eSJayBee
03-29-2007, 12:13 AM
Sweetness. Now I know what to do for a future arc.
http://jacksreviews.blogspot.com/2007/03/quarter-four.html
Quarter Four is a comic by Saadat Bari about four college roommates named Bry, Dwak, Saadji and Jay and their daily struggles with everything from girls to hairstyles gone wrong. The archive is 48 pages long and it updates on Mondays.
Artwise this comic is very well done. The artist does a good job with a wide range of facial expressions making for a very human feel missing from a lot of webcomics. Also backgrounds are plentiful, giving you a nice sense of the environment they live in. The art only gets better with each comic, from the beginning with it's more rigid sharp lines to the latest comics with their rounded softer look. I liked the coloring and shading as well, which lends a very professional look to Quarter Four.
The humor has a nice subtlety to it, almost as if he doesn't wish to beat us over the head with bad jokes and obvious situational comedy. It reminds me of independent films I've seen that don't have huge payoffs, but sort of just calmly play out and continue offscreen long after the movie ends. The only thing I can say negative is that it felt a bit dull at times, but this isn't an action comic or even a wacky roommates one. Don't get me wrong though, I got quite a few smiles out of my stroll through the archives.
In closing I would have to say that I enjoyed Quarter Four for it's quality art and kind tone. I recommend it to anyone looking for something a little off the beaten path. Of course, it won't be everyones cup of tea, or coffee, or beverage of choice, but hey, what is?
This comic is...Recommended
post edited to include reviews below:
http://jdalton.livejournal.com/19688.html
Webcomic Report Cards:
Quarter Four
By Saadat Bari
Link: www.quarter-four.com
March 30, 2007
There are few things I value more in an online comic than originality. With over ten thousand comics on the internet representing more genres and sub-genres than any sane person could count, a comic without an original hook or two will not get very far. The “college roomies with pop culture references” genre is by far the most crowded. Which is why it is all the more amazing that Quarter Four can hold its own in this field.
Quarter Four is the story of four college-aged friends sharing an apartment: Bry, Saadji, Dwak, and Jay. They are all South Asian and represent a variety of religious or ethnic groups. Or at least, this is how it appears to me. Saadat resorts to some pretty impressive semantic gymnastics to avoid giving his characters labels. No direct references are made to their demographics. Even where they live is a mystery. Though since Saadat is Canadian, I choose to believe his characters are as well.
Quarter Four is of course not primarily about race or religion in any case. Nor would it be as interesting to read if it were. It is primarily a light-hearted comedy about personal grooming, Star Wars, relationships, and the trials of finding adequate transportation. I find the peculiarly cute and unpretentious sense of humour very refreshing. The characters are likeable and unique almost from the moment they appear. Bry is ostensibly the main character, though he is so cheerfully off-beat that the reader is more often left to shake their head in disbelief alongside Saadji or Jay or Dwak. One-dimensional webcomic archetypes are so far entirely absent from the story. Though it is not often split-your-sides funny, Quarter Four occupies what I believe to be webcomicdom’s as-yet undervalued prime real estate: the transitional zone between comics with a punch line at the end of each page and comics with a seamless continuing story. Saadat merges the two almost perfectly.
The art is not spectacular, but neither is it lazy or ill-considered. Saadat’s technique could use a lot of polish but his style is his own and will no doubt grow into something great. The art’s best features are the panel compositions and the character’s expressions. Fortunate, then, that these are arguably the most important elements of comics art.
Quarter Four is fun and well written with terrific characters and original stories. At less than fifty pages it is still a webcomic newcomer but I will be very interested to see how it develops. The cultural elements are just the icing on the cake.
*EDIT: Saadat says Bry and Dwak are in fact not South Asian. Which pretty much blows my entire premise. Oops. Go read the comic anyways, though!
Writing and dialogue: B+
Plot and pacing (including panel break-downs): B+ (though this may go up as the story unfolds)
Art: B-
Originality: B+
Presentation (including website and update schedule): B+
Overall grade: B+ (85%)
--John Dalton
http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/blog/?p=958
Quarter Four by Saadat Bari is an accomplished, but quiet, take on the “college room-mates” genre. The setup goes like this: a guy with strangely alien social skills moves into a place with three other long-established room-mates, and shakes things up a little. You probably think you’ve heard this joke before. But what ensues, in this case, is not “hilarity” so much as it is a kind of comfortable camaraderie — these guys are not funny the way that comic strips characters are funny; they’re funny the way your actual friends are funny (assuming you have funny friends — and surely you do). That’s a much more difficult set of characterizations to pull off, and Bari does it well. He also knows how to draw, which is rare for this genre. More importantly, he knows how to stage his characters and move his camera around. When the momentum of a strip isn’t being carried by a one-two-three punchline formula, this kind of subtle virtuosity is key to maintaining a reader’s interest.
If you like character-based strips, where the punchlines don’t punch so much as sneak up behind you and give you a wet willy, you’ll enjoy Quarter Four. I did.
Read it now.
