Webcomic Review: Skin Deep

There are only a handful of webcomics that I tried out nearly six years ago when I got into the medium that I'm still following now, both due to me becoming bored of them and due to the comics actually finishing. Skin Deep is one of those rare titles although I remember that not because I had an immediate, deep connection with it (although the characters are also college freshman!) but because I remember getting a pop-up malware ad on the site and panicking quite throughly in my freshman dorm room (I think I went so far as to take the battery out of my laptop to make sure nothing was going in the background). Fortunately this didn't color my experience reading the comic or make me resentful, but I am glad that these days the majority of ads I see on webcomics are ads for other comics which are 100% less likely to give me malware.

Skin Deep by Kory Bing

Comic Review: Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales

Back in 2011 I remembered hearing about Womanthology (a comic anthology that was going to be filled with comics only by female creators) and, while I found the idea interesting, after learning that the creators weren't getting paid from the kickstarter (I think all the money was going to printing with the leftovers being donated to charity) I wasn't really keen on supporting it. So when I saw this one where I was already a fan of some of the creators and they said that they were getting paid for the work here I decided to put my money where my mouth was instead of putting my foot in my mouth. I wasn't sure if I should review this or not at first however since it seemed odd to review something everyone else can't buy but I have since found out that you can still purchase a copy of this anthology, you can go to this page for more information for where to buy. Anyway, this will be more of a summary/general thoughts on the anthology since each story is rather short and it's a bit hard to review short things. But hopefully it'll still be a good overview of the anthology and give people an idea if they want to get a copy for themselves or not.

Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales (anthology featuring Kate Ashwin, Kory Bing, Mary Cagle, KC Green, Kel McDonald, Joe Pimenta, Katie and Steve Shanahan, and Lin Visel)

An anthology featuring eight stories from nine different comic artists, all based off of classical fairy tales with some being better known than others, most never before published in print or online.

About half of the anthology featured stories I was already familiar with (such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapnuzel), and the other stories were completely new to me (Bisclarvet, The Nixie of the Mill Pond)which made for a nice balance. The only story I really disliked was K.C. Green’s The Singing Bone and the story wasn’t bad, I simply don’t like the way they do storytelling and their art style, it’s just a matter of personal preference. On the other end of the spectrum, Bisclarvet (by Kel McDonald) was my favorite of the group and felt like something I could have seen on Jim Henson’s The Storyteller since it was paced so well and told a very tidy story with no details left unused. There was a nice variety of stories, some sort, some long, a completely silent one, some comedy, and a whole range of art styles. I think all of that makes it a rather successful anthology and, while I might re-read it on a regular basis, I am happy that I supported the kickstarter for it.