#Comicsgate - The Culture Wars Hit The Funny Books!

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
KissMyTaint said:
"Mr. President, a second Cyberfrog comic has hit the website."
Click to expand...
I hate his art so much, everything is so messy and ugly. I skimmed through CF2 to see what he sets up for CF3.
Not only has his art somehow deteriorated, but for his grand finale he has the bees leaving Cyberfrog alive for no reason at all, only to have Salamandroid appear as a Deus Ex Machina (carrying the rescued parts of their "mother", essentially giving him "God Mode" for the next issue) a page later anyway.

@FROG You useless faggot, if you're going to use Deus Ex Machina, at least have him appear in the middle of the battle to save Cyberfrog from dying. Did you think that would have been too on the nose, retard? Is having the villains leave for no reason and then have Salamandroid appear out of nowhere better? You killed any tension for the next book.

Also, having the bees talk like Heather Antos is peak twitter-brained cringe. Truly timeless art right there. Immortalizing those people in your books and having them shape your "independent" art is what winning looks like.
 
KissMyTaint said:
"Mr. President, a second Cyberfrog comic has hit the website."

[LINK] CyberFrog: Blood Honey
Click to expand...
The Complete A-lawg Review of Sciverfrog 1 & 2 That Nobody Asked For​

To be completely fair to Frogfag there are one or two good ideas within the pages of CF, but while that might be good for a poster, it's not good enough for a comic book or two or three. It's too bad he didn't have someone tug on his ear and break the news that his giant space wasps are the real stars of the show and a survival horror book might have gone a lot further in the wake of the Walking Dead's last few years.

For such a cartoonishly proportioned character, Cyberfrog has all the personality of a Cyberlog. His face is stuck in a single expression... even EVS has a fake chuckle he can mix in from time to time; two gigantic eyes with no pupils and a brow with a fixed furrow that only slightly changes when surprised or in pain or when happy or when mopey (99% of the time). The most expressive thing about him are his fancy speech bubbles but even here they have no effect because they're all the same.

Cyberfrog never jokes around, he's a whiny, wet-blanket bitch. He's always complaining. He complains that people think he's a monster, he gives Heather a passive aggressive tongue-lashing for using the mothership battery to watch TV and he scolds Salamandroid when he busts through a wall. Salamandroid is the only one with word play and that's when he's taking out the Pollen 8-7-6-5... (it's a countdown get it? Hahahaha!) But what really makes Cyberfrog stand out from the crowd is that he is the eldest, less dopey but less capable amphibious cyborg twin, he can fit in regular human-sized spaces and he likes fried chicken! He's just oozing so much personality! Did I mention he has giant metal pickles for fingers and toes? He's Pickle Trikk! Whoa!!

The character motivation is a non-starter. "Kjell Sinn" is a sentient frog-shaped (ooh mysterious!) female robot spaceship who conveniently runs out of time to properly fuse her "egg" with a higher member of the Chordata phylum as as soon as she lands on Earth. This random act of underachievement doesn't exactly inspire awe for such an advanced AI race. You might think that this would be a perfect setup for loads of comedic relief as an awkward frog fumbling its way through superheroic deeds. It could have been one big send up on the entire capeshit genre. But if you thought that you were so wrong because it's barely an inconvenience for the instantly cool and capable veteran crime fighter Cyberfrog! No research necessary, that was all done by cyber space geniuses at home planet. Why run the risk of a character arc when you can just have flat exposition? Why can't Kjell Bait do all this herself? Why can't she give herself unlimited martial capabilities? The AI can equip its host with adaptations to anything, but it can't switch hosts? Is she limited to only one egg? Does Frog have a Mormon cyber daddy? Was it a virgin birth? Yo, shut the fuck up with those questions, haters!

You have a cheesed-up female that isn't a romantic interest for the main protagonist or anyone at all. Right away, you have a classic motivation for superdupers gone to waste. What value does she provide an alien AI that takes over animals? Frog needs a survivalist like he needs a journalist, not at all. Oh, but he needs to see human gratitude for all the selfless heroics he performs! If only live streaming and superchats existed in this world!

