ARGGHH!!! I was going to finish the fourth panel this morning, and I overslept. I NEVER oversleep. And I was going to do the fourth panel early this morning. Oh, well...the fourth panel will be posted late tonight, after I take Eric swimming. (Hey, if Scott McCloud can add it a little bit each day, so can I...and this is one advantage of having every panel as a separate image.)

Later:

All uploaded. As you were.

One thing that delayed me was trying something new. I didn't physically ink the pencilled drawings, but tried to use the computer to simimulate inking directly on the pencils. Eric, my autistic son, is bad to (literally) break open pens and "paint" with the art, so this would be better, in the long run, once I master it, but I'm still learning. So if the art looks a little different, it's because I'm trying something different...

Oh, those are motorized leg braces that "Miraculous" Smith is wearing in the third panel. They allow him to stand, albeit clumsily.

Featured link:LITTLE DEE by the creator of BRUNO---call your local paper. Get Little Dee syndicated. Go to the website. One of the most talented people on the web needs more recognition and financial reward. Get. Little. Dee. In. Your. Local. Paper.

Oh, and thanks to those who have contributed enough to let SOMETHING POSITIVE to quit his day job, making up enough for a year's work at his dead-end job...

The author of the delightful, yet thoughtful IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD redrew the first "conversation " between MM and Lorelei in black and white here as a new Alternative Page. Love the expressive eyes of Lorelei and others.

up.

This is a review I did for that review group I do on Buzzcomix.

This is a review of SURREAL U. Every like something whose components are not great better than more polished works? That's the way I feel here...

The web design is pretty good...functional, at least...I barely notice it, which is the mark of a good website. The current comic comes up on the front page...the links seem to work, except for the Surreal U. movie...what's THAT about?

The people/plots page told me a LOT. It was a hoot to see the real you, Rachel, etc. Should be required reading.

One of the things that strikes me as a general impression is sort of a left-handed compliment. Clay ISN'T a geek, particularly. He plays video games, but he's refreshingly normal in a lot of ways...healthy looking, goes after women but doesn't write poems to a chance one he saw off the street like one of his friends. You can imagine him playing a game of football with a friend. He's not a superjock, but he's not a geek either.

In all honesty, neither the art nor the writing are great. The jokes are good, but they're not great. The art's a little primitive, but...

But...

But...maybe because most of them are based on real people...they're LIKEABLE. I LIKE Clay, Rachel, et al. You have a gift for creating characters people can care about. It's unpolished, but you have a gift for conveying emotions in your writing. I know of a lot better-written and better-drawn strips that nevertheless fall flat...because I don't care about the characters.

The art. You know, with your cartoony style, the occasional use of color would be a real plus. Once a month or something...just think about it. It's not that much more time, and I think your comic would be really eyecatching in color...like in here. That really WORKS. Think about doing more of your strips in color..

In all honesty, your art isn't real polished, and is a little weaker than your story. The backgrounds are often pretty simplistic, and the artwork---you're still searching for your own style. A lot of manga influence, and in your case, the less, the better. Things like the Chibi interlude, or the huge Rachel faces when angry against a little Clay---a little of that goes a long way.

Of course, that's probably MY prejudice. I'm not a big manga fan...

I hated when you changed your art style fairly recently, like here---Clay and Rachel should NOT be blank-eyed like Little Orphan Annie. I'm glad you changed back. One of your strengths as a cartoonist are your eyes...especially Rachel's glares when Clay says something stupid. I encourage experimentation in your art styles, but that one didn't work.

The writing: you have a gift for the ironies of life, especially campus life. You know how to pace the comic, when a silent panel or two gives more punch to the punchline. A good example is [url]http://surrealu.keenspace.com/d/20040114.html[/url]. (Nice shading in that, BTW.) The writing in all honesty, is only a little better than the art...although both are just good, neither is great. The writing's not crisp and polished...but at least you have the basics down. You know how to deliver a punchline. A lot of comics haven't mastered that critical skill.

You can be the best artist and writer in the world, but if you don't have that, you have a cruddy comic. You have a very good comic. The individual parts are so-so, but the heart of it lifts it a little.

Um. In all honesty, I can see why you advised us to read the second semester first...oh, well, a lot of us got off to rocky starts. I know I did...

I LOVED the series when you and Rachel switched bodies..."The Great Gender Displacement". Laugh-Out-Loud-Funny. Probably my favorite sequence in the whole strip.

I also loved the Evil Alternative You From the Future. "I would NEVER wear a mullet!"

You did the Jesus-as-Roommate thing a lot longer than I thought you would. I thought that was a one-strip, maybe two-strip gag. Having Him arrested as an illegal immigrant called "Hay-zus" was pretty funny too.

I liked the Skirting Danger guest-shot...

I like the recurring pretty girl with the Goliath-sized boyfriend...

Hmmm.

Is it just me, but was it in the second and third semester that you seemed most attuned to your strip, and before you were finding your way, and these past few (fourth and fifth) semesters, it seems more like an afterthought? Although this mysterious sensei calling Clay the chosen one has possibilities...

The Chibi Surreal U. never worked for me. At all.

The Murder Mystery one was the same thing. Fell flat.

Suggestions: more about Rachel's dating, and it's complications with Clay. Fantasy is great, but don't go totally out of reality, like the chibi sequence. Your strength is that this is rooted in a college. Try to study more Western cartoonists and fewer manga ones---you're picking up the bad things from manga rather than the good. More color. Experiment with the style, but keep your expressive eyes, especially on Clay and Rachel.

I like this comic a lot more than I should. I have judged other comics more harshly who had better art or better writing. But I LIKE the Clay-Rachel dynamic. The real situations mixed with the fantasy give this comic its real strength and its real heart. A very enjoyable comic---a diamond in the rough, in need of serious polishing.