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I had a horrible feeling of dejavu when I saw the mongrel man handing Danica a potion and then I absolutely knew star power was in the right thread.
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Aug 18, 2020 14:39
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Hard to believe there's only two stories left in this, I know webcomic pacing can be pretty slow but then you actually read it and there's months worth of wasted pages repeating what we already know or just doing nothing. Why dedicate a whole year's worth of page to Hymn at all? He's a mid-tier Flash villain at best. Mookie could've cut that down to an issue, maybe two, then peppered in multiple smaller stories that would've introduced more interesting characters and let him expand on the setting in a more natural way than a racial slur codex. Star Power went on for what, seven years? But their universe feels completely barren.
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Aug 18, 2020 15:56
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TheHan posted:Hard to believe there's only two stories left in this, I know webcomic pacing can be pretty slow but then you actually read it and there's months worth of wasted pages repeating what we already know or just doing nothing. Why dedicate a whole year's worth of page to Hymn at all? He's a mid-tier Flash villain at best. Mookie could've cut that down to an issue, maybe two, then peppered in multiple smaller stories that would've introduced more interesting characters and let him expand on the setting in a more natural way than a racial slur codex. Star Power went on for what, seven years? But their universe feels completely barren. That's why I find this statement: quote:As Garth mentioned in his blog, the superhero genre is currently flooded, and it’s a tough field to play in. Lots of publishers won’t even consider a superhero book these days. But a difficult genre to break in to, the blind eye of indie publishers, and an oversaturation of content never stopped us from trying anyway. I didn’t pitch STAR POWER to Garth because I wanted to use it as a springboard or a stepping stone to something bigger in the superhero genre. We did this because we love superheroes, and we don’t think the genre should only belong to two megacorporations. We may have never had a big break or gone viral, but we still managed to make an independent, original superhero book on our terms for close to a decade. When all is said and done, maybe that alone will be the statement of STAR POWER’S success. So funny. As if Marvel fatigue is why starpower was why it failed to catch on. This is a Green Latern/GOTG setting and so far Danica's canonical adventures have been: a) origin story with villain who is no threat b) chasing some rear end in a top hat who killed a dude (who is no threat) c) Lara croft party cruise through the elemental worlds, bried confrontation with space banditos d) Elf Colonialism e) Actual supervillain The last 2 are the only ones that actually feel like we are discovering new things or seeing new threats for this new super hero, and even then they're cliched and wrapped up easily by the heroes. And the supporting cast are all one note jokes who barely register. It's just so empty.
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Aug 18, 2020 16:32
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In a weird way, Mookie and Garth actually making money off the few hundred readers of Star Power is encouraging. With patreon and crowdfunding, independent artists don't need to be a viral smash hit to support themselves - they just need a small, devoted following. That's manageable, and it means some really good stuff has a chance to rise up that didn't before. In other words, if Mookie can support himself with his art, anyone can. ... Although it remains to be seen if he can support himself without Garth. To be honest, I hope he does. As bad as his art is, I enjoy picking it apart (as someone raised on MST3K), and I certainly wouldn't wish financial ruin on Mookie's family. I think a world where Mookie is able to make a career out of his terrible comics is a better place than without it.
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Aug 18, 2020 17:10
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Rotten Red Rod posted:In a weird way, Mookie and Garth actually making money off the few hundred readers of Star Power is encouraging. With patreon and crowdfunding, independent artists don't need to be a viral smash hit to support themselves - they just need a small, devoted following. That's manageable, and it means some really good stuff has a chance to rise up that didn't before. In other words, if Mookie can support himself with his art, anyone can. Yes i don't actually begrudge Mookie pulling in the money of voluntary donors. If they get something out of it, good. And as terrible as Mookie' s stories can be, I actually find the act of taking them apart sort of creatively inspiring in and off itself? They aren't bad in a boring way, the way the Justice League Movie was. They, like the Cats Movie, are unique in their badness and they sort of deserve to exist just for that. That being said, I don't blame anyone who pulled out of the SP patreon after the heavy metal showdown.
