The thought of comic strips brings to mind series like "Peanuts," "Garfield" and "Dilbert." The titles of these staples in the comic industry describe their theme in a straightforward and hassle-free manner.
"Read It and Weep," a new comic by Travis Dandro, does inspire tears, but not for the same reason that the creator intended.
Featuring nothing more than a little boy and a squirrel, the comic is deficient in both artistic talent and action. The young boy's face remains fixed and expressionless, and the two characters move a whopping two times in the 20 included strips.
The climax of every strip, whether either character is saying it, comes around the second frame. It is most often something along the lines of "My underwear is too tight," with no reaction from the other character and no consequent point to the strip.
Aside from slow development, the art isn't that good, even as far as comic standards go. A six-year-old could put out a funnier comic.
The lack of artistic effort put into this comic is in itself laughable, but there is no humor elsewhere. The two main characters stand around and usually take clich?(c)s and try to make them depressing, boring and overdone.
Fans of Jhonen Vasquez ("Invader Zim," "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac") will recognize Dandro's style as an attempt at replicating Vasquez's dark and intellectual humor. "Read It and Weep," however, is neither dark nor intellectual.
Despite its many shortcomings, "Read It and Weep" does have potential. Dandro may not be a professional, but it would be nice for him to take a few extra drawing lessons, sharpen up his wit and come back to comics when he has stronger ideas, instead of just bastardizing clich?(c)s.
