#the writing just feels... different. it feels weirdly cartoony? even though. the beginning was also really cartoony? but this feels worse

[hampterguts]

kinda funny seeing that last queued tf post with me gushing in the tags abt the comic bc i havent felt joy or even an emotional connection reading mtmte for a while

[tumblunni]

Reading the kingdom hearts manga, woo! I saw some of this when I was like 15 or something, but this is my first time reading the whole thing in actual order. Here’s just a few good bits from the beginning so far!

I’ve gotta say that even though this series has a (REALLY BIG) problem with rushing stuff + cutting out most of the disney worlds, there’s also a lot to love!

I think it actually managed to make the beginning way more dramatic just from how everyone is..well.. drawn more disney. Or more manga..disney?? Like its not the same style as how humans are atcually drawn in disney cartoons but you’ve gotta agree that the people are more cartoony and expressionate here and it looks less out of place. Same for how the manga adds lots more humour even while keeping things tense and dramatic! it helps establish people’s personalities a lot quicker than the game does, and honestly GIVES perosnality to Sora who otherwise doesnt have anything except ‘is really nice and good’. Here he’s more socially awkward and hyperactive and like.. endearing cos he tries his best but doesnt always succeed.

And the clear facial expressions for all of these moments leave it feeling less flat and like.. hard to tell what the damn intent of the scene was. Seirously the only way I agree KH1 was ‘a kids game’ is how the attempts at ‘humour’ were really low effort. Like you can tell its supposed to be a joke from how the scene plays out but you really cant tell what the joke was actually supposed to be. Like the sort of “knock knock” “who’s there?” “i’m here!” jokes that kids make when they’re five. And ruining actual jokes by delivering them in the same stilted way, like the whole “the ship runs on smiles” scene could have been funny but it just plays out so weirdly devoid of all sense of comic timing?? And sora’s funny face is barely exaggerated cos they couldnt model it!

It sucks cos that scene was a great example of the ‘very wacky but also extra emotionally resonant’ kind of thing that this manga excels at! The context of that weird joke was that its the first time we see Sora completely devoid of all optimism, beating Traverse Town really is the finishing point of the very long tutorial, and the moment it all sinks in that his friends are gone and he doesnt know what to do. And for a guy who’se ENTIRE PERSONALITY so far has just been ‘nice, optimistic, and you the player can project whatever else you want on him’, it should have been a wham moment to see him fall down in exhaustion after all that and have a realistic human reaction to it all. And then it should have been really uplifting and established their immediate friendship when Goofy and Donald try their best to cheer him up, but like.. theyre fuckin stressed too so they dont know wtf they’re doing either. And Sora ends up actually laughing because his attempt to fake a smile is so god awful, and then they all fall about in one of those so-damn-stressed-that-everything-is-hilarious giggle fits, and Leon looks at them like they’re crazy. But it served its purpose of helping Sora feel optimistic again, not because it was actually funny but because it proves these guys care about him and he isn’t alone.

AKA EXACTLY THE TIDUS LAUGH SCENE IN FINAL FANTASY 10

i get so mad that it’s falsely blamed as a case of ‘bad dub voice acting’, when it was equally bad in japanese and the director fuckin PLANNED it to be bad! The characters in-universe end the damn scene by aknowledging its bad! Its just a fail of scriptwriting that they didnt make the intent of the moment clear before dropping the punchline, and it was animated so weirdly that it didnt really succeed at looking ‘intentionally bad’ but just.. bad. Exactly the same problem as the ‘ship of smiles’ face, for a scene that was supposed to deliver the same sad goddamn moment and instead went down in infamy!

Sneaking character development into a joke is a thing that requires a lot of actual skill, you shouldnt do it unless you’re gonna put the effort in to stick the landing. Steven Universe is the only show I’ve seen that consistantly succeeds at this, and the KH manga does a much better job than the game did. Even if, yes, admittedly, sometimes it flubs up and sticks jokes where they dont work, and actually ruins dramatic moments too. or just doesnt adapt dramatic moments at all and rushes through it cos they’re on a tight schedule. But I mean none of those moments fail as bad as the game’s occasional cringe, and the wacky style fits SO much better with the story that i can forgive those flaws! Plus they got way better as the series goes on, its only really KH1 that seems this rushed. And they actually added MORE dramatic moments to Days! I stopped reading the manga at the end of KH1 as a kid, and I started this whole rereading because I saw a page of Days where they (OH GODDD) turned one particular perosn’s death into legit traumatizing material. I don’t know why “I don't want to go” is such a simple way to burn your entire soul out. So if it started off good but flawed and turned into something even better than the games, HECK YEAH I’m gonna give it a second chance!

