bennjery

[bennjery]

Thanks for posting this other comment. Time to go bleach my brain ��

I'm tired I'll start posting again soon but good lord I hate this commenter. Sundae asked for people's thoughts on the tokophobia message she's conveyed through Pierces, and THIS person (same one who said S'mellie had consensual sex, same one who said "it's sad Dandy didn't end up pregnant again before Dyktor died" (YES THEY SAID "END UP" PREGNANT. """END UP""" AND ALSO SAID THIS AFTER DANDY EXPLAINED WHY SHE DID NOT WANT TO BECOME PREGNANT AGAIN YET 🫩). Fuck the message, fuck a woman's autonomy, it's all about this person's enjoyment with seeing cutsie wittle animal babies and ignoring the deeper messaging! Can someone just shut this person down yet? Lmao they're technically not even doing any harm but I am salty as fuckin shit, man. Tokophobia is so real, and I suffer from it!

-

Other posts will be coming soon though because as much as I *appreciate* the message, it's still hard to give half a shit about Pierces and her struggles because we all barely know her. It's such a rushed comic treating heavy ass topics as funfetti to just sprinkle in here for shock value to remind us the comic is "mature." Geez, I wasn't sure the comic was mature or not, I guess I needed another rape scene to remind me.

✨🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩✨

[bennjery]

Shoutout to Songdog for blocking me from commenting on I Didn't Know for saying that I liked Little Miss's plotline and character much more than Whisper's 😂

Is there an ancient curse that strikes every webcomic artist to have the thinnest skin ever when someone criticizes their work? This wasn't even a hard comment, it was about preference towards a good character over another.

I guess that's why most of you didn't go to art college, you probably can't handle a teacher correcting you.

I'm more salty that this is a grown adult than anything, this is frankly embarrasing.

[bennjery]

While I understand your stance that one should never disable comments, and in a way I agree because I do think constructive criticism is important, I don't think this is good overall advice. If someone just wants to make a comic for fun, and they don't plan on making a living off of it, they should not be obligated to put up with any potential verbal abuse, either directed at them or not. It can be incredibly damaging to a person's mental health, and if they're just doing it for fun and there's nothing straight up harmful in their comic, then they should not feel forced to put up with it.

You may say then that they shouldn't post their stuff publicly to begin with in that case. And again, I disagree. Part of being creative is sharing what you create. Sometimes you just wanna hold up a picture you made and be like, "Look at this! I had fun making this!"

Again, I understand the spirit of what you're saying, I just don't think it works in practice. That said my opinion doesn't apply in cases where the person is actually making a living off their comic/art, and if what they're making is actually harmful (which I do feel that things like Home or Dragon Slayer are) then they should be called out. But otherwise, if a person just wants to have fun, they shouldn't have to tolerate excessive negativity. The real world is already stressful enough.

Hey, I hear you. I don't think a rebuttal is worth anyone's while though. We may have to agree to disagree because, from a foundational level, I just have a different take on this than you do.

Example: I see the world as merciless but full of opportunity. To choose to put your head into the sand at any opportunity, stunts potential. The strongest minds are the ones that are challenged. I did not choose the life I was born into and the experiences I've had. But if I was being outright BULLIED by people for my fun nonprofit artwork and comics, when I share this content as a way to destress, I can see why turning off commenting is warranted- however, my argument/stance is from people who wrongfully perceive the negative feedback AS "bullying" to begin with. I also am of the mindset that people should stand up for themselves if they are truly doing no wrong and are being bullied in droves. Some artists anticipate backlash and close comments temporarily because they don't wanna babysit-- ok, fair. All in all, I want to clarify my take isn't 100% black and white and there is always room for nuance. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I hope this evening or day finds you well and that you continue to enjoy the media/comics you're reading online. Take care and I hope your next coffee or tea (if you drink coffee or tea) is a great and satisfying cup ☕☺️

[bennjery]

I was a patreon supporter of Songdog for IDK because I really liked the story up until the more recent pages, and canceled not too long ago. Seeing that they're blocking people for saying they prefer Little Miss' story over Whisper's just makes me glad I did so. 💀 I'll keep reading via comicfury, but I find the story a lot less compelling with the protagonist shift.

I get some people dont want criticism but blocking them over what sounds like a very tame and fair thing to say is overkill. The comic was pretty strong being told through Lil Miss. The shift to Whisper is interesting, but I have my preference - we all do! I'm too afraid to share my opinion on their pages though. I don't want to get blocked over it. Half the enjoyment is being able to engage with the comics by being allowed to comment, in my opinion.

[bennjery]

I'm tired I'll start posting again soon but good lord I hate this commenter. Sundae asked for people's thoughts on the tokophobia message she's conveyed through Pierces, and THIS person (same one who said S'mellie had consensual sex, same one who said "it's sad Dandy didn't end up pregnant again before Dyktor died" (YES THEY SAID "END UP" PREGNANT. """END UP""" AND ALSO SAID THIS AFTER DANDY EXPLAINED WHY SHE DID NOT WANT TO BECOME PREGNANT AGAIN YET 🫩). Fuck the message, fuck a woman's autonomy, it's all about this person's enjoyment with seeing cutsie wittle animal babies and ignoring the deeper messaging! Can someone just shut this person down yet? Lmao they're technically not even doing any harm but I am salty as fuckin shit, man. Tokophobia is so real, and I suffer from it!

