The Belfry WebComics Index

Over the last 17 years, TwoKinds has become one of the best comics in print.

One thing about Twokinds that impresses me is that, having been first published when the artist/author was 16 years old, it has not been heavily ret-conned. Instead, Mr. Tom F. has incorporated early, adolescent, "written for a gag" ideas into the ongoing storyline. As a result, while the early strips are very roughtly drawn and not well-written, many of the writing that makes you wince in the first chapters makes you think, "Ah! Very good." in more recent episodes.

I began following my first webcomics in the 1990s. Yet, while I've been aware of this comic since it's first year, I've only recently gone back to read it from its rough beginning, and I'm very glad I did.

It has its faults. The storyline is often simple and the humor still occasionally falls flat. It took many strips for the artist to begin to refine his style, and hundreds more before it achieved a fantastically professional look.

I'm also a fan of El Goonish Shive and Schlock Mercenary, which also made the transition from teenage Saturday-afternoon passtimes to wonderfully refined projects. I'm glad to see that this now well-drawn, intricate story is now one of the most popular of webcomics.

Twokinds on numerous boards and rankings appeared as #1 most read comic. I decided to investigate and was really disappointed with the early comics. The art style looked rushed and the story felt forced. Even when the author introduced a secondary cast of characters they felt rushed and forgotten. However, this comic does excel in the relationships between characters of the main cast. When everything supernatural (and poorly thought out) is disregarded, Twokinds is a sweet tale of strangers becoming close friends or lovers. Failing as an adventure, Twokinds excels in shipping, and recent art quality, thus earning three stars.

I'll admit that I had my doubts for the first few chapters of the story as I read through for the first time recently, but stick with it to the most recent comics. Trust me, this one's worth it. And no, not just for the scantily clad catgirls. XD

This comic greatly reflects its creator's development as an artist and writer over the course of time:

What starts out as a pretty decent furry fantasy comic with some interesting plot points, great screwball humor, and art that doesn't make you want to gouge your eyes out,
evolves over the course of the comic into a beautifully drawn epic with deep philosophical ventures and an intricate plot with multiple, beautifully paced threads... without loosing the demented humor and "95% innocent" fun its had from the start.

The plot is surprising and intriguing. You can't stop reading when you have begun. The artwork is good from the beginning and it's getting better all the time.

For the first couple years of this comic, the artwork was shaky, if cute, the plot was slow and sometimes unclear, and the characters sometimes a bit thin. But still, I liked it enough to keep reading. Probably because of how cute Flora is.

That was then.

Over time, the artwork has improved into a cleaner style, the plot has become much more engaging, and several of the characters have become people I actually care for and want to know more about. The Flora character is still a bit thin in personality to me, but Keith and Natani are really well developed characters, and I sense that Laura will prove interesting as well, once she gets more screen time.

The current story arc has actually been rather good, and I've been waiting for each new page with anticipation. I like this one.

It contains breasts, but no nipples. There are a few things that make it painful to read, but the story and the main characters are very well done. The world is set up well, and there is good progress being made, and enough interesting story points to make it worth reading twice at least.