I just finished reading the first book of Kelvin the Lion's Macropod Madness reboot and I must say I'm very happy with the results. For those who didn't read it: the old Macropod Madness was a Romantic-Comedy (with a later shift to adventure) webcomic set in a world of talking animals that focused on the adventures of a group of macropods (kangaroos, wallaroos and wallabies) named Jenna Grape, Orange Orange, Jacky Mango, and Straberry-Kiwi Roodriver (S.K. for short). It was a world where magic and technology lived side-by-side and the continent took it's name from the animal family currently in power. I won't spoil any more because you can read the old comics for free here Link
However I Want to discuss the reboot: Macropod Madness Neo. Personally I love it, even moreso than the original and I want to see more written so please go to seel Kelvin and buy his first book Pouches and Tails.
OK enough hocking. Why do I love the reboot and more importantly why do I think it's better than the original. Well overall the story is more-or-less the same: it's set on a continent of sentient animals and we follow a group of four macropod friends: Jenna, Orange, Jackie and SK. The start point is even the same: Jenna is going into school and is having trouble deciding if she should study magic or science, Jackie sees Jenna and falls in love at first sight, Orange is a sugar munching hyperactive roo who is looking for a boyfriend, and SK runs a garage where he works on cars for a living. However while the set up is the same, the followthrough is much better.
I won't lie, I tore through my old disc of the original Macropod Madness sometime before I got my Macropod Madness Neo book in the mail and in comparing the two I realize that the old series has some trouble converying the character's emotions. It's not bad it just comes from someone who doesn't have a lot of experience in storytelling, I was much the same when I started writing stories, and I dare say the plot moved a bit too slow for me even though each scene seemed to pass by at a breakneck pace, against just lack of experience. Neo shows that Kelvin has definately learned from his experience in writing the stories for his other webcomics and the pacing is slow enough to let things sink in; I really get a sense for each character's personality both in the way they speak and act. Most importantly, Kelvin is showing a better understanding of conveyance and character.
In the old series I found it hard to believe when, near the end, a few characters would pull skills out of their pouches with little prior explaination (I won't spoil so go read for yourself) and in the new series that's fixed qutie well. The characters show off their skills early enough that a reader can get a sense of their abilities especially in regards to magic, fighting and their jobs and hobbies, and there's enough evidence shown that any future plots that require them to use these skills won't just seem like an ass-pull. Minor spoiler here but I especially appreciate that we see Jacky Mango showing off some rudementary unarmed combat skills early in the book, I won't say it's martial arts just yet because I have yet to see where this will go but I hope it crops up more as the books go on.
There's not much to say about the story that won't be a massive spoiler, but it suffices to say that if you read the old comic then you'll see a lot of familiar story threads pop up, albeit in new ways and in a way that, in my opinion, makes a lot more sense given the setting of the story. The biggest change to the story is that the adventure and action portions aren't held back to the end of the comic, it's still a romantic-comedy at it's core but a lot more happens to get the story moving outside the misadventures of our four macropod friends.
By far the biggest change in Macropod Madness Neo is the setting. The old comics felt like a strange imagnation trip, not a bad one but it just presented us with a world of sentient and talking animals and then proceeded to go on with the story. It's wasn't a bad choice but it felt just like another furry webcomic with a few species related gimmicks similar to Kevin and Kell, albeit with more magic. Macropod Madness Neo has a much more fully-formed world to work with: the continent of Cirvinia is it's own place, with it's own money, architecture, and culture and this allows the world to feel more alive. Instead of just being a world of talking animals, Cirvinia is a place where humans settled and eventually changed into the anthropomorphs we see in the story. Every species is similar to their real-world counterparts so this feels like a more fleshed-out experience when yo notice all the little touches, I'm going to have to go back over the book to see msot of them as I read it fo the story the first time through. Other little touches like explaining why everyone is so colorful and the process of immigration are welcome but there's plenty in the book and I don't want to spoil any more here for you.
Overall, Macropod Madness Neo is a big improvement over the original but that's not to say the original isn't worth reading, it is but just adjust your expectations. However for those who don't want any characters of plot threads from the new series spoiled you might want to avoid the old comics as several stories are re-used, but there's plenty of new story ideas and thankfully several cliches are abandoned and I really appreciate that. I wish I could say more but I don't want to spoil it, I urge yo to pick up this book and support Kelvin and his future writing endevours.
