A Beginning: The Comics I Have Linked

There are a lot of Webcomics. Which ones are enjoyable?

I thought I'd start this blog by giving a short explanation of each of the comics I have linked. These are not all of the comics that I read, but a sampling of some on my favorites list. I have comics linked for all tastes, from the cute and comical to the more graphic. I've rated the comics for content (G through R). Here are the comics that I read. Enjoy!



Cascadia
Clio Chang
Fantasy
PG

It is fitting that Cascadia is the first comic on my list, because it is the first webcomic that I ever read. I stumbled upon it five years ago while looking for Harry Potter fan art. (I am blushing.) I thought it was a nifty, novel thing; a free comic online. Then I clicked on Chang’s link list and was enlightened.

Cascadia is standard fantasy fare. An evil force that was trapped, in this case an incarnation of the moon, is on the loose and must be stopped. Our heroes Jacob, Aron, Connor, and later Karah and Coulomb, are off on an adventure to find the items that will ensnare the evil force.

The dialogue is not bad, though there are a lot of over-dramatic moments. And the art is beautiful, almost reminiscent of Disney. The story feels rushed in some places, as if Chang wants to get to the next chapter as quickly as possible. And the transitions explaining the characters’ movement through their world can be clunky. But over all Cascadia a pretty good fantasy comic that represents some of the best artwork available online.



Ctrl+Alt+Del
Tim Buckley
Gamer/Humor
Pg-13

Ctrl+Alt+Del is a gaming comic that brings in elements of real life, with a twist. The characters, Lucas, Lila, Ethan and a robotic X-box named Zeke, are consumed by games. Gaming is their whole life, from their jobs to their recreational activities.

The comic it is hilarious. The humor is wacky and slapstick, like a Warner Brothers cartoon on paper. The comic does have continuity, but the stories never get deeper than the humorous. The characters are definitely flat. There is no angst in this comic, and no soul searching. But the humor does not grow stale, and it is a fun comic to read.



Kevin & Kell
Bill Holbrook
Humor/Life with a Twist
G

Imagine a world where animals are sentient and eating your neighbor isn’t taboo, if you are hungry enough. This is the world of Kevin (a rabbit) and Kell (a wolf), a predator and a prey species that defied conventions and married. Along with their children from previous marriages Lindesfarne, Kevin’s adopted hedgehog daughter and Rudy, Kell’s son, and their baby Coney, Kevin and Kell live out their lives in the town of Domain.

The comic is a little bizarre, but once you get past the fact that intelligent animals are hunting other intelligent animals, you see that the comic is about family. There is a big umbrella theme of acceptance of differences. The comic does have a storyline, but single punch-line strips make up much of the comic. The humor is cutesy, and the story can be a little syrupy. But it is a clean comic, and professionally done. I’d expect to find this comic in a newspaper.



Megatokyo
Fred Gallagher
Fantasy/Real Life
PG-13

If you don’t know about Megatokyo, then you have not been reading webcomics for long. Megatokyo is one of the most popular comics online. Piro and Largo, two guys from the US, make a pilgrimage to Tokyo. After wasting their money on games and Japanese technology, they are stuck in Japan with no money and no way home.

The fantasy in this comic is subtle; monsters attack Tokyo so often that a unit of the police specialize in clean-up; magic exists, and is somehow affected by, or affects, video games. Angst is prevalent throughout the comic, and the girls Piro and Largo meet are all depressed. In fact, everyone in the comic seems to suffer from depression.

The story moves slowly, which a hindrance since important plot points can be forgotten. But Gallagher’s sketchy manga look is fun to look at, and the story is interesting even if it is moving at glacier speed.



Penny Arcade
Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins
Gamer/Humor
R

If you don’t know Penny Arcade, then you have never read webcomics, and you probably aren’t a big gamer, either. Penny Arcade is one of the most successful comics online. It began as a gag strip commenting on recently released games and hardware, a formula that the creators haven’t wavered from much. Tycho and Gabe, The alter egos of Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, live within the comic universe and comment about games, politics, and life.

Penny Arcade has grown to include the charity Child’s Play, dedicated to providing children’s hospitals with playthings, and PAX, a gaming expo that has gotten a lot of press in the gaming world since the death of E³.

The comic’s early years aren’t bad, but it is not until around 2000 that it became laugh out loud funny. Though a lot of the jokes are about games and gaming culture, you don’t need extreme knowledge of the subject to get the jokes. The humor is crude, unforgiving and sometimes distasteful. I love it.



Rob and Elliot
Clay and Hampton Yount
Humor
PG-13

Rob and Elliot is wacky. There is no other way to describe it. Rob and Elliot, the two main characters, are a couple of roommates that have crazy situations happen to them. That is the whole premise of the comic, as far as I can tell. There is no real story, though the Younts try to push one from time to time. However, those little blurbs of continuity are bland compared to the self-contained strips. The comic works great as a gag strip, and the humor is off the wall.



