Bardsworth is a pretty benign comic, I suppose. But, as it is a comic where the villain's evil plan is to corrupt the main character by convincing him to double-major in wizardry and bard studies, I can't help but attack.
The plot, ah, yes the plot, the main character is a kid named Mike, as you might expect in a story like this, is a complete and utter loser who just happens to be the chosen one. Luckily for him, he finds a portal to another universe or dimension or whatever and decides to enroll at the eponymous magical university. Anyway, it's quite a culture shock for young Mike, as well it might. Anyway, he gets a bunch of friends, and the main villain kind of sits around ominously announcing that he has evil intentions for young Mike. And...I don't know, that's really about it through around five hundred strips. No really, it's taken four and half years for Mike to enroll in magic college and get through a semester.
I think the problem that I have with this comic is that there's no real conflict and I don't think it's meant to be a straight comedy strip either. I mean, I guess there's a main villain, but he doesn't do anything. I guess there could be relationship drama, but the comic seems to go out of its way to pre-empt it. Oh, wait, there is an arc were Mike is forced to confront his hatred of theater people, now, you might think the author is trying to make a riff on fantasy characters having tragic pasts or something, but this strip makes me think it's being played straight.
Besides Mike, there other characters include, Old Man Wizard, who is old, wise, and all of those other things you'd expect of such a character. There's the villain, Rayner, who hasn't really done anything evil yet, but has evil facial hair. Oh, and there's Mike's love interest. Now, I know you're thinking, "Oh, let me guess, she's an Elven princess." Well, fuck you and your cynical nature, she's just the heiress to an Elven duchy, asshole. There's also a fairy who plays some part in the theoretical corruption of Mike, and some other ancillary characters that I can't bring myself to care enough about to discuss.
The art is....okay. It's not particularly good, but, for the most part, it's good enough, and I give it bonus points for not falling into the anime-inspired trap that afflicts so many webcomics. That said, the story really isn't good enough to carry this webcomic by itself, and so adequate art really isn't good enough for Bardsworth.
Bardsworth kind of sucks. It's not completely awful, but well, when you put together mediocre art and the least-exciting use of a fantasy world in human history, you're not apt to end up with anything good. That said, maybe something will actually fucking happen in the story and change my opinion of it, but, as a general rule of thumb, if nothing has happened in five hundred comics, nothing is ever going to happen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hey there, this is the author of Bardsworth, and I just ran across this today. I won't try to defend anything, because A.) you're entitled to your opinion, and B.) you're right on quite a few points.
Bardsworth does suffer a prolonged pacing issue, mostly because I write for characters first and plot second. Maybe this is a bad thing, but it's the way I write. If I could do more than two strips a week, I think it would help somewhat, but unfortunately I have a day job, a wife, and a handful of hobbies that regularly put on the back burner for the sake of the comic.
And yes, the purposes of the villain do seem a bit silly, but I assure you that it will make sense eventually. Unfortunately, if I've lost you already, it won't matter to you, but maybe someday you'll come back and see it.
Anyway, thanks for write-up, because it always helps to see the negative, however much it might sting. Cheers!
Post a Comment