07/08/2021
Here’s a review of Vandora Zandra issue number 1 which we printed in issue 2. For this reason we decided to give issue one a do over. This series is available on Amazon also for other outlets google Vandora Zandra.
Vandora Zandra Edition 1 Feedback
Although reading your book was one of my first experiences reading an entire comic book, I found it to be very engaging and fun to read. I have to say I really liked how you designed the frames sort of overlapping one another with the artwork itself sometimes spilling onto another frame. These overlaps made the story seem more fluid and gave a better sense that each frame is connected to the one before and the one coming next. More along the lines of that, a specific example that I enjoyed was on the page where a young Vandora is talking to her mom about holding back in baseball while in the middle of that page is a large picture of current Vandora. This drawing Vandora really pulled me in because it was something unique that wasn’t in the other pages—it’s also a time where one can clearly see the entire main character and can sort of understand her a little better. Perhaps it is just what each reader makes of it, but in that frame she is standing sort of shyly yet still smiling confidently, which I think kind of reflects the type of character she is. Another example like this, perhaps my favorite drawing of the comic book, was when a kid the “Awesome” shirt is picking up the needle. That specific drawing looks very realistic and exactly how I would imagine a little kid reacting to finding a needle in their playground. Another example that I really like was the frame one page before where you can see Vandora move over time and jump over one of the thugs. This was flat out just pretty cool because it’s something a reader doesn’t usually get to see in books and seeing that really got me imagining how the whole scene in the store would be working out in real life. Therefore the artwork does draw me in very much; it was varied, realistic, engaging, and especially not static. By not static I mean that in every frame the characters are doing something, which allows the reader to imagine the movements the characters would be doing.
That being said, I did find that the characters, specifically Keith, did not look too similar in separate frames. Although I could clearly tell it was him, I did find it slightly distracting when he looked different. For example, the way that he looks in the first about 4 pages was markedly different from how he looked in the last scene where Vandora is beating up the thug assaulting Keith. Additionally, the scene where Vandora asks her physics teacher if he knew who she was and then just sticks her quiz in the middle of the pile is slightly confusing. I understand what happened there, that she was asking him if he knew who she was and if she said no she could just stick the test in the middle of the pile and he couldn’t pick it out, because I have seen that joke before, but the artwork doesn’t show that part very clearly. It is hard to tell what Vandora is doing in those three mini frames.
As I said before, the layout of the pages is very cool and something that I think you should continue doing. The frames touching each other, being unique, overlapping and spilling over make the story fluid and drew me in very well. I also found it easier than I thought to NOT get confused as to which frame came next.
The story in general was interesting and fun, although I did find it slightly cliché because one “meets” the bad guys at the beginning of the story and they are introduced as thugs. I would have liked to see more of a twist to the story near the climax. Including Keith’s Dad wanting the thugs to kill Keith did seem to aim at adding an unexpected twist, but it would have been more interesting and enticing if that was a bigger deal in the story instead of simply a small corner frame—perhaps even changing the angle of that frame so one could see Keith’s stepdad’s facial expression when he said that. Was he smiling? Was he sad? Did he just not really care? Moreover, I think the second half of the story was more interesting than the first half because the second half is action-packed, full of movement and very colorful. I do understand that the beginning of the story is used to introduce the characters and all, but it just felt too obvious that the story was trying to introduce the characters. The conversation between Vandora and Keith just didn’t seem too real or genuine; it felt as if the two characters were just meeting for a first time as the reader was getting to know them. However, the story was fun and had a great idea going. I liked how the story seemed to hint at that Vandora had her powers but one didn’t really know until you actually saw her in action in that scene.
On a separate note, I did find many spelling errors throughout the comic book which at one point did get slightly distracting, although the meaning of everything was still clear. Just some examples are quiz is spelled like quize and unconscious is spelled like unconsiounce. Similar to that, the first page has spelling mistakes that were distracting, in particular the last sentence in the paragraph about Tomi Igarashi that ends with the unfinished sentence “T-D-H specializes”. Also I would have liked to see a cover page that related to the story. Although the current one with the big guy getting held up looks very visually fun and cool it sort of made me want to meet that character but you never do. Also as a very small side note I noticed that any sentence that did not end in “…” or a question mark ended in an exclamation mark, which made the sentences that were really supposed to be exclaimed seem less important.
What I would like to see in upcoming stories/books would be more of what Vandora can do and what her powers truly are. I’d like to see her more in action throughout the comic book, not just at the end. I would also like to see Keith be more involved with helping Vandora—perhaps they can go on a mission together at some point. Finally, after reading the story I was still wondering how her Physics teacher was involved in Vandora’s life. Although the into paragraph explains it a little, I would like to see him get involved with helping or going against Vandora so one could understand what his relationship and role is in Vandora’s life.
All in all, I truly did enjoy reading the comic book and found it to be wonderful first time experience for reading a comic book. The artwork really drew me in and kept me engaged throughout the entire story. I hope you continue doing great work like this in the future!
