#formera

 And to show you that I am not entirely talking out of my ass here, let me just show you the stories, okay?

The first one is called Darkness

Now look, I will say that yes, the thing has still some issues to it. For starters, It is obvious that the art style is manga inspired, though I would argue it looks less inspired by Rumiko Takahashi or your average popular shonen manga design, which actually gives it more of an individual charm than other stuff by Dobson. Next, I don’t know how Dobson drew the black surfaces in the panel, but when you look closely you can see that the color at times crosses the panel lines. It is not very obvious on first glance though. Also, the panels outlines are at times not completely straight and the way shadows and light work here is basic. It is not like the light dimmers or there are areas of gray in the comic.

However, those are in my opinion kinda nitpicks. Cause honestly, I think Dobson works well enough with the “bland” contrast of black and white here and I like how very few white lines are used to give a basic impression of the sheets and other surfaces. We see just enough of the room to get a sense of atmosphere here. Next, I like the facial expressions on the characters and their design. Nothing too detailed and complex, but the simplistic expressions the siblings have on page 3 alone actually manage to convey the emotions decently. You get the sadness and worry in the face of the younger kid and the worry, surprise and “love” in the older sibling. Also, the last page is a decent “scare” to end on. No explanation what happened, just an empty bed and one person left, forever wondering where her sibling is. Heck, even the font for the words/the way they are written works well enough for that kind of story to tell. This is a decent short comic.

 Next story, Photo

 Here I have to admit I find more flaws than in the previous one, most of them connected to minor continuity errors. Like the punkgirl Gwen having prominently black polished nails in panel 3 of the first page, but in the last panel when the hands are still close enough at a certain ankle for the nails to be seen, not even black dots. Also the cigarette not realy being hold but slightly floating in the last panel. Page 2 is the most flawed one in my opinion. The perspective in the first panel just looks tilted as if it was a minor dutch ankle. Seriously, get a ruler. Also, the girl in the dress having wrist bands in the second panel, which were not there on the prior page, the follow up panel and still show up on the following pages. Also I am not sure, but did Gwen suddenly wear black jeans instead of a black skirt or is that a result of the curtain blending into her legs too much?

 In regard of the last three pages, there is not really much I can say. The “worst” for me is that the face of the girl becomes too basic especially in the second panel of the last page. The payoff however of the photo booth making them disappear is actually not all that bad. Don’t know if you ever heard of the superstition that a picture can steal someone’s soul, but I think that is more or less what happened here. I especially like the two last panels in that regard. The first one with the expression in a flashlight, which really seems to indicate something scary is happening, the last panel and the expressions in the pics indicating that the character is getting her soul sucked out and surrendering to her dark fate.

 And with that we get to the last story of the bunch, Teddy

 I really can not say much here aside of the fact that I am baffled that Dobson went in that direction with the story. Cause this feels legitimately dark. A little kid being dragged into an alley by a child molester, the train of thoughts of the kid, the aftermath of the kid standing in the gore of the victim? IPart of me is not surprised it ended the way it did, because that type of story has been done by others over the course of fiction too, but I need to give credit, that is a decent 4 page adaptation of the concept. I also like the fact that the linework gets subtly better/more detailed as we get closer to the end, with the last page in particular having nice blood splatters and use of basic speed lines to it. It also helps that enough effort is put into the design of the kid where you as a reader want to genuinely protect it from whoever is assaulting it.

 So yeah, three short comics by Dobson, likely done sometimes between Patty and the official publishing of Formera, which actually blow the artwork in both of the books slightly out of water by comparison. And I am not even kidding.

I mean, THIS is some of the artwork seen in Patty and Formera

 Those three stories somehow manage to be legitimately nice and plot coherent stuff to look at compared to comics he tried to sell as ongoing series for money. Sure, it is not Junji Ito level of scary or drawn and the character design is very manga-esque, but honestly, I take this Dobson over present day Dobson, whose Cabin’s Rest story had basic pacing issues, past Dobson did not seem to have in those stories.

Well, that is it then for today. And in case you are disappointed I did not rip him a new one entirely… look, I will give the guy once in a while credit where credit is due, okay? Also believe me, this is more of a situation where once in a while, on a whimp, when the wind is in the right direction, I happen to be kind. (shout out to anyone getting the reference)