Input: [Link] Living In Greytown [Date] 1/4/01 [Comments]

Output: Living In Greytown embodies everything that is great about what quaintly used to be called "underground comics". It's an explosion of surreal and slightly disturbing characters, art, and stories made sense of by reading the character bios or just reading the entire archive from the start (the latter strongly recommended). There's only one premise here. Greytown is a town from which there is no escape, thanks to a particular devil, "Phil". Phil is too unimaginative to actually torture the people and talking animals who are unlucky enough to enter or inhabit Greytown; fortunately they are all too willing to do that themselves. All the characters are terrifically cute, which makes the drama of their wretched lives all that much more heartbreaking. In the story, Phil recently faced down a much more evil demon for control of the town, so it's hard to say where this story will go, but I check it every day in total anticipation that it will be great. Also, be sure to check out the author's other project, Otaku Feh!. If you find Living In Greytown to be too burdened with plot, Otaku Feh is just what's on the artist's mind this week. It recently ran a thorough a hilarious parody of Sinfest which ended in controversy, so you'd better check it out before it vanishes for some reason. Update 3/1/02LiG ended magnificantly recently. I was sad, until Dave started up Lizard


Input: [Link] The Crater Kid [Date] 1/11/01 [Comments]

Output: It gives me great pleasure to finally get the chance to recommend this comic. It's a little bit different than most of the others I read, a colorful serial in 3-panel daily format. It's a mixture of eye-candy (a hip homage to 1950's design and science-fiction, so slick looking that I avoided it for a while thinking it to be a scam of some type) and some pretty clever story lines. An energetic cowboy outfit-wearin' kid is zapped to an alien planet where everything is patterned after meticulously studied drive-in movies, because the hipster Diz and floating, glass-bowl-covered "Sponge" have a premonition that he is a "true hero". So far he has helped them solve two mysteries of their odd and thematic world ("The Screaming Stones" and "Howling Mountain"), and now faces simultaneous dangers in the new "The Whispering Well". Although built on a solid kitch foundation, the stories turn out to be anything but cliche, touched with meloncholy and requiring unusual thinking on the part of the Kid, but never straying out of "G" rating territory. Update 5/5/02I don't know why, but this comic is now just re-running it's archives, so I'm putting it on the inactive list.


Input: [Link] Puffy Cloud [Date] 1/18/01 [Comments]

Output: With only a few comics published so far, "Puffy Cloud" assumes you know all about its characters without a whole lot of development. That's because it relies on the solid foundation of superhero parody, so it can leave behind all the overhead of explaining the situation and launch directly into the jokes. However, the humor is very laid back, using the superhero context as a flavor rather than a pretext. Puffy Cloud spends less time saving the city with his friend "Bottle Rocket" than hanging out with his lazy roommate or just doing laundry. He doesn't have a flashy costume, and his super power is as vauge as a "ground hugging fog". The art is subtly humorous too; like the humor the strength is in what is not shown. Sorry about all the broken links in his archive; these comics always seem to pick the week I post them for a disasterous site redesign.


Input: [Link] Polymer City [Date] 1/25/01 [Comments]

Output: Another comic born of video gaming culture, Polymer City also has the bonus influence of a "big chicks with muscles" subculture and an attractive "furry" character thrown in as well. I think it's boffo and love the super-clean line drawing style. I'll never be pleased with navigating the archives for this comic; the ones for this year have the old system, only accessable from links on the front page, but while the year one archive finally has "previous/next" links the hilarious titles which used to exist in those frustrating front page links are lost. Update 5/10/01 This comic wasn't updated for a long time, although the old site was still there. I figured it was dead, but it turns out that it moved without telling us! I finally found it; I've changed the link, update your bookmarks accordingly. Update 7/15/02Polymer City lost their URL recently, and man was I sad. I finally found its new home just as word was getting out via other artists' web sites, so I've updated my link according. It's weird how something can just suddenly disappear off the net sometimes, especially without the owner's permission. Update 1/30/03 Wow, this comic was going great with a suspenseful serial story and then the author just freakin pulled the plug. It's still updating, but these days I can't bear to even check it because of the memory of the heights it had achieved. Just my opinion.


Input: [Link] Superosity [Date] 2/1/01 [Comments]

Output: From the creator of Keenspot, this is one of the comics that I first hated, now can't live without. My initial negative feelings were from my first visual impressions; the author is one of those who enjoys drawing ugly characters for the humor of it. The situation is a little far out there too, although you'd think that would be no surprise in the webcomic world. Brothers Chris and Bobby wear superhero outfits, but don't do anything although they are apparently well-nigh indestructable. Chris has befriended a sentient ironing board, who has the ability to invent anything including time travel and acts as Chris' guardian. They are supported by a thoroughly unlikely cast of extras such as a cigarette smoking turtle with a mohawk, an alternate-timeline Kato Kaelin, a horrendous looking school janitor, etc. Fortunately, it all somehow hangs together with a cynical and consistently insane world view. Taking any nearly impossible situation, you usually get Chris's sweet-but-stupid perspective and Bobby's uncontainable rage. Hollywood producers, internet companies, politicians are mercilessly portrayed. It's all infinitely quotable. In general, the two best parts of this comic are Bobby, who always says exactly what's on his mind, and Chris' one true love Arcadia, who is a total babe, one of my favorite cartoon women on the internet!


Input: [Link] The Bad Boys Of Computer Science [Date] 2/08/01 [Comments]

Output: The typical autobiographical comic about a college student computer geek and his friends. BBOCC is endeared to me mostly for its art, although its author so freely acknowledges the woodenness of his style as to make a "bench" file for his strip available. Still, I like it, and the author's sense of humor is good for a surprise most of the time. Part of the on-line gaming conspiracy, expect to see jokes about all the current games, although he's also got plenty of original content on the subject so he's not just posing. Published whenever possible, with a nice long archive. Update 1/30/03 The URL is gone.


Input: [Link] Robot Stories: Real Tales of Retail [Date] 2/22/01 [Comments]

Output: Part of the "Diesel Sweeties" robot empire, this comic uses the prism of the mechanical man to tell alternately transcendently metaphorical or depressingly true-life stories of the retail grind. It's ingeniously coded to look like it's been drawn on the back of a paper bag when the boss isn't looking (and in the early stages, was updated infrequently enough to believe it). Although it's really well drawn, I'm a fan of "Robot Stories" for the writing. So far it hasn't lost its originality in the first few strips, so I get the impression that Neil will be able to milk that crappy job for ideas for a long while. Update 6/5/03 Still going strong, after a frightening break around January 2003. Update 1/8/04 On Sabattical while the author reconsiders his motivation.


Input: [Link] Shinku-tokimekisempukaku [Date] 3/2/01 [Comments]

Output: This cartoonist should have no trouble getting the URL... Found this by accident just this week, I think it's pretty funny. It's another example of the ubiquity and creativity of gaming culture on the Net, sort of a "SunShine Daze" meets "Wendy the On-line comic". I enjoy the great art on this one, the fact that the artist is not afraid to draw the hands Real Big to fit all four fingers on, Nichole's guest strips, and the way that the characters are all so free-swearing. Update 1/25/02Shinku has ended. There's a new comic, but I can't seem to get into it for some reason, I guess because it's a serial. But check it out.


Input: [Link] Untitled Again [Date] 3/09/01 [Comments]

Output: It's hard to believe that I've only found one link to this comic so far! Obviously the work of an art student similar to the main character, this comic revisits the old story of the artist whose works become real. This comic stands out for the modern and realistic development of the events which unfold, the art, and the occasional equally satisfying forays into the characters themselves. The characters (and apparently the author too) are young and horny, so the story has already gotten to the point where they attempt to create a female roommate. So far I've found this story line a little misogynistic, but it's only comedy after all, and it seems to be getting more tolerable again. Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Check out the other comics in the mini-network, "The Four Toontellers", of which Untitled Again is a part.


Input: [Link] Life's So Rad [Date] 3/29/01 [Comments]

Output: Well, I finally got around to recommending one of Corey Marie Kitley's webcomics. She's been publishing for years, a venerable old name on the 'net, but I just couldn't get into the art until recently. Something about the pencil shading, and those eyes. The current story has pulled me in, however. It features Corey and her boyfriend and their friends and their band, and is pretty polished looking. Web comics based on the author and friends are not so unusual, but this one is such a blurring of web comic and web journal that it's almost frightening. However, at the moment it's also one of the few that deals with happy characters, so it's kind of a lift to read.


Input: [Link] Peep [Date] 4/5/01 [Comments]

Output: This month's darling of the Internet, Peep may seem at first like a throwaway effort, nothing more than a whimsical doodle, possibly one of those saccharine awful things. But it's not, fortunately; it's more like a parody of all that. Often, the words are in the form of a poem, which is one of the great things about this comic, but instead of the usual uplifting lesson there's a surprise ending, as in the first one. Sometimes it starts out weird and stays that way, as in "hooker peep". Hopefully the author, Nichole Stabile, will be able to continue not taking this comic seriously for a while. Update 3/5/02Gone, after a period of inactivity.


Input: [Link] 11 Will Die [Date] 4/12/00 [Comments]

Output: Just found this one this week! I'm so excited that once again the awesome comic of the week I was going to recommend this week has been bumped back. First off, what a great name! Secondly, what a great setup for a story (although are those dice I hear rolling in the background?). Then I find out that the author has set it up as a great writing experiment, where who will die next is being fed to him by a panel of friends, and he writes it from there. Lastly, darn nice drawin'. Points off for not setting up the archive with serial links that allow us to read it like a book.