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Aug 18, 2020 17:27
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I like that Danica ripped up an ancient artifact from a ruin to give to Beena, instead of taking sensory recordings for Beena or something.
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Aug 18, 2020 17:59
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The Little Death posted:That's why I find this statement: Goddamn, Mookie and Garth are so uncritical of their own work. I don't expect or want a creator to hate everything they make, but you'd think two guys who talk so much about how they love the stories they're making would at least be able to reflect on things they could've done differently. Surely on some level they know external factors aren't the only reason their superhero saga didn't become a franchise. And yeah, sure, it's a genre largely dominated by two companies, but are you really giving people something they wouldn't find done better in those stories? Garth outright said that Star Power didn't blow up like they expected after the first 3 years, and if the idea was to grow large enough to make a living off this (already a bad idea that's gonna break your heart) then even from a cynical business mindset...why not try something different in the next 4? Maybe that was the idea with Dr.Hymn and the upcoming Crime Planet, but it's just been a new coat of paint on top of the same terrible writing. I just don't get how someone doesn't stop to think "What can I be doing better?" Star Power's Patreon is actually doing rather good for a webcomic, too. I don't think Marvel's hogging the demo man, they're right there.
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Aug 18, 2020 19:21
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YF-23 posted:So something that's been bugging me a bit but I wasn't able to put my finger on it before now; referring to all this stuff, from classical composers to Lynyrd Skynyrd as "ancient Earth music". Like obviously this story is set in the far future but... where's the future music? Obviously you have Hymn's stuff because he's the villain of the
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Aug 18, 2020 19:34
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"holiday special" is never a phrase that bodes well
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Aug 18, 2020 19:34
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BattleMaster posted:"holiday special" is never a phrase that bodes well
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Aug 18, 2020 19:46
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Especially if it's followed by "a short story by Michael Terraciano"
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Aug 18, 2020 19:47
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All right… Here we go. Strap in for the penultimate chapter of Star Power, and possibly the ultimate Mookie! I won’t be skipping any panels or pages this time, so you’ll get 100% of the Mookie, 100% of the time. Chapter 5.1: Star Power and the Heavy Metal Showdown … Or is it Chapter 6.1? It’s labeled as both on the site. Fix your archive, Mookie!  Not much to say about the cover, except that it amuses me that he put his signature smack dab in the middle of the picture because he filled the corners with black and couldn’t put it there.  We start with Danica just chillin’ in space, with a face that looks like she just had a really satisfying fart.  And then plot just happens, because god forbid we have any interesting setup. No, she just hears an intergalactic “come at me bro”.  It’s clearly someone who wants to fight… You could, you know, just ignore it…? Also Mookie makes Mitch look like such a weird little goblin.  Once again, everything outside the Federation is a loving trash heap. Ugh, all these natives just keep KILLING each other without our guidance! We’d better come in and tell them how to do things. Also Mookie’s artistic skills fail to convey what Danica is saying. It just looks like a fairly normal rocky desert planet.  Here’s our antagonist this time. Apparently he thinks Danica looks like an angel? So his culture has heaven and angels, and they look exactly like 1700s-era Judeo-Christian depictions of them? Wouldn’t humans look UGLY to his race?  That’s a very good question. Again, it wasn’t a distress call, you could have ignored it.   Danica’s diplomacy always consists of saying “let’s talk” and then getting into a fight anyway.  I don’t care how high he can jump, I don’t believe for a second Danica couldn’t just fly away at any point.  Actually not a terrible action scene for Mookie, I can actually tell what’s going on.  Wait – she never told him her name! She said “I’m a Star Powered-“ and was cut off. How does he know she’s called Star Power? Oh yeah, Mookie’s psychic link between himself and his characters.  Lol that face  Of course it is. God forbid Mookie think up ANY way for Star Power to be threatened other than her kryptonite equivalent. And if you’re wondering if it’s explained where he got it... It’s not!   Oh no! Is this the end for Star Power? (And again, she never called herself that, dude.)  Nah she has that upgrade that magically makes her stronger, of course. (Also every single face on this page is precious.)  