(Image from this post is copyright (c) 2007 Saadat Bari)
http://jacksreviews.blogspot.com/2007/03/quarter-four.html
Quarter Four is a comic by Saadat Bari about four college roommates named Bry, Dwak, Saadji and Jay and their daily struggles with everything from girls to hairstyles gone wrong. The archive is 48 pages long and it updates on Mondays.
Artwise this comic is very well done. The artist does a good job with a wide range of facial expressions making for a very human feel missing from a lot of webcomics. Also backgrounds are plentiful, giving you a nice sense of the environment they live in. The art only gets better with each comic, from the beginning with it's more rigid sharp lines to the latest comics with their rounded softer look. I liked the coloring and shading as well, which lends a very professional look to Quarter Four.
The humor has a nice subtlety to it, almost as if he doesn't wish to beat us over the head with bad jokes and obvious situational comedy. It reminds me of independent films I've seen that don't have huge payoffs, but sort of just calmly play out and continue offscreen long after the movie ends. The only thing I can say negative is that it felt a bit dull at times, but this isn't an action comic or even a wacky roommates one. Don't get me wrong though, I got quite a few smiles out of my stroll through the archives.
In closing I would have to say that I enjoyed Quarter Four for it's quality art and kind tone. I recommend it to anyone looking for something a little off the beaten path. Of course, it won't be everyones cup of tea, or coffee, or beverage of choice, but hey, what is?
This comic is...Recommended
post edited to include reviews below:
http://jdalton.livejournal.com/19688.html
Webcomic Report Cards:
Quarter Four
By Saadat Bari
Link: www.quarter-four.com
March 30, 2007
There are few things I value more in an online comic than originality. With over ten thousand comics on the internet representing more genres and sub-genres than any sane person could count, a comic without an original hook or two will not get very far. The “college roomies with pop culture references” genre is by far the most crowded. Which is why it is all the more amazing that Quarter Four can hold its own in this field.
Quarter Four is the story of four college-aged friends sharing an apartment: Bry, Saadji, Dwak, and Jay. They are all South Asian and represent a variety of religious or ethnic groups. Or at least, this is how it appears to me. Saadat resorts to some pretty impressive semantic gymnastics to avoid giving his characters labels. No direct references are made to their demographics. Even where they live is a mystery. Though since Saadat is Canadian, I choose to believe his characters are as well.
Quarter Four is of course not primarily about race or religion in any case. Nor would it be as interesting to read if it were. It is primarily a light-hearted comedy about personal grooming, Star Wars, relationships, and the trials of finding adequate transportation. I find the peculiarly cute and unpretentious sense of humour very refreshing. The characters are likeable and unique almost from the moment they appear. Bry is ostensibly the main character, though he is so cheerfully off-beat that the reader is more often left to shake their head in disbelief alongside Saadji or Jay or Dwak. One-dimensional webcomic archetypes are so far entirely absent from the story. Though it is not often split-your-sides funny, Quarter Four occupies what I believe to be webcomicdom’s as-yet undervalued prime real estate: the transitional zone between comics with a punch line at the end of each page and comics with a seamless continuing story. Saadat merges the two almost perfectly.
The art is not spectacular, but neither is it lazy or ill-considered. Saadat’s technique could use a lot of polish but his style is his own and will no doubt grow into something great. The art’s best features are the panel compositions and the character’s expressions. Fortunate, then, that these are arguably the most important elements of comics art.
Quarter Four is fun and well written with terrific characters and original stories. At less than fifty pages it is still a webcomic newcomer but I will be very interested to see how it develops. The cultural elements are just the icing on the cake.
*EDIT: Saadat says Bry and Dwak are in fact not South Asian. Which pretty much blows my entire premise. Oops. Go read the comic anyways, though!
Writing and dialogue: B+
Plot and pacing (including panel break-downs): B+ (though this may go up as the story unfolds)
Art: B-
Originality: B+
Presentation (including website and update schedule): B+
Overall grade: B+ (85%)
--John Dalton
http://www.talkaboutcomics.com/blog/?p=958
Quarter Four by Saadat Bari is an accomplished, but quiet, take on the “college room-mates” genre. The setup goes like this: a guy with strangely alien social skills moves into a place with three other long-established room-mates, and shakes things up a little. You probably think you’ve heard this joke before. But what ensues, in this case, is not “hilarity” so much as it is a kind of comfortable camaraderie — these guys are not funny the way that comic strips characters are funny; they’re funny the way your actual friends are funny (assuming you have funny friends — and surely you do). That’s a much more difficult set of characterizations to pull off, and Bari does it well. He also knows how to draw, which is rare for this genre. More importantly, he knows how to stage his characters and move his camera around. When the momentum of a strip isn’t being carried by a one-two-three punchline formula, this kind of subtle virtuosity is key to maintaining a reader’s interest.
If you like character-based strips, where the punchlines don’t punch so much as sneak up behind you and give you a wet willy, you’ll enjoy Quarter Four. I did.
Read it now.
(Image from this post is copyright (c) 2007 Saadat Bari)