Input: [Link] Ko Fight Club [Date] 4/19/01 [Comments]

Output: I really should have mentioned this one a while ago, right after finding it through Too Fat To Be A Rock Star, especially since it's a comic about board games and I'm writing for Wunderland here! Russ seems to share the Looney's love of games; he is a great fan of Go, and knows about those "German-style board games", and has a parlor night of his own down in Austin, Texas. (Austin is also the source of Shinkutokimekisempukaku and other neat stuff I've coincidentally found recently, apparently apparently it's some kind of rising Net Culture Nexus.) I haven't had a chance to fully explore the riches of this site yet, but from when I started reading a few weeks ago the comic has been throughly entertaining, mostly due to its highly experimental approach. Some weeks it's job search jokes with the figure of a guy talking on the phone, then it's comics made with hand-carved stamps of bugs and snails, then it's a hand drawn extravaganza where he sets his favorite characters (and mine) from other comics against each other in a deathmatch ("Russ, you lazy bastard! Draw me in color! I've been in color for weeks!"). Somewhere in here too are strips for The Bench, Bench adaptions for the Watchmen, and lots of Go jokes I haven't gotten to yet.


Input: [Link] Ancient Messages [Date] 4/26/01 [Comments]

Output: The review that pointed me in the direction of this comic (from the author of Too Fat To Be A Rock Star) was just three letters, "WOW", but I tend to agree. It's the story of a young woman (13 years old? Younger?) who has to go live with her creepy uncle in the country while her hateful parents get a divorce. She eventually realizes that he's not so bad, but we soon learn that dark forces are afoot, and an epic story is just beginning to unfold, and she's caught in the middle of it. As Remi also points out, the art on this comic is just right; a simple line style which is really quite expressive and appropriate to the POV of the heroine. Update 5/5/02The author is ending the comic, having had a good run. Although it is going at the moment, it will soon join the ranks of "static with archive".


Input: [Link] Call Me Julius Caesar [Date] 5/10/01 [Comments]

Output: Wow! Just found this last night and I'm flipping over it! To those familiar with the mystique of Magna, it may not seem so different, but right now there's nothing like it on Keenspace. Apparently produced by a Thailander, the disclaimer reads (suspiciously I might add) "WARNING::my english is so poor,i mean,real bad-_-dont forget to ignore my gramma as well & Nothing here is really about Roman history,most are from my own imagination.so if u saw sth weird in my comix,just ignore it,okay?". I'm really grooving on the crazy words - teen angst - - SF - magna layout mix, and the art is just totally fabulous. I apologize in advance, however, for the hours you will spend downloading each strip; it's either the world's slowest server or the world's farthest away. It will be worth it. Update 8/5/01Ha, the joke's on me. I recommended this comic and it was already dead! No updates since March, but for some reason it's address is still accessable, so check out the limited archive if you wish.


Input: [Link] Nukees [Date] 05/17/01 [Comments]

Output: Nukees has been published on the web for a long time. I've had some issues with it (King Lucia), but it won me over with it's recent Gav gets an afterlife story, so here it is. Published out of Berkely, with lots of local in-jokes, it's main character based on the author started off as a perpetual student, now is described more often as a mad scientist. He and his friends in the same department build improbable nuclear powered devices and basically live the physics/engineering college wet dream. Both physics and college jokes have gotten a little too old for me, but despite the fantasy setting the characters have a lot of hidden depth. The character of "Suzy Gee", at first a triumph of drawing, has now become a very interesting and sympathetic bridge to the real world. Other characters, although less complex, are still pretty likeable. Nukees has evolved nicely over the years and I now check it frequently.


Input: [Link] Celly's Wings [Date] 05/24/01 [Comments]

Output: With six issues posted it's time to recommend this "book form" comic; I've been following it since its early days. It's a cute "anime style" by a talented high-school (now college) artist who loves to render herself and her friends, and write a melodramatic fantasy universe to put them in. One of the most exciting things about the comic is being able to learn a little bit about the author. She's got so much self confidence that it's really inspiring ("Multiracial, baby! Yeah!"), and it's impossible not to love such a bold expression. The art just keeps getting better and better, and has a good mastery of manga principles in both form and content, so I hope Starline doesn't quit soon.


Input: [Link] Exploitation Now [Date] 6/7/01 [Comments]

Output: Exploitation Now is a fun comic because it doesn't get too hung up on what genre it is or type of plot you should expect. This is an anime-influenced sexy- main- character- with- an- odd- "furry"- roommate- and- a- megalomaniacal- teenaged- girl- landlord- with- a- basement- full- of- high- tech- weapons,- a- lazer- blasting- arm- prosthetic- and- a- "Dark Angel"- backstory type of comic. The archive is long and there's lots of links to related precursor material by the same artist. The comic may have recently aquired a direction with the recent suspenseful "Jordon" backstory, but I'm not holding my breath. This is a relatively young comic, so catch it while its still fresh.


Input: [Link] Look What I Brought Home [Date] 6/14/01 [Comments]

Output: Since the WWN's on vacation this week, it's a perfect opportunity to sneak in a recommendation for Look What I Brought Home. This is probably the most digusting comic on the Internet, not necessarily for the crude, sexually deviant, taboo-squishing subject matter, but for the casual way it pulls it off. The authors (Yeah, right, like anybody's wife would ever be caught dead associated with something like this) don't seem to be working too hard to be this gross. Consequently it's often shockingly funny. The drawing style is deceivingly simple, and the unwashed characters seem so natural that it's easy to get the impression that, maybe somewhere, life is like this. Serious recalibration will be required after reading this comic, and you may need to shower repeatedly after logging off, but it's funny enough that I would be remiss in not listing it among my top comics.


Input: [Link] Not Gonna Take It [Date] 6/21/01 [Comments]

Output: Another great high-school furry comic. This one has knocked me off my chair for the clarity of its writing and its excellent drawing. The main characters are all anthropromorphic cats. In a surpisingly refreshing twist, the main character is a popular and handsome athelete, his girlfriend is the popular cheerleeder. There's no hint of irony, however their friends are a little rougher, a shy kid covering it up with swagger and a young girl who happens to be a witch and has an adorable bird for a best friend. The recent Kiwi story was so full of pleasant surprises that I'm surprised I never found this comic until just recently. Points off for having a title that gets that stupid song stuck in my head every time. Will the author continue to write NGTI after she graduates? Update 8/8/02The answer was no. I wonder what happened? Update 6/5/03 Still sputtering along with occasional updates. The author continues to experiment with drawing styles and plot directions, most of which are interesting. but she's too busy with RL to keep up and the new site design is incredibly slow to download.


Input: [Link] Journey To The West [Date] 6/28/01 [Comments]

Output: Oh my. Journey To The West is a rare find, something that can truly be called Internet Art. I haven't stumbled across work of this caliber since my earliest days hunting for webcomics. It's insanely beautiful, deep, compelling, experimental and bold. Making use of the full palatte of computer generated visual textures, as well as linkage and animation that you almost never see anymore, every panel is a visual feast unrestricted to any single artistic style. The characters are amazingly multi-dimensional given the number of pages and amount of dialog that have been published so far. The story is complex while at the same time unhurried, and involves many modern myths including one of my favorites, the Men In Black. But more than just the story, the author is packing Journey To The West with massive doses of philosophy with no fear of educational presentation. Zen anecdotes and principles are frequently explored, as is the mystery of the Sonoran west.


Input: [Link] The List Of The Day [Date] 7/5/01 [Comments]

Output: Ok, the LOTD, part of the Dilbert page, is not really a web comic. It is, however, a enormously entertaining comic-related site that I read whenever at all possible and which can eat up hours of web surfing time. Contrary to my expectations, the comic itself has not lost any of its edge and remains funny on a daily basis. I mean, how much can you say about your dumb boss, and besides Scott did that whole animated series thing. You'd think the well would be tapped dry, but he always comes up with something new and interesting. But that's just the icing on the cake. The real pleasure is the LOTD, a forum where readers submit entries to categories like "Best things to say on the phone when you know your office mates are evesdropping" or "Worst reasons for denying training requests". I love reading the often real-life horror stories of these tourtured twisting drones, sprinkled with occasionally innane references to current events or politics. It's also interesting that the best stories come not only from the white collar workers, but also members of the armed forces and the fast-food sector, making the LOTD a visceral and sympathetic window on the world. The number of entries is often 20 or so pages long, sorted by popularity due to the use of a "voting" option, and there's also a sadly weekly "short list" which is the condensed top 20 entries from some earlier category. The archive is only 5 days deep, so you have to check it often. Update 4/8/02The sellout of Dilbert continues, as the LOTD was cut for failing to generate internet revenue. Well, it was getting repetitive, but I'll still miss it.


Input: [Link] Lynda Barry's One Hundred Demons [Date] 7/12/01 [Comments]

Output: This comic is not active, but it's so good that I have to mention it anyways. We all know and love Lynda Barry, and there's probably even outlets for "Ernie Pook's Comeek" out there, although I haven't found them. This is not that one, but one which claims to be more autobiographical. True or not, the stories in this comic are compelling, and interesting, and from a "looking back" perspective that an oldster such as myself can really identify with. It is very interesting to read these and feel like you're getting a glimpse into the famous artist's past and present life. Update 1/8/01One Hundred Demons is over, but you can now get Ernie Pook at this address, so everything is good.


Input: [Link] And Then There Was Fred [Date] 7/26/01 [Comments]

Output: I am not running out of web comics, I just happen to like this one even though it is over. My link starts you at the front of the archive. There's no "calendar" table for the archive, so you'll just have to read it like a book. It doesn't look like much, a quickly dashed off stick figure comic similar on the surface to "Cynicalman". The humor is a lot quirkier though, very charming in a "Mutts" sort of way, with enough of a storyline to pull you through to it's end last February. Plus, it has one of the best animated link buttons EVER on the last page.


Input: [Link] Toonbots [Date] 08/02/01 [Comments]

Output: Hard on the eyes, lame, but a hilarious concept to the geeks among us. The comic is not written, it is defined using XML, a universal data definition language, and then generated using the Toon-o-Matic program. He gives the source code for each comic! Haw (snort!). The author writes: To me, the Toon-o-Matic itself is the work of art. The strip is a by-product. Like hot dogs."


Input: [Link] Ashfield Online [Date] 08/10/01 [Comments]

Output: I might as well jump on the bandwagon for this comic; I wasn't sure what to think of it when it first came out but it's been around long enough to be taken seriously. Also titled "?", a name that cannot be bookmarked in IE, this comic has only been drawn once. The captions change, and usually the background or some props, and sometimes color is added, and sometimes the unchanging Professor Ashfield himself is cut up and mutilated in entertaining ways. Sometimes his eyeballs move. But usually the best jokes are the most minimal ones; it's a little like The Angriest Dog In The World.


