Is Rippa the Kathleen Kennedy of the indie comics scene?

I’m still ping ponging

Watching Az just GUSH and clearly be in Rippa’s corner without disclosing they are business partners rubs me the wrong way. At this point I’m calling BS that Az is “just friends” with Rippa, he’s far too invested and gets way too giddy at watching the money roll in.

I want to say that the video above was amazing in some ways, but in others it sends off red flags. The animation, the music, are incredible, this work Rippa was able to put together is awe inspiring. BUT! Something about the general character design and dialogue for every single character really bugs me. Every character lacks… character. The only thing interesting about the narrator in this video is his accent. So we know he’s from the South, but that’s it. What motivates him? Why? Where does his drive come from? Where does he fit into this world? What does he hate? What does he fight for? They are cookie cutter cutouts of a superhero.

The dialogue is not up to par. “Failure is something we don’t do in Alphacore”. This line is just so blatantly a rip off of “Failure is not an option”, but it doesn’t elevate the line. I could give more examples, but nothing in this trailer truly hits. It kinda reads like fanfic. It’s serviceable, but we’re talking THE CORE PROMO MATERIAL FOR THE COMIC HERE, this stuff should be WOWING US. The entire future of Rippaverse rides on the words of these promo materials, if they’re not of a certain standard, it to me shows in inherent dysfunction in this teams ability to create great work. Really listen to what’s being spoken in this video, it’s just not top tier writing, it doesn’t hit, it doesn’t go anywhere. It’s just wishy washy trite dialogue rephrasing what’s been said better elsewhere.

If you close your eyes and imagine Blade, or Wolverine, or Cyclops narrating a video such as this, you can imagine that character adding their own flare to the narrative. It would bleed that persons flaws and strengths, Blade would be terse and aggressive, the room would be filled with cigar smoke as Wolverine got angry talking about how fucked everything is.

There’s good here, but there’s so much room for basic characterization, not just in design of these characters, but just in the way they present themeslves. There’s no flare here, there’s no gripping character traits that jump out of these promo materials. It feels kinda flat and dull.

Overall it’s a mixed bag. There’s a lot of talent here, but there’s a lot of room for improvement in very key areas. I want these characters to smack us in the face with who they are, why they wake up and shake things up in the Rippaverse. Right now they kinda look like clones of Saturday morning cartoon  characters with no depth to them.

If Az is on the payroll, he needs to come out and say so, we’ll cheer it on, we want to see him succeed too. But something just feels disingenuous here. Feels like there are wheels being greased and the audience isn’t being put in the know.

If this thread gets any more replies i’m sure they will be in regards to me having no proof that Az is being compensated for shilling the Rippaverse, I’ll just say I could be wrong, I’m just calling it as I see it. I do believe these guys are genuine friends, but $$$ changes things, and these guys are businessmen with platforms with true, tangible value.

These guys built their platforms on the notion of accountability, transparency with the audience, and principle in entertainment. I hope they are staying true to their own messages.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by IllTemperedTuna.