Antibunny
| Original review author: | ZenForce in September 2021 |
| Webcomic name: | Antibunny Nailbat |
| Author: | Vincent Davis aka "Vinnie D." |
| Start Date: | Antibunny: Somewhere in 2005 - Nailbat: 06/12/2019 |
| End Date: | Antibunny: Ongoing - Nailbat: 12/08/2020 |
| Genre: | Noir, Fantasy, Furry |
| Defining Flaw: | The art, that somehow gets worse and worse as the years go on. Same thing with the story. |
Rating Summary
| Art: | 
It's self-explanatory once you look at one page. |
| Storyline: |
Not the worst I've seen, but I can't say I love it and it's flawless. |
| Characters: |
The only one I like is the protagonist, I will expand on this in the review. |
| Miscellaneous Details: |
Why the prequel comic website display publishing date of the pages but not the principal comic website? It was produced by different people or what? |
| Overall: |
Not recommended to anyone that likes furry stuff, unless you want to see how not to do it. |
Background
To tell the truth, the first time I saw Pooky (the protagonist of the principal comic) it's was a cameo in another webcomic (Latchkey Kingdom, to be specific) and some art of the same author. I liked so much her design and attitude, but at first I thought it was a commission character, as the author usually puts them like background characters. But it’s my surprise that in the description of one the commissions describes that the character comes from other webcomic.
I, enthusiastic that I can saw the character in action, put the name of the comic in the list of "Have to read". When the time that finally I can read it came, I entered the website, and I was received with this. "Well, maybe the art is bad, but maybe the story is entertaining, like One Punch Man. Besides, I don’t think that can be too much worse than this" I thought that moment. How wrong I was. I readied the entire archive, and the prequel archive, and I saw that not only the art is bad, but that the story has lots of holes and pointless characters. It was hard to read through, especially since the website is not mobile friendly, but I got through the two whole archives, and it left me dissatisfied with both finals. So now we have this review, almost a year after that.
Downfall
From the artistic part, since day 1, and going down every day that the comic updates, somehow. From the story, can't point a specific point, it’s too cloudy to see it.
Story and Plot
Antibunny: Our protagonist is, as before mentioned, Pooki, a bipedal talking bunny that is reporter and a witch, I guess, I can't tell exactly because it acts more like the paranormal detective that almost every North American noir located story has of protagonist. She is looking for the big story that will leave a mark in the history and becomes in truth voice (petty difficult since her column is in a conspiracy diary).
Nailbat: This is a prequel of the events of the previous comic, starred by one the side characters, Nailbat, a mix of Batman and Daredevil, and how the hero born, battle, found love and ascended to legendary. But I have to say that the things what happen here don't affect the Nailbat of the principal story, I will extend in the writing section about this.
Both comics have the same theme circulating around them: segregation. Look, the background about the bipedal bunnies is that they was used for experimentation for a X laboratory, and consequently of whatever do to them, they not only they are erect, but also have magic powers and have the capacity to see the phantom world. Even they have some type of religion built around the escape. Most of humans don't know about this (or choose to ignore it) and they treat them like animals, in consequence they have the ideology that they are superior to them. I'm not a sociologist for judge the actions here, but I what I can say is I believe that the story is a little too… How to say it… Exaggerated to the point of being edgy.
Art review
This is cited verbatim from Liatris in the discussion of the comic: "The story might be good but how can you tell when the art style is a jumbled mess." And he have reason to say this. The art is hard to see since Vinnie started to publish the comic. I don't how he does it, but every single time he updates the comic, the art style it get worse than before, and he has doing the comic for more than a decade, how is possible doesn't get better at it? I hear about some cases that people get better in their style is they stop drawing for months, but I never saw something like this.
Look at this case. Bad proportions, strange expressions, confusing background and sequence of frames, the fact that the white bunny is blurred to show that they are far away. And I can go forever with this. Vinnie, if you reading this, from me, Liatris and all the members that look your comic, we have say to say this: practice is not working, so you choose between these two options: or hire a cartoonist or abandon the comic format and turn it into a novel. I accepted that for more I practice, I never will better at drawing, so I dedicated full to writing. It's not too bad.
Writing review
Well, only four (technically five) characters that worth to mention:
- Pooky Bunny: She is a reporter with the personality of a noir detective, with inner monologue and everything. She has the dynamic similar to Samurai Jack/Yakuza protagonist of begin a serious character placed in ridiculous events, like the time that she has to ride the Nekobus from My Neighbor Totoro. Apart from that, she is the typical character that is always angry or don't gives a fuck about your bullshit. She also is heavy smoker of incense, but I like to think is some type of catnip for bunnies.
