“Hereville” reviewed on Webcomic Musings

Simon at Webcomic Musings reviews Hereville. The review is positive, but critical. He thinks my muppet-like jaws are a bit too much, drawing most of his examples from the early pages. I have to admit, I agree with him about that; especially in the first 20 or so pages, my devotion to big muppet-like mouths goes too far (if such a thing is possible!), and prevents me from using appropriate expressions. (In my opinion, anyhow.)

Simon is also critical of the Shabbos sequence:

The plot looks like it will be an interesting one; it’s the first I’ve heard of a Jewish dragon-slayer, much less one who looks to be about twelve or so (unless I’m mistaken, which I often am). The upshot of this is a unique viewpoint for the main character and a really novel setting and personality for people. The downside of this is that right as the Marilyn Manson impersonator reveals how Mirka can get started on the path toward dragonslayerhood, the plot gets interrupted for The Great Muppet Shabbat.

(A side note: challah is delicious bread, and I wish I lived closer to a Great Harvest store so I could buy it more often, but after seeing this page, I will spend the rest of my life checking my loaves of bread for ethereal possession or possible interment of small young girls.)

The downside of any comic that cuts the action in order to present a tidbit of information in earnest (as opposed to Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams novels, which play such up for laughs) is that the reader generally feels cheated. It may be interesting, it may be essential, but it’s not what the reader came for. It’s like when I went to Subway recently and they mixed my order up with another person’s, so I ended up with roast beef and mustard instead of peppered turkey and mayonnaise. Sure, it was still a good sandwich, but it’s the principle of the thing.

Steven Bergson, of Jewish Comics Blog, emailed me:

I understand his point, but personally I not only didn’t mind the “interruption”, but enjoyed it. I don’t think one has to be Jewish to appreciate that section of the story, but when one is Jewish (even if non-observant), one understands that in “real life”, shabbos is a kind of interruption, but one that (usually) one looks forward to. Mirka isn’t the type of character who would ignore shabbos just to hunt trolls (there are priorities, after all) and I think it would be dishonest to purposely leave out shabbos from her narrative since it is an important part of the character’s life.

I can see both their points. I wanted to really get across how central and important shabbos is in Mirka’s life (and the lives of most folks who live in Aherville). And I wanted to “show, not tell” — hence, many pages were devoted to shabbos. But it’s one of the things that I know could throw some readers off, so I certainly understand Simon’s criticism.

Anyhow, thanks to Webcomic Musings and Simon for his review, and to Steven for his thoughts.

Another two title page sketches

Remember, you can own a paper copy of “Hereville” of your very own!

For folks that pay extra, I do a sketch on the title page. Each sketch is different. Here are two sketches I did recently; you can see a bunch more here.

Continue Reading…

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 37

The last panel of this page is is another one I got my friend Dylan to pose for.

By the way, in case anyone’s not already reading it, Dylan’s webcomic Family Man is awesome.

Congratulations to Cathy Malkasian

I would have enjoyed winning (cue bitter tears and ranting), but to tell you the truth, I think the judges made the right choice. Congratulations to Cathy Malkasian for winning this year’s Russ Manning Award, in recognition of her gorgeous, eccentric graphic novel Percy Gloom.

Two Further Title Page Sketches

Remember, you can own a paper copy of “Hereville” of your very own!

For folks that pay extra, I do a sketch on the title page. Each sketch is different. Here are two sketches I did recently; you can see a bunch more here.

Continue Reading…

Hereville reviewed on ReadComics Podcast

The current ReadComics Podcast includes a two minute discussion of “Hereville,” which they liked (phew!). The “Hereville” talk begins at about 42:15. This is, as far as I know, the first time “Hereville” has been mentioned on a Podcast.

One host, Marty, bought a copy of “Hereville” with a sketch on the title page. I’m pretty sure this is the sketch he bought; I’m glad to hear he liked it. (You can see a whole bunch of title page sketches I’ve done here.)

One of the hosts, Florence, mentions that she read “Hereville” (as well as Castle Waiting and The Underburbs) as an antidote for her depression after reading a ton of Warren Ellis and Walking Dead comics, which really amused me.

I haven’t heard this podcast before, but I enjoyed it, largely because they discussed several comics that I’ve actually read and heard of, so this doesn’t make me feel quite as outdated as some other comics podcasts I’ve heard. To make sure that I did feel old, though, the hosts spent a while discussing if Frank Miller drew “Daredevil” and “The Dark Knight,” before concluding that he didn’t.

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 36

This is one of my favorite pages in the entire book — possibly my favorite page, period. I really like this page conceptually. Plus, the drawing came out very nicely; I think I’ve rarely done a better job of drawing Mirka than on all the little background panels on this page.

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 35

I don’t like using tight close-ups very much, but panel four of this page is one of the times it seemed called for.

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 34

“How Mirka Got Her Sword,” Page 33

A couple of art notes:

This was the first page of “Hereville” I drew entirely on computer. The previous pages all had linework drawn with ink on paper, and then scanned in to the computer for coloring.

I try and do most of my figure drawing without photo reference, but for some poses it’s really needed. Many thanks to my friends Jenn Lee and Dylan Meconis — both of whom do great webcomics of their own, by the way, so check those links out — for their willingness to pose for this sequence. And doesn’t it look like Jenn is having far too much fun twisting Dylan’s arm?