A citizen’s commentary…
I did a “Citizen’s Commentary” sometime last year. It was when Roy was talking about Sonic Burger commercials appearing in his area (it’s in the archives). 🙂
But now I’d like to talk to you a little bit about a fellow Webcomic Planet Collective member, Eldon Cowgur and his webcomic, Astray3.
Way before the Webcomic Planet Collective was formed, I came across Eldon’s work thanks to an interview he gave on one of the many podcasts I listened to during my morning and evening commute. So, as soon as I got home that night, I immediately went to his web site to check out his strip.
Now, I’ve mentioned this many times in the past but I’m an “art guy” when it comes to comic books and webcomics. If the art doesn’t hold my attention or grab me, then neither will the strip or comic book. Well, that wasn’t the case at all with Eldon’s strip.
What immediately grabbed me was his particular inking and lettering style. I am insanely jealous of people who can make their characters jump off the page – especially with the inking quality as that’s still something I aspire to do. My line quality is still to hard and graffiti-ish… which, for the most part, I don’t mind – until I come across an art style like Eldon’s.
Astray3 is an excellent, slick looking strip. And I wish my jealousy of his line art would simply end there. But no, that would be too easy.
Not only does Eldon have an excellent mastery of the pen but his lettering style is yet one more thing to curse. As someone who has a tendency to write too much dialog in his own strip, I am amazed at the amount of information he is able to squeeze into each panel and still have each strip be easy on the eyes and incredibly easy to read. Curses, foiled again!
Astray3 is a long form, adventure tale so if you’re a long time comic book reader as I am, you might remember the old Bill Willingham Dungeons and Dragons cartoon strip that would appear at the end of several comics in the early 1980’s. That’s what Astray3 reminds me of. It’s cliffhanger-esque with lots of interesting and fantastical creatures and characters with a very strong female lead that young girls would appreciate reading about.
So, if you’re not yet reading Astray3, you should give it a try.
-Chris
