13: VG Cats Not much to say about this, it's a one-shot gaming humor comic. Chances are, you've already got your own opinion. If you don't, go take a look and form one. Sometimes he runs a side comic; the current one is Super Effective, which is kind of a parody telling of first-gen Pokemon. It's amusing, but at the rate it's updating it'll never get past the first game.
14: Shortpacked! This is David Willis's newest entry in the Walkyverse and... it's nothing like the original comics, really. Except when it is. Originally, this comic was just a gag comic about toys, with no story at all, just the author talking to the audience. When It's Walky! ended, Willis ended up turning Shortpacked! into a story comic, but he still seemed to want it to just be a joke comic with no drama ever. He lasted all of 12 minutes before giving up on THAT. I might have to give the Walkyverse comics their own post at some point, there's way more than a paragraph worth of stuff to say about them.
15: San: Three Kingdoms Comic A parody of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It's about a story that Americans typically aren't familiar with, written by a non-native English speaker, and makes no effort at making the jokes and references actually accessible. And I love it. I couldn't even tell you why.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
The List: 10-12
10: Sore Thumbs One of the giant heap of Crosby comics. It originally claimed to be a political-slash-gaming comic, but pretty soon degenerated into insanity. Unfortunately, the insanity of Superosity is more interesting, but at least Sore Thumbs has good fanservice.
11: Superosity Considering its historical importance to the world of webcomics, it seems like this would be a little more dignified, wouldn't it? Just as crudely drawn as when it started, and the humor hasn't matured much, either. And it's still just so offbeat and random that I still look forward to reading it every day. This was the flagship that helmed the Keenspot comic collective, back in the days when no one thought you could make any money off webcomics. And they were pretty much right, but Keenspot's still around, sort of, and that counts for something.
12: Striptease Good artwork, but the spotty updating schedule and occasionally facedesk-worthy writing makes this hard to recommend. It's on hiatus right now, anyway. Maybe I'll have something nicer to say when it comes back.
11: Superosity Considering its historical importance to the world of webcomics, it seems like this would be a little more dignified, wouldn't it? Just as crudely drawn as when it started, and the humor hasn't matured much, either. And it's still just so offbeat and random that I still look forward to reading it every day. This was the flagship that helmed the Keenspot comic collective, back in the days when no one thought you could make any money off webcomics. And they were pretty much right, but Keenspot's still around, sort of, and that counts for something.
12: Striptease Good artwork, but the spotty updating schedule and occasionally facedesk-worthy writing makes this hard to recommend. It's on hiatus right now, anyway. Maybe I'll have something nicer to say when it comes back.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The List: 7-9
7: Joyce and Walky! The denouement of It's Walky! I've been reading David Willis's stuff since the Roomies! days (geez, the man loves exclamation points even more than I do). J&W is actually a subscription comic with the occasional free sample that doesn't seem to have much to do with the storyline. I haven't been assed to buy a subscription yet. If I ever do, I'll have more to say about it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, it's mostly just on my list out of inertia.
8: MoonDog This would be a great comic if it would just update once in a while! Yeah, yeah, sense of entitlement and all that, but still. Well, it's a good read, anyway, and I keep it on my list hoping against hope that it will update again in the vague and distant future.
9: Sabrina Online Honestly, not sure why I keep this on my list. The art is great, but it's a comic that's paced for a daily schedule, but released on a monthly schedule. Never mind that the overflow of fandom references and nerdier-than-thou jokes. It's more work to delete it from my list than to check it once a month, I guess, but it's not on my must-read list.
8: MoonDog This would be a great comic if it would just update once in a while! Yeah, yeah, sense of entitlement and all that, but still. Well, it's a good read, anyway, and I keep it on my list hoping against hope that it will update again in the vague and distant future.
9: Sabrina Online Honestly, not sure why I keep this on my list. The art is great, but it's a comic that's paced for a daily schedule, but released on a monthly schedule. Never mind that the overflow of fandom references and nerdier-than-thou jokes. It's more work to delete it from my list than to check it once a month, I guess, but it's not on my must-read list.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The List: 4-6
4: Dresden Codak I swing back and forth on this one. The artwork is nice, and when he's on the writing is quite clever. Problem is, most of the time the writing seems to a thick coating of overeducation pasted across... nothing in particular. Lots of namedrops of writers and philosophers that don't actually provide anything to the strip. The comic is strongest when doing one-shots and poster-style strips, where the lack of any actual depth doesn't hurt it.