-

Other posts will be coming soon though because as much as I *appreciate* the message, it's still hard to give half a shit about Pierces and her struggles because we all barely know her. It's such a rushed comic treating heavy ass topics as funfetti to just sprinkle in here for shock value to remind us the comic is "mature." Geez, I wasn't sure the comic was mature or not, I guess I needed another rape scene to remind me.

✨🫩🫩🫩🫩🫩✨

[bennjery]

I have a significant amount of disrespect for people who can't take criticism. How can someone not want to hear perspectives that could lead them closer to producing more excellent work? Mediocrity is disgustingly comfortable and too many overindulge in being perfectly sub-par. I'm more understanding of people not liking unproductive criticism, but even then, I'm able to make something out of that and consider if I agree or not even if the delivery wasn't done as a coddling compliment sandwich

Shoutout to Songdog for blocking me from commenting on I Didn't Know for saying that I liked Little Miss's plotline and character much more than Whisper's 😂

Is there an ancient curse that strikes every webcomic artist to have the thinnest skin ever when someone criticizes their work? This wasn't even a hard comment, it was about preference towards a good character over another.

I guess that's why most of you didn't go to art college, you probably can't handle a teacher correcting you.

I'm more salty that this is a grown adult than anything, this is frankly embarrasing.

[bennjery]

I got several anon questions asking me for comic recomendations. So of course I made a damn tier list

*gets asked what comic to recommend

*immediatelly forgets every comic I have read ever

Anyway, you know the disclaimer. This is just my personal opinion, opinions are subjective, I may like different things than you do and vice verse, therefore a comic I ranked very low may be something you love yada yada if you disagree, lemme know about it, the ask me button is right there

Also warning that several of these comics contain NSFW imagery. I will of course put up a label on that comic when I talk about it, you have been warned. If you're a minor, don't go looking at those.

Detailed ranking below the cut

S Tier:

Jumalanpelko: No notes about this comic. It's perfect. I have been thinking long and hard and I honestly cannot think of a single thing that bothers me about it. The art is great, the chracters are great, the story is great, so is the worldbuilding, pace matches the events in the comic. The author is also very lovely and very active on their tumblr account. Again, no notes, this is a 10/10 comic

Horse Age: The best way I can describe this is that it has Watership Down vibes if Watership Down was about horses living in a paleolithic era. What I often find lacking in a lot of animal comics is that most of them don't really give their animal characters culture aside from "eat, sleep, have babies" but Horse Age does exactly that, similar to Watership Down, while also managing to keep the animals very animalistic instead of turning all the characters into human wearing animal cotumes. It's so so clear the animal characters have a deeply rooted culture, not just the horses, but others too. The comic takes great effort in establishing relationships between the herd members, so they all feel like a community, a family. Characters aren't black-and-white, have differing personalities and desires for their future, life, loved ones. Art is stunning. The comic is currently on an indefinite hiatus, but still very much worth a read. I personally use it as a palette clenser whenever I read a new page of Dragon Slayer

Ghost of Gulag: A story about a blind tiger and a cowardly wolf set in a post-Soviet taiga. Everytime I read this comic, I discover a new layer of intrigue I have not seen before that, be it the tiger, the wolfs, the boar, or the story of the human characters that are intertwined with the story of the animals, who serve as parallels to current story events in a delicious dance of symbolism and real world history. Essentially every character is a shade of gray. Updates are sporadic and far in between, but it's very much worth a read.

Corpse: A short comic by Ratt, the author of Golden Shrike. Wonderful, wonderful character journey that touches in topics like loneliness, naivety, death, perception of self and various others. The panelling is gorgeous, the choice of words is perfect, the story just hits hard. The art is also absolutely stellar.

A Tier:

Destiny Intertwined: One of the best Spyro comics out there. Story is paced well, characters are rich and layered, story is interesting, art is very pretty (albeit I do have a dislike for the author's tendency to draw brick-shaped snouts onto his characters) Although at times it feels overly dark for a story set in the TLOS universe and the more the story progresses, the more it's required of the reader to be somewhat familiar with the (very large) community that surrounds this comic to fully understand all the context and details in the comic.

BRUTALIZER: I. Fucking. Love. Brutalizer. The premise of the story is super unique, very intriguing, the bad guy is a mega-corp pharmaceutical company and like come on, you cannot tell me that's not relatable to some degree. I love me a cast of characters who are all shady bastards, none of these people are good guys, and I love how the comic handless that very well instead of either glorifying the actions or villifying them for doing what they have to survive. Pacing is pretty slow to be honest, but I personally am invested enough to still be fully interested. At is delicious and reading this comic makes we want to chew on a cartoonish slab of ham like a rabid animal. Currently on hiatus. Also if that isn't clear from the name and cover art, this comic is full of violence, gore, and features suggestive themes and situation, altough not explicitly nsfw

Little Trashmaid: A lighthearted, slice-of-life comic about a little mermaid living in a polluted ocean, her human friends and her mermaid pals. I remember when I first saw art of this on tumblr almost a decade ago, before it was ever a comic, and I am so glad it became one because oh boy is this thing so entertaining. The art is simple but very fluid and expressive, stories are unique and engaging, and it carries a great environmental message about oceanic pollution and it's concequences. Updates weekly.

