Single Bullet Theory
Posted: Tuesday, September 17, 2002
By: Darren Schroeder
Creator(s): Myles Leigo
Publishers: Self Published
From: net
Price: Free
Okay, so continuing the current run of comics that are not comics, this week I looked at comics on the web with the efforts of Myles the Australian. Well, the first page has a striking logo, cool bullet and blood sort of thing that's so nice I've stolen it (see above).
On my browser the text of the front page displayed so small I couldn't actually read it, but it appeared to be some useful news about progress on the various projects that Myles is involved in. The layout was quite attractive, with a nice color scene and the good old reliable menu on the left and content in the wider right hand panel.
I spent some time looking for the comics, but couldn't immediately see any links that indicated reading material. I clicked on "released" and my computer took a long pause, freezing all the programs and making we curse the fact I hadn't saved this review yet. When the page finally loaded I got a list of notices that I couldn't read (too small). Moving the mouse over the top one found me a link so I clicked. Slight pause on all programs, damn, must backup before hitting a link!!! Then I was taken to http://nextcomics.com/comics/template.php?comicnum=19 which wasn't a comic, but just a bit of text? How strange. But then I realised the line of numbers along the top of the page were links to comic pages. I duly clicked....
Not Found
The requested URL /comics/qod01.css was not found on this server.
Apache/1.3.26 Server at www.nextcomics.com Port 80
Whoops, I hate that. Cascading style sheets seem to appeal to lots of people but if they are going to use them, it pays to actually upload the correct files. I tried the next link on the released page http://www.darkchamber.com/c3/shorts/cfc/intro.html Oh, nice graphic, easy to follow layout. I clicked the read link. The comic started as a series of diary pages, as a guy tells us about his new girlfriend that he has in his cellar. It soon become apparent that our diarist is one sick pup, and things go badly for his new "friend". The illustrations are very moody, light colours on a black background, but tales of cruelty to hostages don't spin my wheels, so I was unsatisfied. The open ended conclusion is a nice touch.
I tried the next release, and found a "you decide" story where I got to decide the fate of a guy looking for a fun time with drugs and prostitutes. I haven't ever really enjoyed these kinds of role play narratives, usually making the decision they don't list of stopping reading them, but my duty as a reviewer means I stuck with this one. That's a shame, because I ended up with a character who has "run" carved into his fore head, a gun shot wound in his shoulder and a BMW for a coffin. Ouch. The art team on this story do a satisfactory job on the tight dresses and cleavage of the prostitutes, and a rather nice effort on the BMW, but the pictures are too static for my liking.
Next place I want to look at is the gallery page. Clicking on the link to it got me a browser window filled with blue and a long wait. When I got impatient and hit the stop loading button everything on my computer stopped working and I had to reboot and retype half of the review. A paper and ink comic would never do that to you.
In a Word: Frustrating.
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