YOUR INDY WEEKLY: LIVING WITH SHINE

[MattBrady]

by Ryan McLelland

Living With Shine
Price: FREE!!!
Written by: Oscar Amador
Pencils by: Raul Valdes
Website: http://www.livingwithshine.com

Rating: 3 and 1/2 stars (out of 4)

I’ve never reviewed a web comic before for this column. There’s something about being able to read about a comic then go out and buy it that very much appeals to me. Maybe it’s that comic collector OCD I have, but I’d rather own a Marvel Masterpieces Fantastic Four then own a CD filled with 7,000 FF issues. Don’t get me wrong, being able to own all those issues for thirty bucks is great, but after a while I get bored of looking at my computer screen.

That was until I read Living With Shine. Creators Oscar Amador and Raul Valdes have created an amazing webcomic (available both in English and Spanish) that catches you right from the start. LWS reminds me of those great Ben Edlund Tick comics of old filled with a great humor about being a superhero in a world full of superheroes. But while The Tick was MIGHTY poor Shine finds himself the smallest fish in the biggest sea.

The character Shine moves to the city and is swept up right away by his cousin Alan. Yes the big mighty hero moves to the city with nowhere to live and is taken in, and mocked incessantly, by his cousin. The Shine arrives in full costume and seems to live in it because perhaps he likes the feel of spandex on his body. Alan is of no help and doesn’t get why Shine is here in the city to fight crime, especially when the duo run literally into a crime. This is when we find out that Shine’s power is ‘shining’. Not that cool talk in the mind thing that Stephen King wrote about, but rather, Shine just shines out a light. Somewhere a four year old might be scared and somewhere villains everywhere are laughing about him.

No one seems to understand poor Shine. His parents think he’s an idiot who doesn’t talk to him anymore, the girl of his dreams isn’t giving him the time of day, and we learn that when Shine puts his handy red shirt over his costume, no one seems to recognize that he’s in a costume. And his origin story? There’s no radioactive lamp or gamma rays in Shine’s origin, it is really too silly to even believe yet in today’s world, it is perhaps one of the best origin stories ever.

The site seems to update with a ‘new story’ once a week, which is simply a one page story continuing on with Shine’s adventures. The story, artwork, inking, and coloring is simply amazing and makes me wonder why this comic is on the web and not in print. The comic is done in Spanish but we can be thankful that the creative team translates their entire page to English as well so everyone can enjoy the stories. With Amador and Valdes making this comic look and feel as professional as it does, it is a shame that there isn’t a pamphlet form.

But the best part? It’s free! You can click on the website and read all of Shine’s adventures for the cost of nothing. The other thing is you read through his adventures too quickly. It leaves you thirsting for more, you want more now. Which I guess is the point of a webcomic. Make it great enough and readers have to tune in next week to find out what is going on with Shine, his cousin, his love-from-afar, and his brand new sidekick. Will the Shine truly ever shine in a city that doesn’t appreciate him? Only time will tell but we are all lucky enough to be able to read along each week to find out.

Have an indy comic you’d like reviewed? Contact Ryan at rdmclelland@hotmail.com.

[UBR]

Awesome !
Glad to see such comics get some exposure.

[caats19]

oh this isn't about kyle rayner

[intensity]

looks sweet... almost too sweet.

I'm saying this, simply because the whole Shine character reminds me exactly of my avatar I created for the pc game Freedom Force... Intensity- with the ability to alter and manipulate ambient light. Not only that, but my costume was blue, white, and black... with a face mask very similar to the Shine.
conspiracy or not, this comic looks amazing!

[Korkuss]

Sweeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

[AirDave817]

Good call on The Shine!
Pretty creative to put a super-hero comic on the web! Different!
Pretty cool like Hero by Night.

Great column.

[Chuy]

It's actually kind of funny, and I have to admit I like the art, y lo puedo leer en español. So that's cool. But the best part is there's more than like 3 strips ... hope they update often. And the art is really cool ...

[Kolimar]

Decently funny stuff. I enjoyed all the parodies and homages and the art is pretty decent. I think their humor works slightly better in Spanish, as it was originally conceived. At the very least, it could use a better translation. It's not too bad but it's off in several places. The essence of the humor and the ideas is still there but it didn't make the cross unscathed. Nicely done, in general.

[ShinAkuma666]

Thanks for the review Ryan, I just discovered this thanks to your article and really enjoying it ! Quite funny, will keep checking their site for new updates.

Theres some very talented web comics out there and I wish they would come out with print version when they have a lot of material.

Two of my farorites will do this soon:

gone with the blastwave and Post Nuke:

http://www.blastwavecomic.com/

http://www.postnukecomic.com/

[Korkuss]

There's a new chapter every Monday.

[william.]

I liked Living With Shine alot! I agree, theres a great wealth of material on the web; currently I'm enjoying a webcomic called 'Voids', but I'm glad to be turned on to anything else people suggest.

W.~