Friday, June 5, 2009

Precocious in five strips? Unpossible!

Alright folks, I am putting the finishing touches on my submission to the SpiderForest webcomic collective. (If you're from SF, should you be reading this?) All I need now is to write a conclusion and choose my five comic representatives. I've settled on four, but the fifth is causing trouble. I'm not going to repost the strips, as they're all three posts down, but I will review the choices.

1) Strip #43 ("Rule #4")

This may be the most Precocious-esque strip I've done. We have the kids up to no good, a parent catching onto the semantics and the revelation that a "no dynamite" rule is NEEDED - and it still only the fourth most important rule! What could the top three be?

2) Strip #62 ("The infinite canvas project")

Tiffany's painting exploits are adorable, exactly her style and overall is a nice, strong Sunday. I also like the non-malicious misbehaving going on. While my kids are at their best when at their worst, I worry about submitting five strips all with the kids being insane. That being said...

3) Strip #100 ("Paddle-battle boats")

I love this strip because it's funny and shows that I *can* draw backgrounds if I want to. It also does a great job in establishing the Sapphire set as uniquely demented.

4) Intro Strip #30 ("Now We're Getting Somewhere")

Another example of what the kids are about. They're at war, but it's still play to them. The "current gemstone war" hints that they do this often, and the dramatic speech closing with the announcement of a water balloon right... yes, "war is awesome" indeed!

5) Hmm...

What do I do for the last one? Do I choose a favorite of mine? Of yours? Do I choose another color strip? Do I look for another "this sums it up" strip?

Strip #45 is one I love. With an evil mind, a simple game can turn into something less than family-friendly! It's also based on a real game played with my friends, so it has sentimental value. The downside is that it dances on the edge of acceptable. (Which, of course, is the point of the strip - but still...) If I include this, am I playing the evil card too much?

Intro Strip #98 is a reader favorite and allows me to show the best-drawn color daily I've done.

Strip #14 hangs a lampshade on the over-the-top evil thing, which is nice. It's also another color daily that shows off the kids' creativity with costuming.

The dark horse here, which wasn't even in the initial group of finalists, is strip #55. It's a color Sunday in which Autumn remarks on the kids insular nature - before deciding their world is much better than the real world. It's a sweet take on the kids, and it might balance out the rest nicely. As of now, it might even be the leader for the last slot.

I'm making the decision later tonight, so if anyone else is a loser at home on Friday night, come and offer your opinion.

No comments: