Written & Lettered by Clifford VanMeter. Artwork by Joe Querio
Sam Woodham, Mayor of Ore City, Federation Colony M-1801 (Rogue) in a statement to the Interglobal Press immediately following the “Rogue Incident” – Now, I ain’t saying’ them dark eyes out there on the plateau deserved killin’. I’m just saying after them ships slammed into the Assembly Hall back on the Home-world people round here sorta’ went a little crazy. But there weren’t the wholesale slaughter like some of you press boys has taken to claim.
Damn, I love his ship!!! Now that is sweet!!!
Stick with us, Ron. Joe’s stuff is just getting better and better.
Excellent pacing, art, colours & atmosphere – I’m a real fan of weekly strips like this – looking forward to more – cheers guys!
Wondering what the story is… there weren’t even captions for the first few pages and I can’t get into what is going on. I just saw a lot of blood but no story yet… if I remember I’ll come back. Ya haven’t hooked me yet.
Stick with us. There is a story here, but I’d like the telling of it to be somewhat other than the usual. The top captions provide some backdrop to the story, but they aren’t the whole story. Upcoming they’ll sometimes add to, or comment on the action. I’m not using thought balloons at all, seldom planning to use sound effects. Joe and I are focusing on a more cinematic approach to the story.
Cliff,
The strip looks great, and I totally get the challenge of presenting a story page-by-page, even though it’s not really meant to be read one page at a time. So, no complaints so far. You’re only a few pages in, with a long way to go, presumably, to really establish your story.
My one suggestion at this point is that each and every page is likely, especially now at this early stage, to be somebody’s first page. This is great looking work. Give the team some credit! At the top of every page, it should say:
ORION THE HUNTER, page [whatever]
Story: [writer's name] Art: [artist(s) name] Lettering: [If appropriate]
etc., etc.
You’re promoting this great new comic of yours, but you’re also promoting yourselves as creators. You’ve gotta put your names on there!
All the best,
Mike
Great suggestion, Mike. And great to hear you like the work, especially from another EX-Valiant guy. Right back at you, too. I really enjoyed Loviathan over at Act-I-Vate.
Cliff
Hey Cliff. Just wanted to echo compliments on Joe’s design and rendering of your strip along with praise for the intriguing world you are creating.
However, to offer some constructive criticism, I don’t find that the first few pages are easy to follow. Rather than draw me in, I find them alienating. Joe is using a film style of boarding that causes a disconnect between the characters and their actions. Given that this is a) A new world with characters that are foreign to the reader, b) weekly, and c) silent, I’m finding the need for clearer establishing panels.
Eddie Campbell ascribes to a rule “The Entire Drama of a given situation must be contained within each panel of the sequence of that situation” and I’m apt to agree. You both created a great visceral work but I’m missing the story, and not in any way that feels intentional.
Keep up the great work. And, definitely check out Mike Cavallaro and he Act-i-vate crew for other fine weekly comics.
Constructive critiques are always welcome. Reviews of my “silent treatment” of the first few pages have been mixed, but from a writing standpoint I wanted to push myself and try something different. Overall, I’m satisfied with it, but if I’d been more familiar with the challenges of a weekly roll-out, I might have done it differently.
BTW: We love Act-I-Vate around these parts. It was one of our inspirations for what we’re trying to do here. Some great work there.
Cliff
Dean Haspiel, founder of Act-i-vate, has been saying that rather than take on more contributors they hope to inspire more webcomics and webcomic sites for creators to launch on their own.
Arctoscomics already seems like a step in the right direction.
Best of luck.
This is a great web comic. Awesome atmosphere, the coloring fits the mood, and the silent treatment really draws attention the art and the focus of the character’s expressions. Minimalist and inticing!
Thanks to everyone, for the kind remarks on the artwork. It’s a lot fun creating these pages.
Joe