Avialae: Ranking this comic so high may be biased, because I am a complete slut for Bird People Comics and there absolutely is not enough of them out there to quench my hunger, so I fixate on this one. This is a lovestory, a theme in media that I am not always keen on because I am very picky over romance, but Avialae has just enough slow-burn, yearning and angst to fit into a box titled "Val likey." The character development of the titual character is near palpable, the story is interesting, although the pacing slows down to a crawl about 2/3ds into the comic. The roadblocks the main characters face during the story are somewhat trope-y but still written well enough to be engaging and not become a Must Have In A Romance Story cliche. Great queer rep all over, not just with the main couple. Art is stunning. Comic is finished. Contains very explicit nsfw moments, do not look this comic up if you're not over the age of 18

Golden Shrike: Halfway between A and B tier. Interesting story premise, wide range of characters with layered personalities and stories, delicious art. I want to love this comic, I really do, but I have quite a few issues with how it's structured that lead me to put it way lower than I wish I did. The pacing of this comic is all over the place at times, sometimes going really fast and sometimes reaaaally dragging, especially when the main characters, Nero and Runi, get their screentime. I often catch myself just skimming their pages, uninterested in what they do or what they have to say, thinking the scene would flow so much better if two or three pages were cut out of it. Also the two main characters kinda...don't seem to really be characters? This comic has been going on for over 300 pages, yet we're much more familiar with the main "villain" of the story rather than the main characters. Nero can be summarised as "hurr durr am angsty because I have issues with my father so I am angry and impulsive hhhng TESTOSTERONE!!!" and Runi is a meek follower of her brother who seems to be able to spot details others cannot. And that is it. I honestly cannot think about any more things to say about these two, which is a shame, since they're our main characters in a comic that already has over 300 pages. I also feel like at times, the author goes way overboard with their purple prose-y-esque dialogue to the point it's hella confusing what the characters are even saying and frequently make me go "bro, come on, who even has the time to speak this way" Comic updates weekly on dA, will soon be moving to ComicFury entirely.

B Tier:

I Didn't Know: I was VERY surprised how well I ended up liking this comic, given who the author is and what the themes they're writing about are. But the way the main character deals with the events of her assault, her journey to process her truma, the way she speaks (or doesn't speak) about it, how she comes to terms with it, how she's in denial at first, how others around her treat her, is all written very well and a lot of care if put into the character and they way she's fleshed out across the story. To be honest, this comic would most likely be A Tier if it wasn't for the way Whisper is written and also for how blatantly black-and-white the Cult of Catholic Cats are written. Updates every other day. Also a warning for topics revolving around sexual assault, unwanted pregnancy resulting from said assault, religious guilt, religious cults

The Hunt: Comic by the author of Avialae. I will be honest, maybe it's my fault for trying so hard with a comic that's mainly focused on Boys KissingTM, but if Avialae did it well, I believe this one could too. I am honestly way more interested in the (secondary) plot involving ocult and witches than the main characters and their developing relationship, which gets tiring to follow at times and is very trope-y this time around, compared to what Avialae was. The "antagonist" boyfriend is honestly a joke and I am frustrated at how he's treated by the comic. The slow-burn is slow-burning for a bit too long in my opinion, and while the comic has a stable pacing, these two characters and their relationship just aren't interesting enough for me to not get bored of them and their melodrama. Art is great 95% of the times although from time to time there are awkward angles and Yaoi Hands-coded body proportions that made me go (??? How???) once or twice. Many characters are queer, although unlike with Avialae's diversity, characters are mostly reduced to "gay" or "lesbian." Comic updates twice a week. Contains very explicit nsfw moments, do not look this comic up if you're not over the age of 18

Homeworld: From the author of Destiny Intertwined. I don't have much to ay about this comic, and that is kinda the thing. The question is whether this is because it went on an indefinite before it hit 60 pages and therefore it didn't have much time to unrevel it's story yet, or if it's because this story is just. Boring. None of the characters gripped me, I don't like or dislike anyone in this comic, the premise of the story is interesting enough, I love me a story about space exploration! But there's just not enough pages to properly kick this off yet, and the story we did get so far is uninteresting. The art is mostly nice, although characters can come off a quite stiff and blocky at times, especially when there's movement, and the consant presence of Brick Snouts keeps distracting me from everything else. As mentioned before, comic is on an indefinite hiatus,

White Tail: A comic that had a very solid start, solid pacing and continued to be very very good until the climax of the second act. After that, it became sort of boring and dragged a bit, and the ending is quite anti-climactic. Still is a solid story, especially considering this was the author's very first comic. If only they managed to keep it up for their future work. Art is simple but nice to look at, characters are very expressive, and Very Shaped. Comic is finished.