Input: [Link] When I Am King [Date] 08/16/01 [Comments]

Output: This comic is Weird with a capital W. I'm not the only one who thinks so; it's been getting a lot of press recently. I'm a trend whore! Anyhow, this is a comic where the King and his countrymen are drawn from geometric shapes so the people resemble curved-cornered refridgerators with heads, the King's sarong gets eaten by a camel pretty early in the series, and he spends most of the strip running around naked, trying to find underwear and keep from getting his pecker stung by bees. All the while pursued by the camel, who wants oral sex. The author's bio indicates he's from Switzerland. Ah -- it's european.


Input: [Link] Gene Catlow [Date] 9/06/01 [Comments]

Output: Okay, let's pick something up out of the back bin and dust it off. Hmmm... Gene Catlow. This is a pretty good comic, one I followed avidly for a while. It's pretty unique, well drawn, from the furry genre. In this world, all the animals live in an upright-walking clothes-wearing society, and have to deal with the problem of getting along together. They also have to deal with the problem of getting along with humankind. It's a great setup, seriously explored in order to make parallels to our own world, but I've found the main characters to be far too preachy and righteous. For maximum entertainment value, start at the first strip or try the rather interesting Synopsis Page


Input: [Link] Indie Rock Pete hits Indie Rock Bottom [Date] 4/18/02 [Comments]

Output: I'm sorry I was too busy to recommend this series while it was running, but it's done now and you can read the entire story from start to finish. I recommend trying to read it one page a day as it was originally delivered; the artwork was the aspect of this story I found most amazing and it is most effective savored slowly. Of all the characters to originate in Diesel Sweeties, Indie Rock Pete seems to have the greatest inspiration for readers and other artists; he's the favorite topic of guest strips and crossovers. In this entire Keenspot mini-series devoted to him, we get to hear a little bit of what goes on inside his head, but as the art makes clear, it is one of the more loving tributes to the fool everybody loves to hate.


Input: [Link] Norman P. Function [Date] 4/18/02 [Comments]

Output: Ok, Eric Dunne keeps trying new comic ideas, which is why there are so many pointers in my web picks to his pages. There's the original, still-running "You Damn Kid", followed by the currently quiescent historical fake-out "Dizzy Dustbin", and now two new comics that I really like a lot, "Norman P. Function" and "The Beevnics" (reviewed below). Norman has to be my favorite of all, a twisted tale unique on the Internet, with a style and pacing that puts it above your ordinary non-squitior or looney-bin comic styles. So far, this has been my favorite Dunne comic, but it's updated infrequently. Update 7/15/02Recently moved behind a "club" wall. The price is not bad, but mysteriously, membership is closed.


Input: [Link] The Beevnicks [Date] 4/18/02 [Comments]

Output: Eric was rapidly approaching burnout when this clip-art style comic originally appeared, but rather than being a cop-out vehicle this comic has matured into a full work in its own right. Not just using the same cutouts all the time, Mr. Dunne has fun with them, changing the expressions or other details for a plot device, or flashing back to show us the same characters in the past or interacting with the new character of the week. The comic really hit its stride with the long serial clown story recently, which often had me on the edge of my seat for the next plot turn. Of course, there's plenty of that trademark raunchy humor that in this case leads to plenty of cutout nudity. Update 7/15/02Same as Norman, above.


Input: [Link] Jackie's Fridge [Date] 4/18/02 [Comments]

Output: With 500 comics in Keenspace, how can you tell which ones are amazing? It's hard, but every once in a while I follow a link from one of the more established comics and find a gem like this one. Fabulous art is coupled with a soap-opera story line lightened by the core conceit of a young woman moving into a new appartment inhabited by an evil refridgerator. Except it's not that evil any more, and there's an annoying evil Guinea pig instead. This comic is also blessed with lots of commentatry from the artist, always a bonus in my opinion, and has the unusual policy that if a comic is not finished in time for whatever reason, we get the unfinished version in whatever state it got to and the author moves on.


Input: [Link] Hole in the Wall [Date] 4/18/02 [Comments]

Output: A "life in college" strip with an undisguised "anime" influence. It's confidently drawn and seems relatively stable, apparently anchored to a college paper's publishing schedule. "Hole In The Wall" refers to the dormitory lifestyle. There's an "everyman" guy, his crazy roommate, and the fabulous girl he'd like to go out with who hangs around. Like most reviewers on the web, my reaction to this comic is: "Sigh... It's just like my life when I was in school."


Input: [Link] BloodLark [Date] 4/18/02 [Comments]

Output: EIGHT is finally doing another comic. Brilliant as ever, this one was updated on time for three months before I found it, whereafter it started getting spotty. Eight is taking the worn fantasy and adventuring genere and giving it his usual fresh and entertaining spin. Despite the darkness and real-life misery of his characters, it's cool that each comic ends on some kind of joke. Update 5/5/02 Totally dead. Too bad he's keeping that depressing final page up. Update 1/30/03 The URL is gone.


Input: [Link] Cat And Girl [Date] 4/25/02 [Comments]

Output: The confidence of both art and writing in this comic gives away the author as a master. Cat and Girl are bohemian companions. Cat is a tall, adventuresome beat, Girl is a cute, savy bookworm. Together they argue about culture and smash stuff. I love the characters, their friendship, and their commentary.


Input: [Link] Intelligent Humor [Date] 5/2/02 [Comments]

Output: A highly entertaining non-sequitor comic of the same style and format as Bob The Angry Flower. this comic was published from 1988 to sometime in the 90's. The site is a fan collection of all the old comics they could find and scan; read it slowly; it's a limited supply. For me, the distinguishing lure of this comic is its lovable characers; the big and gentle Gummy Nummy, the firey Rusty the cat, Honda Civic Boy, Seth and Gregg. Many installations poke at the superhero basis of comics with hilarious "vs" battles between odd characters, and rarely does a plot last for more than about half of the panels.


Input: [Link] WIGU [Date] 5/9/02 [Comments]

Output: Last in my recent "Thank God It's Back" entries, the creator of the brilliant When I Grow Up is trying a new direction with a comic about a kid. I was a little worried at first, but Jeffery Roland has left the safety of the original conceits of his characters and they're flying on their own now, lost in the unfairly stupid world bearing a strong resemblance to our own.


Input: [Link] Lizard [Date] 5/16/02 [Comments]

Output: The hole left in my day when "Living In Greytown" ended has been filled again. This story has many of the same characters, now set entertainingly in the greater world, with the same meloncholy touches and personal joys that characterized the original comic. For those of you not as hung up on the past, the title character is a good humored little family guy, but no fool either, just trying to get through each day like the rest of us. He has a lovable family and friends all with their own stories. The comic is amazingly enough PG rated, and is published every single damn day in color.


Input: [Link] 6:35 [Date] 5/23/02 [Comments]

Output: Wow! I just found this one and it is something special. With a compelling drawing style, it has a post-high-school perspective, and tells the small, private stories of everyday life and friendship. I haven't finished reading the archive yet, it's only 16 entries long and I'm trying to spread it out over as much time as possible. However, to get the best flavor of what 6:35 is all about, I think this one and this one sum it up best. If you want to experience that feeling of being young and clever again, you will get your wish in this budding masterpiece. Update 2/1/06Link updated to 6:35's new home on the Web.


Input: [Link] Eversummer Eve [Date] 5/30/02 [Comments]

Output: Another entry in the "Why is this free?" category. This is an american magna-inspired magic-and-alternate-universe story in a comic book format, not too much different from others except that's so well drawn! Amazingly finished, totally clean lines, nice looking characters, and a good story too. I haven't read more than the first issue, but I'm looking forward to savoring the whole archive.


Input: [Link] Leisure Town [Date] 6/6/02 [Comments]

Output: How do insanely great works like this go on for years before I find out about them? "Liesure Town" is probably the most amazing thing I've seen on the Internet since exploding dog. It's visually incredible, thematicly disturbing, and utterly funny. The author constructs stories using photography of some kind of plastic toys set in astounding real-world sets. The sequence of panels is often occompanied by text containing the innner dialog of one of the characters. Those familiar with the work will notice that there are a couple different themes to be found in the huge archive. The first is the stories of pathetic losers, specifically the kind found associated with the internet. In fact, the web site is currently organized as a fake "webzine", with "articles" and "message boards" each of which is really a not-very-disguised story. The characters' delusions are broken down bit by bit throughout their internal rambling dialogs until even they cannot avoid facing terrible reality. Earlier stories focused on a more straightforward chaos, in which these same adorable creatures (there seems to be only about 20, reused and reused for each story) undergo extremely physical misadventures of building hilarity. Examples of the latter type of story are "Extreme Cyclist Lexiconology", in which the relatively triumphant terms such as "sparkler" and "whirligig" give way to the more unfortunate illustrations for "balance blackout" and "wang chung", and "Umbrella Patrol", in which a character asked to watch a friend's umbrella instead takes it on a series of ever more irresponsible adventures. Sterling examples of the former story are the "Manage Your Web Dollars!" article, in which the "successful" .com consultant simply wanders around town searching for his lost ATM card, oscillating wildly between self importance and the realization of what a joke his life is, and "Nobody Came To My Winter Solstice Party, a message board rant in which a thoughly adorable character pleads for any response to his description of the great but snubbed party he threw and sent out e-vites for, and then concludes with an excited invitation to his next shindig. The LiesureTown archive is unbelivably huge, dating back to 1997, and with some stories exceeding 100 pages! I'll be reading this one for a while. Update 1/8/04 So sad! It appears that LT is no longer. The site is up, but shows only a goodbye message Update 2/1/06It's back! No new material, but it looks like the whole archive has been reposted.


