Try to Scare Me

dglisson 2016-03-07 23:18:19 UTC #8

My comic is a horror/supernatural adventure comic. I'd love to get a review and I do agree with your premises. I only have the first chapter done. Let me know what you think! It's called Beast Bait.

PocketFloral 2016-03-07 23:53:46 UTC #9

Hey I would love a review for my comic Glamour, it's a horror/slice of life, I'm not sure if it's exactly scary like how most people define good horror but it's focused moreso on atmosphere. There's some animal death/blood/vore/cursing that has mature warning but that's mostly for very sensitive readers and isn't graphic (it is definitely integral to the story tho to see most of those pages).
Anyways thanks you for looking at my work and hope you're having a good day!

papachan 2016-03-08 16:41:32 UTC #10

Los Esmeraldas beings very well. Immediately it is action packed, has some horror aspects to it that I wasn't expecting, and the main character is so mysterious. I am immediately having a problem with being able to read your speech bubbles, however. The text within them is small. I was stalking your comments a bit, and I found that you have a big monitor which is part of the problem. A way you can deal with this is to make sure that when you are finished you look at it at 100 percent zoom. If you have a program that won't let you do that, then Microsoft paint will. You can also preview your comic, which you should always do, and imagine it a little bit smaller than what it is showing you because of the sidebar to the left of you work will be added when you actually post it.

Your characters are pretty interesting overall. I especially love how you have chosen to name them. I am not sure if you picked the name after you designed them, or vice versa, but the names really suit their characters. This is really important for a comic like yours where a lot of stuff is being thrown at the reader right from the beginning. I like the names you have chosen for the ship, the planets, and the creatures on said planets. As of right now, they are familiar enough I can guess what the planet may look like, and what those creatures may look like. I would advise that you eventually start adding it odd names that don't make sense so that the reader doesn't get a picture in their head and ends up disappointed. When I character design, I jumble up names I like until it sounds cool.

Black and white is my favorite way to read comics and manga. I like that you have chosen to do this throughout the comic as it suits the atmosphere. Not too dark, not too light. As of right now, it is perfect.

OKAY. So this is the beginning so I am going to guess what is going to happen. The description tells me a lot. I will PM you, since there is no spoiler tag, and I don't want to spoil anything accidentally.

Jabbage 2016-03-08 16:56:10 UTC #11

Oooh, I'd love a review of my comic The Art of Monsters. It's a finished comic and I just brought out a print version of it!

I've always refrained from calling it horror because although some people have described it as a horror comic in comments and reviews, I've never intended it to be one. I think anyone going into it expecting horror will probably be disappointed... basically I'd just love to see your reaction!

Sanz 2016-03-08 17:10:17 UTC #12

thank you again !! i appreciate it !!

papachan 2016-03-08 17:25:02 UTC #13

This is just a delightful comic.

I am not sure for action, romance, or comedy comics/manga, however, you have followed a big rule that most good horror comics follow. Before the ending of the chapter we are introduced with a dangerous problem that we know nothing about as the audience that poses an immediate threat to an atmosphere that was created before. I know a lot was going on in the beginning, but you somehow maintained a lighthearted atmosphere that was threatened by the zombie. This early on, it doesn't matter how long the threat remains as long as we are left with the impression that we are not as safe as we thought we were.

Unless you are doing shorts you should always have some sort of "cliffhanger" or "catch". You've done this! At the end of the first chapter I am reeling with questions that I know will eventually be answered.
Your comic is fun, has wonderful character designs, and makes me wonder about a lot of things going on in this universe. How you control the vision of the audience is very well done, and I hope to continue to see this in the future. Make sure every death, even in a comedy, is done for a reason. You've done really well doing this so far, but make sure that you continue to do so. Death just for death's sake will get boring very quickly in a zombie comic.

To be honest, right now there is not much for me to criticize you about. (Isn't that great?) Besides one thing. Why is there a purple background behind the comic? I have never seen this before and the whole time I am reading this, I am wondering why it is there. I think it is taking away from the "color attraction" effect you are going for. I really love the color on black and white background, you should really keep it up. I haven't seen that done before, but I wish more people would think to use that as an option because it is FANTASTIC.

papachan 2016-03-08 17:25:20 UTC #14

No problem! Thank you for letting me review and read your comic!

bouncyegg 2016-03-08 17:57:57 UTC #15

Take a look at my bank account. That's the real horror right there.

http://tapastic.com/series/thebouncyegg

papachan 2016-03-08 19:27:40 UTC #16

Hi! It most certainly is a horror thing. But I am not going to read it all.
Story: The pacing of this is so fast you go from point A to point B in two pages. I read very slow, so don't think that I am saying this because I am zooming through your work. Hm...one thing I dislike is that the main character is so casual with everything that is going on around him. Let me say here, I was raised Catholic and have a fascination with exorcisms. I'm not as familiar with Shinto exorcism and house cleansing, but I feel like all of this is very easy for the two of them. Yes. I realize that your character should, for all tense of purposes, be able to perform these things. However, he is still a young man and she is a young woman!

