic's left elbow next to all of those quills. It's hard to read that pose. If the artist lowered both his arms just a little bit, or only had Sonic's right arm akimbo, it would have helped. Also, from the angle we're seeing his face at, the iris wouldn't be that thick. It's true, look at real people. Clutter clutter clutter! In the attempt to not be accused of being lazy I guess, a shitload of details sprawling out in all sorts of directions. And the way the panels were arranged on this page briefly fooled me into think that details that were on one panel were going into another panel. LOOK AT THAT HAND, it's jumping out at me in 3-D. Remember that drawing of Sonic where he's covered in penises and one's pulling his mouth open so you can see these gruesome fangs? Yeah same thing here. Also, I tried replicating that pose of Robotnik in a full body mirror. Now my wrists hurt. It's not natural and, even for a cartoony purpose, the pose doesn't read well. What I would have done is making one of his hands just going off the panel and putting emphasis on the hand that would best accentuate the dialogue. More clutter. Plus this weird effect where Sonic's head melts into his past memories as his head touches the borders of the composition within the panel. Almost never should an object touch the edges of the border of a space. It kills the depth. Plus, Sonic's are changing sizes in each panel. I don't know if this can be called a style as much as it can a summary of weaknesses or inconsistencies. I know this was for Free Comic Book Day, but can't there be some kind of planning in advance? I don't know. inb4 Ross hates everything
I really like your critique, Ross. Although I see so many other problems, I'm not sure it's worth helping. And I agree with what you said about "style". Today drawings riddled with mistakes are considered new and unique styles. Also, it looks like a lot of artists think putting sharp angles on everything is cruise control for cool and modern.
Ah! That's the other thing! If this is a free comic, why the hell are we only getting a preview? You can't make any profits anyway. Wow.
If it's a free comic, why not just upload the whole thing instead of making people have to pick it up? It'd certainly be helpful for us outside of North America.
I'm just guessing, but I think the point of Free Comic Day is to get people to actually visit comic book stores.
A quick bit of research suggests that's more or less correct. A short way down the line though, releasing the comic online would do nobody any harm.
I didn't see it today when I hit up the comic place before work. Apparently the kids got there first. The collection left was depressing. I think the highlight was seeing a kid with emo hair in green lantern tights who I dubbed Scene Lantern.
Well it's online now to read. And UK comic shops like Travelling man and Forbidden Planet have been getting them in.
Makes me wish I had an actual comic book store within an hour's drive. Shame I missed it, the last (and only) Sonic comic I ever bought was... Of all things, this issue that gets pointed out practically every other month.
