This month’s “Around the Web” leads us to a webcomic titled Snow by Night. The main story is written by Eric Menge, and drawn by Brittany Michel.
In their “About” section, they summarize the premise of the comic as:
Life is pretty good for Blaise and Jassart. The pair of thieves makes an easy living in the rich, frontier town of Sherbourg. The fur trade is booming and wealth is there for the picking. And down on Iniquity Row, the saloons and gambling hells provide plenty of opportunity to spend their ill-gotten gains. But when a mysterious rival steals their prizes and robs from their wards, Blaise and Jassart are forced into the unfamiliar role of thief-catchers. How do you find a thief who can slip locks and leaves no traces? Regardless, they must catch the thief. Their gloire and fortunes are on the line.
The comic is updated every Monday and Wednesday, with an Almanac entry coming on Friday. But enough boring information. Let’s get on with if this comic is any good or not.
In short, I’d say it’s enjoyable. The characters are well crafted with defined personalities. The story is engaging. It’s clear the author has created a large detailed world, but he doesn’t make the mistake of trying to throw that world at the reader all at once. That restraint should be commended. It would be easy to get ahead of yourself and want to show the readers just how much effort you put into the creation of this world. But had that happened, we’d have much less character development, and character is what is important. You can come up with the greatest story line ever, but if your characters are uninteresting, then no one is going to care. (Done beating the dead horse.)
In between chapters of the main story are small vignettes. These are used to flesh out the world a little bit more. My favorite was the first one that was a fable of why leaves change colors in the Fall, and birds fly south for the Winter. It was creative, and still plays a part later in the story.
The art is alright, too. I never say much about the art, because it’s not something I focus on. Yes, comics are a graphic medium, and the art is important, but for me personally, a story is what keeps me reading. But long story short, the art here was fine.
In the end, I do recommend that you read this. I will warn you that it make take a few pages to get into it, but you should enjoy it after that.
Comicdom Wrecks! 