Name of Comic: Property of Gwen

Artist: Scott Hooper

Number of Strips: 39

Art Style: American Anime

I have never been very adamant about writing bad reviews or critiques. I find, when I look for a comic to review, I can usually tell after a certain amount of time that the comic is just no good, and I move on to a comic that has more equal positive and negative qualities. I don't like reviewing comics that really skew too far off the spectrum, as then its just either a gushing review or a damning critique. I'm just not generally a mean person. I realize behind every crappy comic is a person just like me with crappy hopes and dreams.

However, sometimes I’m forced to review something I have difficulty finding any redeeming qualities, which brings us to Scott Hooper, writer of The Property of Gwen.

The Property of Gwen is a webcomic about the day to day life of a teenage girl who likes to play video games, especially Dance Dance Revolution (at which she is the greatest player ever.) Thus far in the comic she has beat some guy at DDR and um, I guess she's going to have to fight some sort of demon version of herself that speaks in 1337 5P34k. And, and this is the craziest part, its actually got some decent readership. No, I'm not joking.

I honestly couldn't believe it was what I was reading at first. I thought to myself, "Self, who in this day and age would actually consider doing a comic like this? Maybe a year ago, sure, but now? Doesn't everyone realize its already been done better than you're going to do it about 30 times, and done just as badly as you're going to do it about a thousand?" Apparently not. Let this be a lesson to anyone who is planning on doing a comic. Don't do it like this. On the list of ideas you consider for a plot, anime/web comic clichés should rank low on the list.

Ok, so maybe its funny. If its sufficiently funny then the really bad plot choice won't really be quite so detrimental. But its not that funny. The jokes are mediocre when they're there, and more often than not the comic actually exists to further the unfortunate plot.

The art isn't bad per se, but its nothing special. It's your typical sort of American kid trying to draw Japanime characters. Not as good as real anime but not bad enough to be unsettling. I really want to say something good. I really do. I guess the site layout's pretty good... but that's all I can muster. All and all I would have to say that there is absolutely no reason to read this comic when there are so many actually good comics out there. And if you need to read about a teenage girl who plays videogames go read Keenspace alumni Annie the Hardcore Gamer, it really is the only comic like this I've ever happened upon that has any sort of quality.

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