Kevin & Kell and Sinfest are proof that professionalism can have a place on the web, too.
Kevin & Kell is damn near the oldest webcomic that's still going, so you'd expect a certain professional quality just from practice. But more than that, Bill Holbrook already had strips running in syndicated newspapers, and he's always run K&K with that same level of craft. A new strip is released every day like clockwork. The style has been consistent since the strip began. The strip wouldn't be out of place in a print newspaper, if it didn't border on furry vore fantasy.
When the strip began, at least, the whole species mix, predator/prey relationship stuff made for some interesting social commentary. Nothing groundbreaking, sure, but effective enough. The trouble is, you can only keep the commentary up for so long. The satirical strips still show up, but they're spaced out by vast expanses of formulaic gag strips. And it really is a formula, you could die of alcohol poisoning if you take a drink every time you read a variation of 'As an [animal] I always [thing that animal does].
Actually, once upon a time K&K was primarily a tech humor comic, although you'd never be able to tell now. You can sort of track the change in the strip's jokes and plot them against Holbrook discovering the furry fandom and attending conventions...
Basically, K&K makes my list by sheer inertia. I started reading it when it was only a year or two old, and it's pushing 15 now. It has its ups and downs, but even at its most banal, like the recent Rudy's Christmas Story storyline, it's still pleasant enough, and once in a while he gets interested in the strip again and cranks out some satisfying character development.
Sinfest is another strip that would absolutely fit in the newspaper comics page, except that no newspaper would carry it. Seriously, he tried, none of them would publish him. But if you delve into the archive, the parade of pimps, hos, blunts, and general irreverence going back to 2000 has had a consistent craftsmanship day after day without fail. The only real change in quality seems to be when he gets a new scanner. The characters stay the same, and the same basic setups and jokes get used over and over. Just like the pros do!
Sinfest manages to pull it off better than even K&K does, in fact. Where Holbrook tends to use formula gags as cruise control, just filling the days until a storyline that engages his muse rolls around, the mysterious Tatsuya Ishida uses formula as a framework. Even if there's nothing in current events he feels like satirizing, he'll just poke fun at his own comic.
I can't think of the last time I laughed out loud at Sinfest, but I don't really expect to, either. It's a gag strip. It takes 15 seconds of my time and consistently amuses me, and that's better than most real newspaper comics can claim. Plus, I think only the most... did I already use "irreverent" to describe this comic? Well, whatever. Only the the most irreverent comics can manage the street cred to pull off a good heartwarming strip once in a while.
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