Webcomic Reviews: The Dreadful

The Dreadful is a comic from the creative team behind “How I Killed Your Master”(which you didn't read) with the writer who wrote the former webcomic and “8-Bit Theater”(which you probably should read).

Premise:

Kit is a demon outlaw who’s out to take down her former boss in an old west world populated by lots of mythological creatures. It’s…an interesting mash up to say the least.

Art:

The Dreadful features one of those manga inspired art styles that seem to be semi popular currently and it’s decent enough, although it seems a little inconsistent, with some slight style changes that sort of confused me as I tried to read through. It’s not the worst stuff I’ve seen by a long shot but it’s definitely not going to blow anyone away.

The Characters:

The characters for this comic are honestly pretty unmemorable to me, to the point that I really forgot most of their names half the time. I know it’s terrible, but the comic is so jumpy with it’s plot and some of the characters so basic that you never really get a chance to really identify them. They’re certainly not horrible characters, I can’t think of a single one that really annoyed me, but they just don’t have much too them or if they do they haven’t been shown off nearly enough.

Story:

I really went into this comic expecting something more creative, the premise lends itself to an interesting tale, but honestly even if the story does turn out to be amazing I probably won’t notice. The plot is just too muddled and jumpy to keep everything strait. It jumps to a scene and sets up an issue only to resolve it in one page and suddenly you’re jumping into a random flashback that has no real set up and lasts for two pages. The dialog is nice and I really do see some great ideas going on here, but the story can’t keep it’s focus long enough to see them through.

Overall

I really want to love The Dreadful but I can’t. It’s too muddled and the characters too unmemorable for me to get into. The tone also seems to be inconsistent, with the comic being unable to pick if it wants to make gags all the time or actually look into important dramatic issues. So for recommendations, I’d certainly say fans of the author should at least check it out in the hopes that it’ll get better later and if you think the premise sounds like your sort of thing and you can enjoy a little bit of zany writing then check it out as well. If you’re looking for something dead set on what it's doing and serious avoid this one.

I read a few pages but bookmarked it to read all 200 pages later. I see what you mean in terms of its art but I do like how Kit is drawn. Shades of Wolverine in a way.

Cool review, hope you do more.

With you on the art. I only looked at the preview, but it instantly looked to "cute" for what the story is supposed to be about.

You had me at "old west".

EDIT:

Wow.. i'm really not a fan of that artwork.

@lykopis: Glad you liked the review. I do like Kit's design, but it seems to slightly change when the art does so it gets kinda confusing. At least her personality is consistent, which is good because it's the highlight of the character for me.

@Blood1991: @FalconPuuunch: Yeah, keep in mind the art style gets less "cute" as the comic goes on, although it still ends up looking very manga inspired.