Questions and Comments

[Basque]

Salutations! ^^ I'm a long time reader of Peter is the Wolf but first time commenter...I really hope I'm not being intrusive by doing this because it does seem like you guys do have a nice community going here and I wouldn't want to be bothersome. But I do really enjoy the comic and I know a lot of hard work has gone into it so I figured the least I could do is give a little feedback.

First of all, I was surprised to see how widely Peter is the Wolf is known-they even have fliers for it at a local anime shop. However you guys are advertising the comic it seems to really be working, most people I've talked to about it have at least known what I was talking about. Just in general, when I asked around anonymously a bit I found response to be positive for people aware of the comic, with the most common complaints being not enough updates (but you could update everyday and someone would still complain about updates) and the plot getting in the way of, well, to corrupt a phrase from Dr. Tran: Hot Werewolf Dickings.

Actually, I was going to try to go through this entire thing mentioning the adult part of the comic as little as possible, but if you don't mind me saying so I'm actually pretty impressed with the way it's been handled. I think when comedy is injected into it they work very well together. Plus I think one of the problems that Hollywood always has when it comes to this, like in Bond movies or the Matrix or any of the many, many movies with some obligatory romance scene is that scene stops the plot in its tracks. However, by structuring the comic so that we get two different viewpoints, with Jean just recently and with Noah before that you actually keep other stuff going on and I believe that's an excellent way to handle it.

Although I think both the artwork and he storyline are integral to the success of the comic as a whole, from what I've gathered either from the wiki (and I think it great that you have a functioning wiki for the comic) or around the board is that the writing and drawing chores are sort of split up, so I think it might work best to address the two parts separately. I'll start off with the artwork to just to be alphabetical but also because I think the artwork is really one of the first ways a new reader judges a prospective comic.

First I think that overall the artwork for the comic is very high quality, especially in comparison to a lot of the other webcomics out there. I'm always impressed at the level of detail that's put into each page, considering all the background and atmospheric details that are just touched on or completely left out in other places. The characters are very solid as well, even when it becomes exaggerated the anatomy looks right and this is one of the only works I've sen where both the humans and the wolves look equally good. Actually speaking of the characters I do think one of the strong points of the artwork is how expressive it is, particularly when it comes to characters interactions with each other. I think it helps that each character has his or her own unique personality, and the artwork really lets that shine through when they take the stage, so to speak. But that's getting more into story aspects. Another thing I think comes across very well in the comic are the sound effects. They remind me of a lot of published comics because of the different ways they're shown, varying the font and such depending on what the sound the effect is mimicking. And honestly I don't think I've ever seen "Spielberg!" used like that before-that was a stroke of genius on someone's behalf.

Now I do think that the consistent style of the comic is another one of its strengths, and I think the anime/manga influence to it does help with a lot of the exaggeration, both expressive and otherwise, and the lighter tone the comic has most of the time. However, just by virtue of using that style it carries its own pratfalls as well. I can't say how many of your readers are familiar with anime/manga conventions (with a young adult audience I would assume a decent portion of them were nowadays) but I think it's reasonable to assume no matter how many are there will also be some readers who aren't as familiar with them as well. What I mean to say is I hope you guys don't go too far with those kinds of effects. The example that comes to mind is Peter's expression on . Although I did think it was comical, I've seen the same sort of thing in Excel Saga and the like and just don't know what kind of range that gag has outside of people with that kind of exposure. Nobody else seems to have mentioned it though, so its probably nothing. On a similar note, although I don't think it detracts from the comic at all it seems to have a very basic manga structure. Although it has been really nice to see the half-page splashes and such (though I don't recall ever seeing a full page splash at the moment) I think it would make the comic more dynamic to include more of a variety in the way it's structured. Just effects like panels in panels or the splashes that are used or even something as simple as just changing the basic could help. Again though, I do want to emphasize that overall I do think the comic looks great and that it's being handled very well.

Moving on to the more story oriented aspects of the comic: again I think by and large everything has been proceeding very well and so far it's all worked out excellently. I've been especially impressed with how smoothly the characters were introduced in the beginning and how their developments have come across since then. In fact, I really think that this is largely a character driven work which could be due at least in part to its character-centric focus but I think it's good that focus is being followed because I think that's where a lot of the strength of the writing comes from. In addition, so far I've been impressed with the pacing and how the story has kept moving up until now. That's a very good thing too see because even with a lot of published works (some of Marvel's comics come to mind) it seems like a seven-part work could have been five parts or such and I don't get that feeling with Peter is the Wolf. That might be partially because comedy is integrated so well into the storyline, the jokes are very character-driven and feel natural rather than coming across as gags in each panel. Finally I don't know if this is a story aspect or just an integral part of the comic since it's conception but so far I've really liked the modern interpretation of the shape shifter mythos. Although it certainly does share similarities with other modern interpretations, as it's bound to, it does has it's own voice and makes for a great back drop to the characters. It's not without its own set of concerns, though:

Foremost, are there any humans? The perspective has always been a primary concern of mine for fantastical works like these. Humans are suppose to outnumber the shifter species, correct? It just really doesn't seem like we've seen that in the comic, since there are only a handful of reoccurring human characters I can think of at the moment. And now with the introduction of a werecat and if I recall correctly there was something on the boards about a werebear in one of Peter's college classes...although I think it can be attributed in the beginning to focusing of Peter's family and relations which are largely werewolves it will be interesting to see how it develops in the newest arc. With that being said, though, you should never let a silly thing like realism get in the way of telling a good story. One of the other things I'm worried about in the comic is the loose continuity. A great thing about serial works is the ability to have multiple plot threads and address them in turn, because it can be great for both suspense and drama and it's one of the main reasons I'm a big fan of the medium. However, that sort of thing can be a double edge sword. For instance, although it's not necessary for you to resolve the issue of the guys in the white van that were chasing Peter in the very beginning of the comic anytime soon, simply by introducing them and then moving on it sort of is implied that plot thread will be wrapped up at some point. Which actually does lead into the next point I was going to make: if I recall correctly I remember reading on the boards somewhere that the bulk of Peter is the Wolf was already planned out and if I can recall the details it was going to be three books of five chapters each and cover June to December in comic time wise? If that is correct than I'm really worried about that time limit, skipping six weeks to get to book two means at least a month and a half has already gone by, and it hardly seems like we've gotten past the introductions of the characters to have the entire thing be a third over already. Although if I'm remembering any of those times or figures wring than I do sincerely apologize.

There are a lot of individual talking points that I did want to touch on as well, like the Newspaper Man and certain art effects or other story subplots. But I think I may have yapped too much already for one day. Again, I'm sorry if I'm pestering you guys by doing this, but if the comments do help I'd be more than glad to go onto my other points as well. Thank you guys very much for doing Peter is the Wolf, it's really a very enjoyable read and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of it in the future. Good luck with everything! ^^

[tHEfOOL]

[Kris@WLP]

[bar1scorpio]