Moth City Season 3 Part 2 Review

Moth-City-Iss-6_preview-coverI always thought a great ongoing series is like an old friend. Every few weeks it comes to stay, brings some beers, and then leaves with the promise of some much nicer beer the next time he rolls into town. Moth City always feels a bit different. It walks into your house with a fine brew, lets you enjoy it, and just before you finish punches you square in the gut. But man does it feel good.

The emotional punch comes midway through the issue, when Governor McCaw makes an ultimately reprehensible choice. This choice, while evil and would damn any normal person to hell, feels earned and in character. Too often do the main cast in issue make a choice that feels underdeveloped and out of character, but Gibson maintains a strong grasp of his cast as he moves forward.

Also, who would have thought that the most noble and human of his cast would be the first one infected? Jun continues to battle his inner demons, as well as all the outside ones. This leads to some fairly exciting and tense moments as the remaining uninfected battle both sides of the coin. One thing that ultimately seems missing is more emphasis on his feral side, but with a large event looming at the end of the issue, it seems like things can only get worse.

As usual, Gibson’s art duties are stellar. His panel design is fantastic, and while the first half of the issue is light on the motion panels, that is easily forgiven when the aforementioned scene takes place and Gibson really shows the potential of this format.

Really the only thing that can be said otherwise is that a lot of this issue feels like it is setting up for the big finale, and while that won’t be a bad thing in the long run the tease begins to drag. That said, when this issue gets rolling, it really gets rolling.

Moth City only has two more issues left before the end, and Tim Gibson has kindly posted the first issue on Comixology for free, so really at this point, you have no excuse.

Review: Moth City Season 3 Part 1 – Tim Gibson

MC-Season-3-part-1_v1Moth City is almost completely unrecognisable from where it began. While writer/artist Tim Gibson warned us, introducing this series as a blend of film noir, horror and the Chinese manhua, but nothing could prepare fans for how much horror it would manifest. This issue twists the doomsday clock that much closer to midnight, blending pulp zombie fiction and family drama in a way that teases a tipping point so exciting, that readers sticking to the Comixology releases are going to have a hard time waiting. Moth City may be unrecognisable, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t better.

Gibson is right at home in the horror genre. His art style is suitably grimy, with his almost grind-house infused colour palate a perfect compliment to the blood and gore that features throughout. Again, he manages to impress with his panels that infuse motion, and his characters have become more detailed as the series has gone on. Gibson appears to have become more comfortable with the series as it has progressed, and this issue gives him plenty of opportunities to showcase that.

Speaking of characters, allegiances also have been drastically challenged since the series began. No longer is Governor McCaw a typical American tycoon, but has been built up as a father who ultimately cares for his daughter, and will stop at nothing to save both his island and family. Also a great touch is Jun, a man battling with the smart-zombie infection (all the hunger plus all the brains), whose own desire to protect his wife outweighs his want to eat her. It’s a nice play on the zombie tropes, and will definitely set up some cool moments before the series end.

And the end is near – only three more issues of Moth City remain, as the island hurtles to fever pitch. Just make sure you get on this series now, because it’s going to be a great ride.

Webcomic Wednesday – Moth City Season 2

moth-city“What?!” I hear you say, “But Sean, today is THURSDAY. You’re a day late!” Well, sure I am. But it’s my show, so my rules and stuff. And besides, good things take time, so the extra day only makes it sweeter.

Speaking of good things, I’ve been meaning to return to Tim Gibson’s Moth City for a while. It was one of my first Webcomic Wednesdays I ever covered and I loved it then. So this week, just in time for the Comixology release, I decided to bring the spotlight back to it once again. So welcome back to Moth City.

Moth City is very much as you knew it from last time. The excellent use of digital space returns, with panels making themselves before your eyes. What’s new is that Gibson has taken to tackling a few more action scenes this time around and it looks great. The sense of movement as the panels switch between each other is great – no longer are you relegated to seeing the entire fight at once.

Speaking of action, the story has started to take on a different approach. Following the cliffhanger at the end of season one, it seems to have picked up on the small strands of horror and begun to run with them. Certain events are transpiring to ensure something bad is going to happen. We only get a sense of what is really to come, but without spoiling anything – it’s looking good, and it’s looking to go bad spectacularly.

You can check out Moth City here, on Thrillbent, and on Comixology. It’s shaping up to be something that horror fans should be keeping an eye on and it is a lot of fun.

Have any webcomics you want me to check out? Let me know on my twitter @Pipes815, or send me a message via our contact form.

Moving On Up: Moth City Now On Thrillbent

Remember Moth City? That webcomic that had made good use of the digital space which I adored. Do you also remember Insufferable, Mark Waid’s own webcomic which I also enjoyed? Well now they both have something in common; you can now find Tim Gibson’s Moth City over at Thrillbent.

Thrillbent, from the minds of Mark Waid and John Rogers, is an online home for a wide range of webcomics, all maintaining a pretty high standard, which makes Moth City‘s home a no-brainer really.

Moth City is a great read, and this can only mean good things for this small, New Zealand based creator. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes next.

Tim Gibson also made up a small trailer for the release, which you can view below:

You can now check out Moth City here at its new home.

Webcomic Wednesday – Moth City

Hello and welcome to Webcomic Wednesday! Each week I take a look at a webcomic and let you know what I think about it. This week I’m taking a more local route and checking out Moth City, a digital comic from Wellington based creator Tim Gibson.

Moth City Webcomic Review

I’m guessing that probably ninety percent of my comics are purchased digitally through the Comixology app. In much the same way that my gaming library is mainly composed of Steam-bought titles, my comics library is very much relegated to my iPad. Despite the popularity of the app – Comixology regularly boasts as being the top grossing for in-app purchases- very few companies make interesting use of the format itself outside of a few examples (last year’s  AvX: Infinite series is one example).

Tim Gibson’s webcomic Moth City not only embraces the digital realm as a means of distribution, but capitalises on the possibilities that print comics cannot. In short, Moth City is an evolution of the comic form.

Moth City very rarely remains static. Panels often shift and change; eyes will move, lights will flicker. It even allows the reader to focus on the image at times before the speech bubbles appear. It’s not only an economy of space – each panel allows for more than one action to take place – but it looks stylish as well. It feels more akin to a motion comic, except it lets the reader move at their own pace.

Alongside the motion, the building of the page panel-by-panel as you click lets the story feel like you are watching a film. Gibson appears to direct the action – at certain points only a small part of the panel will be shown before it expands out to show the bigger picture. It gives more freedom for storytelling, rather than filling the page with clutter with panels showing a step-by-step, it allows for more information in one panel to be taken in. It lets the reader focus on what’s important before pulling back to show the big picture.

Use of digital format aside, Moth City is a great read. A noir crime drama set on a Chinese island in the 1930’s, it moves at a brisk pace, full of suspense and action. Almost at the end of it’s first “season”, Moth City is building towards an exciting finale, injecting equal parts mystery and horror into the latter half.

The art is strong, with a dark colour palette that compliments the tone of the story. Despite the changing nature of panels, Gibson takes into careful consideration how the action should show, like the lights dimming over a character, and this attention to detail is a treat to see. Moth City knows its unique format, and moves to work with it.

Like I mentioned before, Moth City is nearing the end of its first season next Monday, and you should definitely check it out before then. It’s the evolution of an art form, showing the potential of digital comics has, and it’s an exciting future.

It’s updated every Tuesday and Thursday NZ time, and you can check it out here.

Have any webcomics you want me to check out? Let me know on my twitter @Pipes815, or send me a message via our contact form.