This face one too. The Centurion suit looks pretty bad as well. Mookie didn’t even attempt the transparency that made Garth’s version look kinda neat, in a Mass Effect way.       Action action, action, and then she wins. Mookie’s art style doesn’t do it any favors, but at least he’s trying.  Here’s where it gets dumb.  A moment ago this guy was all “wheee I love fighting and being strong” and now he’s like “oh I wish for peace”. All completely unprompted.  “And then I killed everyone on my planet and sent out challenges to anyone in the galaxy nearby so I could keep fighting” I guess?  And… Again… Then you just killed everyone else for funsies?  You just... Found the tower, didn't know what it was, but somehow knew how to work it. Shades of the elves' tanks here. Again, I want to stress, I’m not leaving out any context. Danica has barely spoken to him since she won the fight. This is ENTIRELY unprompted.  BUT SHE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING All it takes for someone to have a radical change of heart is for someone to NOT KILL THEM in a fight I guess!  What Danica is saying here is entirely bullshit, considering the chapter coming up involves slave trade, corruption, and crime families that rule cities in the Federation.  I have no idea what he means by “I think she lied to me”. I mean, as I just said, she did, but I don’t know what HE means by that. And that’s it. Danica wins a fight and stares at orc dude while he talks himself into being not evil. That’s the story. It is entirely without a point and there is no heavy metal. All the metal is soft and flabby. Epilogue:  Womp womp Rotten Red Rod fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Aug 18, 2020 |
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Aug 18, 2020 20:27
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I recognize this panel, I saw it ages ago when someone posted it to point out how ridiculous it was that he swings the hammer sideways at her but she falls straight down. I can only assume he realized he didn't have enough space left to show her getting knocked back and didn't feel like (or didn't think he would succeed in) changing the art so that he was bringing the hammer down from overhead.
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Aug 18, 2020 20:59
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absolutely none of that made any sense
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Aug 18, 2020 20:59
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Rotten Red Rod posted:I have no idea what he means by “I think she lied to me”. I mean, as I just said, she did, but I don’t know what HE means by that. "She really was an angel" was the follow up to that line.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:00
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That traffic graph is more brutal than this shitheap action sequence
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Aug 18, 2020 21:01
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YF-23 posted:"She really was an angel" was the follow up to that line. Oh, ok, that makes sense now.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:03
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It truly is amazing that apparently all Danica need to do to convince someone they're wrong is wordlessly punch them a lot.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:06
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Orc Dude's redemption is so classic Mookie it's not even funny. He killed them all, except not the innocents. Ok so where are they? Up until that point it seemed to imply that this battlemad hammer dude killed everyone. BUt then he didn't, because if he did that he couldn't redeemed. He only killed people who Danica decides it was ok to kill while "intoxicated on victory". No amends, no redemption, just "you were good all along!". Meanwhile Celesto can get torturedin the far realms for all eternity and sigfried can burn in hell.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:07
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Well, see, the difference is Iraq Allegory here is a Mookie, while Celesto and Sigfried were jocks. All Mookies are redeemable.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:09
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Nice March Across Maltak pilot episode. Definitely going to series.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:11
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Wait it already went to series? For 10 years? God I hope the reboot hasn’t started yet they’ll have nothing to add to the canon.
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Aug 18, 2020 21:17
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YF-23 posted:"She really was an angel" was the follow up to that line. How did he know she was a she, I mean he's not human, why would he know about human sexual dimorphism? Unless... (nsfw)
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Aug 18, 2020 21:46
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What amazingly terrible writing. “You found a weapon and killed everyone with it, but now that you lost a fight, you should... start using that weapon again, but now with an ideology to justify it rather than vengeance.” It’s literally “any violence is ok as long as the intervention is humanitarian in intent.”