- Nailbat 1° and 2°: Yeah, the Nailbat from the prequel dies and reincarnates into other bunny. Like I said before, this character is a mix of Batman with Daredevil, being Nailbat 1° more Batman than Daredevil, due his philosophy of not kill anybody. Nailbat 2° (the one of the principal story) is more like Daredevil than Batman, because he single killed three humans of the triple of his size and mass and don't planning to stop killing until promise to somebody. Both of them have the job begin the vigilante of the bunnies.
- Knell/Furi : Appearing only in the prequel comic, she is an antagonist of Nailbat in the first half, and the lover of him in the second half. She a double personality bunny, sadistic to more not to be able, and the fastest and precise trigger you ever see. She usually is wrapped around bandages, because she recurs to auto-lesion to control her second personality, all because the main villain of the prequel train and brainwashed her to be a killer in a very cruel way. This, of course, leaves mental sequels. At the final of the prequel, she controlled her alter ego and leaves Gritty City (Ups, forgot to mention the city where the events happen till now… it will be for something, not?).
- Dr. Alexander : Main villain of the principal comic, I like to nickname him like "Shadow Pooky", because is literally an alter ego of her. It's a manipulator type of villain, which only objective in his life is brings chaos to the world. He is usually is sawed harassing Pooki or other characters but as he is ethereal, he don't gives a fuck about everything. All interactions with him will be received in form of mockery or challenge, that is part of his keikaku or simply entertainment I leave them to your liking.
The rest of the cast can be classified in these four categories:
- Context Characters: The ones that does info dumping about how works the universe or what it's happening. Examples: Goodie Two-shoes, The Fat Bunny.
- Quest Dispenser Characters: The ones that give objectives to the protagonist or becomes escort of the same. Examples: Male Little Red Riding Hood, The Crazy Motorist.
- Pointless Characters: The ones that not contributes anything or they are in events that any other character can do it. Examples: That Woman Who is the Sister of the Main Villain of the Prequel, The "Justice League".
- Cliché Antagonist/Villain Characters: The ones that are villains or antagonist but not are Furi or Alexander. List: YandereBunny, James Rabbit, The Bomb is Planted, Dio, Mobian Eggman, Literal Death.
As you can see, not only the story is full of filler characters, but also have plot holes and contradictions between both comics. For example: In the principal comic: The Bomb is Planted has the plan to bomb the bridge and the tunnel that links the city with the rest of the country, with the only purpose to isolate the Bunnys and the humans together and eliminate the segregation between the both species. Yeah, isolate people from the society is the best way to make them friends. Anyway, on his monologue, he points in the fact that the train can't be used since station burned down twenty years ago, but in the prequel comic the train station is intact and active, I don't believe that twenty years passed between the prequel to the principal story. This type of things it take me out of the story for a moment.
Author biography
Vincent Davis (Vinnie D.) is straight male of unknown age with the birthdate of 18 of November, but i can deduce he is old enough to be married, just looking the credits of the webpage. He was drawing at least for 15 years, with no notorious improvement. He is a (at least a little) Slightly Damned Fan, the proof is at this video. I also believe that he is also a sonic fan, the proof are this three pages:
His character, Pooky, appeared not only in comics, but also in a videogame, also, if you look the tittle of his WordPress page, he apparently do rants in this page, but I can't provide more concrete evidence.
He has a Patreon and a Ko-fi, but luckily the majority of people is clever and almost nobody want is donate him. Not much else to say, truly.
UPDATE NOTE: I totally forgot the fact that Linkara, the author of The Lightbringer authorized to Vinnie to use his character in the prequel comic like a crossover. Why Linkara agree with this, after his quit? Who knows.
Conclusion
If it is not clear till now, I like the comic for Pooky, but pitifully she is trapped in a world badly draw, full of tasteless characters, so many plot holes and contradictions that Mass Effect Andromeda would consider that is competing with him and more. I personally will not recommend reading this comic, unless you want to see how badass is Pooky or want to see how the author dig a new bottom of the hole with his art. If it's the second reason, go on, if it's the first reason, do a favor to yourself and search her in other comics or videogames, it probably less painful to the view.
Links
- TV Tropes article of th- HOLY SHIT, HOW MANY TAGS HAS THIS SHIT?
- The website of the comic
- The author's Twitter, the most active of his half dozen of social networks.