Art: I love the lack of color. For horror comics, it is pretty much required in order to build up a dark atmosphere. (I'm saying that and a million color artists are going to come in through my window and eat my cat) I like that you separate each chapter with a picture so that we can SEE that the chapter has changed. I don't think this is something commonly done in American comics, but it is done in manga. I can tell that you have put a lot of time and effort into designing this, the characters, the world, etc. IT REALLY SHOWS. I can see that it isn't done, but keep up this good work! I like the different font you use later on in the comic. I think you should stick with that.

Dialog: I want to add this for your comic because you are using honorifics. You use "Name-san" for the demon kid. I think this is fine for your main character because she still respects him, however other students DO NOT. I wish you had used something else for them to call him, like yōgisha, when they are not speaking to him directly. (When I looked it up because I wanted a "meaner" honorific, this seemed perfect to me.) Now I'm not Japanese, but I am fluent in Chinese so please take this advice with a gigantic grain of salt. This is totally personal to me, and -san is perfectly fine. Really. It is a nice touch to give the comic authenticity!
You have put dialog in every single panel I have read from chapter one to chapter four. I decided to skip to random chapters after that because in one sitting, reading all of that much dialog was overbearing. I'm just not used to it in a horror comic/manga. I think over these next couple days, I will continue to read through and and comment how much I like certain parts.

Overall, I think this is a nice comic. I can see the hard work you put into it, and I hope you're really proud of it. I would be. c:

R.n.P 2016-03-08 19:53:08 UTC #17

Can you review mine too not sure if it will scare you but has some body horror scenes especially at the beginning THE LAST SAMURAI

SirHellsir 2016-03-08 20:33:42 UTC #18

I'm so happy to get my first review and glad you liked it.

I have read a lot of long format stories and the better the cliffhanger the more obsesed over the story I would get, so I always keep that in mind.

I have never liked the death for the sake of death, no matter how small the character, it always need to have an impact on the plot or other characters.

From the begining I felt the purple background was distracting, it's nice to have an opinion on it. I was trying to give each volume/arc its own color, but I think I might have a better alternative that helps the panels instead of taking attention from it.

maelstrom51210 2016-03-09 02:31:42 UTC #19

Yay! I'm glad you liked it~ I think the pace and dialogue stuff gets better in later chapters, or at least I hope.

Dorp, Toru's actually supposed to be Catholic. I guess I didn't really show that well.

Thanks!

iddqd 2016-03-09 03:40:30 UTC #20

Horror is a great if often misunderstood genre. Just finished binge watching Phantasm I to IV and The Blob. Okay, so maybe the genre lends itself well to B-movies, but then again B-movies are awesome.
My comic is a fantasy/horror. I love both genres, I'd like to think I understand both well, and I think that they can mix to good effect too... Not sure if there's much to scare you, but I'd like to see your take on it, if you wouldn't mind. There are currently no NSFW pages. The comic is Eternal Autumn.

donathinfrye 2016-03-10 13:46:35 UTC #21

My comic's young, so I've yet to ask anyone for a review. But I really like your pitch and POV in the original post, so hell, why not? If there's just not enough there for you to consider by the time you make it down to me, that's okay too. : )

Atonement is a sci-fi mystery/horror comic trying to subtly masquerade itself as a space opera. I've not marked any pages as NSFW.

papachan 2016-03-10 19:21:43 UTC #22

Before I even write this review I wanna say Daniel was the first comic I read on Tapastic. So it has a very special place in my heart. I decided to re-read Daniel (which is why it took so long) so that I could do this review and try to be as fair as possible, but you know when you love something you're pretty nice about it.

Art: I think it may be because of the time that Daniel takes place, but I really love the grey scale. It almost seems a shame since you are a very amazing artist and I WANT to see all of DANIEL in color, but grey scale suits it so well. When you do decide to use color, you use it perfectly. I really love horror that happens in brightly lit areas, lots of color, like a nightmare. In Chapter Two, we see a man turn on a light and BAM color. It made my heart beat so fast! Chapter three, I am like dancing in my seat reading because I LOVE COLOR SPLASH. Your comic is probably the main driving reason behind it because you use it so well and you use it so well consistently. I've seen it used in Action comics on other websites before, but never in a horror. It was always either black/white, grey, or color. I think that is a totally different story on Tapastic, but yours is the first I have seen and continues to be the only one that I have read (and remember) that has it.

