Dresden Codak


 * **Original review author:** || The Luigiian ||
 * **Webcomic name:** || Dresden Codak ||
 * **Author:** || Aaron Diaz ||
 * **Start Date** || 6/08/05 ||
 * **Defining flaw** || The author took a decent gag strip and turned it into a long graphic novel about his obsession with transhumanism. ||
 * **Things that are fucking terrible about this webcomic:** || Obnoxiously pretentious storyline, obnoxiously pretentious themes, shitty characterization ||
 * **Things that aren't terrible but could use improvement:** || Page layout, art ||
 * **Summary:** || Ahahaha. Too bad your art can't save your slavish adherence to transhumanism. You're almost on the same level as XKCD, Diaz. Good job on ruining what little you did well with a healthy dose of some ridiculously overdone pseudoscience. ||

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 * Ratings summary:** [[collapsible show=">> Click here for ratings summary:


 * Art: || image http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNG Not bad. ||
 * Storyline: || image http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNG Mediocrity personified. Not bad, but not great. ||
 * Characters: || image http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNG The author spent more time calculating their Meyers-Briggs personalities than actually showing them, and now he doesn't even show the results... ||
 * Miscellaneous Details: || image http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNG There's a genuine push to eloquently expound on transhumanism, but it gets lost along the way and becomes a victim of its own pretentiousness. ||
 * Overall: || image http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNGimage http://badwebcomics.wdfiles.com/local--files/start/alice.PNG A swing and a miss from a reasonably talented artist. ||

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++ Background

Back when Dresden Codak started, it was a simple gag strip. Even then it was pretentious --check out this strip parodying Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle-- but it had not yet descended into the depths of Webcomics Hell.

++ Downfall

Then, Diaz began inserting his retarded transhumanist fantasies into the strip. What little good the webcomic first had was immediately drowned in a sea of talentless drama. Diaz is apparently incapable of making convincingly deep characters or to make himself appear as anything more than a physics-obsessed nerd.

++ Author biography

The author is as bland and boring as the strip he created, as evidenced not only by his empty Facebook account, but by his about page, which includes precious little information about himself except that he was apparently "born from the remnants of a supernova." Guess what Diaz? EVERYONE WAS. Everything is forged from the remnants of dead stars. I guess you were trying to make yourself seem like some kind of special little blossom. Too bad this wasn't exactly the most special way to prove it. Tell me you were forged from the remnants of a ham sandwich and then we'll talk.

++ Art review

Decent. However, the artistic elements don't work with drama, and were clearly intended for use in a humorous piece. In spite of the fact that Diaz uses his drawing talents to (at this point) draw his lead character Kimiko in various states of dress (and undress), his art doesn't make you want to claw your eyes out. At least, excepting the times he includes too many words in too many panels, or (as already mentioned) he takes precious time and space to include Kimiko's naked ass as she hurdles through space, dead, or sometimes alive, apparently depending upon his mood.

Ah, yes, and then there's panel orientation. Too much of it is overwrought. It is often difficult to discern which panel should be read first.

image DC_Panel_Orientation.JPG

Aside from these points, the art is not the major failure of this strip.

++ Writing review

The writing is this strip's major failure. His characters lack substance and serve only as vehicles to further Diaz' transhumanist wankings. This strip was better when it was a lighthearted humor comic. The new plot is boring. The writing doesn't work with the art. Basically, Diaz can't write his transhumanist storyline to save his life. He needs to either go back to a simple humor setup, or hire a good writer to pen his fantasies. Maybe if the writing didn't suck at working with the subject material so badly, it could even work in its current form.

++ Links


 * John Solomon's first review of Dresden Codak
 * John Solomon's second review
 * Another review of it.