Or, How to Make a Short Review of a Popular Webcomic for a Fledging Pop Culture Site.
Step One: Start with a good intro. It can be fancy, funny or straight to the point, just so long as it’s honest.
Basic Instructions sums up its raison d’etre in its title- basic instructions, tips and pointers from creator Scott Meyer. He’s the sarcastic star of a monochromic, slightly more over-the-top recreation of his day to day life, which more than likely lacks the terrifyingly incompetent superhero team that periodically appears- and rarely ever fights any actual crime.
Step Two: Talk about some of the cast and maybe summarize the story a little, but make sure not to spoil any major plot points. If it’s a gag-a-day strip, you probably won’t have that problem.
Alongside the aptly named Rocket Hat and Scott’s persona Omnipresent Man, one of its most notable members is the Knifeketeer, in reality Scott’s loser friend Rick. Like most of the rest of the cast, Rick is an aggressively put-upon parody of a real life friend of Meyer’s, and it’s hard to tell if the fictional one is really worse off than the real McCoy. Needless to say, he’s a helluva lot more likable compared to Jenkins, whose entire existence seems to revolve around being fat, lazy and obnoxious. Think Garfield, only larger and more of a poster-boy for the self-deluded man.
Step Three: When appropriate, try adding a funny reaction image or GIF.
If you look up the term “self-deprecation” in the dictionary, you’ll probably find Meyer’s picture next to it. While he’s clearly the straight man next to all of the various kooks surrounding him, he never lets himself become a Marty Stu, and he allows his semi-fictional doppleganger look silly and come out on the losing end of arguments on a number of occasions. And in some instances, nobody wins:
Basic knows it’s a clip art comic, yet another aspect of itself it mocks. Still, said art gradually becomes smooth and more pleasing to the eye as it progresses. Its humor style has plenty of bite and freakishness without having to resort to being necessarily too mean spirited. The dialogue, and in fact the whole general atmosphere is fairly laid back, albeit extremely droll and weird. Meyer and almost all of his friends have a knack for being quirky without sacrificing too much of their dignity, with the obvious exception of Jenkins.
Step Four: Wrap up your review neatly with a general assessment and judgment. A rating system is optional, most critics tend to go with either stars or numbers. Other objects could be used, but you may not want to get too strange (i.e, “I give this 3 Swiffer brooms out of 5!”)
What’s even better, some of the advice isn’t all that bad. Basic Instructions could have taken the easy way out and thrown out any nonsensical shit and branded it as advice for the lulz, but instead it provides some interesting musings and a fun gang of misfits that either ignore them or interpret them in the worst way possible. Recommended, so head here for a look at a pretty smart strip.