Issue 221 Reviews

[Snorkles being lazy]

I also noticed I have an artical in this week too. Bizzare. Any Reveiws for
How to Roleplay: Interact would be appreciated.

[Lau]

An Island Christmas
By Laurelinden

As always, Lau, your imagery is superb. The descriptions of Terror Mountain winters gave me the shivers and made me have a sudden craving for hot chocolate, if that gives you any idea. You have an amazing aptitude for descriptions; they’re always stunningly well-done, never too long or short, and they don’t detract from the story. This story was no different.

But away from description: the plot. The plot of this story was a good and not especially overused. Brandon’s plight is easy to recognize and easy to sympathize with; after all, who would want to spend Christmas trapped on a rainy humid island? The plot flows well and is never awkward, although the second half of the story moves very quickly. The result was that the ending, although well written, is abrupt. It doesn’t detract terribly from the story.

Overall, it was the only thing I could find that could use some work. That, and the fact that the story seemed a bit short, but hey, I’m used to writing novellas for short stories.

The preset image was pretty awesome, too.

All in all, a very good story, Lau.

Thanks so much for the review, Jason. As soon as the Christmas craze is over, I'll do some as well. I'm looking forward to reading this issue.

[hu]

Wow, I havent checked the NT issues/ login lately. So I'm really surprised that our -Patjade's and my- comic got in. I drew it, so it's probably not the best artwork. I used paint for it. ^^; Please review 'Crazed whatever that means!"

[Komori]

Tyrannitar said:

Also, the Sanity Obsolete one was marvelously done. Good job Komi... that's what they call you, right? I especially liked how you drew the faeries, and even though I probably wouldn't use such a concept it was perfect for the comic as I have no particular theme to it. (it's obsolete of a theme too! ^_^)

^___^ Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I had the most impossible time figuring out what to do, and you used faeries in two of your comics before, so I figured a faerie comic should work. Though I guess that speckled Shoy shows up a lot too, huh?

nut said:

[glow=blue,2,300]Sanity Obsolete Christmas Crossover[/glow]
This is a crossover comic, and it was very interesting to see how you did a comic that I myself have drawn a couple of times. You managed this superbly! It’s a hilarious comic and wonderfully drawn as always. ^^ The characters (namely, faeries) seem like they’re a bit of a random choice for use in Sanity Obsolete, but it’s still great.
Panel One: I love how Illusen and the Fire Faerie are drawn here. The Fire Faerie’s expression is especially nice. Your masterful style overcomes the need for shading. The colors are lovely, and the little mistletoe leaf atop Fyora’s crown is a very cute detail. I thought Fyora’s expression was a bit too passive-looking to warrant the bouncy exclamation points in her speech; her eyelids were lowered to the point of making her appear half-lidded. But that matters little, since the art is still great. The idea of the faeries having a Secret Santa amongst themselves is quite nice.
Panel Two: I love this panel! ^^ It’s wonderfully drawn; I love all the faeries’ expressions! You included a mini-joke in this panel, which I find admirable, not to mention highly amusing. I absolutely love the drawing of Jhudora holding a Cheery Blossom. The idea of the Soup Faerie getting a spoon and the Space Faerie receiving what appears to be a slightly small shirt is also funny. I did notice that the green color overlaps a bit of the black outline on Jhudora’s hair, but that doesn’t really take away from the picture. I love this panel.
Panel Three: The angle here is quite nice; it gives the reader a sense of depth. The fact that the ground is flat and outlined in black is a bit disruptive since it has a puffy pink edge in the other panels. While the Mutant Slorg looks perfectly disgusting as it should, I can’t help thinking that it looks a bit plain in its flat green. Usually your art looks great without the shading, but since the Mutant Slorg is missing usual traits such as the bloodshot red lines in its eyes and the salt crystals on its back, it looks a bit lacking in detail. Nevertheless, this panel has quite a nice setup and your style still shows clearly in it.
Panel Four: XD Hilarious! It’s really a great punchline. I absolutely love the art here. I love how you drew Jhuidah; she looks beautiful. The Soup Faerie’s concerned expression is great, especially with her natural-looking worried clasping of hands. Even the so-called Happiness Faerie looks terrific! The cardboard wings are drawn perfectly. One thing I have to mention, though, is that the Soup Faerie’s rather large yellow wings are nowhere in sight (I didn’t even notice this until long after my first read through, though, so it’s not terribly obvious). Still, a fantastic ending panel!
Overall: A very funny comic with traditionally great art. Excellent work! ^^

^__^ Bwee, thanks for the review! Your reviews are even more indepth than mine! XDDD And you're totally right about that slorg, he does need shading. And I realized I had forgotton the Soup Faerie's wings the day after I sent it in. ^^;;; But yeah, that is a great review and I really appreciate it. I'll be a bit more careful next time. :3


.... And I don't have enough time to review the comics, but I figure I should at least review Tydan's Spooky crossover.


