Sixth Review - Mute
Mute
http://www.nightgig.com/subcultured/mute/index.php
Notice – I do know and have worked with the creator of Mute, Jess Calcaben. Just saying for disclosure’s sake.
Pro:
I really like how experimental and free the comic is. The panels, the text, even the coloring is done in a very stylized way to help convey the thoughts and emotions of the main character (which is helpful considering this is main a first person story). It can be a bit abstract, but the feelings of the main character aren’t very black and white so the abstract style fits rather well. The story is basically one long inner monologue from the main character, so it’s very creative how the art and layout helps to explain is perspective on the story.
Cons:
While the coloring and SFX is very good, the basic human anatomy is very weak. It almost seems like the lack of skill of anatomy is covered up under the gloss of the computer coloring. Some could say that it’s just artistic style and some panels would help support that, but a lot of panels show a lot of poorly rendered faces, hands, and bodies. If the creator put as much time and effort in the basic structure of the people (and also the backgrounds) as they did the coloring, this would be so much better.
Also the changing from color to black and white felt more like a shortcut than a stylistic choice.
Final Verdict:
The art and the creative layouts is what makes this story work at any level. The plot is fine, but it’s the art that really explains the main character and emotions. The main character could have been explained more through writing, but that would be a different type of book. But that’s why the art is so important for Mute as a story to work, and why it’s disappointing to see it fail because of the lack of attention to details like the basic anatomy of the characters in the story.
Suggestion – A lot of webcomics and “art comics” have this problem where they feel that if a story and/or art are wild or different enough, then it can transcend the faults of the art and/or story. Kind of like the old phrase of “art for art’s sake”, which could be true if I was looking at it as “art”, but I’m looking at it as storytelling and there are certain things to be done to make a story work. I’m not saying it has to be done my way, there are thousands if not millions of ways to tell a story, but people can tell if creator didn’t put his all into creating it. Its fine if a creator want to be more “right brained” about his storytelling, but that’s not an excuse for shortcuts. Creating any story is going to be work regardless of how you do it.
http://www.nightgig.com/subcultured/mute/index.php
Notice – I do know and have worked with the creator of Mute, Jess Calcaben. Just saying for disclosure’s sake.
Pro:
I really like how experimental and free the comic is. The panels, the text, even the coloring is done in a very stylized way to help convey the thoughts and emotions of the main character (which is helpful considering this is main a first person story). It can be a bit abstract, but the feelings of the main character aren’t very black and white so the abstract style fits rather well. The story is basically one long inner monologue from the main character, so it’s very creative how the art and layout helps to explain is perspective on the story.
Cons:
While the coloring and SFX is very good, the basic human anatomy is very weak. It almost seems like the lack of skill of anatomy is covered up under the gloss of the computer coloring. Some could say that it’s just artistic style and some panels would help support that, but a lot of panels show a lot of poorly rendered faces, hands, and bodies. If the creator put as much time and effort in the basic structure of the people (and also the backgrounds) as they did the coloring, this would be so much better.
Also the changing from color to black and white felt more like a shortcut than a stylistic choice.
Final Verdict:
The art and the creative layouts is what makes this story work at any level. The plot is fine, but it’s the art that really explains the main character and emotions. The main character could have been explained more through writing, but that would be a different type of book. But that’s why the art is so important for Mute as a story to work, and why it’s disappointing to see it fail because of the lack of attention to details like the basic anatomy of the characters in the story.
Suggestion – A lot of webcomics and “art comics” have this problem where they feel that if a story and/or art are wild or different enough, then it can transcend the faults of the art and/or story. Kind of like the old phrase of “art for art’s sake”, which could be true if I was looking at it as “art”, but I’m looking at it as storytelling and there are certain things to be done to make a story work. I’m not saying it has to be done my way, there are thousands if not millions of ways to tell a story, but people can tell if creator didn’t put his all into creating it. Its fine if a creator want to be more “right brained” about his storytelling, but that’s not an excuse for shortcuts. Creating any story is going to be work regardless of how you do it.
posted by David Doub at 5:30 PM
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