...sorry i went wildly offtopic there

Anyway I picked these pages to show cos its a good example of great jokes, how the jokes give more personality, and how they put more effort into personality in general and also the dark and dramatic stuff, which hits harder because its in such a fluffy adorable jokes manga.

Like you can see how Sora is more of a goofball and freaks out more and makes mistakes more, but also how when the fights arent playable they used it as a place to establish that Sora is actually way more intelligent than you thought, and his fighting style is physically weak but strategically skilled. Like he’s basically what Aqua ended up being?? And that’s way more endearing as a protagonist than just super overpowered destiny man where his only failures are because you the player are bad. Anf its also endearing to mix this genius strategist with a guy who’s EVEN MORE goofy oblivious and innocent, yknow? the genius ditz archetype! And also his cliche shonen hero obliviousness is.. well, less cliche. He reacts more like a real kid who’s just scared and out of his depth, and messes up when he tries to talk to the girl he has a crush on. It’s not like “harr dee harr, what is marriage, can you eat it?” unrealistic kinds of oblivious that only exist for the joke. Nah, relateable anxiety man! With goofier faces! I CANNOT OVERSTATE HOW MUCH I PREFER THE GOOFIER FACES

And man the beginning is so more fuckin dramatic when we get all DIFFERENT CAMERA ANGLES and ACTUAL FACES SHOWING DESPAIR and DARKNESS POSSESSED RIKU LOOKIN REALLY FUCKIN SCARY and it fuckin goes so fast from wholesome jokes with ur crush to ABSOLUTE DEATH and cos sora reacts so much more like a normal lil kid you feel actually scared for him even though you know how the story is gonna go. He’s not an archetype of purity he’s just like any lil neighbourhood duderino that you’d see running errands for his mom on the weekend. HE’S TOO YOUNG FOR ALL THIS PRESSURE!! AND SCARY RIKU FACES!!!

And man they fuckin ACTUALLY SHOW SOMEONE GETTING THEIR HEART RIPPED OUT ONSCREEN! Thats a way better way of establishing the whole crux of the plot! When you’re playing the game you know that seeing someone turn into a heartless should be traumatic, but it doesnt focus long on it and you never get to see any of the victims before they turned, and you’re more focused on gameplay. You feel less powerless when you’re physically able to destroy those things whenever you want, there’s never a moment like this where someone dies in a cutscene and its out of your control. (Unless you count some heroic sacrifice scenes in kh2 but thats an entirely different kind of feeling, and they turned out to come back from the dead anyway.) Also wtf i cant believe they got away with showing a creepy pedo lady in a kids shonen! I mean it does make me feel a lot less sympathy for her getting killed, but I still feel super sad seeing Sora get traumatized by it!

ALSO

Cid is good.

The way they write him in the manga reminds me of Bardo from Black Butler? He’s a similar chain smoking grumpy dad figure who looks like harmless comic releif but has a bunch of hidden heavy artillery in his shitty kitchen for when he needs to protect his family. And it was extra badass (and hilarious) when he once actually used his bad cooking to assassinate someone?? tho it was via causing a flour explosion rather than it just being so shitty its poison

ANYWAY IM GOING OFFTOPIC IN MANY WAYS

this mang is gud

also lookit how cute the baby destiny trio look in this style!!!

[robotnik-mun]

Robotnik Art Historia- Part One: The Early Days

Hey there folks! A while back, I made a post detailing the stylistic evolution of Archie Sonic artist icon Patrick Spaziante regarding his particular depiction of Robotnik. It went over a lot better than expected, and since that time I’ve been mulling over doing something of a sequel- and that time is now.

Initially intended to be a single massive post detailing the history of Robotnik’s artistic depiction in the Archie books, it became clear that the sheer number of artists who had drawn the doc could not be contained to one post, and so, this will be a five part series celebrating the sheer variety of styles that were used back in the day, while analyzing the little details each artist would add to distinguish THEIR Robotnik. Why? Because one of the things I did like about the old days, even though it meant a lot of inconsistency and quality issues, was the fact that there were so many different artists able to put their own spin on things. While the streamlining of the art since the time Flynn came on board has ultimately been for the best, a part of me misses the variety that was present in those days, and so, I made this Art Historia series in order to examine and celebrate that variety.

We open with the beginnings of the book- a bygone era wherein the tone of the book took more direction from the VERY goofy Adventures series, in a stark contrast to the Saturday Morning show it was intended to tie into. Many of the artists on this list would become the earliest regulars on the book, serving as trailblazers to those who would come after and becoming Sonic icons in their own right. 

