Sunday, December 11, 2016

Sunday Revue December 11:Fighting Dreamers

Look Out, Cat's Out Of The Bag! Better Call In The


Whenever something dreams, a universe is created. Thousands are spawned in a day.
But when these universes are under threat by monsters that aim to destroy them, warriors are needed to protect these universes. And that's where the Fighting Dreamers come in. The creation of nom de plume MannyKat8x, it's a romp. Leaping into dreams in peril, the Fighting Dreamers rescue our inner lands.
Oh, and did we mention that they're house cats?

The Rating

Quite the Cat's Meow!


The Raves

A clever take on the 'Inception' concept, 'Fighting Dreamers' has the cocky attitude of 'Top Gun', 'Agents Of SHIELD' and other scrappy-new-recruit works that catches the eye.
In terms of story, 'Dreamers' amuses at all times. The trouble a cocky new recruit doing dangerous work can get into is impressive, and all facets of the learning curve, both personal and experiential, are explored with a sour humor that will make you smile. I think many readers will see themselves both in the overconfident young breakaway Stewie and his superiors, who spend a lot of time smacking their furry foreheads with their paws.

The art is done in a loose, sketchy style and generally blue-shifted color palette that owes a bit to the styles of modern 'Cartoon Network' staples, though it has a feel all its own. The work focuses its emotional effects on exaggerated facial expressions to good effect. The feline teeth certainly help the impression along, especially in cases of annoyance.


The Razzes

There's several issues with this comic, but they may all stem from the same root cause: there's a slight case of creative myopia going on. The creator has focused so closely on writing Stewie's career that we're not really given an introduction into what he's doing as readers, only that he's doing it. Unless you read the 'about' section, you really don't know the reason for the monsters or the fight...and expecting readers to read the 'about' section is creative bad form.  That should be an extra treat, not a prerequisite.
Speaking of extra treats, there are some information pages, but they've been sadly neglected since the inception of the comic. We are reading comic works; informative blocks of text on the extra pages really aren't all that attractive. Even some decorative pngs would be a help!

In the art, there's so much focus on the face that the rest of the bodies seem neglected by comparison, with limbs delineated in simple straight lines. Don't get me wrong, the anthropomorphization is something I really appreciate.I'd love to see more work on the anatomy.

An actual cat's back and legs are very, very flexible, and straight lines don't do them justice. I'd suggest a little more work on matchstick outlines to capture more of a sense of motion. I'd love to see more work on integrating actual feline body language into the characters as well. A good example is below. 

The Revue

Purrrfectly sweet and  an amusing romp through dreamland. Well done!