Input: [Link] The Smallest Sound [Date] 6/13/02 [Comments]

Output: Updated very infrequently, The Smallest Sound is more of a personal visual media outlet for the author, who is one of those "Jim Reardon" types of people who produces only rare and intermittant works of such incredible genius that they eclipse other artists' lifetimes of work. So, enjoy "Printer" and other comic stories, then check it out every once in a while and keep your eye on it for new stuff. Update 4/3/03 Checked this one recently and the URL seems to be the unused property of some band now. Guess it's gone.


Input: [Link] Mike The Atomic Triangle [Date] 7/18/02 [Comments]

Output: Not really the name of this strip, which is renamed and reinvented every week. This comic is one of those that the Internet is for, experimenting with format, shape, the concept of narrative, browser tricks, whatever. Mike himself is a recent addition the comic, and there's no guarantee that he'll be around by the time you read this, but it's kind of cool that he looks like a character from Iceland. Oh yeah, there's no "archive" as such, but usually you can find a link somewhere in any day's comic that will lead back to the previous one, up to a point. Who is the mysterious "Jack Masters?".


Input: [Link] Comic Journals! The Journal Comic Life with Leslie Toddbot's Comic Journal [Date] 7/25/02 8/1/02 [Comments]

Output: Wow! What an amazingly simple idea, I'm stunned that I haven't seen it until just now. I found these three within short order of each other, and they are all amazing, each with it's own unique flavor. What they have in common is what happens when an artist is forced to come up with a panel strip about something that happened that day, and make it interesting or funny. Leslie's life seems the most real, or perhaps I find his drawing style to be realistic. He works at a sucky job at a video store, and wastes hours a day like me reading webcomics. He also takes the rare step of putting links in his comics themselves. Drew Weing's boldly named "The Journal Comic" is more prolific, and stretches the extra inch to make each story a complete joke a day. Of course, many days the joke is how much time was wasted on the internet. His comic is more about his relationships with his friends. I totally love the brutal self portraiture of his character; that nose is usually the first laugh of every installment I view. Todd Webb's Comic Journal is vastly different artistically. It has a much simpler, block-print look, with the author's self portrait accurately described by him as "lemon headed". In a sense though, this makes it much more compelling. The stories may not be all that, but an entry will summarize a day's worth of shopping by focusing simply on a pair of shoes. It goes without saying that the rest of these authors' web sites are filled with fascinating material that you should read. I'm leaving the navigation of that to you though.


Input: [Link] Something Positive [Date] 8/15/02 [Comments]

Output: Lesbian Sex. D&D. Bad Theater. Anime Cons. Bad language. It's basically a comic about Boston fandom. Cynical, foul tempered guy hangs out in Boston with two oriental chicks and has a bunch of equally cynical friends, all fairly self absorbed. Like they make the Seinfeld cast look like Mother Tehresa. Also I'm not kidding about the language. Redeemed by the adorable boneless cat and the art, which is as excellent as Penny Arcade. Favorite quotes: "Don't you dare blame this on my taste buds! I could menstrate a better cup of coffee than this!", and "What is that God awful stench! We always seem to get the train car that smells like somebody gutted a hobo!". Basically, if you can get past the first comic in the archive, it gets mellower and more likable from there on.


Input: [Link] Cheese-N-Rice [Date] 8/22/02 [Comments]

Output: For every comic there is an equal but opposite comic. For "Something Positive" it is "Cheese-N-Rice". I have been reading them simultaneously these days. Cheese-N-Rice is utterly wholesome, inspired by the doodles in the artist's high-school notebook and documenting the adventures of characters you can take home to meet Mom. It is set in the real world, and the relationships between people are on an ordinary, everyday level, and funny in that way. Two women, a "geek" and a "blonde" are best friends, try to meet better-than-moronic guys at the local bars, share an apartment, etc. Nicely done and ready for syndication. Warning: Links to "Cathy" and pop-up ads.


Input: [Link] Scary Go Round [Date] 9/5/02 [Comments]

Output: Yay! John Allison is making a comic again! Yay! Focusing now on two college students who appeared briefly in the epic Bobbins and utilizing the trademark color cutout style he uses to avoid having to draw with pen and ink despite his obvious raw talent, SGR has the same killer wit that makes John's work a pleasure in whatever medium. Now it's a spooky mystery, so get your Halloween on and wait every Tuesday and Thursday for this comic to be updated.


Input: [Link] Kung Fool/Crazy Kimchi [Date] 9/12/02 [Comments]

Output: It's a web comic that's fashionably late :) No, really, Kung Fool is more of an experience than just a comic. It's got some entertaining non-static components, such as the "?" balloon that you can click for each comic tobget the story so far, or sometimes flash components. The art and characters are fabulous, and the story riveting. However, Kung Fool is also a directory of the author's recently found internet treasures, an excellent guide to the internet in itself. Update 6/5/03 Still going. The current Kung Fool story line seems to have sputtered out, but in it's place a new daily comic has arisen, along with a correspondingly updated links page that KICKS ASS!!! This is positively the first comic I check every day now (when I can, generally Not Safe For Work); "crazy kimchi" is a forehead beadingly high-production-value comic about whatever's on the author's mind, and his links are guided by the outrage we all feel about the recent takeover of our country by anti-american elements.


Input: [Link] Piggy Hunter [Date] 9/19/02 [Comments]

Output: A very well-done comic of the parody-of-magna genre, obviously written for the author's own pleasure but stilly very funny. In this comic, the heroine's familiar is a tiny cartoon pig. They spend the first few comics of the series humorously making 4th wall references and trying to figure out where to go with it, then poke fun at cop, mech, fantasy, and romantic plot devices simultaneously before falling into a long period of inactivity. Enjoy the archive and hope for resumption of regular updates soon!


Input: [Link] Big Nate [Date] 9/26/02 [Comments]

Output: Another of the few syndicated comics worth reading on the Internet. It's true that the plotting and art are the same mind-numbing syndication formula that never changes. However, Big Nate is a comic within a comic, and the inner comics, which are "drawn" by the main character are hilarious and edgy. I can also respect this comic because the main character is kind of a jerk; I always find anti-heroes more interesting and sympathetic.


Input: [Link] Elftor [Date] 10/3/02 [Comments]

Output: Prepare to be offended! Elftor is near and dear to my heart because it is made with MS Paint, which I haven't seen since Boat Anchor. But it's also pretty funny if you like sophomoric humor, such as Jesus machine-gunning pagans, or anything with Osama Bin Laden, abortion, murder, etc. What can I say, it's just so rude it's funny. Sort of the Beastie Boys of web comics. My favorite character: "Cheezetor". Also entertaining is the fact that the author's gone to the trouble to make an icon for his page with will appear in the title bar of your browser or the bookmark.


Input: [Link] The Devil's Panties [Date] 10/10/02 [Comments]

Output: So, um, panties, man! This fresh and feminist comic is apparently based on the author, her friends, and her observations on the world. It's almost a member of the "comic journal" genre, and it's reassuring that somebody out there has a life this good. I check this comic frequently to get doses of the author's energetic attitude, and to check on her cute friend's miraculously stable relationship.


Input: [Link] Pupkin [Date] 10/24/02 [Comments]

Output: Weird. Innovative. Creepy. Compelling. Pupkin is pretty unusual even for internet comics. The simple drawing style and apparently random plot direction fail to detract from the genius of this comic. Just when you think that Pupkin couldn't get any wierder, you are served up yet another surprise. Some days I can't bring myself to read it, other days it's the first one I check. Looking over the archive, however, provides a better perspective, and the power of the best strips hasn't faded one bit over time. The fictional Bobby Crosby provides a commentary on the strip most days, and claims to have absolutely no idea where it's going in general, with strips being written shortly before they are posted. Update reliablity is almost 100%, so let's hope it doesn't just suddenly end any time soon. Update 1/30/03 As predictable, Pupkin is over and the site is now trash. Check out the archive if you want, it may be back some day, and is still a very good read.


Input: [Link] Sephen [Date] 11/7/02 [Comments]

Output: Don't blink. This is Eight's latest comic. It looks like a good post-apocalyptic yarn with his tradmark waif character, giant flying robots, carelessly spastic plot direction, and a central mystery. Send him some money already, I'd like to see this one make it to the end. Update 6/5/03 Dead again, link to the most recent comic lost in the new site redesign; why do I bother hoping.


Input: [Link] The K Chronicles [Date] 11/14/02 [Comments]

Output: Salon has about five web comics, all of which are very good. The K chronicles is one that I avoided for a little bit after finding Story Minute, solely on the basis of the Oliphant-like style in which the main character was rendered. Good thing I read some anyway. The author is a trip! The comics are generally his observations on life, with my favorites being the monthly "Life's Little Victories" segments, all modest and all true. Enjoy the author's travels around the country or his occasionally uncontainable outrage over the erosion of our American rights.


Input: [Link] Small Stories [Date] 11/21/02 [Comments]

Output: Small Stories has been around long enough for me to lose the link and then find it again, so I think it can be counted on to continue. The writing totally lives up to the name of the series, with pages and pages devoted to simple conversations, each panel adding compelling depths to each sentence. The characters are ordinary, often due to their autobiographical origins. The art is fabulously polished. The stories I got hooked on were the currently running but almost concluded Same Difference, and the haunting Super Unleaded, both of which I recommend highly.


Input: [Link] Um In The Coil's livejournal [Date] 1/30/03 [Comments]

Output: Here's the latest hot new thing: outletless free spirits are using this livejournal thing as a kind of underground comics channel. Free of the continual server problems of Keenspace, but also free of any obligating schedule or archive space, you can find all kinds of honest and personal art going down here. There's also no way to locate it except by following links, mostly from Something Positive. So here is a jewel in the rough; you can say you read it back before it got it's own web site. Um is doing a variety of things with his livejournal, including journalling, but for some reason he has undertaken the task of illustrating the story "Anthem" by Ayn Rand. The art is a spooky block-print style which befits this fascinating tale of a lost-technology future, and the natural emotion and suspense of the story is intensified masterfully by the serial nature of this medium. There's also something else going on, currently only called "untitled". By the time you check this out who knows where that will be, but I'll endevor to keep you updated. Update 6/5/03 Well, Anthem was given up right in the middle, guess I'll have to read the book. There's been a new comic idea that also sputtered and a few illustrations. I still check it every week because this guy is a genius and may yet come up with something new.