Characters: Daniel is just a lovable guy and to see what he has to put up with in the beginning and how he develops and changes throughout the story is both saddening and frighting. I really feel for Daniel because he reminds me of myself. Throughout the comic, I begin to really dislike him-- I think both Chrissy and Daniel are relatable the general audience because we've all been through situations that we couldn't control. As for Wayne, I have hated Wayne since I laid eyes on him, which is great because you're not supposed to like the guy from the start. Even if you do, you sure won't by the second chapter. Wayne really makes me want to go on a rampage, and I think that was what you were going for.

"Monster": I think some people would classify them as "demons" but I won't get into that debate. I really don't want to spoil anything for anyone who hasn't read Daniel. However, based on the summary, I really don't think I will be ruining too much. Daniel reminds me of some of my favorite vampire books (Like, Dracula) from when they didn't sparkle and they were bound to some rules that they had to follow. I'm not sure how many of these traditional rules Daniel follows because they aren't like listed out and every story is a little different even if they follow a traditional uh way? Daniel doesn't remind me so much of Dracula, besides maybe a scene, but it does remind me a lot of the story of Interview With a Vampire, by Anne Rice, which is also a FANTASTIC movie if you haven't seen it. Not that your characters are nearly as ancient or stuffy, but how Daniel acts on his otherworldly urges. Don't listen to ANYONE who dares tell you any of your scenes remind them of Twilight, because Daniel is WAY BETTER than Twilight could ever hope to be and Daniel, the character, is a far better and more interesting vampire than Edward Cullen.

NSFW/Patreon Stuff: A lot of NSFW that I, personally, would not have marked as NSFW. I really wish that Tapastic would tell you WHY something is marked NSFW and let the authors tell the audience that there is some bloodshed, gore, pron or whatever. This is especially true for your comic because so much of it is marked NSFW and I fear that it might turn people away and much of the time, you do it because there is blood. Not that...it should...because if they're looking for SFW horror then they should just read another genre in my opinion. // As for your Patreon, thank you so much for putting the AD to your Patreon on the bottom of your comic, kind of like an editor/author's note. I really enjoy that I get to see your rewards before I even go over to the Patreon page. I'm a little worried though, about how you will add an authors note if you need one (remember "making love"?). Just something for me to point out and you to ponder over. (I wish you had shirts. I would buy a shirt/hoodie from you.)

The predictability in your comic went sky high as soon as you started doing one page updates. I understand that this is more convenient and the urge to post something frequently is overbearing. It may/not get you more followers and I don't know if you are someone who is trying to get a whole bunch of followers under your wing. I would do a couple pages, not the whole chapter, at a time so that people don't have a week to think and make a million guesses on what is going to happen the next page. What people are guessing is the "hah! Wouldn't it be ironic if--" scenarios that you have a lot of in your comic. That is what VENGENCE, REVENGE, synonyms are all about. So when people are guessing these, don't fret yourself because even the best horror movies and comics have those predictable moments in them in order to make the audience feel good about themselves and make them feel like they are in the real world where realistic things are happening. If you've ever watched a bad horror anime, you will soon realize that the reason it is bad is not the premise of it, it is the execution being so over the top all of the time. Your comic is refreshingly realistic and comfortable to think about. I don't have to wonder HOW Daniel do what Daniel do all of the time like I would in some other comics.
Also, you've tricked the audience into believing something is happening and then being like "THATS WHAT YOU GET FOR GUESSING" like you've done in Ch.6 where we see Daniel looking dapper.

TL;DR: You did good kid. I hate all the NSFW marked for blood. I hate Wayne but I'm supposed to. I'm dying inside because Chrissy isn't wearing Daniel's necklace anymore. I'm going to PM you my guesses for your comic. Thanks so much for letting me review your comic.