Space Vixen: I'd compare this comic to when you throw a bunch of mentos into a pepsi bottle. It spews out agressively at first, then gradually slows down to a trickle and. That's it. This comic had a very solid start and an interesting premise, but after a few solid episodes, it just becomes boring. The art greatly downgrades too, and I will be honest, the story of the Riders and their supposed Space Superiority made no sense to me and rather came off as something from a badly written Doctor Who episode than something that'd be a part of a story like this, at least given the vibes it had when it first started. Comic is on an indefinite hiatus.

Rabbit on the Moon: Another comic that is good, but isn't great. The story was predicable and generic, although well written. The strongest thing about this comic is the art, which is stellar (ba dum tss) but it cannot fully pull a comic and it's story. This isn't a bad story at all, just kinda forgettable. Comic is finished.

C Tier:

The Rabbit Hole: I will be honest, if this comic stayed as the short comic it originally was, it would be S Tier. After the author decided to continue it, it kinda felt like they were unsure what to do with it?? I felt like the comic was kinda directionless, going from situation to situation to see what will fit the newly developing story without really being connected into one big thing. The way the story went later on just didn't feel well-fitting for this comic, and I caught myself getting very bored and frustrated with it, to the point I barely even remember how it goes past it's half-way point (maybe I should re-read it soon.) Art is very nice however, the comic is finished.

Doe of Deadwood: Very solid start, interesting premise, loved the worldbuilding. About halfway through, though, the pacing slows down to such a crawl and gets really boring. That's when I realised the author saw the main character as nothing but a victim, meanwhile they're anything but. The writing of the story started to reflect that, which greatly hurt it's integrity and quality, eventually just delving into pointless melodrama that had me wishing I could hit a "go back" button. Art is simple and very "meh" although clearly on purpose so the pages could be made quicker. Comic is finished.

Roar Howl Run: Terrible ace rep, I will say that right off the bat. Story premise is interesting, but it quickly gets smothered when the Mary Sue of a main character goes "It's morbin time" and starts morbing all over the place. It's like this comic is trying it's hardest to shout "girl power!!! Girls don't have to Get Married and Have Babies to be fullfilled by life!! Girl strenght isn't just motherhood!!" and then it proceeds to make it's female main character aggressive, brash, comically strong and desiring of fights, all the traits traditionally associated with masculinity and men, somewhat accidentally communicating that a girl can only be powerful if she becomes a methaphorical man, runining the whole message about feminine power. Essentially every character in this comic is a mouthpiece for the author to some degree and/or attracted to the main character, one way or another, to the point it's just so exhausting to read about. I really do not like this comic, mainly for it's utter faliure at the topics it tries to write about and because they author was completely unable to take criticism about it. Art is simple and "meh" once again clearly done on purpose so the pages could be churned out quickly. Comic is finished.

Asmundr: A very forgettable comic about a pack of dogs. With aliens. Seriously, ask yourself this question; If this comic wasn't connected to Home, would you still talk about it? The answer is most likely "no" since Asmundr. Really isn't anything special. Charcters are shallow, worldbuilding is shallow, story is shallow, no matter how deep and meaningful the author perceived his comic to be, the fact he failed to make it so on paper remains. Asmundr is just really forgettable to me and it's simple writing and themes are what make it a C Tier comic. There just is not enough of a story to make the rating go lower (or higher) Art is pretty nice, I'd even argue it's so much better than it is in it's sequel, although there is plethora of proof that a lot of the artwork in this comic is traced. Comic is finished

AlbinoRaven's TLK Cinematic Universe: There's like five comics mushed into one but all of them follow the same plotline, so I will keep it all as one. I see this comic on the verge between C Tier and D Tier and the only reason why I put this in C is because I enjoy this person's writing of Scar. The comic's pacing is all over the place, storylines are repetitive, boring and don't make sense half the time, half of the characters barely have a personality at all, and like the way it's customary with TLK comics, there's some not-so-tactfully handled sexual assault tossed in there for good meassure. I already mentioned the pacing, but I have to say again that in the last two or so chapters, it slowed down to the point it makes me want to claw my skin off. If I injected a slug with a lethal dose of horse tranquilisers, I'd move faster than this comic. The art is ass at the start of the comic, but drastically improves in it's later volumes. Updated are sporadic and far in between.

