Critique of
Stronitium's
"Heroes of Thantopolis (Chapter 4)"
The temptation to writing independent comics is to write dark. There ain't no editors concerned about "what the readers want" on your back after all, so why not add some blood and gore to my cartoony comic? Give in to the dark side! Well after reading "Heroes of Thantopolis" (HoT), you might feel the pull of the light.
From the opening panels of the chapter to the end the tone does not change from that bright art Steven Universe feel as we are properly reintroduced to the characters in play. Which is a brilliant idea, I'd like it if more webcomics, especially long form ones, adopt an episodic nature. At least to manufacture some natural characterization moments, which HoT does really well. I do not need to read chapter 1-3 to get a feel of what's going on! (but I definitely want to now)
The plot seems to be as freewheeling as its major label counterparts, merely an excuse for the protagonists to be heroic and go on a goofy pop culture ridden adventure, but series' like this lives and dies on character interaction and stringing joke after joke, and is completely forgivable. Which leads to a warning...
It's going hard to introduce a heavy plot later with this kind of set up. Adventure Time completely lost me when they got explicit about the nature of the post-apocalyptic nature of Ooo, sure the critics loved that, but the fun was gone for me afterward. Now, Adventure Time is still balancing it quite well currently but prepare for a drop in readership that isn't willing to go that extra serious step with you.
If HoT is going to introduce a world-altering plot later, which tends to be so in heroic fiction, I hope it is planned out already, and introduced subtly as chapters accumulate. The way it's built up is great now, that single line at the end hints at things to come its just...
...really hard to not jump the shark.
Good luck.
