Web-based comics have apparently arrived. Witness coverage in no less than the New York Times. I've been reading comics online for over two years. Not just familiar syndicated stand-bys like "Get Fuzzy" or "Doonesbury", which you can set up RSS feeds for and get each day's strip in your news aggregator (I use Bloglines). I've been enjoying some of the new stuff that's only available online - you're not likely to see these in your local newspaper or comic book shop.
My favorite is Scary Go Round. Very humorous, in the British vein of humo(u)r. The artwork is bright and colorful, and it's amazing how much characterization John Allison (the artist behind SGR, as the "cool" kids say) can get into an oversized daily four-to-six panel comic strip. Two others that I highly recommend are Wigu and Overcompensating, both by Jeff Rowland. These both feature mainly hand-drawn artwork, but they consistently make me laugh out loud. Good thing my office isn't really near anyone else's. Both Jeff and John actually make a living through these comics. More specifically, they make money selling t-shirts inspired by the comics, and reprint books of their work. I admit I've dropped some coin on both. They've got my seal of approval, which I don't just whore around to anyone.
A somewhat different take on a web comic, the Perry Bible Fellowship straddles the line between syndicated, newspaper-style strip and web comic. There are no recurring characters to speak of, the style can be described as "minimalist," but I dare you to find something equally funny on the printed funny pages. Actually, the PBF (there's another one of them cool acronyms) has run in newspapers - it was published in the Syracuse University Daily Orange in its early years, and currently appears in several alternative newsweeklies, including the Rochester City Newspaper. The artist behind PBF, Nicholas Gurewich, lives in the Rochester area and was interviewed earlier this summer in the City paper - search the archives for the interview if you're interested.
Well, I hope I've given you some pleasurable reading material. I regularly read several other web comics as well, but I leave the rest of the online comic world for you to discover on your own, if you're so inclined.
Note: NY Times article linked above may require free registration
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"I'm struck by the narcissism and banality of so many personal blogs." - Blaise Cronin, Professor and Dean, Information Science, Indiana University. Is corn the most banal thing possible? Certainly it's not narcissistic to think about and talk about corn. Perhaps I skew 100% banal, 0% narcissistic, then. So here it is - some thoughts about corn. Enjoy. It's nutritious!
7 comments:
Wow! Blogspam!
How appalling.
I do approve of your taste in webcomics, though.
Oh great. Now I have another thing to help me procrastinate. Thanks a lot, Roman.
;)
OK, spam has been deleted (along with 3 messages from yesterday - sheesh). As long as I can keep deleting it, it should be ok, but I may need to disable anonymous posting if it becomes an overwhelming problem.
Why, you're welcome, Darlene!
Very good taste in Webcomics you have there, sir. I used to be a lot more into webcomics when I was in charge of my company's webserver filtering policies. Now, not so much, but I still make sure to read Wigu and Achewood.
Does Humestarrunner.com count?
not sure why that showed up as anonymous....
Homestar Runner is indeed enjoyable, but I figured most everyone's already seen something from it.
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