1. Scott Shaw!

Scott Shaw! (exclamation point intended) is noteworthy for being the very first artist to draw for the Archie Sonic series, illustrating the miniseries that would go on to become the Archie series proper, and as such, the very first to draw Robotnik. A veteran of Hanna Barbera and DC (where he created Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew), Scott Shaw had an affinity for the ‘Funny Animal’ style that was more than appropriate for Sonic in those very early days of the franchise, especially given the ‘gag-a-day’ nature of the book at that point. His depiction of Robotnik would be spot on for the SatAM design, though it would take the colorist a bit of time to remember that Robotnik has red-on-black eyes. 

2. Dave Manak

In the earliest days of the book, Dave Manak served as the primary artist, and stayed on board for a veeery long time. Manak’s art direction was fitting enough given the heavy emphasis on comedy in those days, and his work seemed heavily derived from Scott Shaw’s own style. Such was the case for his Robotnik, who for the most part was rather show accurate... most of the time. Manak could be very inconsistent a lot of the time, often making Robotnik’s forehead and nose larger or smaller panel by panel. One noteworthy thing about Manak’s Robotnik was the mustache- he tended to draw it way, way longer than the show’s design, as shown here. Guy really liked the ‘stache, I guess.

Manak wasn’t the best of artists, but he wasn’t horrible either, and for what the book was during the time he was most prolific? He was as good a choice as any at the time.

3. Art Mawhinney 

The Archie Sonic comic wasn’t Art Mawhinney’s first encounter with Sonic- prior to coming on board, he had served as a storyboard artist for SatAM as well as doing tie-in work for some of the Sonic books released at that time. Mawhinney’s style at the time was an easy fit for the book, with his storybook-esque style lending itself well to humorous and more serious stories- some of the most emotionally touching moments in the book were thanks to him, and his style played a big part in that. Unfortunately, Mawhinney would prove unable to adjust to the times and to Sonic’s post-Adventure design, and despite being one of the best regarded artists of the Pre-Adventure era, he simply no longer fit in after a certain point. 

Mawhinney’s Robotnik was very well done, naturally, though due to his style had a soft, almost cuddly look to him- though make no mistake, Mawhinney could make him pull off the menace when needed. Interestingly, Mawhinney tended to draw Robotnik as having irises, a stylistic choice evocative of the AosTH incarnation of Robotnik. 

4. Patrick Spaziante 

Honestly, I’ve already said a lot about Spaz’s Robotnik. Heck, he’s the reason for this entire list! But, I may as well say a bit more. Patrick “Spaz” Spaziante (a nickname that would probably be a little less well received these days...) was probably the first true Sonic Comic superstar- his kinetic, anime-esque art style breathed a new life into the book. Getting his start as an interior artist, Spaz would truly cement his place in the Archie book for his work in the Mecha Madness and the iconic final fight between Robotnik and Sonic in Endgame, and for his dazzling cover art both in the Sonic series AND the Knuckles series, as well as being a conceptual artist for the book. He would persist as a Sonic cover artist for many years, and move on to do work for the Archie Megaman Comics and even work for SEGA themselves. 

His Robotnik changed and evolved drastically over the course of the book- starting out as kind of squashed, puffy and cartoony, Spaz would gradually add greater detailing and dial back the tooniness of the design until concocting a truly menacing Robotnik... just in time for Robotnik to be killed off, of course. Ah well, bottom line? Spaz was one of the greats, and the book probably wouldn’t have gotten where it was without his work in those days. 

5. Ken Penders

Hoo boy, you knew that sooner or later we’d be getting to this guy. We all know the story- Penders came on board as a writer at the behest of his friend Mike Kantevorich due to the fact that his son was a fan of the Sonic series, and would gradually steer the series away from the humor focus towards more plot focused, story driven work, and most famously would write the Knuckles series, with much of his work forming the basis for the Archie Sonic world... as well as being the origin of many of the quality problems the book would suffer from later down the road. In addition to being a writer, he also did artwork from time to time, much of it... well, catastrophic. Easily the least suited artist for the book’s early days, Penders was accustomed to drawing realistic humans and just could not adjust to the more cartoony style demanded by the book, and in all his time spent he working on Sonic he would never truly manage to really master the kind of style you’d expect for a Sonic book. This definitely showed through with his take on Robotnik, with his  bulbose nose, oversized and oddly placed eyes and the weirdly 2-D looking mustache. Ironically, Penders only drew Robotnik a few times over his entire decade long career on the book. 

Curiously, Penders had an odd tendency to draw Robotnik as having rectangle shaped pupils. Why he did this I have no idea, but I have a feeling that the fact that his ‘original villain’ Dr. Droid would demonstrate similarly square sclera down the road was meant to serve as foreshadowing to his nature as a counterpart/successor to the doc... yeeeeeah. 

And so concludes our first installment! Join us tomorrow as we delve into the artists brought on board as the comic marched towards Endgame, an event that would change the comic forever!