Webcomics

I have loved comics all my life.  And, of course, the place I first came to know them was the Sunday newspaper, specifically Peanuts, Garfield, and Calvin and Hobbes (less than a year later, Bill Waterson retired from that strip; typical.)

It wasn't long before I discovered that comics weren't just a Sunday thing but an everyday treat--although Sundays were superior for two reasons: color and more than four panels.  Still, when my family had stopped ordering the newspaper, I rode my bike to town and spent my quarters for the daily paper.  I dutifully examined the titles for the other articles, but truth was, it was all for the Funnies.

I love having daily comics but there is something lacking in the newspaper comics.  I'm not going to ennumerate all the reasons for those here, but as it goes, the only comics I still enjoy these days are Luann, Heavenly Nostrils, Pearls Before Swine, and Dilbert.  But those, while good, are not quite enough to fulfill my needs.  Not when I grew up used to at least twenty great strips per day.  What to do?

Go to the saving power of the internet.

The internet really has been a boon to webcomics.  Of course, webcomics are not a perfect replacement for newspaper comics.  With newspapers, all of the comics are in one place for your reading pleasure.  Webcomics, you have to do some searching and go through numerous different sites to read the ones you like and finding new comics to enjoy is difficult.  Most of the comics I enjoy came by recommendations by friends.  The rest is from advertisements on other websites.  This latter option is a little wearying, though.  Maybe 1 in 20 of the comics I find through these means are worth going back to.

For those who care, though, here's the strips I think are worthwhile:

Schlock Mercenary.  This is the only daily comic I read and is a great satire with guns, explosives, aliens, and talking elephants.

Sluggy Freelance.  Started out as a parody of all geekdom but then accidentally started telling powerful thriller/romances to make you really care about what was going on.

Girl Genius.  I'm honestly not a steampunk fan but there is something about the Heterodyne's world that I can't keep away from.  I especially like Bangladesh Dupree and the Jagermonsters.  "Dis is turnink into vun of dose plans... de kind vere ve keel everybody dot notices dot ve's killin' people... and how do dose alvays end?" "De dirigible is in flames, everyboddyz dead an' I've lost my hat."  "Und any plan vere you lose you hat is?"  "A bad plan?"  "Right again!"

Quantum Vibe.  Not a comedy.  A smarter-than-it-needs-to-be sci-fi.  Cool mysteries and intrigues, and a multiverse idea with exciting possibilities that I haven't seen before.  I look forward to every strip.

Within A Mile of Home.  I hate that it only comes out on Tuesdays but it's kept me going for months now.  No other once-weekly comic has ever been that addicting.

Supermassive Black Hole A*.  A one-panel sci-fi strip whose story is as dark and beautiful as the illustrations are.  I worry from time-to-time that the plot has lost its focus ever since Vero disappeared, but Selenis is such an intriguing character that I'm willing to trust the artist a little longer and hope that the bigger picture arises.  And maybe Vero will return.

Shadowbinders.  I just discovered this one last week and am all caught up.  A lot of swashbuckling adventure juxtaposed with the pains of high school.  This one could run ten years.

Dominic Deegan.  It's ending soon and about time really.  I'll admit that it got to be quite an exhausting strip.  It suffers from the same thing most superhero stories suffer from: four apocalypses in a row stops being intense, especially when you know a fifth will follow after they prevent this last one.  Still, this strip started with Dominic and Luna's romance and that is what keeps me coming back despite all the other silliness that crops up.  Although I must say, the biggest surprise is how Stunt has stolen the show every time he appears.  Easily the most despicable character for ages, he's slowly become the Inigo Montoya of this tale.