Spooky Christmas Crossover
Omg, <3! X3 I love the "All Ears" concept, and it's so cool to see my charas like that. XDDD Squee. And I'm really flattered that you went ahead and referenced the Halloween decorations from my comic. It would've worked with any sort of decoration, but the fact that you used those orange and purple garlands and the bats is so spiffy! And the joke is really clever, the dialogue works quite well. ^^ Squee.

[Tam]

Squee, thanks tons to Belle and Jason for the reviews! *hands out red-and-green-sprinkled cookies* So glad you liked the story. ;D Good point about Warp's character too; I guess I was being a little lazy by shoving him off as a background character. That's the problem when I borrow other people's pets for a story... I always leave too much room for that other person to develop later. I'll definitely keep that in mind now.

Anyway, I'll come back and edit this post in a couple of minutes and do some comic reviews!

Comic review time!

Real Christmas
by ssjelitegirl

Wow, there's some great artwork in this comic! I really like the sketchy style, how several of the outlines overlap without looking sloppy. It definitely gives the characters a kind of angular look, which brings out the personality, in my opinion. The last frame was beautiful -- I love the blending and shading of the trees and the mountains in the background, and the blowing snow is purtyfull. ^^ I'm not quite sure I understand the punchline though -- did they go somewhere else for Christmas, or was it set up on the island somehow?

All Ears - Christmas Crossover!
by evanescent_pudding

Heh, I never thought I'd see a comic in the NT where the characters were ears. That was quite funny. I guess it also gave space for the dialogue in each frame, like the third one. It was kind of a laughing-all-the-way type thing... go figure. ^^ The art was cute and well-done too, and you have to admire the disco-ball in the last frame. Awesome.

Meridellian Mayhem - Christmas Time!
by ikkin_with_attitude

I really liked this one! It took advantage of the nice, simple art style that I like. The poses seemed natural and easy, and the lineart and shading was excellent. The plot too was quite good... I didn't see that one coming. It's a good example of how something simple can be pulled off beautifully. Keep up the good work!


Buzz & Bark Christmas Crossover
by leoness

Wow. Art like that shouldn't be allowed, Leoness. ^^' You could've just submitted the first frame and it would've been a spectacular comic! I mean, those stars, the moon... but what I really like about it is the message -- you don't see too many comics with morals at the end, so it was quite touching. I commend you. Way to go!

Hog 'N Co
by articuno_neo

First of all, I like the characters! The way they're drawn makes them look cute and full of personality. The shading and highlighting is great, and I noticed that you remembered to put drop shadows, which many people forget in their comics. The story was perfect, funny and engaging -- I liked "Yush". So... what could make it better? I would say, in general, having the whole comic a little bigger would make it easier to read... I can't make out the text at the bottom. ^^ As well, maybe experiment with a thicker outline... you'll be surprised how much it makes the characters pop out. Overall, very nice!

*I'll do some more comic reviews for anyone who requests. ^^

[Huntress]

Mmkay, before getting to my reviews, I would hereby like to thank Nut for her very in-depth comment on my "Real Christmas" comic, and use the chance to talk my way out of the critics ^^;

nut said:

The scene here is quite a nice one, setting up the comic in a Christmasy atmosphere with Saura baking and the Christmas tree in the background. The colors on the Wuzzle are nice and smooth, though they don’t seem to quite follow the creature’s body shape. The Zafara’s constantly suspicious expression emphasizes her words in this panel.

Eh, it's not a christmas tree. The comic wouldn't make much sense if it was... the thing is just an odd plant of some sort, forgot its name but it's in my Neohome and I keep it in my comics. Point noted on the Wuzzle... and Saura's a guy x3

I found the fire-colored object in this panel to be a little distracting.

Agreed >.> That's what happens when you make the picture first and then add the text. The thing is actually a toaster. I thought of removing it but then got into my okay-who-cares mood. *smacks self*

I think you could have done without the vertical ellipses in the scratchy word balloon; I didn’t notice them until the second read through, and it doesn’t really make much sense to have them after Shad’s said his line.

