By Alton Jerome McFarland
Everything Jake (located at www.everythingjake.com)
is a serial web-based comic by Mike Rosenzweig. Having never visited
a web-based comic before, I was very surprised at how much I liked
the concept.
Being a formerly avid reader of traditional comic books, I was concerned
as to how long I would be able to stare at my computer screen. I used
to enjoy the mobility and freedom allowed with paper comics and have
fond memories of reading outside, in bed, upside down, etc. Amazingly,
though, once I sat down and began looking at Everything Jake,
I was completely engrossed. The site employs a completely black background
that helps immensely in maintaining the reader's focus. And since
comics have limited dialogue, I experience none of the "monitor-weariness"
that often comes with reading extended text off a computer screen.
The site has a very minimalist layout. Each page has the comic and
arrows that allow you to move forward to the next strip or backward
to the previous one. Even, though, I'm used to having a lot more panels
on one page, clicking to move forward wasn't much of a bother. It
also helped that the comic was very well drawn and interesting. Other
than the comic itself, the site offers a message board where readers
can post opinions, suggestions, etc., and archive of all previous
installments, and a small cast description. The cast description in
particular was a very nice feature since it allowed me (a first-time
reader) to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the characters
without having to go back and read all the previous issues. Traditional
comics also often have a quick blurb sketching out the radioactive
accident or other event that led to a particular character's inception,
but nothing nearly so detailed. Everything Jake, while probably
one of the simplest, was all in all one of the better sites I've visited
in a long time.