The only thing he has to work with as the honorary family pet is guarding the daughter of said cheese bait, but Trick Vhan Sciver only made things worse for himself when he later does the stupid Calvin & Hobbes tribute montage because this little red riding hood has zero percentage of Calvin's frenetic childlike personality/imagination/antics and Cyberlog has nothing to match or reflect or challenge it like Hobbes could. C & H was both fun and funny. Cyberfrog is neither fun to read or fun to look at and is not even trying to be funny. The most unintentionally hilarious thing about it is how emotionally attached Heather is to this ugly non-entity. If only Ethan knew the real effect of inserting himself into the story.

There are many reasons why Bill Watterson will always be considered one of the undisputed greats in comic strips. Those same reasons are why Ethan has now permanently damaged his reputation. Imagine having the integrity to end a project because you didn't want to maximize its commercial revenue and risk compromising its artistic value! Ethan's the kind of guy who desperately wants to be loved like the alien frog he is by bountiful chicken lickin' comic book paypiggies, but will have to settle for general disdain over his fake politics, his gayop antics, and his criminal friends.
 
Last edited:
Absurdity said:
Cyberfrog stand out from the crowd is that he is the eldest, less dopey but less capable amphibious cyborg twin, he can fit in regular human-sized spaces and he likes fried chicken!
Click to expand...
Just like the Teenage Mutant Turtles love their pizza. So original. (I've never understood EVS' obsession with the chicken. He used to make such a big deal about his chicken bucket special reward packaging and the chicken bucket accessory for his action figure when he used to shill his comics. It's like he thinks it's the most clever thing ever.)

The danger of going full critic jihad on EJ was that it now justifies subjecting EVS' own work to maximum scrutiny. His mediocre output deserves this kind of roasting. The fact is that Cyberfrog is a '90s-esque, grimdark, TMNT-type comic. Like you said, his work has all the wit and fun of a pie plate. I wouldn't call it horrible, but there's nothing about it that makes the story and characters rise above generic average.
 
Stupor Mario said:
Just like the Teenage Mutant Turtles love their pizza. So original. (I've never understood EVS' obsession with the chicken. He used to make such a big deal about his chicken bucket special reward packaging and the chicken bucket accessory for his action figure when he used to shill his comics. It's like he thinks it's the most clever thing ever.)

The danger of going full critic jihad on EJ was that it now justifies subjecting EVS' own work to maximum scrutiny. His mediocre output deserves this kind of roasting. The fact is that Cyberfrog is a '90s-esque, grimdark, TMNT-type comic. Like you said, his work has all the wit and fun of a pie plate. I wouldn't call it horrible, but there's nothing about it that makes the story and characters rise above generic average.
Click to expand...
He doesn't understand that having a favorite fast food is no substitute for character development. TMNT was a lighthearted and funny send up of the Frank Millerfication of comics in the late 80s. It was both absurd and on point. There was motivation, character development, and enough creativity to make it its own thing, not just a Daredevil parody.

People kept coming back reboot after reboot because it's an easy IP to get into, especially for kids. They kind of do the Fanastic Four thing better than most people give them credit for too. I don't think it would work quite as well if it were just one or two turtles.

McFarlane was part of that darker wave that swept through comics post Miller/Moore, and Van Sciver was inspired mostly off of that. Ethan doesn't do lighthearted, he doesn't do good-natured. He does dark, twisted and demonic. He got to the same ledge that all the masters of the dark arts come to eventually: who cares about self absorbed anti-hero capeshit? Good for a mini-series maybe, terrible for long term prospects. My opinion of course, but it ages like milk.
 
Stupor Mario said:
I wouldn't call it horrible
Click to expand...
It's shit the book. Three years for "photoshop-enhanced" art and amateur writing. If you told me the climax was edited by @Absurdity I'd believe you.
@FROG Don't do CF4, wrap up this shitshow in CF3 and then do a soft reboot, maybe a time jump. All your "friends" you sent a preview copy to for feedback must really hate your fucking guts if they told you this was good.