D Tier:

Caspanas: I feel *really bad* putting this comic so low on the rating, mostly because I can very clearly see how much this comic means to the author. But the thing is that just because something is deeply meaningful to you, it doesn't mean that it's gonna make for a good story, and Caspanas is a proof of that. The best way to describe this comic is that if feels like an anime full of filler. You know how Naruto is infamous for being 40% filler? This comic is the same. You could cut out half of this comic's pages and the story would be better. Hell, the comic is almost 300 pages long already and I STILL don't know who the main antagonist even is or what this comic is supposed to be about aside from "magical horses go on magical horse adventures." A lot of the time, the comic vomits walls upon walls of text at you, spewing lore and worldbuilding aspects at the reader, which may be interesting for the author to share their story, but it does not make for good dialogue. People Do Not Talk Like That. The main plot of the story (a family of Racist Gods wanting to wipe out the world of all mortals. Or something) is constantly pushed aside for the sake of various character shenanigans, which do not offer development whatsoever and just come off as annoying and filler-y. Speaking of, the pacing of this comic fucking drags. I don't think I've seen a comic aside from this one that drags to this degree. Everything is happening at a snails pace and when something *does* finally happen, it often feels underwhelming. I do not like a single character in this comic, not necessarily because they're all unlikable (although many of them are) but because there's not really much to them. This comic somehow manages to have a lot of Character Is In Situations moments while at the same time, not developing that character at all. Again, it is such a shame this comic is so bad because I *do* want to like it the way I did when I was 16 and didn't know better, and also because I can tell how clearly and deeply the author cares about this story, but alas the fact remains that it's very mediocre at best. She tries to stuff *everything* she comes up with into the story of the comic and the result is a confusing mess of a comic that feels like an anime filler episode because it focuses on literally everything else but it's main plot. The strongest suite of this comic is it's artwork, which drastically improves as it goes along, and honestly, the backgrounds present in this comic are the best I have ever seen in any comic so far. Comic is on a hiatus

River Street: From the author of Aviale and The Hunt. I. I really wish this story was at least half-way good as the other two, but it sadly is not. You can come and shout at me about wanting coherent story and characters from a comic that is mainly a boy/boy smut comic meant for horny freaks, and to that I say; If Avialae did it well, this comic can do it too. With the author's comics, it' clear how the overaching story gets pushed further to the back with each new work the newer the story is, and it's very clear in the case of River Street. Both main characters are reduced to stereotypical horny carricatures you'd expect from a badly written manwha. One is a tsundere to the point it hurts my brain to read about him and the other is a macho dudebro that straight up sexually harasses him multiple times. Like, yeah I know it's played for a joke in the comic (which makes this worse??? If the person getting harassed was a woman instead of a man, you bet your ass the other character would be lynched for his behaviour) but the way the titular character harasses his love interest about going out on a date and smashing when he's told a very clear "No" over half a dozen times just makes him come off as a shallow, pushy, horny bastard instead of someone who's interested in the other as a person. Villain is an Astarion from Temu, a trope-y evil gay vampire who could not pique my interest if he crawled up my ass, and the rest of the story is so smothered by the two main characters being so annoying towards one another that I couldn't be interested in it if I tried. Art is pretty good, has Yaoi Hands moments at times. Updates weekly. Contains very explicit nsfw moments, do not look this comic up if you're not over the age of 18

Tail of Tails: This comic is such a fucking mess, I could not describe the plot if you held a gun to my head. I guess it's about...uuuuh...a space monster eating up the universe? About a dragon kingdom pulling strings in the background, manipulating the characters?? About the main character's shady father except not really?? About...romance?? Slice-of-life shit that frequently gets in the way of the main plot to the point it makes you wanna rip your spine out?? This comic is like 47534846 storylines going all at once, trying so damn hard to be tied together into something coherent and failing,. Pacing is all over the fucking place, plot contradicts itself at times, main character is very unlikeable and her love interest is very annoying and childish. At least the MC gets character development as the story goes. Still doesn't mean I like her. Art is pretty "meh" at the start but gradually improves very well. Characters are expressive and movement is very fluid, backgrounds are nice and detailed. Comic updates weekly. Contains very explicit nsfw moments, do not look this comic up if you're not over the age of 18

Repeat: I straight up just wasted my time with this bullshit. That was an hour and a half I will never get back. I could have spent the time staring at a wall and it would be more productive than reading whatever this is. I was very tempted to put this into an F Tier, but stopped myself because I *do* see a lot of potential buried deep underneath the layer of bullshit this comic is covered with and there *are* glimpses where the comic is almost average with it's writing, but those are sparce and far in between. Ending and resolution of the main comic are very anti-climactic and made me just go "Huh??? THAT is how you're gonna deal with that?? Are you for real??" I would not recommend this comic to anyone unless you love wasting your time. The artist was so unable to handle the criticism they were getting over how bad the comic was that they left dA. Art is "meh" as it's customary with SongDog. Comic is finished.

The Golden Rule: I would not be able to tell you wtf this comic is about if you payed me. "Slice-of-life TLK comic with an extremely unlikable protagonist that also has a hefty dose of incest because why the fuck not" is the best thing I can come up with, because I seriously have no idea what the overarching story is supposed to be about. Canon characters like Kovu and Kiara are very OOC, the main protagonist is an extremely unlikable, incompetent, whiny coward and her love interest pisses me off just as much because I cannot rationalise why she'd be into someone like that. Other characters range between various degrees of "meh." The only compelling character in this is the Incest Lion, because of course this has to have either incest or sexual assault as a part of it's story because it's a TLK comic. Anyway, Ranisha's cunning personality and scheming nature is the only interesting thing about this story, which is kinda yikes imo because she's the antagonist of this mess. Half the time, the lions don't look like lions and overall have questionable anatomy. Comic updates sporadically.