Could be, generally it's just there to express Shad's gloomy feeling throughout the whole panel... a bit redundant, yeah, but I couldn't think of anything else.

I must mention, though, that I think the word balloons are placed a tad too close to the lines separating panels throughout the comic.

Yus, I have this odd habit of squishing the whole comic down one side of an A4 paper and then I tend to run out of room with longer comics... >_<

I don’t quite understand the final joke. It looks like they moved everything outside to keep Shad from complaining until his eventual fate. It seems a bit of a length to go to just for the time it takes for their owner to bring home sleeping pills

What it looks like is exactly what it is. And you seem to have missed the "until the presents are opened" part. Anyway, thanks a lot ^__^ Must've been the longest comic review I've ever gotten.

tamiasilverwing said:

The last frame was beautiful -- I love the blending and shading of the trees and the mountains in the background, and the blowing snow is purtyfull. ^^ I'm not quite sure I understand the punchline though -- did they go somewhere else for Christmas, or was it set up on the island somehow?

Hehe, can you say "Paintshop Pro snow brush tool"? =3 Mystery Island doesn't have snowy mountains, fir trees or snowstorms so I went for good olde Terror Mountain there. Anyway, thanks ^^

Seeing that I already read the first part, here comes Shattering Point: Part Two: wow, I'm glad it's not turning into a cliché ^^ The story is really intriguing. Mirrors and memories always make nice stories as they have a million opportunities. There isn't much action in the part though, just exploring the house and the flashback but still it's getting more and more intense. Now I'm really looking forward for the next part...

Christmas Warmth: Part Two: hm, am I the only one thinking that the pink Uni of the Pound could use a name and personality, like Dr. Death? She just sits there, really... ohyeah, the review o.o;
One long episode, really... but I like the way you picture the Grundos exploring the "normal" world. They're like little children trying to learn everything... :3 Plus, they see the world their own way (that "we're under attack!" part) and that's pretty refreshing if you get my point... Farfin's lone-wolf-attitude is also a nice touch. He'll most likely learn how to get along with others by the end of the series, ne? Otherwise it wouldn't be very christmasy... but it's just me ^.^;

[Arti]

tamiasilverwing said:

Hog 'N Co
by articuno_neo

First of all, I like the characters! The way they're drawn makes them look cute and full of personality. The shading and highlighting is great, and I noticed that you remembered to put drop shadows, which many people forget in their comics. The story was perfect, funny and engaging -- I liked "Yush". So... what could make it better? I would say, in general, having the whole comic a little bigger would make it easier to read... I can't make out the text at the bottom. ^^ As well, maybe experiment with a thicker outline... you'll be surprised how much it makes the characters pop out. Overall, very nice!

Thanks! I'll try to do a thicker lineart, or maybe do it in Photoshop. The text at the bottom shouldn't be readable, just the Type: Gift part

[Deleted]

ssjelitegirl said:

Christmas Warmth: Part Two: hm, am I the only one thinking that the pink Uni of the Pound could use a name and personality, like Dr. Death? She just sits there, really... ohyeah, the review o.o;
One long episode, really... but I like the way you picture the Grundos exploring the "normal" world. They're like little children trying to learn everything... :3 Plus, they see the world their own way (that "we're under attack!" part) and that's pretty refreshing if you get my point... Farfin's lone-wolf-attitude is also a nice touch. He'll most likely learn how to get along with others by the end of the series, ne? Otherwise it wouldn't be very christmasy... but it's just me ^.^;

Hehe, I know many people refer to the Uni as Rose thanks to Karmaleafbarer. ^^ Yeah, all the parts in this series are pretty darn long. xP Thank you for the comment on how the Grundos were exploring Neopia, that's what I was going for.^^ And Farfin does get better, but he doesn't completely change. Well, you'll see. xD Thank you very much for the review!

[hmlanden]

r said:

Snorkle's Reveiws
Continued Series

Christmas With You: Part Two

This is Hmlanden's first series, and hopefully not her last, all of her previous work being short stories.

Christmas With You is certainly a sombre story. (Is this a patten I see?) It almost felt like it would have been better as a short story, there was lots of uneeded dialouge and scenes that if I were the author I would have cut. This isn't to say that they were boring they just didn't fit in.

