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| :|: | REVIEWS OF TBAC | :|: |
| FROM MAL OF HIGH MAINTENANCE |
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Ahhh... the love of a child and her teddy... what could be a more innocent thing? With this teddy - a lot!
TBAC popped up on keenspace last October advertising itself as a 32 page 'comic experiment' and very quickly gained a strong following of fans. This is because as a webcomic it works wonderfully. Each strip can happily stand on its own merit and the story (such as it is) can be easily picked up from just about any of them. Unashamedly taking its influences from JTHM & Squee, Teddy bear anti-christ has captured the sick sense of humor that made these types of comic great. It's not an out and out road runner type of comic violence but something a lot more subtle, a calculated evil that strikes a cord in every heart that has ever contemplated revenge. Centering on a sweet, innocent yet down trodden and neglected young girl named Lucy living with a skank mother and an abusive hick slob of a 'uncle', she is given a teddy by uncle Jerry to basically shut her the fuck up and get her from under their feet (not that she actually was). The teddy, unwittingly supplied by 'Evil Toy 'is' Us' takes on a life of his own when in the company of Lucy and begins his war of attrition against 'Unkey Jewwy' by means of a rat poison beverage and dropping a ceiling fan on him (and some other fun events too). The fact that the bear reverts to a simply cuddly toy when ever anyone else is looking at him leads us to a fight club type scenario of him being a subconscious manifestation of Lucy's rage and hatred of her uncaring family... It's always the quiet ones you have to watch : ) Now well into the second season (obviously the 32 page experiment worked well), like most comics the writing and characterization is a lot stronger as we start to identify with the lead roles and the art is improving with more detailed backgrounds and better use of the grayscale shading. The bright flashes of crimson throughout are the only colours used against the middle tone grays giving the comic a distinctive look and feel and because of this it's very hard not to think of blood when you're reading it. One thing i love about this series is the ever shifting panel layouts and creative uses of page space (and the fun 'follow the small text joke around the panels' game). The site itself is a bit garish and rough and the java scripted 'jpg changer' in the title block annoyingly slows the page down (but then i'm one to talk). The extra site pages though are a good read in themselves (the boobs page is definitely worth a good chuckle) and quite inventive. I can image that the comics standard gag of 'lets hurt mum's wanker boyfriend' will start to loose it's shine after this season and i'm totally intrigued as to where the series will go from there. The writer doesn't seem short of ideas or inspiration and i can imagine this comic really going places in the future! Definitely one to enjoy for now and one to watch in times to come..... |
| You can read this review in its original format here. |
| WRITTEN BY AUSSIE_KID FROM CHOICE COMICS: |
| The title got me clicking, the content brought me back. An innocent child given an evil toy. Sounds like Child's Play at first (Those of you unaware, it's where the evil doll Chucky comes from. No, not the kid from Rugrats, that kid's a wuss) but is quite the opposite Teddy does have Chucky's psychopathic nature, but what else would you expect from an 'Antichrist'? The first two seasons in which Unkey Jewwy was repeatedly attacked after abusing his girlfriend and Lucy. I tend to think of it as justice and can identify with Teddy, as that's probably what I'd do in those kinds of situations (Beneath the nerd lies a dark haunted soul with a passion for vengeance against domestic abuse) I found the contrast between Lucy and Teddy amusing, especially how he manipulates the little girl (She hands him some rat poison, unaware of it's contents. He calls them "Yummy Flakes") Art is standard. Not great, but not so bad it makes my eyes bleed. That's always a plus. Website, however, is a little confusing. Though well structured, the links are only known once you click them. If the author got rid of these and put 'Comic' instead of 'Medicine' and stuff like that, then I'd be cool I recommend for any one who likes Charby the Vampirate. Just know you won't be seeing any gore or stuff like that (Though you do hear it) |
| You can read this review in its original format here. |
| :|: | BANNERS | :|: |
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| :|: | SPREAD THE WORD | :|: |
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| :|: | DELETED SCENES BY SEASON | :|: |
| Season 1: | Season 2: |
| WORD | Lost Episode 1 |
| OJ | Lost Episode 2 |
| ORIGIN |