F Tier:

Floraverse: I tried to read this comic once upon a time about a decade ago and my brain just melted. The story is as such: "A blob and a bird find some seeds. They're told the seeds are important and to go deliver them. Where to? Dunno. Why are they important? Dunno. When to? Dunno. This comic is such a mess I wasn't even sure I started reading the right volume because none of the chapters or books are labeled for some reason. The story has a lot of things happening but also nothing is happening at the same time, somehow. Character POVs jump from place to place, from important and plot-driven events to extremely boring slice-of-life bullshit, further ruining the already bad pacing. Speaking of characters, half of these guy's are the author's very obvious self-inserts and mouthpieces and are deeply unlikeable. I had no fucking idea what was going on by the time I was nearing the end (or at least I thought I was. Again, navigating this comic chronologically requires a doctorate in bullshit) I had no idea wtf was going on. The only solid thing about this comic is the art, which is pretty to look at but that's about it. Story makes no sense, characters are annoying to the point I wanted to isekai myself into this comic and whack them with a chair. I would not recommend this comic to anyone unless you want to actively suffer.

I also feel like it's very important to note the author of this garbage mess is an absolute degenerate. You think Kique has a lot of controversy? Honey, you've seen nothing yet. This person has a lot of grooming/pedophilia accusation on their neck, as well as accusations of zoophilia, abuse and manipulation, theft, and they literally seem to get off on the idea that minors are exposed to their NSFW work, taking little to no precaution to separate the two and doing nothing when they know a minor is actively engaging with their porn. Feel free to look them up, you will be reading about them for hours thinking shit can't get worse and then be unfortunatelly proven wrong. I guess their garbage personality reflect in their work as well because Floraverse and anything attached to it is garbage too.

Home: I don't think I have to introduce this mess, we're all familiar with it. An unfortunate sequel to Asmundr, it's arguably worse than it's predecessor in every way. The story sucks, the characters suck, the pacing sucks. Art is pretty at a first glance but looking closer at these dogs will make you realise thy're broken and also a lot of the art is traced. A lot of the stuff in this comic is traced or stolen, actually, whether it's from random google images, tv shows, other people's ideas or ancient mythology and culture, essentially nothing is original about this comic. The lore and characters contradict themselves constantly, the author uses serious topics like sexual assault and slaver as statements for shock value and also he's weirdly attracted to his rapist villain, who he sees as a poor misunderstood babu that just needs a gay bar lol. There is NOTHING redeeming about this comic, absolutely nothing that could fix it at this point. It's also really boring, because the author sucks ass at writing anything that's not a smut scene between his two feral characters. This whole comic reads like an elaborate, self-indulgent daydream that the author didn't care to convincingly adapt into a story and just decided to shit out as he pleases. Kique also needs no introduction, we're all familiar with him. A 30-something year old man-baby with paperthin skin, who starts shaking the moment he hears an ounce of criticism. Currently dating a man who abandoned his (now ex) wife for this freak, causing the death of his pets in the process. I honestly think this says everything you need to know about Kique. The only thing this comic is good for is analysing it on what NOT to do when you're writing/drawing a comic

And now, finally;

Dragon Slayer: I honestly did think there's no way a comic worse than Home can exist. I am a fool and a dumbass and I deserve to be reading this. Nothing about this comic is redeemable. NOTHING. This comic should be a cautionary tale to everyone. Do not write about hard-to-portray topics like sexual assault and rape if you haven't done adequte research about the topic. I honestly cannot think about a comic that handles it worse than Dragon Slayer. Yes, somehow this comic is worse at handling sexual abuse than Home is. Everything in this comic is about sex. You know how I previously said that Horse Age takes deep care about establishing deep familial bonds between it's characters? Forget it, Dragon Slayer has none of that. Just sex, sex and more sex. You know what's funny? This story is apparently based on the Greek myth of Perseus, which is one of the very few Greek myths that don't have rape or sexual assault as a part of it's story. Ironic, huh? The pacing is so fucking fast it offers the characters no time to properly develop, so everyone is a one dimensional carboard cut-out of a horse that just stands around/ Aside from the min villain, that is, who is, for some reason, the only character that gets a story-driven backstory. Yes, you read that right, the rapist priest gets development instead of, you know, the main character, who is essentially just a trauma bingo at this point. The single character I somewhat like is an SA victim that the author herself claims wasn't assaulted despite the opposite being the truth, and I feel like this alone speaks volumes about the comic. Main character is an agressive "Hurr Durr Girlpower!!" because of course she is. Essentially she's like the main protagonist of Roar Howl Run, only somehow even worse. And the "good guy" we're given among the sea of sex-crazed men is a rapist apologist who throws a blind eye at his brother's deeply questionable antics because "it's not my women he's pressuring into sex, so I don't care!" like bruh, am I supposed to feel bad this wankstain is dead?? Everytime I think this comic cannot possibly get any worse, it gets fucking worse. The bar is so low at this point that it's in hell, and somehow it's still digging deeper. I have not seen a work of fiction that had me worked up as much as Dragon Slayer in a long while, specifically for the reason of it's very badly handled topic of sexual assault and rape, and the author's stoic refusal to as much as admit she may have done less than stellar job, to the point she had to close her comment section multiple times before the comic even hit a 100 pages because of all the backlash she was getting from people pointing out her carelesness. I have lost all my respect for this author and can only wish they realise what kind of putrid cancer they created and take it off the internet to maybe turn it into something different. I would not recommend this comic to my worst enemy.