5: Flaky Pastry Pretty much just as much of a junkfood comic as it sounds. No depth, no coherent themes, and no apologies for it. Goblins, elves, catgirls, mad scientists, pretty much just running around and goofing off, and trying and failing to make out with each other. Occasionally a plot tries to sneak in, but hardly anyone pays it any serious attention. There's not a lot to talk about with this comic, but it's still a lot of fun. Also, nice fanservice.
6: Freefall Sort of a lightweight, comedic counterpart to Schlock Mercenary, in that it's not exactly hard scifi, but it takes its physics seriously. A story about an engineer who happens to be a wolf, an entrepreneur space captain who happens to be a horrifying squidlike monstrosity, and robots that think they're puppies. The plot is slow moving, but it's really just a gag comic anyway.
5: Flaky Pastry Pretty much just as much of a junkfood comic as it sounds. No depth, no coherent themes, and no apologies for it. Goblins, elves, catgirls, mad scientists, pretty much just running around and goofing off, and trying and failing to make out with each other. Occasionally a plot tries to sneak in, but hardly anyone pays it any serious attention. There's not a lot to talk about with this comic, but it's still a lot of fun. Also, nice fanservice.
6: Freefall Sort of a lightweight, comedic counterpart to Schlock Mercenary, in that it's not exactly hard scifi, but it takes its physics seriously. A story about an engineer who happens to be a wolf, an entrepreneur space captain who happens to be a horrifying squidlike monstrosity, and robots that think they're puppies. The plot is slow moving, but it's really just a gag comic anyway.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The List: Intro, 1-3
OK, there's just way too many comics in my reading list for me to write a whole big entry about each one. So in the interest of fast, cheap content, I'm just going to go through my bookmarks from top to bottom and say a few words about each one.
1: Bob the Angry Flower A gag comic about an angry flower, a stump, and a floating fetus. Quite a bit less logical than it sounds. The humor comes from random and often insane situations. Often falls flat, but when he hits it's golden. Almost every strip is a one-off, making this great for random linkage.
2: College Roomies From Hell!!! One of the old guard, it's been around since 1999. I used to follow this strip eagerly, but in the past few years... I'm not sure, it just feels like it's collapsing under the weight of its continuity, getting more and more incomprehensible without actually getting anywhere. The characters behave in ways that I just can't figure out anymore. Still on my reading list for now, but not one I recommend to new readers right now.
3: Crimson Dark A sci-fi story somewhat in the vein of Firefly. (The creator is probably tired of that comparison, but hey. It's a motley band of misfits in a spaceship. The shoe fits.) The character art is done by drawing over 3D models of the characters, which gives the comic a distinct look. It fits the setting and feel of the comic, but does edge right up against the dangerous valley. The story and writing are strong, if nothing extraordinary. A solid read.
1: Bob the Angry Flower A gag comic about an angry flower, a stump, and a floating fetus. Quite a bit less logical than it sounds. The humor comes from random and often insane situations. Often falls flat, but when he hits it's golden. Almost every strip is a one-off, making this great for random linkage.
2: College Roomies From Hell!!! One of the old guard, it's been around since 1999. I used to follow this strip eagerly, but in the past few years... I'm not sure, it just feels like it's collapsing under the weight of its continuity, getting more and more incomprehensible without actually getting anywhere. The characters behave in ways that I just can't figure out anymore. Still on my reading list for now, but not one I recommend to new readers right now.
3: Crimson Dark A sci-fi story somewhat in the vein of Firefly. (The creator is probably tired of that comparison, but hey. It's a motley band of misfits in a spaceship. The shoe fits.) The character art is done by drawing over 3D models of the characters, which gives the comic a distinct look. It fits the setting and feel of the comic, but does edge right up against the dangerous valley. The story and writing are strong, if nothing extraordinary. A solid read.
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