Sacred Pie
Phil Shaw
Sci-Fi
PG-13

Three friends, Sid, Roonas and Bob, zap themselves to the future after a mysterious man dies on their carpet. Lots of explody adventuring ensues.

Like many sci-fi heroes, the boys are fighting a force that could destroy the universe. In this case, it is Lucifer who hunts the boys for the Sacred Objects that they are protecting. If the objects fall into his hands, he can escape from hell.

The artist only posts one or two comics once a week, so I tend to let them pile up for a month before I read them. Without doing that, the story doesn’t flow well, since every page of the comic needs the support of previous and following pages.

I would call this comic “epic.” The story is very involved, with twists that can give you a headache. There are so many elements to the story that the creator has made a map, an index of races of aliens, and side stories to help enhance and explain the main story. It is fun to read, and one of the few that I enjoy that has lots of fighting, gun-slinging and explosions.



Sluggy Freelance
Pete Abrams
Fantasy/Humor
PG to PG-13

Sluggy Freelance is a comic that many other webcomic artists look up to. The main story is about four friends, Torg, Riff, Zoe and Gwynn, the homicidal rabbit Bun-Bun, the ADD ferret Kiki, the alien Aylee, and the insane situations that find them. I’m not kidding when I say insane. There are more plotlines in this story than you can count on two hands. A lot of these are “dangling,” or unfinished.

The story has elements of fantasy, sci-fi, real life, adventure and horror. All of this is a little tongue in cheek, and angst is rare in the comic.

The archives are huge, since Abrams has been posting daily for almost a decade. It would take two weeks to get through the whole thing without coffee and insomnia. The first six months of the comic are bland, and the art is awful. But it is a page turner by mid-1998, and the art becomes much better over time. There are a couple of storylines that detract from the main characters: "Gofotron", and "Oceans Unmoving" (a storyline that went on for more than a year that had little to do with the main characters). For the most part though, the story is excellent.



Something Positive
R K Milholland
Dark Humor/Real Life
R

Sarcasm and cynicism are Something Positive’s themes. Every post of this comic has a dose of one or the other (or both) and the comic’s main character, Davan, is the epitome of the jaded late-twenty-something guy.

The comic is about Davan and his friends living out their lives in Boston. Though the strip is humorous, it is a very dry humor; the kind said with a straight face that makes people cringe. The story is a little twisted, like life from a pessimist’s point of view; only bad things happen, rarely good, and even the good things have a catch.

The only problem that I have with this comic is that sometimes the writer doesn’t proofread his work. Sentence structure sometimes comes out garbled, and there are quite a few typos throughout the archives. But the story is sound, and sometimes can be quite touching.

I wouldn’t recommend this comic to anyone with sensitive views on anything. Almost every religion, political view and sexual desire has been dragged through the mud. But it is an excellent commentary on the meanness of people, and how having friends that genuinely care about you is the only way to prevent depression.



VG Cats
Scott Ramsoomair
Humor/Gaming
R

VG Cats takes a different approach to gaming. Cats Leo and Aeris, the two main characters, enter the games they are playing and parody them. The comics are each self-contained jokes; there is no continuity to the strip. Also, this comic takes a considerable knowledge of games to get the jokes. But if you’re a gamer, the humor is spot on.

Sometimes the comic is graphic. I say even more so than Penny Arcade. If you are squeamish about a joke involving a couple of characters from Super Mario engaging in homosexual acts of love, then this comic is not for you. But if you don’t mind that kind of humor, and you have knowledge of the gaming culture, then I suggest visiting this site.



Demonology 101
Faith Hicks
Fantasy/Horror
PG-13

Demonology 101 is the longest completed story-based comic online. At least, that is what the author says on her main site for this comic. It is a huge comic, standing at 711 pages. The story revolves around a half demon girl, Raven, who is attempting to survive the Powers That Be while attending high school. Not an easy task.

The art is nice, a charcoal effect. And the story is fast-paced and easy to follow. And there is enough angst to fill a teenager’s diary; everything from dead or uncaring parents to evil beings trying to win people’s souls. Demons and humans interact with each other, each trying to pull a fast one on the other. My only complaint with this comic is that the artist’s attempts at humor usually fall flat. Other than that, it is a good read and one available in full.



Smile
Raina Telgemeier
Real Life
G

Smile is the true story of Raina Telgemeier’s dental adventures as a child and the events that were happening at the same time in her life during her ordeals with her teeth. It is an honest portrayal of childhood and of the worries children have.

The comic is still relatively new, and since it only updates once a week it has not gone very far into the plot. But what has been written is lovely, both in art and in story. I have no complaints about this comic. It is polished, interesting, and cute.