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Aug 18, 2020 21:58
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How long did it take Mookie to do this issue?
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Aug 18, 2020 22:20
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Kavak posted:How long did it take Mookie to do this issue? Jan 7th to March 4th (2019), so just about 2 months.
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Aug 18, 2020 22:46
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Kavak posted:How long did it take Mookie to do this issue? Just check the chart.
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Aug 18, 2020 22:47
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It also doesn't help that the final arc has taken 17 months and is just now now finishing. I'm not sure if it was Mookie's one issue or that fact that killed the traffic and Patreon money.
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Aug 18, 2020 23:12
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Rotten Red Rod posted:It also doesn't help that the final arc has taken 17 months and is just now now finishing. I'm not sure if it was Mookie's one issue or that fact that killed the traffic and Patreon money. The traffic flatlined during his arc, we need a different one for the Patreon.
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Aug 18, 2020 23:28
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It like he speedran a Star Power story. "Danica lands on a planet, fights someone, he's redeemed she leaves the end."
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Aug 18, 2020 23:41
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Kavak posted:The traffic flatlined during his arc, we need a different one for the Patreon.  Red arrow is where this issue started. The downturn seems like it was a combination of people not liking this arc + the next, and Mookie's personal patreon (which started in Jan 2019) cannibalizing patrons.
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Aug 18, 2020 23:55
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Looks like most of the patrons they lost were real low-payers, though, the yellow line doesn't start a truly precipitous sink until later.
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Aug 19, 2020 01:12
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It's really hard to interpret, you have to make a lot of assumptions. My guess is that the drop offs you see are a little delayed due to the nature of patreon being a monthly thing. Whatever the reason, the drop offs seem to happen right before and right after the Mookie issue, and probably continue due to the slow update schedule.
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Aug 19, 2020 03:34
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Making this whole thing one big battle is a really bizarre choice for the arc where mookie draws it. I've seen (and drawn) much, much worse action scenes than this but it's clearly no contest between Garth and Mookie's art when it comes to conveying visual spectacle. So, choosing to have Mookie take the lead for what was probably the most dynamic and visually challenging fight scene we've seen so far (since it was an actual melee that didn't take place in tight quarters or just involve blasting spaceships and giant robots) is pretty weird. You'd think him doing the art would be a chance to focus on a more emotional or narrative driven story, or at the very least make this one of those "talky" fights where the characters actually exchange important dialogue instead of mutely smacking each other around or exchanging pointless one-liners.
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Aug 19, 2020 03:47
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I hadn't read star power until that Mookie arc. After reading just that I was like "wtf is star power about?? What is the setting and genre even??" But in a "what the hell is this" way, definitely not in a "want to find out more" way
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Aug 19, 2020 03:53
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I'm looking at that sequence and I can swear orc man's size changes six different times. First he looks like he's a few stories tall, then he's twice her size, then they're about the same size, all because Mookie can't do perspective.
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Aug 19, 2020 05:47
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How long until Mookie gives up on Legacy
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Aug 19, 2020 06:32
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rudecyrus posted:How long until Mookie gives up on Legacy I'd be surprised if it survives this cabin interlude. If he had any plan for the main plot (doubtful), he'll have forgotten it by then.
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Aug 19, 2020 06:38
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rudecyrus posted:How long until Mookie gives up on Legacy I don't think he'll ever get it together to formally call it quits. He'll just keep doing what he's doing which is let the period between updates get longer and taking more frequent vacations until finally the last post is made. I say probably around Christmas.
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Aug 19, 2020 07:07
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Classic slow webcomic death. But I don't know if he'll really give up on it, given it's presumably a pretty big source of income.
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Aug 19, 2020 08:46
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