Input: [Link] You Wish's livejournal [Date] 2/6/03 [Comments]

Output: Here's another livejournal comic, again recommended via SP. This one seems to be the notebook gleanings of a young kid, her friends, and her job. It's all very light and airy, no particular plot, just whatever happened that day that was funny. The art is fabulously expressive although sadly mostly unfinished. Check out her SP guest strip for a tantalizing look at this artist's full potential


Input: [Link] Unicorn Jelly [Date] 02/13/03 [Comments]

Output: Just found this one, can't have been going long... let's see... May 2000??? How could I have not heard about this before now? And it's even ending, I can tell because the story has jumped ahead 300 years. Unicorn Jelly is many things, among them a serial, so don't bother starting at the most recent strip; my link is to the very beginning. Includng that, this comic fulfills almost every potential of webcomics. It is a completely realized, richly layered graphic novel exploring the relationships between the spiritual and technological, as well as between all kinds of people, set in a unique universe with its own physics and dangers, with a faithful japanese magnaesque storytelling method, complete with such touchstones as jellies and slimes, witches, lost technology, and sound effects such as "Jiri, Jiri". As if all that wasn't enough, just about evey other day in the archive has an easter egg, a link to additional bonus content that helps explain the dense background (usually just at the right times), or expands the story. But most of the times the easter eggs are just for fun, such as one day's comic rendered in blacklight poster colors for instance. Sorry to give such late notice on this one, but read the archive and catch the exciting conclusion! Update 6/5/03 The story is over, read the entire story.


Input: [Link] Queen of Wands [Date] 2/20/03 [Comments]

Output: Another friend of Something Positive, I can't figure out why the author of this comic seems so unsure of herself in her bio. It's a typical friends and housemates story loosely based on the author's life like many webcomics, but the art is fantastic and the writing is a whole different flavor of the Boston attitude that makes SP so entertaining. We've been lucky to get daily updates for a while, so the characters have been developing nicely and there seems to be no shortage of material. I hope!


Input: [Link] Ghost 2138 [Date] 3/6/03 [Comments]

Output: It's currently on Hiatus, but you have to check this out anyway. This on-line graphic novel in progress experiments with so many elements of comic-book tradition, and does them well, that it's hard to describe. Ok, here is my favorite part about Ghost 2138. It's set right here, in Washington D.C., in a cool blade-runneresque future. There's a fully developed political history which explains why the story has skyscrapers, furries, assault cops, skeleton gangs, mafia, berserker androids, and superhero elements all thrown together (of course the real reason is that the authors are just having fun). In the center of this story is the unwitting hero, a dreamer who starts getting powers for reasons we don't yet know, who takes it all in stride because he's just that sure that it's because he's "the man".


Input: [Link] DeVia Dirkdancer - DeViations [Date] 3/13/03 [Comments]

Output: Not so much a comic as an exercise in computer rendering of nearly naked fantasy women, DeViations is notable for its visual success. It's very good looking. There was an interesting tutorial a while back on how he creates the comic. But, aside from the rendering, there's not much going on. A question in the FAQ asks "Why isn't it funny", to which the printed answer is that it's all inside jokes, but really the reason is that it's simply all about the imaging. Very download intensive, be warned! Update 3/22/03OK, I admit it! I have actually been following the current story line in DeViations with great interest, and it is very good. The trio of (nearly naked) main characters have emerged into the real world, finding themselves at a science fiction convention, following the trail of demonic power that has destroyed their own universe. References to D&D and LARP culture are quite humorous to us in the know, but more importantly, I would hesitate to offend the author of such an impressive artistic work, which obviously requires a great deal of skill and effort to produce. I can only say to Mr Troll: I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, was in no way fair comment, and was motivated purely by malice, and I deeply regret any distress that my remarks may have caused you, or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat such a slander at any time in the future!


Input: [Link] College Roomies From Hell [Date] 3/27/03 [Comments]

Output: Well, I've been reading this one more recently so I should recommend it. It's not that it's all that new, in fact it was one I was reading back when the idea for this web page started back in 1997. It looked a lot different then, and in particular it since picked up a few hallmark elements some of which I just haven't been able to decide how I feel about. On the plus side, the art is spiffy now, not only polished but attactive. These are some of the cutest, most distinctive comic characters on the web. However, I began to find the plot lines a little too long and over-dramatic to keep up with. Also, the fantasy elements that developed for all the characters are also things that a lot of fans of this comic love that I can't get into, even if the characters are otherwise extremely likable. All of which is strange since I still read Sluggy Freelance which has most of the same elements; your mileage will vary. This page can be agony to download without a fast network connection.


Input: [Link] Orange Tango [Date] 4/3/03 [Comments]

Output: I've gotta recommend this one soon before updates end! This was announced as a playback of a previously published set of comics, by Brent Kirk, the brother of Derik Kirk, on the Small Stories web site while Derik is taking a break. The comics are completely different from Derik's studious, careful style, more wild and hysterically funny, post-high-school reminiscences contemporarily penned. Aside from the breathless homages to insane characters from his Taco Bell job, the story of the high school play "Rumors" has me on the edge of my seat every day. Thank goodness that this has been updated every day recently. Since these were made years ago, however, they probably won't continue past the month or so of needed fill-in time, so I hope the Orange Tango archive site stays up and you all can get a chance to read every one. Update 6/5/03 No more new comics, the complete archive is online.


Input: [Link] Wapsi Square [Date] 4/10/03 [Comments]

Output: This comic looks to me like a newspaper publication that's also on the web, but in fact the opposite is true. The syndication-ready art and story lines are in fact a labor of love wasting away in the obscurity of Keenspace; I would never have known about it if it wasn't for an intrigueing link button on Kung Fool. The most interesting characters in this comic are the female ones; they are all very sympathetically written and have a lot of depth, which I think is unusual because the author is a guy. The comic is mostly about their relationships, although their varied heritages are also explored with surprising authenticity. The comic is updated reliably, which is good because I am so addicted to this one right now that I can't wait to see what happens to the characters in each story line. Points off for an anthropromorphic dog, even if he's still occasionally entertaining. Update 11/01/03 New URL, link updated.


Input: [Link] Klyde Morris [Date] 4/17/03 [Comments]

Output: Proving that there is a niche comic out there for everyone, even me, here is a comic about current events in the aeronautics and space industries. And ants. This one takes some time to get used to, but it's worth the effort because it is genuinely funny. For real life reasons which are in themselves hilarious (I won't go into it, just read the author's background, the comic's main character is an ant who works as a commercial pilot, and has otherwise worked a wide variety of jobs all within the industry or flight school. The subject of the bulk of recent comics is the shenanigans of public officials, which (mercifully) the author makes no attempt to draw except as voices behind closed doors. In fact, the best drawing in the comic is of airplanes and rockets. However, if the reader should want to read more comics about ants (and who wouldn't), there are tons and tons of other ant comics by the author in the archives, about four distinguishable independent story lines which imagine a parallel world right beneath our feet in which ants have airports, submarines, starships, and news media. Or if you like, just get a chuckle out of the pomposity of the author himself, as the entire web site is in the third person. He imagines himself as an enemy to blowhards, which is ironic because he seems to be his own worst enemy.


Input: [Link] Spellshocked [Date] 4/24/03 [Comments]

Output: With so many comics on keenspace, how can you tell which ones are good? One way is somebody hands your webmaster a cool color business card advertising the comic. Sorry it's taken me so long to put up a review of this one, I checked it out immediately and have been checking it ever since. This is a monthly fantasy comic in which a young dragon shows up for his first day at a magic college, meeting his roommate, a fox who has been faking magic with science, and has several adventures meeting the locals and getting the hang of the place. Then one of the characters' parents show up and it takes a sharp turn into theater, a la Unlike Minerva, but it looks like that's over now. The monthly schedule is to accommodate the production of the beautiful color pages; the wait is definitely worth it.


Input: [Link] Mnemesis [Date] 6/5/03 [Comments]

Output: Wow! Get ready for some good old fashioned story tellin'. By the quality of the introductory chapters and the character development so far, the author makes clear that we can expect a full exploration of the philosophical implications of the scenario he's set up. Here's what has happened to our characters so far: they've awakened after their deaths in some kind of afterlife, which resembles a weird gigantic city filled with everyone who's ever died, and there's no sun. They have to get used to their apparently meaningless new life with individually varying levels of death-trauma-induced amnesia. With no sign of any keepers in this lonely afterlife, friendship, love, work, business and religion run rampant. We have not yet found out what the title means in relation to the story. This compelling tale is served well by the author's accessable comic-book drawing style and the flashes of humorous comic relief, helping draw the reader in unawares. The author has gained a lot of artistic confidence since his first major story A God's Life, now completed, and it just keeps getting better. It is nice to find somebody out there not afraid to tinker with the basic metaphisical questions and write a good story in the process.


Input: [Link] S.S.D.D. [Date] 6/19/03 [Comments]

Output: I have no idea what S.S.D.D. stands for, sorry. However, the comic has been around for a while and it's getting better and better, so it's high time I put up a link to it. It started out as kind of an aimless gag-a-day strip with a bunch of rough-looking "furries" who blew things up and had sex and drugs. Recently though, I discovered that the author has woven in a fascinating sci-fi thread wherein some characters from a future apparently influenced by the old main characters end up in the past trying to sort it all out. The old characters really grew on me also as I caught up with the archive. The author occasionally babbles about how he's not a stinking Yank, he's from England dammit, but you really get the picture from the voices in this flash-animated short story. Also immense fun is the now-famous Dictator Test, in which you attempt to figure out the right answers to get "George W Bush" as the answer. Update 6/18/03 I thought I recommended this before now, but I can't find the evidence in the WWN archives, so here it is. The sci-fi story is starting up again; as of the time of this posting he's doing a "the story so far" review which is an entertaining retelling but you should go back through the archives and read the original for yourself to get the full background.