I really liked the character Jake, and I think it would have been a much more original, solid, story if Jake had been the narrator. Third Person still, but from his POV, or even first person.

I was glad that the ending wasn't really terribly rushed, which seems to be the biggest problem when authors write their first series.

You have an easy nice style though not amazingly creative or wild is pleasent and their isn't anything garishly wrong with it.

However there was one major problem, the dreams. In the dreams, and at the end of the first part the reader get's this sort of gloomy sense of forboding. However in the end the dreams offer a positive solution.

You might want to remember to be concious of the mood when you are writing.

Overall a solid Christmas Tale and a great beginings for a first series.

Yay! You figured out that I'm a she and not a they! *glomp*

Once again, it shouhld've been a short story, but the evil word count was against me! *rages at the word counter* That's where all those unnecessary bits came from. It was too long to be a short story and too short to be a series, so I had to stuff parts in there to make it longer. *blushes*

A pattern? Hehe, I'm not very good at writing happy stories. The characters always start acting like Mary Sue and Gary Stu.


The dreams offered a positive solution? I didn't know that...maybe I should take the time to actually get to know what I'm writing before I send it in. *sheepish smile*

*cringes* F..fi...first person? *is terrified of writing in first person* May..maybe I..I coul..could try it...some...sometime...later...

Anyways, thanks for the review, Snorkles. I really appreciate the in-depth-edness.

(By the way, I'm really enjoying Shattering Point. )

[Tdyans at home]

ghostkomori said:

Spooky Christmas Crossover
Omg, <3! X3 I love the "All Ears" concept, and it's so cool to see my charas like that. XDDD Squee. And I'm really flattered that you went ahead and referenced the Halloween decorations from my comic. It would've worked with any sort of decoration, but the fact that you used those orange and purple garlands and the bats is so spiffy! And the joke is really clever, the dialogue works quite well. ^^ Squee.

Yay, I'm so glad you like it! (And also glad that you could tell they were bats and not black bows, heh. )

[Spot]

I feel guilty asking for reviews since I usually don't get around to doing any myself, but ... if anybody's doing comic reviews, maybe throw in a word or two for my Stuck in the Neopet House comic? *hopeful look*

[Luna]

Could I request a review of my comic, "So On and So Forth"? I'll try and do some reviews shortly.

[Deleted]

Reviews of me and Emily's Neopian Insanity would be appreciated...

[Nut]

I updated my list on Page 2. Running that list is a bit of an effort, but if enough people tell me it's useful, I may do it for future issues. Anyway, on to replies...

^__^ Bwee, thanks for the review! Your reviews are even more indepth than mine! XDDD And you're totally right about that slorg, he does need shading. And I realized I had forgotton the Soup Faerie's wings the day after I sent it in. ^^;;; But yeah, that is a great review and I really appreciate it. I'll be a bit more careful next time. :3

You're welcome for the review. ^^ I'm glad it was useful.

Mmkay, before getting to my reviews, I would hereby like to thank Nut for her very in-depth comment on my "Real Christmas" comic, and use the chance to talk my way out of the critics ^^;

Aw, you're welcome! ^^

Eh, it's not a christmas tree. The comic wouldn't make much sense if it was... the thing is just an odd plant of some sort, forgot its name but it's in my Neohome and I keep it in my comics. Point noted on the Wuzzle... and Saura's a guy x3

o__o My apologies to Saura. I was thinking while I looked at him that he looked awfully masculine, but the A suffix in his name threw me off. >.>

What it looks like is exactly what it is. And you seem to have missed the "until the presents are opened" part.

I didn't miss it, but since it was in the same sentence as the mention of the sleeping pills, I guess I forgot to mention it. -_-

Anyway, thanks a lot ^__^ Must've been the longest comic review I've ever gotten.

You're welcome. ^^

Heh, I never thought I'd see a comic in the NT where the characters were ears. That was quite funny. I guess it also gave space for the dialogue in each frame, like the third one. It was kind of a laughing-all-the-way type thing... go figure. ^^ The art was cute and well-done too, and you have to admire the disco-ball in the last frame. Awesome.

Thanks for the compliments on the art! ^^ All credit for the story goes to Tyrannitar. I'm glad you liked the disco ball. I had a bit of a time preventing the ball from looking all wrong. I'm glad to know my efforts were somewhat a success. ^^

[Gav]

Any reviews for the collab between me and Kat, Salvation, would be muchly appreciated.