I started reading DrowTales because I have a longstanding Bile Fascination with drow, and having read several reviews, I did not expect to enjoy this comic. However, having finished an archive binge, I am now suffering from awesomeness withdrawal.
You could use DrowTales as a case study in what you should and should not do in a webcomic. Using dialogue to bind consecutive pages together and make them flow, using the layout of panels to convey emotion, and much more, I didn't realize how basic and important these things are until I saw the author take ten years to learn how to do them.
The best thing I could say about the first twelve or so chapters is that it is an earnest effort by an inexperienced author. He shows flashes of being able to write well, but only flashes. The art is not great either. The author had not yet developed much of a sense for color palettes or good character design, with garish results, nor a sense of layout and shot composition. There's a few interesting ideas hiding in there, I appreciate what the author is trying to do, but across the board, it's really not executed well.
The rest of part 1 (up to chapter 33) is at least enjoyable enough to push through without having to skip ahead every few chapters to remind myself that yes, it does get better. Slowly, slowly, the author learns how to write, worldbuild, and do good art. Regarding this section, I second pretty much everything that @stutebaker says in their review.
Part 2, though... Night-and-day improvement. The art is truly excellent, but the writing is merely pretty good. It has (mostly) exchanged narm for awesomeness, and learned how to achieve emotional force. (I teared up several times in the last few chapters.) The worldbuilding is much better fleshed-out, and its weirder elements downplayed.
So, in all, would I recommend DrowTales? Honestly, no. If it was just part 2, the answer would be an absolute yes. But as it is, much of part 2 wouldn't make as much sense without the characterization, worldbuilding, and general context set out in part 1, and part 1 is bad enough that I'm really not sure it's worth it. But if you're willing to push through some real garbage to get to the gold, go ahead.
And the award for Most Improved goes to...
I started reading DrowTales because I have a longstanding Bile Fascination with drow, and having read several reviews, I did not expect to enjoy this comic. However, having finished an archive binge, I am now suffering from awesomeness withdrawal.
You could use DrowTales as a case study in what you should and should not do in a webcomic. Using dialogue to bind consecutive pages together and make them flow, using the layout of panels to convey emotion, and much more, I didn't realize how basic and important these things are until I saw the author take ten years to learn how to do them.
The best thing I could say about the first twelve or so chapters is that it is an earnest effort by an inexperienced author. He shows flashes of being able to write well, but only flashes. The art is not great either. The author had not yet developed much of a sense for color palettes or good character design, with garish results, nor a sense of layout and shot composition. There's a few interesting ideas hiding in there, I appreciate what the author is trying to do, but across the board, it's really not executed well.
The rest of part 1 (up to chapter 33) is at least enjoyable enough to push through without having to skip ahead every few chapters to remind myself that yes, it does get better. Slowly, slowly, the author learns how to write, worldbuild, and do good art. Regarding this section, I second pretty much everything that @stutebaker says in their review.
Part 2, though... Night-and-day improvement. The art is truly excellent, but the writing is merely pretty good. It has (mostly) exchanged narm for awesomeness, and learned how to achieve emotional force. (I teared up several times in the last few chapters.) The worldbuilding is much better fleshed-out, and its weirder elements downplayed.
So, in all, would I recommend DrowTales? Honestly, no. If it was just part 2, the answer would be an absolute yes. But as it is, much of part 2 wouldn't make as much sense without the characterization, worldbuilding, and general context set out in part 1, and part 1 is bad enough that I'm really not sure it's worth it. But if you're willing to push through some real garbage to get to the gold, go ahead.