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A review of Falling Short







First Published: 2003
Format: A5, Staple bound.
Number of pages: 36 pages per issue
Age Rating: 12
Price: £2
Availability: Purchase at the Sweatdrop Studios website.





Introduction

Falling short is a small anthology of four short stories, each between 8 and 11 pages long. These stories were written by Keds, Fahed Said and Dr. Bob. The stories themselves range from mildly amusing to bizarre, the first story fits well with that category.

Bliss

Fahed Said is the creator of this story, and it fits his typical kind of story telling, with violent emo's and plenty of blood all round. Our protagonist is the violent emo in this. He's fairly quiet with a big overcoat and voices in his head. He hates the sound of human beings, and kills all the passengers on the tube train he is on, all except for a baby, an old man at the end who is spared also for some unknown reason suggests that if he despises the sound of humans he should get ear plugs!

New Dress

This little story is by Keds himself the person responsible for all the art in this anthology. It's about a guy in Hong Kong full of hookers, who meets a poor but pretty girl back in his past there. This girl is kind of shy and it takes him a while but they go out but then he goes back to America. But on his way back he notices that his girl was probably a hooker also..

The Cull

A story by Amanda Keer. This is a werewolf story I'll say no more!

Isis

This story is based on lyrics by Bob Dylan. I probably missed the point of this little story somewhere along the lines but the bit at the end is bound to amuse.

Art & Design

Keds or Alister Kelman produced all of the artwork within this anthology. The backgrounds are very good. Every frame almost has a detailed background, and everything from buildings to vehicles are very well drawn indeed. There is also a good use of speed lines to convey motion and action. Background management techniques for conveying emotion are hardly ever used however.

The characters themselves though aren't as good as the backgrounds though. There are plenty of occasions where anatomy could be better such as with hands and feet. That being said though characters bodies don't look bad at all and faces are nice enough to look at.

The panel layouts for the frames are ok, and they are all purposeful and help to tell the story. They are however a little square, and there's not much variety in the shape. They would have been far more interesting if they were less linear.

Overall, it's not a bad little anthology, and there are some interesting moments, and some amusing moments. There are also some excellent backgrounds to look at. With some dynamic frame layouts and some improvements to anatomy things would look much brighter though.





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ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF SWEATDROP STUDIOS, & KEDS.

Review by Wayne Hallows

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