Review: Zara Rogers
The old three-panel comic strip that once drew adults and children alike to newspapers in its post-war heyday has seen something of a resurgence thanks to the growth and exposure potential of the webcomic format. The neat, quick bursts of story provided by the format are perfectly suited to an age when comics are moving to portable devices and being digested on the go, and the amount of platforms available means there’s a wealth of choice out there for readers.
Of course this also means that three-panel series creators have to come up with something pretty special to attract the smartphone set into downloading and following their output, and its this yardstick by which Zara Rogers is going to be measured.
Following the titular young woman as she returns from an around-the-world trip to work in her uncle’s business only to find out that that business is unlike any job she could ever imagine, creator Tommie Kelly puts together a blend of classic noir monochrome and modern art visuals that ooze the rough-hewn feel of newsprint while remaining current, and a story that sets up like many a 40s suspense thriller, before switching to another genre altogether over the course of the tale. The three-panel format gives Kelly some leeway with the writing, which is prone to some awkward moments of exposition, but succeeds competently in squeezing cliffhangers and plot developments into the finite amount of boxes at his disposal.
It’s all packaged neatly enough, but there’s little else to glean from it. There’s a lack of substance and character in the buildup; Zara doesn’t do anything outside her situation to make a reader engage with her, and other characters show up briefly, explain things, and disappear. Again it’s a hazard of the format, but without a strong central character, stories like this are a tough sell. The grammar of the prose, while appreciably old-school, feels clunky and functional when webcomics are finding more and more interesting ways to combine words and visuals, and doesn’t make you feel like checking out subsequent instalments the way it could.
There’s nothing wrong as such with Zara Rogers, and there is definitely scope to tweak its downsides in future entries, but by the yardstick of standing out from the myriad of other titles at the fingertips of readers, it’s just not measuring up.
[easyreview cat1title=”The Arcade Verdict” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”5″]