Input: [Link] Elf Only Inn [Date] 7/17/03 [Comments]

Output: Just found this one and I am ROFL!!! As usual, it has been going on for a while, and the archive adds a great dimension to the comic. The premise: a cranky guy who likes to roleplay as an elf tries to start a chat room entitled "Elf Only Inn" to attract like minded geeks. However instead his room is visited by users from a variety of other online worlds, and they won't leave, much to his consternation. Eventually they all become an online community of their own. The art on EOI has undergone a couple of transitions. Seizing on the observation that posters to chat rooms use id pictures that rarely change, the artist deliberately made a cut-and-paste comic in which the characters similarly did not change (also taking the opportunity to make fun of cut-and-paste comics). The reason this conceit worked is because the writing was hilarious enough to carry the whole comic. However, the author bit the bullet and has since proven that he can really DRAW! The comic is now incredibly beautiful, and yet the author has done more than just draw it, using the opportunity for motion to further parody the synergy between online fantasy and the mundane "real world". But now the writing has also cranked up several notches, and under each comic the story is continued with further punchlines in chat-room format. Elf Only In is unique in that the real characters in this comic are not the on-line ones that you see drawn, but the fictional people posting behind them, and they continue to grow more and more interesting. Update 7/21/03 Of course, it ends the week I post the review. Archives still good.


Input: [Link] Particle Sphere [Date] 7/31/03 [Comments]

Output: There's no way I could not like something as creative and bold on the Web as Particle Sphere. It is of course "sequential art", but in an experimental format takes inspiration from the cosmic style of the plot, in which the main character (Particle) rides interdimesional bubbles between giant space stations of which she seems to be a caretaker. She's currently involved in a showdown with some charismatic space pirates who are running a Robin Hood operation against an interlanetary shipping company.


Input: [Link] Rules Of Make Believe [Date] 8/14/03 [Comments]

Output: Magna as realized by it's inventors is a surprisingly rigid and rigorous traditional form. There's a range of certain "looks" for the art and another range of stock settings and story lines. This makes the latest round of indignation over "bad magna" by non-japanese seem all the more absurd to me. However, I generally find that on the Net the magna-inspired comics that filter their way up to my attention are very American, generally only referring to one or two traditional elements as interests the artist. What's cool about RoMB is that even if the artist is one of those dreaded non-japanese, this is a full-up exercise in making a realistic magna, nothing is left out and the attention to detail is exquisite. The first key to the reader is that the pages must be read right to left! Then there is the Shoujo style art, with glossy brushwork and pretty boys and girls. The story is set in an industrial-driven cyberpunk near-future, with virtual reality battles in bad-neigborhood arcades, and a story arc that looks like it could stretch out for years. This has me a little worried, as a matter of fact, as this level of production value tends to be very draining, so let's hope that RoMB can continue for many more issues. Update 1/8/04 "Paused". These fail to restart more often than not, but this one is worth holding your breath for. Update 4/1/04ROMB has been back for several weeks now, congratulations on a successful return from the abyss!! Also, the author has advised me of a new URL, although the old one is also still working for now.


Input: [Link] File 49 [Date] 8/21/03 [Comments]

Output: Red. Freaking. Alert. File 49 is exactly the reason why I search the internet for comics. Apparently the work of an inspired amateur, this work has a riveting, well-told plot and great art that is one of my main reasons for reading. The story's based on the classic "X-files/Escape From Witch Mountain/kids with mental powers running from both a government organization and the private organization that created them" foundation. So far it has centered around just three who have banded together. In a short course of time (but with five chapters so far!) we've really gotten to know these characters and the web of interpersonal dynamics set up by their ages, their unfamiliarity with each other and their powers as they struggle for safety against unknown odds. There are also assorted mysterious secondary characters they interact with and they are not sure if they can trust. One of these characters is featured in perhaps the most intriguing banner I've seen for a comic, in which this man is pointing a gun at the kids, and the line reads "He swore he'd protect them". The art is developing nicely, and although it has a folky look it is naturally expressive, conveying much of the story's emotion and giving the feeling of being in some of the characters' heads. For web cartoonists, the art is often the greatest obstacle, so in this case where according to the background information on the site the story arc has already been fully plotted, let's hope the author can keep up the admirable output volume.


Input: [Link] Antihero For Hire [Date] 9/4/03 [Comments]

Output: This comic started just recently, in stark contrast to most of the ones I find which are ending as I discover them. There are several encouraging signs that this comic will continue well past my posting of this review. First off, the background for the freshly minted characters is both fun and well thought out. Secondly, you can observe the start of a story arc in the first couple of months, one that at the time of this writing has set up a delightful mystery. Thirdly, the balance between humor, parody, and serious story struck by the author is unique enough that even he has trouble describing it on his own FAQ, ensuring a fresh tone and plenty of new territory to explore. Visit and encourage the author to keep it up!


Input: [Link] As If! [Date] 9/11/03 [Comments]

Output: OhMyGawd! It's like totally the 80's in this comic! First clue, main page color scheme is that insane Miami Vice pink and blue. But, much like a certain TV show that was too good to live, the nostalgia in this comic is based on more universal themes than just the temporal setting, and is a captivating melodrama with real and likable characters. It's the story of two girls in high school who meet and form the kind of strong bond of friendship that only a couple of geeks can have, despite their differences and various melodramas. It's been going for a while, so there's a way big archive, and reading through it the thing that amazed me was the quality of the art. Just about every page that scrolled onto the screen made me gasp; it's hard to believe that it's been updating so reliably for so long. If you ever wanted to know what happens to the characters, just read the authors' bios; they stay best friends, and start a webcomic together based on their lives (this kind of takes the mystery out of the fullness of the characters, but on the plus side it explains the visual beauty of the comic itself; the artist is a pro with a day job working for Disney).


Input: [Link] Counting The Cracks [Date] 9/18/03 [Comments]

Output: Brilliance. Yep, that's pretty much the word to describe Counting The Cracks. The author is just experimenting, pondering the big questions, trying something new more often than not, and saying things more interestingly than you usually see on the Net. Pretty much an instant classic, perhaps all the more intersting because the author often hints that he's either frustrated or bored, so it could end any day. Update 1/8/04 I guess he got bored. Archive is still up.


Input: [Link] Angels 2200 [Date] 9/25/03 [Comments]

Output: The creators of this comic have a passion for drawing a) digitally rendered space fighters and b) sexy anime chicks. Consequently, we are served here a story of the distant future in which a virus has killed off nearly all the men, and a war between earth and it's distant colonies is brewing, now fought entirely by the women in fighter squadrons and carrier ships. Angels 2200 focuses on a young and untested squadron, underdogs in a "Top Gun" story. So far they have met, been pushed through hurried training, had time for their sterotypical personalities to interact and bonded as a unit, and had their first real combat. Cliches aside, there's a serious story arc going on, with hints of military intrigue right down to the tag line for the comic: "They were meant to be cannon fodder. They became heroic cannon fodder". Nonetheless, you will need nothing more to recommend this comic except for a) digitally rendered space fighters and b) sexy anime chicks.


Input: [Link] Electric Sheep Comics [Date] 10/2/03 [Comments]

Output: Welcome to the exciting era of the Internet. Many of the comics by the author of this collection are stunningly computer rendered, so it must be about computers, or the future, or something. In fact, it looks a lot like the illustrations you used to see in that rag Omni. In fact, it is actually about the illustrations in that rag Omni. I was fortunate enough to get in on the joke early by picking the fabulous story The Guy I Almost Was to read first, in which the slick myth of the glamorous future is debunked through a story of the not-so-recent past. The author is at it again with the current Delta Thrives, only this time it's a story set in the distant future but stuffed chock full of embarrassingly anachronistic "internet" terminology. Additional "Omni" references include plenty of androgenous nudity, sex, drugs, trippy SF themes and blatant liberalism. It's all very well done, and generally put together in such a way that it won't take forever to download, except for the newest stuff.


Input: [Link] Pretty Magic [Date] 10/9/03 [Comments]

Output: Pretty Magic is one of a particular entire subgenre of web comic, but there is still no other comic on the web quite like it. The niche is "comics that make fun of 'Magical Girl' anime". This is a beloved easy target on the web; the rigid structure that defines the Magical Girl story, coupled with the seriousness with which they are cranked out, inspires twin challenges to the wag of mocking the formula by tweaking it, while nonetheless adhering to it as closely as possible to make the point. Thus you get your choice of Magical Girl animal, wand, and mysterious boy, and you take the stock situations and crank the absurdity dial up as high as you can. Additional style points are then awarded for then taking what you've done and finding a way to weave in an actual interesting story or mystery. Many of the results on the web are dazzling and even stunningly drawn. However, I was attracted by the amateur style of the art in Pretty Magic; as you know I really enjoy watching new artists evolve and try things out. By now, it's gotten pretty good and continues to improve. The writing gets all the extra style points; I find the satire pretty funny and am hoping that the artist can keep the comic going so I can get more of the backstory. However, as I was digging through the archives, I learned that the artist has a very interesting earlier work, and in fact is quite fascinating himself. For me, this has added much to my appreciation for this comic, and allows forgiveness for it's despair-inducing update schedule. About midway through the archive, there is this filler image and unenlightening explanitory text. What is BGC? Who is this "Brian" and why is he smiling in such a geeky way? And what is that strip of toilet paper or whatever it is that he's holding? Well, we never get an answer to that last one, but the link in the text takes you to a comic called "Boy Girl Club", which is the author's first comic, apparently done while he was in high school. The character bios for this comic tell us: "Brian Young is ... well, he is me. I really don't know what to say to describe myself. I guess the best way to learn about who I am is to read the comic. I mean, I'm in just about every one of them." The comic tells the story of boy who is gay and has many friends in his high school, but is in love with a guy (Jerome) who doesn't like him and continuously maintains his heterosexuality. Jerome frequently beats up Brian to try to make him leave him alone, and is homophobic enough that he drives a car with license plates that say "Not Gay". The smitten Brian will not let up though, until he is driven away so cruelly that he decides to commit suicide. I won't tell you how it turns out, but it is absolutely brilliant. But what is eerie is that it seems to be *the author's own story*, (rendered in exaggerated form) starting as a typical idle comic that kids draw about themselves and their friends, except in this case the author is a homosexual in a straight world. BGC becomes a poignant exploration of human frailty and emotions. The comic is sympathetic to all it's characters, even the ones who can't stand the often annoying hero, and also somehow musters up real humor in almost every strip. And then he sums it up in the last comic of the series (before he switched to a different idea and started a fantasy story with the same characters). Having read all this, it is really something to hit that "Sketchee" link and go over to the author's own website, with his current blog and links to his more recent work. He's still at it several years later, having disasterous relationships, but somehow taking all that emotion and channeling it into all kinds of art. The comics aren't his only outlet; he also does music and sculpture, so there's lots of interesting stuff to click on around the site. Pretty Magic goes on long hiatii when Brian is working on something else or something goes wrong in his emotional life, so check Sketchee every once in a while to check out what's going on.


