Bittersweet Candy Bowl is a comic that used to update 3 times a week. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday its fans would frantically update the main page of its official website to find out the newest developments. We were specifically impatient if the previous page contained a cliffhanger. What will happen next, we would wonder, how will the character react to this abrupt turn? Will they be okay? Will the drama descend further down the ever-growing pit of despair?
Most of the times, our question is answered. Sometimes, the new information provides us with another mystery, food for thought, material for conspiracy theories...
And sometimes we get pages like these.
[CAUTION: BITCHING UNDER CUT]
6. Class of 2008, page 12
What I don’t like about it: This page features one character, drawn twice. Neither instance is particularly detailed. The second one is not even inked or coloured; instead, it is just shaded with a pencil, reminiscent of the style of early volume 1. There is absolutely no background. Overall, it looks like the artist just gave up on it.
Why is it not #1: While it looks a bit lazy, it still sends a message. Tess is leaving for good, and she is not just leaving the school: there is no gate or road to indicate a bigger world she is leaving to, and there are no new friends she is leaving us for. Because it does not matter. The important part is that she is leaving the comic itself. She has left, faded away, disappeared back to Volume 1 where fan-made characters like her belong, she is GONE.
5. December, page 1
What I don’t like about it: No text, not a single character in sight, page full of snow and a blink-and-you-miss-it silhouette in the bottom right corner. Sure, it looks okay to read in printed comic book format, but is it worth waiting several days for?
Why is it not #1: Without anyone’s internal monologue we get slowly immersed in the story this chapter presents. ‘That morning, it started snowing. What was just several snowflakes descending from the sky every so often at first, soon turned into a real snowfall, and by the time class started, you could hardly see anything out of the windows of Roseville High School-’ you get the point. For all its simplicity, it does get the meaning, as well as the feeling, across.
4. Total recall, page 26
What I don’t like about it: What’s not to love? It is a two pages long, messy, careless splash of black paint, followed by another giant splash of black paint and a tiny drawing of a bouquet. Wow, that must have taken so much thought to plan out, and such skill to draw!/s
Why is it not #1: I’ll give it to Vera, this kinda is how it feels to get hit by traffic, in my experience. A flash of light, a flash of pain so sudden you don’t really register it, and then _nothing_. Plus, as the reader, we get this moment of suspense - oh shit! they sure got hit by that truck! Are they okay? Will they even live?? Don’t change the channel, and you find out next week, unless we decide to add another single, mute frame that does not explain a lot.
Also, this was back in the times where Taeshi was drawing by hand, on paper where mistakes are less fixable, and sometimes at a rate of 5 pages per week. Can I blame her for wanting a break from drawing sometimes?
3. Escape route, page 7
What I don’t like about it: AAA huge head- Yeah no, not really, even though I am not digging the proportions here. No, the problem is that there is nothing but a fuzzy gradient, a single bust of a character in three quarters, and a sound effect. It is made worse by the fact that this chapter includes
several
long
pages
with
little
to
no
essence
If you got annoyed reading the text above, imagine my feelings having to wait for these to go up. Eugh.
Why is it not #1: Unlike everything below on the list, this page actually has One entire character bust, a gradient AND a sound effect!
2. Love again, page 31
What I don’t like about it: It is #5′s lazier looking cousin. This time we don’t even get several frames demonstrating a timeframe, or a silhouette. Just snow. Nothing but snow. Just more of the same shit that already took up half of the previous page in this chapter. If you threw this page away from the chapter, would it even be noticeable? Its function is zero, its quality is not far from that.
Why is it not #1: It gets points for referencing the aforementioned chapter, sending us emotionally back to the approximate time when the flashback is supposed to take place, and also, has something drawn on it.
1. Dial tone, page 24
What I don’t like about it:
-
-
-
-
-
You get the point.
Honorary mention: Unrequited, page 11
What I don’t like about it: Prior to seeing this page, we the reader already knew that Sandy was real, and we knew how she looked. This kind of page would be emotionally justified if it were revealing something Big, but as is, it just does not have the same effect.
Why is it not #1: Technically, this page was added to the volume later during a pre-print renovation, so nobody actually had to wait for several days to see something they have already known since volume 1. It got a honorary mention at all only because, were it posted that way from the beginning, it would have been a disappointment to read in the 3 pages a week webcomic format.
That’s all, folks! Thank you for reading my salty rant, remember not to take it to heart as it is just one bitter man’s subjective bitching, and have a great time of the day.
Я вижу много артов (в том числе ваших), где фигурируют взрослые персонажи Конфетки, а также их дети! Вы уже знаете как все сложится, кто с кем будет, кто от кого родит ребенка, или просто пишете сюжет, как придет в голову, то есть, без заготовок? И да. Вы будете писать комикс про второе поколение Конфетки, про детей знаменитых персонажей "Bittersweet Candy Bowl"?!?! Я НЕ хочу, чтобы комикс кончался, но было бы интересно посмотреть на "версию Конфетки 2.00"... Заранее спасибо за ответы!!!!!!!!!
I see a lot of artifacts (including yours), where the adult characters of Candy, as well as their children, appear! You already know how everything will turn out, who will be with whom, who will give birth to a child, or simply write a story, how will it come to mind, that is, without workpieces? And yes. You will write a comic about the second generation of Candy, about the children of the famous characters “Bittersweet Candy Bowl”?!?! I do not want the comic book to end, but it would be interesting to look at the “version of Candy 2.00” … Thank you in advance for the answers !!!!!!!!!
Veronica: There’s not gonna be a BCB: Gen 2 series, sorry!! I know how the story ends, but apart from a few bits of epilogue we’re not gonna delve into the future kids’ lives!
Author’s Notes: There she is! We are a bit late on this, but that’s more for technical issues on the part of me and my…I guess writer? (He puts the word bubbles in) In any case I was testing out a few different things here, and I quite like how they’ve turned out… except for the glass, I don’t think it works as well when it’s a big pane like this, I’ll have to fiddle with that a bit more. Anyway, here you go!
Таеши, простите за нескромный вопрос, но как вы планируете закончить Конфетку? (О, пожалуйста, пусть это будет очень-очень-очень-очень-очень нескоро!..)
Taeshi, sorry for the indelicate question, but how do you plan to finish the Candy? (Oh, please, let it be very, very, very, very, very soon! ..)
Veronica: Candy is really hard to keep for long periods of time so we probably won’t be making any more, they don’t get sold enough so a lot of them pass their expiration date. It doesn’t help that they also cost a lot to ship, so it leads into the previous problem! I’m sorry!! ;___;
Oliver: I thought this was a question about how and when the comic would end. You’ll have to wait!
Yeah, I know and I still don’t think it was justified to translate “Bittersweet candy bowl“ as “Кисло-сладкая конфетка“(a soursweet candy). It fails to convey the original’s meaning and causes confusion(see: OP).
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