Does anyone remember what stream it was where Shane and his mail order bride were reading Rekt Planet and Shane was pretending he was super moved by the story?
 
Absurdity said:
McFarlane was part of that darker wave that swept through comics post Miller/Moore, and Van Sciver was inspired mostly off of that. Ethan doesn't do lighthearted, he doesn't do good-natured. He does dark, twisted and demonic. He got to the same ledge that all the masters of the dark arts come to eventually: who cares about self absorbed anti-hero capeshit? Good for a mini-series maybe, terrible for long term prospects. My opinion of course, but it ages like milk.
Click to expand...
I will expand on this. Long term grimdark can work if you make a good joke here and there. You have to be a bit tongue-and-cheek about it, not give the reader and the writer clinical depression. Look at G.R.R. Martin. He has a book series that made him stupid rich and he cannot be asked to write it because getting into that world is depressing, soul-sucking and energy draining. I am certain he rights sex scenes to help him keep going at this point but judging from the fact that he is in hiatus and making excuses for it, that tactic has diminishing returns.
 
That Other Dude's Persona said:
Does anyone remember what stream it was where Shane and his mail order bride were reading Rekt Planet and Shane was pretending he was super moved by the story?
Click to expand...
I’m afraid not, but was that the same stream where Yoko Yanzi basically told Ethan that Rekt Planet was shite*?

*actually just said the storyline was middling, but EVS was pretty depressed by the appraisal
 
Idiot Doom Spiral said:
I’m afraid not, but was that the same stream where Yoko Yanzi basically told Ethan that Rekt Planet was shite*?

*actually just said the storyline was middling, but EVS was pretty depressed by the appraisal
Click to expand...
Yeah, and Shane was making excuses for her. I'll try to find it.


I was also very generous when I said 3 years it seems. From the original campaign:
LuckyOnes.png
 
Figured I’d check in on what a much more irrelevant and pathetic Eric July hater was up to.
IMG_4152.jpeg

Reminder that this YouTuber was the basis on which the Eric July thread attempt was based on.
 
still can't actually figure out why some Kiwis, even tenured and more older kiwis were advocating that July is a lolcow.... I mean, why?
its like my IQ drops by 20 points trying to figure out why. I mean have your standards for lolcow have become so low that even someone that runs a business have to be declared a lolcow because they can't handle criticism? or like cant handle being trolled? my dude, if you think thats the case, you are terminally online and is more of a lolcow than July.

or they are probably stealth batting for the diddler dax and the crew
 
Absurdity said:
He doesn't understand that having a favorite fast food is no substitute for character development.
Click to expand...
In between manic episodes Zack refers to this as "FOODSIES!!!". It's how a fat woman with no friends writes.

I just wanted to read X-Men comics again and not want to kill myself afterwards. I've never backed any of these retards and I never will because hiring fanfic writers to write self insert shit is the problem with comics in the first place. I don't care about these donut steal OCs. Cyber Frog and yet another Mary Sue single mom girlboss written by a man resonate with me less than Sonichu.
 
huckbeine said:
still can't actually figure out why some Kiwis, even tenured and more older kiwis were advocating that July is a lolcow.... I mean, why?
its like my IQ drops by 20 points trying to figure out why. I mean have your standards for lolcow have become so low that even someone that runs a business have to be declared a lolcow because they can't handle criticism? or like cant handle being trolled? my dude, if you think thats the case, you are terminally online and is more of a lolcow than July.

or they are probably stealth batting for the diddler dax and the crew
Click to expand...
I think it's like snow blindness. You get acclimated to a certain level of CG bullshit and you can lose track of the bigger picture. Rippa was the NKOTB and kind of a basic conservative with a black spin. He was supposed to be a safe addition to the CG sphere. One thing Eric hadn't prepared for was a hyperventilating Diddler Dax who made sure that any valid criticism he might have had would be lost in the invective, which it was. He could have blown it off because Dax himself is a sick joke of a man, but this was new territory for him and he reacted in Texas Mr. T style, which is to say overdoing it and kinda goofy. But he's new to the game and despite an over-sensitivity to critique, he's a likeable guy IMO. He's not an artist, he's a brand manager.