Input: [Link] Errant Story [Date] 10/16/03 [Comments]

Output: After Exploitation Now ended, I was pretty aghast at what replaced it. Not a boring fantasty/adventurers type story! There's only about 400 D&D comics like this on the web, the characters are all cliches, the plot seems to move glacially, there's not much in the way of jokes, and it isn't even in color. It seemed so opposite of what made this author's first comic so beloved on the internet, and destined to end early. However, something intesting has happened; he proved me wrong by sticking with it. Slow or not, there is definitely a plot, and it's got more than a couple of layers. Poe has rewritten the cliched "elves and middle earth" backstory in an admittably new way, with more of an "elder gods" feel and the jumble of anachronisims seems to be working in a hip way. The update rate has been unfailing, which is major points for something I didn't expect to last, so let's check it out and see where it's going to go. Plus, it's got the cat with bat wings.


Input: [Link] Neko the Kitty [Date] 10/23/03 [Comments]

Output: What is it with punks and their cute webcomics? Well, Gar is not so much a punk, but a couple of his cute friends are. And the cat is very cute and punk also. This comic unflinchingly explores this dual nature of cats, and it's a raging success. Cat lovers, be alerted! The cat is spot-on, but actually most of the characters are pretty lovable too, so I'd say that in general that it's one of the more humorous comics that I read these days. This is one of the few comics that gives you the additional punch line of a title line for each comic, delivered without fail so far for every comic. The filler comics are actually very funny too, thanks to the freedom granted by surreality. Lastly, the site has something you rarely see anymore: a clean and functional layout.


Input: [Link] Limited Space [Date] 11/13/03 [Comments]

Output: Alright! The author of the fabulous Robot Stories has managed to successfully spin off a character into a whole new comic. Although relying on the same cut-and-paste style as the original to keep up the output volume of comics, this is still an impressive achievement. Much like the difference between the Simpsons and Futurama, the new strip uses the freedom of science fiction to portray our world gone mad. Update 1/30/03 This comic was abandoned shortly after I recommended it. I actually never got the chance to give it a link on the WWN. The archive is still there, so enjoy. Update 11/13/03 Limited Space is BACK, baby! Since January, the characters from Limited Space have continued to make appearances in Robot Stories, eventually becoming an integral part of the story. But now that Neil has made the switch to Keenspot, and a slightly different URL, the story continues under the Limited Space nameplate. Robot Stories now rattles on toward a predicted "ending" as a side project at the old URL. Actually, you should check out the old site just to try out one of the best navigation consoles on a web page EVER; among its many features are links to both the old and new comics. Update 1/8/04 On Sabattical while the author reconsiders his motivation.


Input: [Link] Double Happiness [Date] 11/27/03 [Comments]

Output: To review any comic by Jason Shiga is to try to find a way to recommend everything by this artist. I have yet to find any other review of Shiga's work that doesn't use the word "genius", so there, I've gotten it over with immediately. My theory as to why he inspires this impression on anybody who meets him is that his sense of humor is so odd and geeky while being completely interwoven into everything he does. Unfortunately, like with most geniuses I have encountered, his output can be intermittant, and it is only because of his newest regularly available work that I can write a review. The base of the Jason Shiga world is his own website, Shigabooks.com. This site contains mostly reviews, written by the artist himself, of his earlier hand-printed comics. The comics described are mostly out of print and not available on the web site, but the reviews are screamingly hilarious. And, as you read, you will begin to get a taste of how math and humor combine in Jason's world. There actually are some samples of comics on the site, all good especially the compelling Bus Stop, which is representative of Jason's highly recognizable drawing style, pacing and humor, and is also unfinished. The Shigabooks site used to contain a journal, now a LiveJournal, which is perhaps the funniest I could ever possibly recommend. In absolutely deadpan tones he describes attempting to overcome shyness in his everyday life by analyzing it mathematically. Just read it. When I discovered shigabooks, his then Magnum Opus was in the process of moving to Modern Tales, one of the grandfathers of pay webcomic sites that is still going strong and which you should join. I never saw "Fleep" at the time because it was in transition and I couldn't figure out its update schedule; the really good news however is that it is now available in full for free back on shigabooks.com! Fleep's review on the website, which was all I could find for about a year however, is such a work of art on its own that I feel compelled to quote it in entirety here: Fleep is everything I wish that a comic strip could be. It's ambitous, mysterious and utterly masturbatory. About a quarter of the strips feature the main character working through various math problems. They are some of the most dramatic math problems you'll ever see in a comic strip. I believe that Fleep is my best strip to date. It is also a complete commercial disaster. The editors at "Asian Week" felt that the theme of the strip didn't really jive with the rest of their newspaper and decided to cut the run at number 28. I imagine all along, they really wanted an Asian Boondocks or Cathy. But gosh darnit, I did the best strip I could and if I did what they wanted it wouldn't have been the best. I really thought there were enough people out there like me who would just fall in love with the strip. But I think it just confused people. After all that, it seems all the more ironic that Jason's shiny new comic, Double Happiness, again at Modern Tales (the most current comic is always free for you cheapsters out there), would have made Asian Week's editors happy. It's the story of a chinese american who moves to SF and hangs out with some friends there in it's vibrant chinatown, but is ashamed when they discover that he doesn't actually know much chinese language or culture. They of course are not offended, but set out to help him learn to fit in. It's a beautiful story, and it inspired me to do a web search on "Hokkein" and learn something I didn't know before about chinese history and people.


Input: [Link] Alum Falls [Date] 12/04/03 [Comments]

Output: As with the best of art, Alum Falls is not so much a comic as a multidimensional experience. The artist has passed away, so it will not ever update again, but I hope you have as much fun as I did exploring both the large body of work contained on this site, and the trails that lead to the equally interesting story of the author himself. Alum Falls is the story of a boy, John Snavely, growing up in a midwestern town in the 50's. It is told from the perspective of his journal, over a period of about two years of high school. Accompanying each journal entry are one or two pictures depicting the events, one could argue that it's a book with pictures rather than a comic, but I've clicked away nearly a whole week exploring the archives so I've earned the right to call it what I want. Snavely seems to spend most of the summers wandering around the town after dark with his friends, or going down to the pool to hang out with the girls. Eventually he gets a girlfriend, they break up, life goes on from there. It is as long and confused as any real journal would be, and the author has managed to capture with stunning clarity the turmoil of adolescence, when it feels like you are being boiled by your own emotions. He also experiments with the format when needed, once putting his older self in the comic, plays with the art, sometimes puts in asides as hypertext links, and also occasionally reveals the story from other points of view such as the girl's, casting the details with touching delicacy. There is more going on in this work than just an illustration of somebody's journal. The author was working on putting the whole postwar american experience in perspective, tying together historical as well as literary knots. See if you can recognize some of them. If you follow the links from this site, you begin to learn that his own, nonfictional life was pretty much the postwar american experience. He was born about the same time as his character and lived in a small town, went to Yale, worked for civil rights in the 60's, got in touch with his father's WWII story, and got in on the ground floor of a computer startup back in the DOS days. I think he was trying to figure out how it all fit together when he was writing Alum Falls, and it's a shame it can never be finished.


Input: [Link] Staccato [Date] 12/11/03 [Comments]

Output: Brand new on the Web and looks a little bit like a "college paper" strip from the plot (but it can't be, because he went to University of Md, my Alma Mater, and I would have noticed it), this comic is distinguished by the crisp, cleanly inked artwork and rowdy characters, most notably "Basketcase". But best of all, the author of this comic seems to be at forefront of today's webcomic world. He personally knows the authors of many other comics, and has a link to a previously unheard-of excellent comic on his page just about every day. >Update 12/11/03 Not a lot of updates recently (my original review is about a year old I guess), but I check this comic hopefully every week. I recommend you start with the archives.


Input: [Link] Okay Pants [Date] 12/18/03 [Comments]

Output: Yay, another cute punk comic! This one is better than all the others because it's cuter. The author, Julie, appears as a hollow-eyed "Pippi Longstocking" punk, with her friend Bello, a mushroom with teeth. This comic's meloncholy humor comes out in the first episode, as our heroine accidently squashes a tiny gremlin on the thorns of a rose as she and the mushroom are going out to dinner; the deceased's tiny husband angrily demands that somebody now volunteer to babysit his kids. I love the fact that this comic is such an experiment that it could go just about any direction any day. Mondo major points for drawing Julie not in the same outfit all the time. Excellent playful tone and surrealist humor. Hasn't been going too long so you can enjoy the whole archive immediately.


Input: [Link] Desert Rocks [Date] 1/1/04 [Comments]

Output: Proof that the World Wide Web is big enough for really important things to get lost in. This is a graphic novel, updated weekly, apparently. It's on sabatical until next week, but that hopefully will give you enough time to read the archives and catch up with the story. It starts with a guy, possibly a refugee, who is drifting around somewhere in the Middle East taking odd jobs and having small adventures. He meets up with a couple of women doing some kind of hippie pilgrimage, travelling on foot to visit a series of temples. You begin to get the sense that it's not actually in the Middle East, because the men and women in this comic interact with no hint of tension or inequality. A map eventually appears in the comic, and we get the final proof that Desert Rocks is, as advertised, not set in "the real" world. However the economics, religion, politics and every other aspect of human nature in the environment of Desert Rocks are exceedingly realistic. More importantly, the characters are becoming more and more interesting as their backgrounds are revealed. Although it's gone for two years and 100 pages, this novel seems to be just beginning, so I hope to continue to be impressed by the quality and style for years to come.


