Why I Read This: A Girl and Her Fed

I had a bit of an uncertain start with A Girl and Her Fed. The art was a very strange mix of crude line drawings and, well, gray blobs. But over time the art style grew on me. The very simply drawn faces, just three lines for the eyes and mouth, take on the expressiveness of emoticons, if I can wax nerdy for a moment. But it worried me that the art style never seemed to evolve or grow.

Art quality isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me when I'm deciding if I like a webcomic. It's pretty common for an artist to start publishing their comic as soon as they have the idea, and maybe a few character sketches and storyboards ready. And that's fine. It's the nature of the internet to let anyone publish, even if they don't have the artistic skills that would get them published in the physical industry. There are comics that remain stagnant and ugly, where the artist doesn't even try to improve their skills over time. But it's the comics where the artist DOES put in the effort that I watch for. I love being able to wade through a comic's archive and watch the art quality improve over time.

So, I was a little worried that the art wasn't improving. But happily, it was all a trick. Instead of a gradual improvement of art quality, there would be sudden bursts of higher quality art. Backgrounds, facial features, and everything would suddenly appear when Sparky, the Fed, would activate the chip in his head. Good art became a visual indicator of the world of the chip. Sure, it's the Wizard of Oz trick, but I still like it.

Eventually, the comic shifted to the new art style, although with a simpler color scheme than the painted quality of the chip scenes.  It looks a lot better, there's no getting around it.

The thing is, though, is that now Otter is redoing all of the art. As I understand it, it's largely because the strips have to be redrawn to be print suitable anyway, so they're getting a facelift during the process. And it's neat to see the old strips in the new style, and to see the little changes to details as the story gets tweaked to match the new art.

Sooner or later, Otter's going to get back to the part of the story where Sparky learns how to use the chip. What's going to be the visual cue then? I'm torn. See, I really like the new art style. Having a consistent look for the whole series is a good thing when it comes time to make the dead tree version. But I really liked the impact that the contrasting art styles had.

The story recently ended its first major art, and the current updates are a mix of an interim story and remakes of the old strips. And honestly, I'm more interested in the remakes. Even though I know what's going to happen, I don't know what's going to happen. That's a pretty neat trick to pull off.

Why I Read This: Kevin and Kell/Sinfest

Most webcomics are amateur affairs, and it shows. I'm not even talking about quality issues; some amateur works can be amazing and the pro stuff can be terrible. I'm just talking about things like sporadic updates, working without a buffer, and inconsistent art quality.


Kevin & Kell and Sinfest are proof that professionalism can have a place on the web, too.

Why I Read This: Gunnerkrigg Court

OK, Technical difficulties are sorted out, so let's get started.

Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddell is a pretty big part of why I started this blog. When I try to get my friends to read a webcomic other than Sluggy Freelance or Penny Arcade, this is the one I point them at.

Superficially, Gunnerkrigg Court seems like a Harry Potter style story, about a young girl named Antimony Carver who is enrolled in a mysterious boarding school. In fact, the basic premise really does have a lot of similarities with Harry Potter, except inverted. Where Harry is a basically normal boy enrolled in a school that's a bastion of magic surrounded by a mundane world, Antimony is a strange girl enrolled in a school that's a bastion of science (sort of) surrounded by a magical world.

Why I Read This #0: Introduction

 There are a lot of comics on my daily reading list. A lot. And to be honest, there's more than a few on that list that I have no idea why I keep reading every day. Sometimes it's just because the few seconds I waste looking at it in Google Reader are less important to me than the effort it takes to take it off my reading list. Also, I'm really just a huge geek and a voracious reader, so just because something is mediocre isn't a dealbreaker for me.

On the other hand, for some of the comics on my list I could tell you in a few short words exactly why I read it and keep reading it. The internet may be the purest incarnation of Sturgeon's Law, but oh that 10%.

In any case, there are plenty of places out there where you can read why webcomics suck and you shouldn't read them. I thought I'd try something a little different, and work through my list, justifying why things are on my daily read.

Of course, this is all just an excuse for me to dive into the archives and reread things from the beginning, so this isn't exactly going to go quickly.