COMICS REVIEW

Blue Shift: Frenemies

Now. Where should I start? Under other circumstances, I’d pick it apart like a chicken wing ( the editor in me I guess) but this is a friendly visit and there are four categories to adhere to, so we’ll stick with those. As with any new comic I get, the first thing I’ll do after purchase is scan thru it and check out the artwork to determine in which order I’ll read them. At first glance, it appears to be a mixture of traditional pencil and digital work, but I believe it to be all digitally done. And he did a fairly good job of it. The artwork stayed consistent, there is good page layout, and he isn’t afraid of perspective.


The artist in a comic does the heavy lifting so to speak. The construction worker. So that would make the writer the architect. And without a solid foundation…well…you get this book.

I had to read it twice make sure I got the gist of the story they were trying to tell. And it started off a bit rocky. No preamble, just right into the mix. And under different circumstances, this could have been a good thing. But as there are no captions anywhere in the story to help advance it or clue the reader in on what”s going on or what they may have missed, it only served to make me wonder just that. I can see that they wanted to write the character in the vein of a certain wall-crawler whose name I cannot say, but in this instance, it just comes across a little flat. The story moves directly from the opening scene into a crime being committed. No setup or warning. The pacing of the story was a little erratic, but it does level off towards the middle while continuing to remain a bit disjointed. I was left with little
empathy towards any of the characters due mostly to no real characterization or why anyone was doing what they did.

The fact I had to read it twice does not bode well for the next stage here being readability. This is not to say the book is lacking in potential, which is the fourth and final stage. This group has the drive to complete the project which alone speaks volumes to their commitment. With a little better grasp of storytelling and pacing, I believe this could be a kick-ass book.

So in total, I’d rate the book as follows: The art receives a 3.5/5.0, the story I’d have to give a 2.0/50
for reasons already stated, Readability gets a 1.5/5.0 and Potential a 3.5/5.0. You can check it out for yourselves at their Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.om/projects/sovcomics/blue-shift-frenemies. Man, that is a mouthful! This has been an Indievolt comic review with I, your host, Chef from The Roasting Pit.
Until next time, keep creating!

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