Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Catspaw Update: Blood in the Rain

It looks like Catspaw is being updated with a new page every Wednesday. Today’s update includes a new introductory page. It’s clearly intended to bring readers “up to speed” on the background, but I’m not certain it was necessary. The writing in the comic itself seems more than sufficient, though it does leave you wanting more. That’s rarely a bad thing.

As it is, the new preface seems a bit rough to me. “But her motives are known and unknown, for hidden forces move about her” does not fall trippingly from my mind’s tongue. The physical layout of the text on the page also leads me to suspect it’s poetry, but at 5:00 AM, I’m unable to detect any sort of meter to it.

I know that if I didn’t have broadband, going through all previous existing pages to get to the new ones would be aggravating. With broadband, it’s a mild annoyance.

The new pages look good. Storn continues to deliver the goods, giving us a more realistic portrayal of weapons and bodies than you’ll see in most anime, gaming, and comic art these days. Some of the action has a mild wire-fu feel to it, but nothing that feels out of place beside the heroics of Conan or the acrobatics of the Grey Mouser.

I’m conflicted on the first panel of page 7. While the pose of our hero’s body does point the eye to the redcloak and our heroine, where the tension of the moment is focused, they are so clearly in the background that I want to focus on him. And our angle makes the hand holding the axe look awkward and denies it the gathering energy surely about to be unleashed in a deadly throw.

But I do love the use of side-by-side columns, one focused on him and the other on her. And the look on her face in the second panel is perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever found a bald woman quite so alluring before. And you know her foe is in for a world of hurt. Will the Philosopher’s Spike reveal its power on the next page? Anticipation mounts!

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