Input: [Link] A Miracle Of Science [Date] 1/8/04 [Comments]

Output: A Miracle Of Science is my perfect anime story. There's a bedrock hoary cliche (mad scientists) approached from a hip oblique angle (a futuristic police agency dedicated to combatting mad scientists) in a cool world governed by nerdy realistic physics (about 200 years in the future) with lots of interplanetary travel (Mining stations around Jupiter, a breakaway advanced colony on mars), a handsome but angsty hero, a cute and mysterious female agent (from the martian equivalent of the earth mad scientist police) with near-super powers, folded layers of intrigue and strategy, and scenes of breathtaking beauty and coolness ("nobody's ever re-entered the martian atmosphere without a spacecraft before"). Edit the URL to jump up to the authors' main page and view the earlier work, it's a lot of fun too!


Input: [Link] Demonology 101 [Date] 1/15/04 [Comments]

Output: A soap-operaey story of a middle school girl who also happens to be a demon trying to live a normal girl's life despite being caught in the middle of an epic battle between the forces of good and evil. Sort of like a cross between "Charmed" and "All Purpose Cross-Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-Nuku". This ambitious story was started for fun but continued until the artist's style became confident enough to begin branching out professionally. It's now up to 5 chapters, and will end when the current chapter concludes. I found this one thanks to first finding her current Modern Tales story, Ice, which I would have liked to recommend separately except I've been doing a few too many Modern Tales reviews lately and not everybody is a subscriber (though you should be). Faith has of the best links pages I've seen recently, the source of my last two finds and many more.


Input: [Link] Gods And Undergrads [Date] 1/22/04 [Comments]

Output: I have to recommend the art on this comic. It is beautifully done while still unabashedly cartooney, and I love all the bright colors. However the main reason this comic stands out from others is how girly it is. I read plenty of comics by women and have seen spot-on women characters, but no other comic simply depicts everyday life in college the way this one does. Things like staying up all night with your roommates, meeting the cute guys at parties, or just getting up and going to classes. It very effectively serves the purpose of making the characters seem more real and drawing you unsuspectingly into the plot. It was also interesting to read the author's previous works and blog and learn about her interest in Greek mythology, which makes clearer the threads of the larger story which are being woven into the start of the comic. Anyway, she apparently goes to school in Maryland, and even went to SPX which I had to miss again this year, so yay local talent!


Input: [Link] Spare Parts [Date] 1/29/04 [Comments]

Output: Speaking of talented women artists, the married team of Isabel and Terrence Marks are at it again. Terrence's Unlike Minerva had pretty much settled down to the "Drawn by Isabel" show, and this did not make me sad in the least. Isabel can really draw, and in particular the female characters. You could tell that she was supplying a woman's touch to the writing too, although the majority of the whimsy clearly was still Terrence. The story ended on a romantic upbeat, and now they're trying something new, this time with - *gasp* - human characters. Thankfully it's the same Godotian ride as before, and the characters are even more adorable looking than I would have thought possible. So, if by this time you too are an Isabel Marks fan, you probably have already checked out her solo comic Namir Deiter, an all-furry girlfest which continues to run regularly despite all the other stuff she's been doing. Really, she had quite a little empire on line for a while, with several comics including the sorely missed journal comic "Bubble", and I get the impression that she was instrumental in setting up The Nice.


Input: [Link] 8:1 [Date] 2/5/04 [Comments]

Output: It looks like a three-panel comic, but in terms of artistic quality, story, and depth of characters Eight To One is a graphic novel, one that I check on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12:01 AM until it updates. The story of two burnouts bouncing around their town together trying to locate some shred of emotion in their lives, it hasn't been publishing long, but every single strip is a brilliant set piece, gorgeously drawn. It would be a silly string of sterotypes if the characters didn't actually have an emotion or two. Oh yeah, the main character is named "Charles".


Input: [Link] The Gods Of Arr-Kelaan [Date] 2/19/04 [Comments]

Output: The Gods of Arr-Kelaan contains some really neat writing. It's not that the concept is so new (somebody get some windex so that we can wipe Terry Pratchett's fingerprints off this comic), but the characters, particularly the shell-shocked and slightly ticked-off hero, are fleshed out well beyond their D&D-ish origins. How they react to every situation and interact is refreshingly down-to-earth, making it easy for the reader to imagine themselves in this epic. Our hero last remembers that he was on a spaceliner on a routine cruise, now he has woken up on a strange planet posessing nearly god-like powers. As he eventually encounters others who were on his ship he learns that they too have discovered their own super abilities, and each one has come up with a slightly different idea of what to do with themselves. All of this happens in the ampitheater of the fearful and superstitious local population, resulting in a multileveled exploration of mythology, along with an overarching question of whether they will discover what happened and get home. Now, the link above is to "Volume 3", currently in progress, which it turns out is a good place to start because the author has become familiar enough with his characters that he doesn't belabor introductions, and the story takes front and center stage where it belongs. However, the backstory is just so interesting that you want to read more about it, and guess what, you can! Volume 0 is being serialized at Strippers Corner, and Volume 2, about 100 pages, is available in a slightly shrunk but fast-loading format in the author's own website at DrunkDuck.com. For Volume 1, you will have to buy the book.


Input: [Link] Reckless Life [Date] 2/26/04 [Comments]

Output: Fun Comic. Reckless Life cuts a distinctive edge, with a retro, cool 60's graphic design. Set in the future, but not obnoxiously so, as anything is "normal" in Vegas in any time. Great anti-hero; Locke is little more than a small time criminal, good at what he does and no reason to hold back. Bullets fly, there are great long footchases, shifting alliances and nefarious characters. Host of a little new webcomic empire, one of two in "Misfit Media", the other is good too.


Input: [Link] Under Power [Date] 3/11/04 [Comments]

Output: You know those goths who sit in the lobboy at cons smoking all day and night? This is their comic. Part Pulp Fiction, part "Mystery Men". This is a comic where the guys are cool with a 9mm in each hand, and the women are short with fairy wings and are to be feared for their ability to rip your skin right off your body. The story line advances glacially, but really it's just an excuse for some mind-boggling artwork. This guy is so artistically talented that his "filler" artwork blows most comics' regular artwork completely away.


Input: [Link] Checkerboard Nightmare [Date] 3/25/04 [Comments]

Output: Great name, actually a pretty nice setup, very slick looking. I was ambivalent about it, due to the fact that the humor seems to consist of 100% fourth-wall jokes. The premise is explored from every possible angle, sort of like Toy Story in reverse, where the webcomic character feverishly desires to become popular and famous, and somehow tap into that rare vein of marketing success that many authors can see but few can achieve. He's a great antihero, and self-centeredly uses his supporting cast like the props that they are. Every once in a while he'll bitterly drop the name of a "competitor" or make some in-the-know reference; it's the perfect webcomic reader's webcomic.


Input: [Link] Dominic Deegan [Date] 4/1/04 [Comments]

Output: There must be thousands of black and white Otaku-driven anime-look comics on Keenspace alone. This one, however, this one stands higher than most thanks to adhering to a different formula than you might expect. The main character is a seer with a long scarf and a lot of magic tricks up his sleeve. As you begin to realize, the tone is a lot more "Dr. Who" than "DragonballZ", starting with the rescue of an "ugly duckling" girl who becomes his adventuring companion. And of course there's bonus points for a talking cat, and lots of puns. Start reading from the beginning (where my link points) because the stories build on each other and the current story is already up to Sluggy-level complexity. Or to read the most current, click here


Input: [Link] Irregular Webcomic [Date] 4/8/04 [Comments]

Output: One of the most regularly updated comics on the Net. Made using lego characters and sets in order to realize one of the funniest, yet geekiest senses of humor out there. First two strips begin it perfectly: "Hey! There's comics on the Internet!" [time passes] "Ha ha ha ha ha ha! .... (then later:) What a waste of time!" (The next comic:) "I should make my own web comic...Nah, too geeky... I'll stick to roleplaying". The next comics are of his miniatures, but soon it graduates to the infinite possibilties offered by the legos. Many jokes are based on knowledge that is so obscure that the author can't wait to provide a little lesson in the "annotations", which I strongly suggest you turn on. Yes, you can turn them on or off; in addition to everything else, this is one of the best-organized viewing system for comics ever devised. My favorite comics so far are the ones with the author himself, but you can choose from a variety of storylines including the we received Star Wars storyline. So start reading and SET NERDINESS FOR THE HEART OF THE SUN!!!!!!!!


Input: [Link] Reach Up Low [Comments]

Output: Naively beautiful, Reach Up Low is a Kubrickian story set in a post apocalypic future where humanity is fleeing earth. It shows all the signs of having been fully planned out, but on a student's schedule it's update rate is uneven. Follow the author's advice and start at the beginning, then check this gemlike comic weekly. Update: project on hold, probably indefinitely. The archives are still available, though moved to a different address; the link to the left has been updated accordingly.


Input: [Link] Dork Tower [Comments]

Output: The Penny Arcade of RPG comics, previously found only in obscure magazines that only hard core gamers knew how to get, now available for free online! Despite all that, it's actually funny.


Input: [Link] Questionable Content [Date] 4/29/04 [Comments]

Output: An extrodinarily cute comic about a young post-college kid (generation Z?) trying to figure out what to do with his life. He meets a girl he can talk about bands and shows with, they become roommates and friends and romantic tension ensues. Not as many points off as would be usual for the inexplicable robot character in this otherwise present-day setting, since he hasn't been resorted to for plot filler too much yet. The characters are all immensely likable and sympathetic, and you want to just squeeze them!