Moose River Is Great If You Don’t Mind Squinting
I’ve been casually watching Moose River for a while now with only a small but genuine interest. I like comics like Moose River because they are not birthed from Adobe Photoshop and their simple hand drawn look takes on a life and atmosphere of their own. Written and drawn by Phillippe Van Lieu, it’s strangely entertaining, though not quite addictive.
I am especially interested in Phillippe’s news posts as they chronicle his growth as a comic artist as he navigates the medium and the business. He talks about his own short comings and the complications that arise as a new up and comer. He deals with reviews and criticism with acceptance and admirable compromise. I like being able to follow his own story – beginning with the excitement of a new comic, then flustered excuses about his updating schedule, then taking responsibility for his creation, adding a little bit of doubt, and finally emerging with a new adaptable excitement ready for the next stage of the comic’s life. It’s impressive on its own merit.
Some of the comic is not as impressive as Phillippe, but only by a little. I like his hand drawn work as much as clean, digitally colored work. I like how the background color cues us into story focus changes. I even like the shameless use of stereotypes. I do not like, however, the hand drawn dialogue. The poor handwriting holds this comic back. Few people will be willing to get passed this amateur look to discover a fun storyline. Few will even stay on the site long enough to notice there are characters to care about.
Hey, on the plus side there’s swearing and nudity, and that always sells.
Sommer.. are you the Sommer I knew from long ago on AOL? With the webzine, jaggerzz, blakgard, mortana etc? Sorry to be a blast from the past but I came across your name the other day and wondered.
By Raven on 06.25.07 11:33 pm
[…] other news, looks like I’ve been Fleen’d!: Moose River Is Great If You Don’t Mind Squinting. Some select quotes from the article […]
By moose river » Blog Archive » OK… your total is on 08.12.07 3:33 pm
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