Black Magic

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Rating Summary

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Downfall
This thing always sucked.

Story and Plot
The background of the story is about "the eternal goddess" who has created six immortal deities to protect Earth, and who also made pieces of enchanted jewelry to protect the deities. Unfortunately Queen Maida of Scaylum tried to harm them, only to eventually wind up magically trapped inside Julius's enchanted collar. The deities would have descendants, and one, namely Loretta Dalma, was foretold to be the one who would release Maida. As of the story's beginning, Loretta and the other descendants live as socialites, forbidden to touch the enchanted jewelry and no longer worshipped as gods. At Organa Manor, Loretta is woken early one morning by her black maid, and her duty for the day is to welcome juveniles to Salt Lake Village.

Let's pause here. It seems the author has built their world in haste, without putting much thought in its development. Who were the deities, what were they supposed to do, who is this Queen Maida and what was her grudge against them, why would the deities have descendants and what is their purpose? The story already has gotten off on the wrong foot.

But to continue: At the Village, Loretta meets up with Melanie, who tells her that she and Gabriel are to attend a socialite party, hosted by a very rich Italian. Aunt Raquel cannot attend this party so she sends her most trusted employee in her stead. Unfortunately we discover that Loretta's cousin Elise dislikes her, though she does make outfits for the upcoming party. Sasha is another girl who also dislikes Loretta. She is, however, guilty of stealing the enchanted jewelry described earlier, and also of breaking arms and violins for spite. Our heroines go to the party where they already are arguing. But they agree on not liking the host.

Art review
The most obvious terrible part of this webcomic. Ignoring the coloring for the moment, the figures are stiff, inconsistent, and erratic, and the artwork does not improve one iota as the webcomic continues. Facial profiles have weird hatchet shapes, eyes are often too large or otherwise have odd shapes, mouths are often placed too high or low, fingers are often too short or too long or out of proper proportion, limbs are often U-shaped rather than properly bent.

Now let's cover the coloring. Ugh, it seems the author is trying to use every color they can find with the idea of being artsy. Yes, other webcomics listed here have used deliberately unrealistic color choices with the idea of being artistic, but that idea only works if done properly. The author seems to have the idea that more odd colors are better, but the end result is that the pictures look ugly and unattractive rather than aesthetic.



Besides the quality, though the story takes place in the United States centuries in the future, the pictures suggest a Victorian-type atmosphere a la Teahouse. Okay, the characters are supposed to be socialites and there might be a retro-Victorian fad in that era, and the future would not necessarily look like a Jetsons cartoon. Still, the quaint tone of the scenario doesn't seem appropriate. Also the speech balloons don't have pointers, but use different colored lettering for the dialog, the way Looney Toons Reborn had done. That trope really doesn't work well.

Writing review
The writing for this webcomic is little better.

Links

 * Tales of Salt Lake Village, another webcomic from this author, and probably no better.


 * Lillith Blackwell, this one about a female detective. Also not promising.