Webcomics

On Monday, I spoke about Mandrake and newspaper strips. At the end of that blog, I talked about webcomics being the future of the medium. Today, I thought I would introduce some of the webcomics I follow. Hopefully, some of you can comment with some that I've not heard of before.

Fair warning, not all of these strips are rated PG. One of the powers and sometimes drawbacks of webcomics is not being constrained by the stuffy rules of the Newspaper syndicates. More often than not, that's a good thing. But there's at least one webcomic that I read for years and years that I finally just dropped because it was just too much.

If you're reading this and you're my Mom, don't click the links.

First up is Ace Kilroy. Currently my favorite. The strip is by Rob Kelly and Dan O'Connor. Rob runs the Aquaman Shrine. But it's not my devotion to Aquaman that makes me enjoy this strip. The strip is an adventure strip set in the 1940's, and it definitely has that retro feel that I've come to love so much.


If Ace meets my need for adventure in the past, then Howard Taylor's Schlock Mercenary meets my need for science fiction. My buddy Bill clued me into this strip, and it's a very consistent and smart science fiction strip.


XKCD is a humor strip specializing in sarcasm and snarkiness. Sometimes it can get a little wordy, but more often than not it's a fun strip.


Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is absolutely one of my favorites. It's a humor strip of utmost sarcasm that my sarcastic buddy Steve clued me in on. The strip is by Zach Weiner and if I had to boil it down to three words, it would be philosophy, science, and sex.


Evil Inc is a strip about super-villains by Brad Guigar. There's occasionally a hero or two to spar with the villains, but by far the main focus of the strip is the villains. It's fun, well written, fast paced, daily, and I really like the art.


Girls with Slingshots is a humor strip about sex, alcohol, relationships, and extreme tomfoolery. The strip is a little R rated, although there's been no nudity or any explicitness that I've seen. It's by Danielle Corsetto, and I think she went to school near here at Shepherdstown. The strip repeatedly makes references to local establishments.


The power of Hijinks Ensue by Joel Watson lies in the well-twisted turn of phrase. Watson's word usage is so crazy it's genius. And he's deeply entrenched in pop culture. However, if you're offended by references to alcohol and extreme swearing, don't visit the site.


In my limited knowledge of the world of creating webcomics, Ryan Sohmer and Lar Desouza seem to be almost untouchable professionals. Their strip, Least I Could Do, is a daily strip that hasn't missed a day for the years that I've been reading it. The strip has a set group of characters that have grown on me much like my more favored sitcoms.


In comparison with some of the other webcomics I've thrown up here, PVP is probably one of the most family friendly. The strip, by Scott Kurtz, has been on the web for years and years. When I first found it, I fell in love with it so much that I went back and read all the past strips. The comic is about gamers, but much less about gaming and much more about life. I can't rave enough about this one.


A nerd, his grandpa, his pet duck, and a lizard. That's the family that makes up the comic Sheldon, by Dave Kellett. The strip feels both young and old. Sometimes it seems like Kellett is exercising his childhood through main character Sheldon, yet experiencing his adulthood through the frustrations of older character Gramps. It's light-hearted, fun, and clean. But more importantly, it's a modern example of the kind of comics that you would find in decades past.


Lastly, Gutters is purely for comic book fans. It's not clean, it's very raw, and it's a smart way for various contributors to make commentary on the state of comics today. I find myself agreeing with their viewpoint about ninety-five percent of the time.


Got any favorites I missed? Pitch your voice in on the comments and let me know.

Thanks,
DCD