Irish Comic Creator Challenge Round 3

Cat Ryan's piece certainly broke out of the page boundaries, leading us through the labyrinth of the gutter leading to the stars. So much information went into this piece I'm not sure I got it all, but money is definitely at the root of it. Deceptively simple draftmanship disguises the quality of the poses and facial expressions. I found it a very lyrical piece.

When I opened Chris Fite-Wassilak's entry my first thought was (and I mean this as a complement) "My God! Someone's doing Art". I was only a little disappointed when I read it and didn't get it first time. Second reading showed me what a dunce I am not to know how much of this is made up and how much is actual quotes. It challenges me so I hate it, which makes it brilliant.

Jolien Hampson's piece rambled a bit, I thought. Is it the house or the gutter beside the house that's the portal? The style, though, looks perfect for the tale and the opening line is masterful as a tone-setter. The non-standard layout, while reminiscent of Miller and DKR, that's only a slightly-distracting coincidence. I love the drawing.

Kyle Rogers takes straight to the root of the matter. Some truly fine artwork, though word-endings getting cut off seems a little like carelessness to me, and a storyline that left me wondering if some genetic mutations are the result of some hellish union between discarded condoms and sewerage. "What's down there?" we are asked to ask. "****," we're told.

Jesus, Lucy Riordan, you have a dark outlook on life. Shocking because of the casual way the characters deal with their potentially life-changing situation, reinforced by the casual, almost careless, drawing style. This very nearly deserves to be considered a masterpiece of comic theatre.

There's so much true heart in Sgraffito's work generally that it's hard not to get deeply involved in her(?) style. Some new techniques being attempted here, I think, but not always successfully executed. There's something too contradictory in placing rough-hewn pencils/crayons/whatever in a photoshop environment that I don't feel supports the story enough, with one or two notably brilliant exceptions (the out-of-focus bits, mostly, especially the children, the whore and the slave-rape). But the blank, empty figure on the bed is just brilliant. I think a new style may be emerging for this quality artist.

Part two?? Is Stephen Walker allowed to do that? No reason why not, I suppose, especially when, with fearless punning, he sticks to the subject. The Guttersniper isn't quite up to the standard he set in the last round, drawing-wise, and the story is, if anything, even more flimsy, but there's an appealing humour throughout that I like. He takes the gutter to the rooftops and his Angel-Buffy hybrid dukes it out with some entity I feel sure is due to come back to haunt us (to be continued???). I have to say, I'm warming to this style of drawing and writing. Looking forward to seeing what else he can do with these cliches he's chosen.

Winner this time? Golly, that's a toughy. Honestly can't decide just now. Let me come back to it.

Ok, responses to work! I’m gonna do a litsy format, as annoying as it might be to ‘survey’ the spectrum everyone deserves feedback…as always just me own opinion so I hope people appreciate constructive criticism, by no means comprehensive just quick notes. I really liked the variation in this round though, and enjoyed doing my piece for it a lot (in that I made myself laugh…once I re read it realised didn’t quite work in the way I thought it did, but hey I had to let it go, it’s got it’s own life now, miserable that it might be)

-I like how catherine’s piece physically leads you down the tunnel she’s created, and the grey mounting sheet belies the claustrophobia of the artwork. It feels like a bit from a jeunet film (delicatessen, city of lost children, not so much Alien4…) in it’s crazy surreal way of bringing things together in a kinda mad alternate futuristic reality. In that same way though, the simplicity risks suggesting character types that are taking on all this allegory, a lot of weight for such a short piece!

- jolien’s piece is like a map, that twists and turns and spirals, a map that can be hard to read since at least on my screen each move involved 2 scrolls (how lazy am i), and at the end you’re disappointed because you’ve reached the end! I love the personalised playful manner, and that’s what it feels this is more about than about the offhand gutter that is mentioned, looked around, and then left almost unceremoniously- but mostly in that you’re left wondering if the 80s warp is still ongoing, or I guess it’s like one of those episodes of the Twilight zone where it ends and you’re left to wonder where you stand…

- kyle’s piece seems the most direct in relation to the ‘gutter’ theme, as it feels like the first place my head went for this theme as well. A ‘gut’ reaction if you will. (wocka wocka) so I like its honesty. Takes a few looks for you to realise that’s sperm falling on your face there, pal. A nice touch of viewer involvement. A brief memento, an exploration of a thought

-Lucy’s: a straightforward haiku of a piece. The first two times I went to see this piece the 3rd frame (the close up shot of the woman’s face) didn’t appear, and I liked the lyric simplicity of the 4 frame version that at the same time kept the viewer at an emotional distance which I think increases the impact of the last frame. The 5 frame version I guess adds an element of melodrama to the idealised harsh understated drama I had imagined, but I realise that’s more a writing/editing preference on my part. Me likes though, the tone and reserved use of colour

- happy to see Elaine/sgraffito pushing into and out of comic frames, her pictures always stretch beyond their own boundaries and her starting to use digital elements to further this end seems to be working really well in places. Another half dream narrative with haunting characters, where the form and style really portray that darkness so that even though the text doesn’t draw the characters out at all those elements provide the characterisation, a subjective layout of sorts…in one way the characters seem a bit voguish and posing/modelling, but then that could be part of the narrator’s bent. I also started to see the ‘gutter’ theme as a way to explore forgotten histories of sorts, and though it is a moral piece basically its harshness puts into human form

- stephen’s entry is the most unashamedly, relishingly comic-y entry of the lot! I like the idea of using the themes in the running context of one character/strip; might make hell with an attempt at a story line but all the more cunning if you can fit it in, though it feels like that battle being carried out when you’re looking at the superhumans duking it out and think ‘um…this is the gutter…?’ still again, great pacing to the action and dialogue and I lookforward to learning more about hellhunter and floaty-golden-dude

cheers lads for the comments, as noted above, this was my first attempt at a comic. The idea of trying to draw a comic was put into my head by a lunatic friend of mine so i said i'd have a bash off it. I figured i'd do one and not ever bother to try again, but seeing as people seemed to like it a bit, i might try my hand at some more, and will definitely be entering the next competition. And yes the piece does look rushed, truth be told, i drew it in two late night sittings (well semi reclinings) in my bed after coming home from talking w/ this inspiring friend. Drawing my own pieces is starting to appeal in a big way as a means to get the dark images out of my head and into the world. If you met me in the street you'd take me for a happy cheery individual with no hint of the messed up dreams in my head, i think i shall try to bring some more of these meanderings onto the intarweb. Hell, i've even started thinking in story boards w/ speech bubbles and missing faces (i can't stand drawing faces small, i'll do big faces when i need to, to me, it's all about body language).
Anyway, enough about me

I really enjoyed everyone else's entries, clearly much effort went into many of them (and the one's that didn't have much effort still looked well, good work lads)

In the end i had to vote for the eighties time portal for a number of reasons, a) i love the eighties
b) i love the light style, and the layout was interesting, made for difficult reading on my screen but i felt it was worth it

i also enjoyed sgraffito's piece, i think there are many dark stories lurking in her mind and i want to know more of them.

on my way out the door now, work party, i'll talk more maybe tomorrow or something!