Everdream: Stars Hold no Boundaries - Sci-fi WebComic in-depth Review
Updated: Nov 20, 2020
Hello, my name is Imani aka MaddMoniArt, I’m the creator of the psychological thriller manga Bleakville, and the founder of MaddIndies, a place where I review and support independent Web Comics.
Today, we're going to be looking at the sci-fi webcomic series called Everdream: Stars Hold no Boundaries by Lucca-Vendramel. I read the first 5 Chapters and wrote an in-depth review of the plot, characters, artwork, pros, cons, and my overall opinion on the series. I even got a chance to interview the creator. So, let's get on with the first-ever in-depth review on MaddIndies. I tried my best to avoid any significant spoilers.
Synopsis:
In the far away future, a girl lives peacefully on the planet of Juuna with her family. Maybe too peacefully, since her mundane routine brings her to do something that would put her and those close to her in a lot of danger. It is inspired by famous titles of sci-fi, fantasy, and even slice of life-like Star Wars, Destiny, Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Hilda.
Overview
The main character in Everdream is a curious, adventurous, young girl named Cozmata who's dreaming of one day joining the Federations Army. In the meantime, she scavages items with her mom and aunt inside abandoned spaceships and sells them at the market. Her exploration mindset leads her to run into something life-threatening, and the ending changes everything.
The next couple of chapters introduce us to new mysterious characters. In some way, everything is based around the events that happened at the end of the first chapter.
Cozmata's development through this is unique and shows us that actions have consequences. Along the journey, there were a lot of emotional events that happened, and the pacing gives us time to know the characters so we can become invested and care. By chapter 5, the events that happened in the first chapter catch up to characters, and it comes together in a heartwarming fashion. The real adventure feels like it is about to begin.
Review
PLOT
The world-building is a crazy western cyberpunk in space set in the future, On a planet called Junna. It has drones, androids, moms that look like clouds, elephants smoking a cigar, and it's perfectly normal.
The pacing is more around characters than the plot. Several characters have their story told in their point of view. The pacing around the plot itself is a bit slow, that's not a bad thing at all, in this case, it gives them more depth, so when they interact with each other, it's more interesting.
When it comes to originality, I leave this comment here from a reader on Tapas.
"...Since your work is inspired on Steven universe I'll guess your ultimate goal is to achieve it's perks...." you definitely understand steven universe structure, even though I wouldn't dare to call it a blatant rip-off, you're seeing cozmata not a copy of a S.U's character..."
CHARACTERS
The characters in Everdream are exaggerated like cartoons should be, but they also feel human. They're not perfect people, they make mistakes, they show emotions, they're understanding, and they care for each other. The fascinating aspect is how some characters have a backstory, it makes the universe within the series feel so much bigger.
These characters are well-written and they deal with consequences. The choices they make throughout the series so far have made a lot since and have stayed consistent with the plot.
ART
The art has improved significantly in the later chapters, so I will be covering the artwork starting at Chapter 5. The layout is a sequential traditional colored comic, with 5 to 10 square panels per page. The art style is cartoony and whimsical. The line-work is clean and solid. The backgrounds are beautiful and don't dominate the foreground. The canyons and stars in the night sky are my favorite scenes. All the side characters and main characters each have a unique appearance. The dramatic expression, colors, shading, and camera angles set the tone and complete the scene. It isn't a panel that's lacking detail. Overall, the comic is remarkably professional, it truly looks like an animated show on cartoon network.
PROS & CONS
Pros
+ memorable characters
+ deep world-building
+ Chapter 5 has greatly improved.
Cons
- Old chapters are hard to read
- Format pages to the webcomic format
- Polish the first chapter
Suggestions
- Old chapters are hard to read
All of the problems I had were greatly improved by Chapter 5, but first impression matters, and I recommend redoing the artwork and especially the lettering in the early chapters.
- Polish the first chapter
I already went over fixing the legibility and redoing the art but I found some storytelling issues in the first chapter.
Instead of Cozmata saying Keen, she should say “Aunt Keen” because I didn’t know that was her aunt until the next few chapters.
At some point in the chapter, it’s mentioned that Cozmata what’s to enlist in the Federations Army, I would expand on that more in chapter 1. I believe that a character’s goal should be established in the first chapter.
- Format pages to the webcomic format
I took the original page, cut out the panels, and placed them vertically.
Reading the story vertically is more enjoyable for readers, according to clipstudio.net,
“The biggest difference between the Webtoon-style and conventional comics is the panel division, due to the vertical format.
Since smartphones have limited screen sizes, overlapping panels may be hard to read and often times, zooming in and out of a page is necessary to see details.”
Keep drawing your pages traditionally so one day you’ll be able to print out a physical book, but make an additional file exclusively for the Webtoon and Tapas format.
Here are some tips on how to get the webcomic look.
https://www.clipstudio.net/how-to-draw/archives/15705 https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/2812#19eba15c
Interview
How long have you been creating comic books?
I only started Everdream in 2018 but I've been doing comic books starting all the way from 2010 when I remade the entire star wars franchise as a comic book.
What inspirations did you have behind this project?
A lot of comfort shows of mine such as Steven Universe and Hilda, along with works of Scifi/Fantasy I love like Star Wars and Treasure Planet.
What do you have to say about a certain character from your series?
Keen is my first ever disabled character, her being mute and only being able to speak in sign language. It is quite challenging, but also fun!
How do you come up with the characters in your story?
I mostly think about a concept I find interesting, draw them, and then work on their backstory and place in the story.
Any teasers you want to give your readers?
There is a lot more going on than what we've seen. The drones are just the point of the iceberg.
Anything else you want your readers to know?
I don't plan on being done with Everdream so soon. I made this universe to be infinitely malleable and I plan on having many spin-offs set in different places eventually. There are many stories I still want to tell.
Comentários