[bennjery]

I also see her attitude issues as very unjustified and unnecessary. We needed more time with this character to understand her motives better.

I'm all against the Mary Sue discourse and shit, but if I see another female character who's whole personality is being a violent, rude piece of shit against her peers and the narrative kisses every step she takes, I'm going to commit a crime.

"This is mysoginy!", no, Sleepy, it's that you wrote an unlikable character that happens to be a mare. Of course there's going to be assholes that hate Penis because she's a girl, but they are not the majority.

[bennjery]

Made some quick edits on my phone to see how her adult design will look, bonus variant with her socks still having splotchies on them. I quite like her adult design. It is unique.

[bennjery]

Why I think disabling comments is bad: any and all feedback whether toxic or not says something about the content you produce. To disable comments shows an inability to cope or to process critical feedback in a healthy way, stunting your growth. Are there bad people saying horrible shit? If so, fight back! Feedback is a driver for innovation and new ideas.

[bennjery]

I got a bingo based on my predictions for the comic.... Will revisit this once the comic is over. I'll either be even more nauseated, or, maybe relieved that somehow Sleepy turns things around and changes some shit before digging even deeper into the nastiness on Patreon then Comicfury

The Dragon Slayer Horrible Bingo is here!

WARNING, READ BEFORE CLICKING!

These bingo's squares have what I believe could be terrible and nauseating ways the comic could go through. They are filled with dark topics that can be very triggering to many. Please, check the tags before reading more and tell me if you want more tags to filter. I wish I could have normal expectations for this story, but it has lost my confidence completely and, according to Patreon sources, it gets much worse.

Sooooo, without further adieu...

Here it is. Let's hope none of them come true. Hooves crossed.

[bennjery]

Storytelling discourse:

It took awhile for me to understand the patriarchal dynamics in this comic. I wanted to wait and see if we can get more clarification, and the most recent pages with Caly and Dandy interracting brought about much more clarity. I understand the elements of this story better, however, I fail to understand why someone would want to make a comic about horses with rape in it. In real life, mares tend to make the rules- if they're in season AND they're receptive, they'll entice the lead stallion. If the lead stallion makes an advance when a mare is not in-season, he will usually receive a mighty good kick. So, on that note, I feel like this story would make more sense if the herds were more like Dyktor's herd (rather than Dyktor being seen as an abnormality and as a "lazy" stallion). ----> Just hear me out! If herds/kingdoms were more like Dyktor's, it would be Calycanthus who is causing social upheavel with his cult narrative as a cover for his sexual violence, and the stallions would welcome it since his preachings would make them feel more important and powerful. His narrative would have encouraged stallions to become more patriarchal and subjugate mares, discouraging equal status, and encouraging more forced breeding to maintain a "pecking order" since it's a mare's "duty" to submit to the whims of the protective lead stallion/King. Dyktor would remain unphased by his brother, since he knows his brother spews bullshit, which leads to his death still since he "went against the Dragon." I feel like the story would have been more cohesive that way, and very likely would have had much more research when including SA in the story.

(I dunno, I plan on making a comic one day, so I read and think critically of every comic I see. I particularly have my qualms with this comic because power dynamics in relationships are too important to tell irresponsibly in fiction. The art itself? Gorgeous. It's always been great art for the most part with some anatomy issues throughout the years.)

[bennjery]

Dandy explicitly said she didn't want to get pregnant again yet because she wanted to give all her attention to Pierces and help her grow (and... Pierces definitely needs it). But nah here's this commenter completely ignoring Dandy's autonomy, health, parenting preferences, and attempt to self actualize after profound trauma from both the false priest and her disgusting father. I wish the author slapped this person into oblivion because I'm sorry but you shouldn't be entitled to *every* single type of opinion unchecked. I wish the author said something to them about this, rather than defend their shit take on consent.

[bennjery]

Your take, if it was reality, would have been better than the horseshit (pun intended) we have here. Not great, but better 😵‍💫 I am just REELING over the fact that Pierces had the fucking gall to kick, essentially, disabled baby Jesus in the head.