VermillionWorks 2016-03-10 22:20:32 UTC #23

Wow...that was a very positive review and certainly made my day! X3

Haha, the last reviewer said the red and full color seemed unnecessary and I should just make it purely grayscale. XD BUT yeah, everyone has their own opinions, and anyway I enjoy using the red, and because Daniel has black blood I believe it would've been that much more confusing if everyone's blood was also dark in a full grayscale comic. XP I'm glad you like it and the full color moments! Yeah, I probably could've done the whole thing in color, but I thought the grayscale suited the 1930s setting just so darn well. XD

Seen the movie, haven't read the book, and yes I like it very much. Certainly better than being compared to Twilight. XD

The pages that had only blood stains that I marked I just wasn't sure about, to be honest, though I probably could've done without it and might go back and remove a couple of them. I do think perhaps Tapastic could have a better system for this so I don't feel like I'm at risk of being reported for not marking some pages, like just one initial popup NSFW warning for the whole comic...or once you remove one NSFW block then they all disappear for that comic.

Well, I've been meaning to update it because it's pretty craptacular right now, but there's this - http://www.zazzle.com/vermillionworks/

Not a whole lot else for me to say other than thank you for (re)reading my comic and reviewing it! I really appreciate it and hope you continue to enjoy it! ^___^

papachan 2016-03-17 05:17:46 UTC #24

Story: I can't tell you how horribly interesting your story idea really is! I have never heard or seen anything quite like it before. In the beginning it really reminded me of a wonderful manga I read called "Fourteen" (DON'T LOOK IT UP) which had this amazing story line that also had a little bit to do with...chloroplasts. In the beginning, I thought this was a zombie horror, so I am here to thank you for kicking my feet out from under me. I deserved it!
Art: I don't really care for colored horror and comics, but with your drawing style it really works. I don't think I would understand nearly as much of what is going on if it was not colored. You've just got a lot of intricate details and a lot going on. As of right now, it is looking fantastic!

Characters/Monsters: I can't personally relate to any of your characters. I really don't care for Manny that much as a character right now, but that is just because I don't know a lot about him seeing as he is this "all mysterious manly man" character and I am neither mysterious nor manly. This isn't a bad thing because I do see how your other characters can relate to other people and your story is so interesting, I can get past not having a character that reminds me of...well...me. Your characters, for now, are believable despite what happens to some of the other characters and what might happen to Katherine.
So I'm not going to nag at you about your NSFW because you are the creator and if you feel like it isn't "nasty" or "bad" enough to deserve a NSFW tag, then I won't pressure you into it. However, towards the end of the first chapter I really think you should put some NSFW when Katherine takes her bandage off. I read this at work, while on one of my breaks with it on one of my screens and my work on the other, and it made me uncomfortable to think someone behind me may have seen it. Not that I care personally or that my coworkers may care, because they didn't. However, other people may want to have this warning.

dglisson 2016-03-17 12:37:25 UTC #25

@papachan Thank you so much for your review!!!! You are so awesome to have read and I'm so glad you liked it!

I definitely see what you mean about Manny not being relatable in Chapter One. I think you'll be happy with the growth in his characterization in Chapter Two when I start to break through the stereotype he portrays himself as and show that he is affected by the consequences of his actions.

I can't wait to see what you think of Chapter Two when it's complete! Again thanks so much for the review!

papachan 2016-03-29 19:23:31 UTC #26

Wow. Sorry this has taken so long. Even before the big update I was having some trouble logging onto the forums for some reason! I have you can forgive me for this!
I would not, personally, consider this a horror comic despite there being some major horror elements within your comic. It really reminds me of "Cat-Eyed Boy" and "Orochi" by Kazuo Umezu, because of the general feeling I get when reading your comics. I feel like you've done well to not put any NSFW filters on your pages because I don't feel like any of them really NEED that filter to begin with. I can see how some readers who do not normally read horror would put this in that category, but I wouldn't personally.
The story in this comic is quick enough to keep me interested and slow enough to where I didn't feel rushed or confused. I had a hard time remembering the artisan's name, but that is because I am just bad at names in general. To me, I feel like all of the characters are, or become, very relatable as the reader continues to read this comic. Hui is a very interesting character because they are spoilers and also female. I really like that Hui is female and is a force to be reckoned with, without being obviously overpowered or angry. Yes, Hui is kinda angry, but so are a lot of people in the world.

I feel like this comic could have been turned into a horror very easily, especially with Hui being...well...Hui. However, I really love that you didn't make this a horror. I feel like the end would not have had such an impact as it had if Hui was really a "horror comic" character. (I hope you catch my drift there.) This comic is cute, witty, funny, a little dark, but all in all a masterpiece. I am very excited that I got to read this. MORE PEOPLE NEED TO SEE THIS AND READ IT.

papachan 2016-06-06 14:02:25 UTC #27

Hey everyone. This forum literally died after the big Tapastic update and I wanted to let everyone know that I am now able to get back to reading the rest of the comics on this forum and welcome any new ones that you all or anyone else may have written.