This Isn't What I Had In Mind

barbarian #1 DigitalI posted about TRUE digital comics. Comics that were created with the digital medium in mind that broke from the format of the printed medium and actually advanced digital for the better. I posted the article on Twitter and received a reply saying that "I shouldn't fear, Barbarian was here." Being curious I checked out the first issue of the creator owned series on Comixology for free and was instantly peeved that it had been tweeted in response to my article. I do not want to bash Barbarian, because it is creator owned and that's what I would love to support the most when it comes to comics. But this book was the perfect example of what not to do. The only "innovations" that the comic had was the flow reading that is pretty standard in most comics and the shaky page... in the preview at the end of the book. The story, well I'm still trying to figure that one out since there wasn't one. It was just a series of events and action sequences involving a man wearing green who's suddenly attacked. Then he invades a castle after the front door is left open and after stabbing and severally beating the brothers that own the castle one of them bonks him on the head and puts him in the dungeon. I don't know who any of the characters are, what time the story takes place or even when the story takes place. I don't even know for sure who the "Barbarian" is. The saddest part of all of this is that this all digital creator owned comic is 100% set up in traditional comic format. Never fear I will not be reading issue two and have to whole heartily disagree with the Comixology rating of "Meh" to whatever is lower than that on their scale, perhaps "Whoops, I shouldn't have downloaded that." Again I hate to bash on creator owned comics, but this type of bad storytelling and below average art is exactly what keeps the medium from being taken serious.