Dedicate one fucking page that explains this asshole's mindset and reasoning for kicking disabled baby Jesus in the head please. I am begging you. ONE page, no half assed furrowed eyebrows and a time skip that jumps to baby beating, so I stop having to think in circles and rationalize why in the ever loving FUCK Pierces would think beating those in less power than her is justified. My best GUESS, which I shouldn't be doing here because it's the author's responsibility to justify Pierces and demonstrate her ✨moral grayness✨, is that Pierces thought giving Baby a fucking concussion wouldn't matter because he's the child of the dragon. No harm comes to the dragon's child. He has self healing powers and doesn't need milk. Even then... How can you look DOWN at a disabled and sickly baby, be angry the baby's dad killed your dad, and kick him in the head? Is the moral greyness in the room with us or am I just a blatant misogynist who deserves to be IP blocked by the author?

Will the "baby dragon," who is actually Dandy's nephew and Pierces' cousin, ever have a name? It's so confusing to me because, when Pierces was born, the very next scene is with her father immediately asking what her name is; therefore, in this universe, mares tend to name their offspring immediately. With that in mind, why was "baby dragon" never named? He was given the dignity of a burial, with flowers laid atop his grave (indicating he was loved), but was never named. He lived for almost an entire winter too... Months without a name. This really bothers me because it is an example of weak storytelling and gives off a weird vibe having a baby exist, with evidence of sentience, to live for 9 pages and be beaten by one of the main characters.

It also feels like he died as a tool to punish S'mellie for being what the author describes as "the jerk squad," who, mind you, supposedly consented to manipulative sex under false pretenses while in an impaired, strongly driven state after humans intervened with her physiology. Now, I understand S'mellie was convinced her son was a child of the Dragon, which means Pierces wouldn't see him as family either, so, why have a name? However... The mother has to interact with her son and has to call him something, a NAME, ideally. Was she never addressing him by name during his short life for nearly all of winter? It's confusingly inconsistent and the underlying implications of his existence and death rubs me the wrong way.

I'm ok with disposable characters that contribute to the development of the main characters, but... Don't make it so obvious. It cheapens the storytelling, and, in a short comic like this one, the entire sequence could have been ommitted. There's other ways to develop Pierces without cheap shortcuts. It is already established Pierces is violent and combative. Those 9 pages could be spent more wisely, or, maybe just lengthen the comic a bit to patch up some missing details.

[bennjery]

Will the "baby dragon," who is actually Dandy's nephew and Pierces' cousin, ever have a name? It's so confusing to me because, when Pierces was born, the very next scene is with her father immediately asking what her name is; therefore, in this universe, mares tend to name their offspring immediately. With that in mind, why was "baby dragon" never named? He was given the dignity of a burial, with flowers laid atop his grave (indicating he was loved), but was never named. He lived for almost an entire winter too... Months without a name. This really bothers me because it is an example of weak storytelling and gives off a weird vibe having a baby exist, with evidence of sentience, to live for 9 pages and be beaten by one of the main characters.

It also feels like he died as a tool to punish S'mellie for being what the author describes as "the jerk squad," who, mind you, supposedly consented to manipulative sex under false pretenses while in an impaired, strongly driven state after humans intervened with her physiology. Now, I understand S'mellie was convinced her son was a child of the Dragon, which means Pierces wouldn't see him as family either, so, why have a name? However... The mother has to interact with her son and has to call him something, a NAME, ideally. Was she never addressing him by name during his short life for nearly all of winter? It's confusingly inconsistent and the underlying implications of his existence and death rubs me the wrong way.

I'm ok with disposable characters that contribute to the development of the main characters, but... Don't make it so obvious. It cheapens the storytelling, and, in a short comic like this one, the entire sequence could have been ommitted. There's other ways to develop Pierces without cheap shortcuts. It is already established Pierces is violent and combative. Those 9 pages could be spent more wisely, or, maybe just lengthen the comic a bit to patch up some missing details.

[bennjery]

SSSJVLOHGFYIDDTIKGDFGIC..... my poor Dandy. I love her so. She exists solely to suffer the brunt of the "mature" storytelling

Spoiler for.. the entire comic!

[bennjery]

The pacing of Talon was not great, we all know that, and it actually is quite fixable if some unimportant scenes were trimmed out and they spent less time on other parts but still get the message across to the audience that "Talon is a predator but she is Different." We understood that pretty dang quick, actually! However, something not enough people are talking about, is the lip syncing. Whoever was in charge of that did a bad job. It's ok if it is choppy, I understand the limitations on budget and time, but... It is important now more than ever that the precious few frames that you draw for lip syncing really, really count. Most of those frames that were drawn were drawn incorrectly. Sounds that involves lifting the tongue, like "th" and "s"/"sh"/"sth" and "L"" either didn't have a tongue or their tongue shot straight out of their mouths and over their lips. There was even a line where Talon said the words, "Will I get to see..." And she stuck her tongue all the way out when she said "get." I do hope that if this show takes off that they fix this issue. It is very jarring! Otherwise, overall, the art direction is quite beautiful and I can tell a LOT of love and work went into this pilot. The music was also top notch. Really, this turned out super well. The animation is significantly better than the Hazbin Hotel pilot because it was SUPER cohesive. You couldn't really tell multiple different artists were working on it, whereas in Hazbin it was very easy to tell.