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Tor.com has announced an ambitious program of original webcomics and one of them debuted yesterday, Dan Goldman’s RED LIGHT PROPERTIES. The comic — about real estate woes in Miami — uses a snappy storytelling interface that unfolds in a natural way, and Goldman (SHOOTING WAR, ’08) has developed some new art techniques for the story, as he wrote in an announcement:

I’ve changed up webcomics a bit in the way the pages are presented, and I’ve upgraded my process to using Maya to create/light virtual environments for my characters to inhabit, so there’s a lot of sexy-new here for you to enjoy.

1 COMMENT

  1. This is not really a rag on Dan Goldman here, but moreso this “new trend” in general. I’m curious what people think about using photography in comics? It seems to be slipping in more and more over at Marvel as well; mostly just backgrounds, cityscapes, etc. But it used to at least be subtle/sketched over, reworked in some manner. Now it’s just a photograph with a character drawn over it. I’m personally not a fan. Is it laziness, or just a new style of comics work? Thoughts?

  2. This artwork reminds me of playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I like the style, it will be interesting to see where the webcomic goes.

  3. Interesting use of interface and developing story. A push beyond the normal for sure.
    I feel a disjoint between the strange backgrounds and the figures.
    I also question a fantasy/sci-fi book site having a real estate comic on it. Maybe there is more to come toward that bent, but I don’t find real estate all that exciting.

  4. I find it as frustrating a webcomic reading experience as I’ve yet had. A single click, anywhere on the current page/panel/screen, that sends you to the next, well that’s a good idea. But clicking multiple times on one “page” to make subsequent panels appear one-by-one? No thanks. Nevermind clicking multiple times within ONE panel to make additional dialogue appear. In the ideal comics reading experience, one should begin to feel so immersed that it begins to feel as if one is watching, not just reading. The continuous need to click doesn’t just take me out of the story; it keeps me at a constant arm’s length from it. And I do have DSL, so there’s no delay involved. It just really doesn’t work for me.