I’m just saying…

(13 Seconds, by Peter A. Venables)

As a part of my new plan for writing this thing, if I can’t think of anything to say about something I’ve read from The Plate, I’ll go ahead and read through something on The Slate. And today is one I’ve been promising the guy I’d read for a while, and I’m pretty glad I have.

The thing I want to say about 13 Seconds above all else as a starting point is that it has a ton of potential. Peter is clearly a talented cartoonist, as is evident from his sketchbook section and by progressing through his archives. Again we get the fun of seeing someone develop their skills over time. And it’s an anthropomorphic comic (or a Furry comic, I think it could qualify as either). I’ve mentioned before my personal distastes for anthro/furry as a genre, but Peter doesn’t use it as a genre. The fact that they are animals is rarely, if ever, brought up and that’s what I like.

The site design and structure is very well done. I like the colors and the layout and all that good stuff, and I think it works well. Only thing I can say is that I’ve noticed he does own 13Seconds.com, so why doesn’t he convert his stuff over to it? If it’s a preference thing, that’s fine. Just not what I would do.

Peter is a very decent writer, but I think he’s fallen into the trappings of common personality stereotypes as a vehicle. I think he knows this as well, because he admitted their animal types are made to be an index to their characteristics (i.e., the Poodle is Prissy). It’s amusing, and entertaining enough to keep me reading, but what the comic needs right now is it’s own voice. What I’d like to see is more development of the characters as individuals. What’s Wally’s job? Or Marsha’s? What does Sheila do in her own time? What kind of TV shows do Wally and Basil watch? Peter’s shown us that he can handle grander plots of betrayal, sexual identity, etc. But I’d like to see more average life stuff. Things like this one and this one are indicators of what I’m talking about. I’d like to see more of that. Average life stuff that aren’t about the romantic relationships in between all the big story arcs that are.

But hey, that’s one constructive critic’s opinion. The art and site design are fine and don’t need to be worked over, but I hope Peter hears what I have to say about the writing. Whatever happens, I’m reading it anyway.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2005 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Webcomics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.