Meanwhile we have Ethan who used a moment of weakness to use the Vito riot shield and the Dick baton to beat the black man out of the Sektur, except now Young Rippa has quickly supplanted everything that big boomer thought he represented and the big money is going in the other direction. All Ethel Von Slaver had to do was help his "friend" out a little and not leak DMs, maybe even guide him through the process. But Ethan doesn't have friends, he has temporary alliances. Then the Rekieta alliance went straight to hell and now there's nowhere else to go but downhill for this streaming boulder of a man. It gets even better when you realize how sensitive Evis is to critique himself. Take for example his womanly reception of Yanzi Lin's lukewarm selectively not overly effusive review of Sobberfrog. (Thanks to @Idiot Doom Spiral and @That Other Dude's Persona for pointing it out!)



So the bigger story to come out of it by far was Ethan beginning to lean in hard on the Dax/Vito pedo power base and Ethan turning lolcow over it. The only thing I can think of that might have swayed people against July would be his political leanings. I mean, he does run a brand first and foremost and probably glosses over quite a bit to make everything fit, but next to Ethan Van Schemer he looks like Honest Abe. @Mister Dongs better have a good excuse for staying away, like being abducted by cannibal tranny furfags.
 
Last edited:
That Other Dude's Persona said:
I hate his art so much, everything is so messy and ugly.
Click to expand...
VoidW said:
I find it claustrophobic, like he doesn't let the panel breath by overloading it with too much unnecessary detail. very very overdrawn.
Click to expand...
I’ve known tweaker kids that zone out for hours drawing overly complex patterns of literal nonsense that are less obtuse than Ethan’s meth fueled assault on composition. Sure you can always squeeze more lines in to every panel but what does it accomplish? Much like his diet, gorging on something that is just bland empty filler adds nothing but girth to a narratively hollow experience.
 
Fleetwood said:
The worst is seeing autistic detailed hair, unnecessary detail, next to a google image stock grass lawn pic. His fans pay so much and wait so long they can't admit their L, that the books are kinda shite.
Click to expand...
It's comical. It reminds me of those photo/CG render comics I'd see online in the early 00s.
Just print it in black & white, it would look better and your audience would still buy it anyway.

What the fuck even is this love affair he has with Kyle Ritter? Does Kyle have Ethan's nudes? Are they in some sort of mexican standoff situation with Mandy? Does everyone have everyone else's nudes and threaten each other with mutually assured destruction?

RotPockets said:
Sure you can always squeeze more lines in to every panel but what does it accomplish?
Click to expand...
A headache for the poor soul trying to read it!

Absurdity said:
Take for example his womanly reception of Yanzi Lin's lukewarm selectively not overly effusive review of Sobberfrog. (Thanks to @Idiot Doom Spiral and @That Other Dude's Persona for pointing it out!)
Click to expand...
LMAO, I died. I had no idea his seething about Yanzi's reaction was a multiple day ordeal, this is what thick skin looks like.
Did you find that original stream? I was looking at his channel and nothing rang a bell, I assumed he had removed it.
 
That Other Dude's Persona said:
Just print it in black & white, it would look better and your audience would still buy it anyway.
Click to expand...
There always was a lot of source: crack pipe going on in Comicsgate. People don't like X thing or another, ok boomers. One of them was people don't like black and white comics. Ok explain Walking Dead, TMNT, Scott Pilgrim (despite ruining a generation of women) and the entirety of manga. When Sciverfrog posts his previews or original pages for auctions they don't look as bad as in the book.
 
Give the devil his due. Ethan is great at what he does when he does it. He might be the best cartoonist alive as far as technique goes. The problem with his art is that it's soulless. He has no vision. He can't create anything new or inspired. Art that's great in technique but soulless can be made by computers now. If you can be replaced by ai you have a real problem going forward.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom