Isom's power is the more disrespect the stronger he gets.

Again, I will never understand why the Rippaverse's popularity is even a thing. It sounds like hot garbage that's slightly better than the usual hot garbage out of places like DC/Marvel. I agree, btw! As a world builder, if anyone ever asks me about my stories, that's my happy place. Fan feedback keeps me invested in my work. It makes me want to keep creating. How Eric doesn't really talk about his creations, especially on an intimate level, is a big red flag to me. It's also kinda weird it's considered heresy to criticize him in any way. There's a lot of folks out there who defend him by belittling those who don't simp for the guy, and you rarely ever see them make competent, genuine arguments for why the Rippaverse comics are popular.

As someone who’s watched Eric July prior, during and after the inception of the rippaverse the main problem is that he started series intentionally as something that would be ground-level. He wanted to build universe and not jump into universe level threats/events from inception like other writers have done. The problem with taking that approach is that you have to be a considerably greater writer to pull that off. You have to make the small things matter, you have to make the mundane interesting. He doesn’t achieve that bc he’s just not that level of writer. So with his books they may be good as a quick read but they do not last the test of time. I think he recognized that and in isom 2 he really went more into making it more exciting. But that had more of a jarring effect than he intended. That’s not a death sentence though he can develop as a writer and reach that level but there’s a great amount of work to be done. The second issue is he needs editors particularly for continuity, art dialogue and writing. None of those components are bad overall but there are certain things you can tell could’ve been elevated if you had someone going through all of those components with a fine tooth comb. Editors who understand and can contextualize what a good comic is. Someone who would challenge him to add impact to the things he’s writing.

So I could be completely wrong here but my take on the author is that he doesn't see himself as a great writer and his passion isn't so much for weaving a narrative or being the best... all the things that make one create an increasingly polished book with every installment. I think he sees himself as a pioneer and a trailblazer and his passion is more about laying the groundwork for others to excel, whether under his umbrella or their own. In that regard, you are partly right that he sees himself as being in competition with the big two. No doubt, he does get a lot of hate because he represents just that; an example that they can be competed with. Based on what I know about July, Isom is likely to be a character that borders on being a villain at first and who doesn't care because that's the story shared by the author and he's writing what he knows. I think what he was likely going for was to show a gradual change but where that broke down is that by courting the aspects of himself that he didn't like, he simultaneously caused many readers to find the character equally distasteful. Because he is a musician and a performer as well as a businessman and KZfaqr, it naturally follows that some of his talents might not translate onto the pages of a graphic novel. Now I say all this not to either attack or defend him. I think it is what it is. I respect him for putting himself out there and I respect the hustle. No question that he has put a lot of effort into making his company what it is from the ground up... That takes a lot of work and I respect it, even if his first book might not be on par with the greats.

That's a fair critique. I read it the first or second day it arrived as well and enjoyed it well enough, but it absolutely, 100% needed more situations and character interactions of consequence with meaning behind them *OR* it needed a follow up within a couple of months to sort of flash things out. It's weird to say that about a 96 page comic, but the review sums it up quite well. This book could have been immensely condensed and sold for $15-$20 depending on the cover or added more situations of substance that added to the characters, the world, and a couple of sub plots. Find the girl as a plot is fine, but the conflict as written while finding said girl isn't a strong enough sub plot to carry the book on it's own. It's pretty much just part of the main plot. There were also a couple of odd grammar and word choices that didn't seem to fit as well. I forget them verbatim, but they were essentially a character talking like they were in the hood then throwing in some random 25 cent big word and adding a complete tonal shift to that of a yuppy kid talking to someone trying to sound smart. It only happened a couple of times, but it stuck out like a sore thumb with me. Not that people don't talk differently on occasion depending on who they are talking to, but we rarely have that severe of a swing mid-sentence. ei _"Yo that fool blasted me and I'm not having that shit. If it were not for the angle of trajectory as defined by Newtonian law based on Pythagoras's theories, a great man who redefined mathematics to the point where Hipparchus and Euclis would have stared at his equations befuddled that punk ass bitch would have gotten schooled like a 3rd grader."_ Lol, no, not a quote from the book but you get the point. 99% wasn't like that, but when it happens...idk, it just seemed to jump off the page at me. I will give the books another shot once 5 or 6 are out and I can read them together. I don't mind being left on a cliffhanger, but I need some resolution and a bit more development. I look at it like this; I write pretty well. If you read my first articles I'd had published in a local paper for a city of around 100K you certainly would not be all that impressed. I was 18 at the time, and if you read something from when I was 23 there was obviously a big difference. July seemed like a raw talent that was still tring to figure things out while addressing a problem that I consider pretty gigantic in Comics right now. I mean good grief, we have the X-Men at a fashion show ball red carpet gala in hell. Iceman was _"Un-gayed"_ when no one knew Bobby was gay to begin with. Superman took it up the rump on another planet while his son, the new Superman is also full blown gay. Robin is gay. Yeah, Marvel is just a mess. Pointless race swaps, gay teen soap drama...it's just weird and while it may appeal to some, it does not appeal to the majority. I remember reading the original Civil War comics and the 75 (or 200, I forget how many there were but it was a lot) tie-in books and thinking _"Yeah, it's pretty good. It's no Infinity Gauntlet or original Secret Wars 1 or 2, but not bad."_ and then picking up the hardback recently and re-reading it thinking _"Wow, this is fricken great, why can't they write things like this anymore?"_ So a standalone series (I didn't drag out the tie-in books) I thought was _"OK"_ at release now read like _"Mists of Avalon"_ or _"Desperation"_ because the overall story-arcs and writing in the comics being released today are just so bad. Not all of them obviously, but wow there are a lot. Then when the writing is good 17 pages are devoted to gossip and how some guy would look great in spandex handcuffed to _insert queer character here_ 's bed. Or some chick superhero's bed. I'm not saying don't do, I'm saying when it feels like it's in every comic it gets old really quickly. So all in all I like what he is trying to do. I want Marvel and DC to succeed. I want everyone, left, right, center, straight or queer to be able to enjoy comics, but for that to happen they cannot lean so far to one side they fall over. They keep falling over. I'd really love to see someone, or even better, a group of indie writers and artists get together and build their own coherent world, as though there are some very good indie comics out there, it's rare to get more than 10 books about 1 character or team because of the darn cost and how hard it is to get people to take a chance on said books. I'm sure if a dozen writers started making a million per book, along with the success of Manga, that the larger companies, and more importantly, their shareholders would eventually stand up and take note. At least I'd like to think they would eventually, but wow has this been going on for ages. Anyway, entertaining video, it was nice to see an honest critique from someone who did not enjoy the book that did not rely on _"Eric July, friend of Nerdrotic, Heels and The Critical Drinker rose to fame on the extreme right wing ideology of Comicsgate and Donald Trump (who stole the election from Hilary btw). Professing his hate for the LGBTQAIP+ crowd he wrote a guide to how to enact white supremacist misogynist hate via his alter ego Esom, who is not just an alter-ego, but stand-in for Alex Jones. Do not read this book, as it is a gateway to Joe Rogan, Ben Shapiro and The Philippino Pea! And Tim Pool and the Canadian Psychologist guy too! I'd say his name but he needs to clean up his own room first. And his wife's because you know he makes her do all of the housework while he tells young men to work hard, be honest and treat sexual relationships seriously. The lack of integrity here is frankly baffling, but we're sure Mr. July grew up in an Ivory Tower Echo Chamber of sloth and conservative Christian _gag_ values that are just not suited to a modern audience. And he hates gay people. And women and puppies and kittens and wine..."_ ;^)

No angry comment here, I'm in my 20's and I've always wanted to write and publish books so you've got yourself a new Sub. I do watch Eric, Geek's n Gamers, and their whole crew but my mind is always open and I believe in being as objective as I can. Thank you for giving a non-bias review as they are hard to come by. Either everyone loves Eric's work or they hate his work, not many that i've discovered have addressed Isom the way that you have.

Constructive criticism is always welcome, and really hope he has visible changes on the next release.

He should have just made like a 20-30 page book and get the feedback. Its not easy to make a 90 page comic. That takes years of experience. In over 90 pages Isom feels to tell a story. Out of the books out there so far, I think Alphacore is the most passable, because Chuck Dixon tried to salvage it, but sitlll its rough around the edges.

I most certainly enjoyed Isom one and two, but I also enjoyed the story of Arkham Knight. What I learned from both is that while I enjoyed them, they were far from perfect.

It might be that you need to separate Eric the businessman who has built a terrific new platform but then have a dedicated artistic director - the 2 are not the same and can co-exist. You saw it in the old time movie studio system. Jack Warner sorted out the contracts & the money, Hal B Wallis was the exec in charge of production who got writers, directors, actors together (and even knocked heads). An artistic director can see the failings (if allowed to operate freely) & that is a valuable insight especially if you have an idea but can't follow it through 100% yourself.

Honesty and improvement is the key, whe all want to see isom to be succesfull and hope your hero will get the attention it deserve but never forget if all of you join forces you will become indestrutible

You are being too kind. The reality is that the book is awful. You can't start a story with "Two weeks ago..." and how does action occur "somewhere near Florida"? Somewhere near a state? Florida is already a pretty large place. The writing is pure garbage.

This is the first time I've ever heard anyone actually talk about or critique the book. I always found it weird that it makes millions in crowd funding but I've never actually heard anyone characters or story. He makes all these videos on how Marvel and DC suck, but doesn't talk about his own books. Anyways I'll go back to enjoying my anime and manga.

Thank you, thank you. Someone had to say it better than I. Could the guy can't tell you a story on a 25 page series?

So here's my take. This is his first comic ever, so in no way am I expecting Clairmont levels of writing. I'm expecting middle school levels of writing with middle school levels of plat and character development and that's what I got. People have been telling him for years if you don't like they way comics are write your own so he did. Do I think Isom is good? Nope, not in the slightest, like I said it's a middle school kids idea of what's cool, but my hope is that he either gets better at writing or he hires better writers (he did hire Chuck Dixon). What I am happy about is that he pays his guys well and that's worth the $45 I spent, I would pay good money to see artists and writers paid more so they can stop begging on go-fund-me. TL;DR I expected middle school writing and it did not disappoint.

Hey, thank your for the review. I'd love to hear your review on my GH-057 STORY sci-fi series. I'm currently on book 3 and I'm always looking for people who'd be happy to read it :)

You did a great job selling me isom #1, So i might have too also checkout ur book.

I got Isom#1 and read the whole thing the first day I got it. I don't recollect any plot holes or contrivances that would have taken me out of the story, yet I wasn't excited, at least judging by the fact that it was filed away and I didn't bother checking to see if any more had been written. Thank you for making this video, as now I have some idea as to why Isom didn't work for me, where before I didn't know why it didn't land as expected for me.

FACTS

yeah, at first i loved the first issue of isom, i was psyched for his success, but it felt like i wanted to give the book a B+, but it was really like a C+ lol

I agree with you completely about the Isom #1 story. It was very, very bad. The fact that more people who are rooting for the Rippaverse - as I am - pretended it was good is disappointing. I think where your review goes off the rails is when you shifted to reviewing Eric July.

I agree with everything said. Erik needs improvement, which is natural, but I feel like his built in fan base, friends group, and (now) employees have created an echo chamber for him so he came out of #1 thinking he was an amazing comic book writer. He's not...he could get there but he's no there yet. I think that one problem he's facing is that he's had so many people, specifically people from a certain political spectrum, come at him early on (before there was anything to critique) that he's become overtly defensive and now assumes all his criticisms come from "woke leftists" or something.

Lick some more comics brother...

For me, Isom was just bland, it's just repackaging of old stories/characters in new shiny pages...

Your Subs. Are your subs and everything you said was true and I wanted it to be good. He would just take the constructive criticism and say you guys are right, I hear you and I will do better. But he doesn't, I'm surprised I haven't unsubscribed from his channel and all the youtubers that are lying to him, on how good his comic is. Just using him for views. That's my opinion 😂 Great 🎥 Brother.💯👍👍

😂😂 so basically netflix has spoiled you? You dont like it cuz you cant binge watch the whole season

To many subplots

The story is nonsensical and the art was bad. Video done.

1.3k subs, get a real job