THIP's unsolicited review at the online art community Renderosity of
RIVER: skin on the outside, in full:


Just tripped over this comic in the galleries (we've GOT to get a comics-stories gallery
together here on Rendo sometime, to avoid being lumped in with all those great, but non-story
superhero images). 

Having read the preview / first chapter (in Palmers' gallery, check it out!), I just bought
and read "River". Superb, pro stuff! Tight story, masterful visual storytelling, sharp dialogue,
interesting twists, this story keeps one entertained from first to last page.

The art is Poser-done, superbly converted to black and white, a la Miller's "Sin City",
manga-inspired style. The manga style was originally developed for speed, hence the few panels
per page, the few-and-far-between backgrounds and the overall minimalistic style. To keep the
viewer's interest the creator needs to keep the story moving real fast, and Palmer is up to the
challenge. The storytelling is as fast-paced and well-timed as anything Miller has done (and
then some, I always considered Miller over-rated!).

There are a few pics where the b&w is so stylish that it's hard to tell what's going on, on a
few of the fx (such as explosions) are a tad too "comicky" to fit in, but overall, Palmer's pics
take us on a fascinating tour of a stylish and believable noir world.

The plot will be enjoyable to anyone who likes his Ludlum or Clancy with a dash of SF, and
Palmer adds a welcome touch of tongue-in-cheek occasionally. 

One peevee : the download version is PDF, which is fine for printing, but lousy for screen
reading. One could wish for landscape-format pages, since they utilize screen real estate far
better. Then again, "River" is offered on paper as well, so I guess mr. Palmer had to stick with
the portrait format. 

As one can tell from mr. Palmers website, he's a pro, and "River" is the work of one. I noticed
in the galleries that the free pages of "River" have had disappointingly few viewers/readers.
That's a shame - comics READERS miss a damn good read, comics CREATORS (regardless of their own
style) miss a superb course in super-sharp storytelling. Poser COULD become the greatest thing
that happened to visual storytellers since the speech bubble was invented, and mr. Palmer has
given it a LARGE boost with this story.