Oh, I think it’s a very legitimate criticism because, as far as DC is concerned, they probably want every single viewer to be looking at the advertisements. Advertisements which you cannot see in full screen mode. That seems a horrifically obvious thing for them to overlook, if you ask me.

A note on the creators: In addition to Sam Noir: Samurai Detective, Manny Trembley also drew PX! A Girl And Her Panda, both of which are available from the Shadowline branch of Image. And Carlos Ruiz’ “Development Hell” is amazing, but he’s a friend of mine and a fellow staff member at PLAYBACK:stl so I’m probably biased…heh.

However, I think the full-screen mode is just ideal. I guess it would come down to how the comics were intended to be read, in a sense–if they’re intended for consumption in that tiny box, then bad on them, but if it’s assumed that we should all go for full-screen, then maybe that should be clearer. Otherwise, it’s sorta like critiquing a trade paperback because you can’t see the TV through it, ya know?

I’m not really sure how the linework would be ruined…is the resolution just not detailed enough?

I dunno. I think of myself as relatively tech-savvy, and bitchy to boot. For whatever reason, it seemed so smooth to me, and like some kind of reasonable bridge between the amount of information available on a regular comics page and the presentation limitations of a computer screen.

AS for ZUDA, yes- the presentation *IS* truly awful. The text is too damn small to read, so enlarging the view necessary most of the time (and I’ve got 20/20). And then the constant need for moving the viewer around just kills any momentum the material might have. It diminishes my enjoyment considerably and in the process compromises the appeal of the comics themselves.

The average person, someone who might have a momentary curiosity about webcomics, is not going to put up with the work necessary to read these things.
Personally, I don’t like having to scroll downwards to read a comic, but that’s still preferable to what ZUDA is doing.

One to three panels should fill the screen.
Readable and eye-pleasing.
Then a simple click (or right arrow) at the far right of the “page” that instantly brings up the next few panels.
People want to read left-to-right, straight across the screen, without scrolling down. Simple as that.

Just my 2 cents.

Flash has a hard time with jpgs, because it wants to resize them on the fly. You would think that now Adobe own Flash, that it would do that better, but there you go…

Seems to me that CrossGen had a solution to this with their online comics venture, but it took them awhile.