For those who were disappointed with Lookouts, Tycho subtly slams it in today’s newspost:
I didn’t like the way Lookouts turned out, but I think you’re reading too much into Tycho’s words there. He meant that Lookouts is the kind of thing he writes better by instinct, versus Automata, which calls for “a more metered touch,” as he puts it. He wasn’t offering any sort of commentary on Dreistadt/Grigsby’s work, but rather comparing two different approaches he himself takes to writing.
I considered that. But I also think, as others have mentioned in this thread, that Tycho is not altogether happy with how Lookouts turned out.
It wouldn’t surprise me if that were the fact. However, I also think Tycho has enough class not to publicly bitch out the artists he himself commissioned - particularly in such an indirect, passive-aggressive sort of way.
Not only do I agree, but I think you’d be reading far too much into Tycho’s earlier posts to conclude that he hates the finished product.
(Since just so somebody admits to it, I didn’t mind Lookouts at all and had no trouble following it; of course that’s not the same thing as liking it. But then I was already familiar with Becky Dreistadt—and I’ll note for the sake of doing so that she seems rather well regarded among artists.)
I’ll ressurect this thread to mention that after giving the artists of Lookouts grief for having the artwork be unclear, I can’t figure out what happened in the 5th/6th page Automoton either. Robot and detective are fighting, then we see the robots eyes turn back to their normal color, then he gets hit by a car, then he’s not trying to kill the detective anymore. Then in the last page we see he also lost an arm, which you can sorta see back in page 5, but only after reading page 6 and looking back.
I think it means the robot gained control for a while, then stepped infront of the car to keep from killing the detective, but only got winged by the car which ripped off his arm. Why loosing an arm makes him turn back from evil to good robot really isn’t clear.
Trying to jam a story into a five page comic is apparently pretty hard, even if, like Tycho and Gabe, your somewhat used to the format.
I agree. I was really looking forward to Automata, but the story was confusing at best and no where near as great as their Dead Rising-inspired nine-page Armadeaddon saga.
I liked the art and the story, but yes, the eye thing was unclear. I assume it was one of those ‘robot overcomes programming with an act of will’ things.
When is Penny-Arcade going to stop sucking?
I really liked Automata; the setting and premise are really interesting, but the story itself seemed to… lack a point, for want of a better term.
The setting would make a great novel, though… 1920s Noir and robots!
Yeah, the three setup pages were pretty fantastic, but the actual “Carl goes crazy” plot that closed it out just didn’t work. But I would still love to see more in the Automata world and the PA guys seem interested in giving it to us.
Oh, and did anyone else have a bad feeling about today’s news posts? A part of me was waiting for one of them to post “I quit motherfucker!” But thankfully that didn’t happen.
They’re talented artists and as much as I like PA, it might not be a silly idea (IMHO) for them to “branch out” a bit and explore something else as well.
Did you see the follow-up posts today? Looks like this struck a nerve with Gabe.