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Post by Deleted on Dec 23, 2013 13:34:25 GMT -5
Might as well plug a few of my favorite comics!
The Silver Eye - Written and drawn by a photographer, which explains the lush, dynamic palette, careful attention to lighting, and skillful use of scenery and architecture, The Silver Eye is a high fantasy epic concerning the intrigues of several kingdoms linked by a cursed past, with sympathetic, charming characters and a plot twist or new piece of the puzzle on nearly every page that will have you glued to your computer waiting for each Friday's update. Contains occasional blood and violence, but is pleasantly clean and profanity-free. Magipunk - What do you get when you combine swashbuckling, space opera, magic, a Victorian aesthetic, and an insane sense of humor? Either a huge mess, or a really clever and darkly funny tale of the high-flying adventures of two misfit space pirates and their motley crew. Contains occasional cartoony violence. Brawl in the Family - Not sure if this one's been talked about yet, but BitF is a simply drawn, un-ironic Nintendo-themed comic that alternates between game-based gags and character-based humor. Not to be missed are the artist's occasional musical comics where he shows off his talent for songwriting. Contains occasional light innuendo, but the artist tries to keep it all-ages.
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Post by Carolyn on Dec 28, 2013 17:31:55 GMT -5
Might as well plug a few of my favorite comics!
The Silver Eye - Written and drawn by a photographer, which explains the lush, dynamic palette, careful attention to lighting, and skillful use of scenery and architecture, The Silver Eye is a high fantasy epic concerning the intrigues of several kingdoms linked by a cursed past, with sympathetic, charming characters and a plot twist or new piece of the puzzle on nearly every page that will have you glued to your computer waiting for each Friday's update. Contains occasional blood and violence, but is pleasantly clean and profanity-free. Magipunk - What do you get when you combine swashbuckling, space opera, magic, a Victorian aesthetic, and an insane sense of humor? Either a huge mess, or a really clever and darkly funny tale of the high-flying adventures of two misfit space pirates and their motley crew. Contains occasional cartoony violence. Brawl in the Family - Not sure if this one's been talked about yet, but BitF is a simply drawn, un-ironic Nintendo-themed comic that alternates between game-based gags and character-based humor. Not to be missed are the artist's occasional musical comics where he shows off his talent for songwriting. Contains occasional light innuendo, but the artist tries to keep it all-ages. I LOVE BitF. I think he does such a good job with his comics. The Paul Reveres is a very enjoyable web comic and one of my favorites in part because I met and chatted with the creator of the series a few years ago. She's quite talented! The Paul Reveres It's a combination of rock music... and the American Revolution. It follows, in chronological order, the different battles of the war. A bit of a caution on language, though. Violence is occasional, but rarely is it graphic.
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Post by Yoyti on Dec 28, 2013 20:16:59 GMT -5
Jix: Jix was, unfortunately, cancelled in April, but the creator is planning on bringing back the characters and premise in a new comic, Ambis Empire, sometime in the future, and the plan is for it to be more story than joke driven, and given the Jix story lines, I am very much looking forward to the reboot. The premise is that of an amnesiac alien stranded on Earth, and as the comic progresses, more details are revealed about Jix's life pre-crash. As the comic goes on, the art gets noticeably better, and the stories become longer, more involved, and more serious. It was a lot of fun to follow. --Jix is rated by the creator as PG-13. It contains occasional mild and moderate language. Strong language is all asterisked out. Gore is kept to a minimum. That which is shown is not graphic at all (except for one instance of a mangled foot), and any heavy gore is always out of frame. Other objectionable material is kept to a minimum. Dragon City: That same creator's other, larger, comic. Dragon City is basically a soap opera with dragons, although the creator does always express delight when the characters being dragons is actually important, and not just a gimmick. While this comic is largely joke-driven, some of the story arcs do change the comic in significant ways, so I would suggest reading from the beginning, which opens with Sam and Rachel Parrity moving to Dragon City Chicago, Sam being banished from Dragon City New York after eating a few people. --Dragon city is on par with Jix as far as language goes, and with substantially less gore. Dragon City and Jix do have a handful of crossovers, so it's good to read both of them. Particularly for the instances where Jix appears in Dragon City. Dragons showing up in Jix's comic are less frequent, and also less involved, so as long as you're aware of Dragon City, you should be fine just reading Jix. If you're reading Dragon City, however, you should probably read Jix as well. Did that make sense?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2015 0:55:46 GMT -5
Not sure if anyone's mentioned Cucumber Quest yet, but here it is. Absolutely adorable (and beautiful) artwork, a fun story with an endearing cast, and it's all-ages!
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Post by Nut on Feb 9, 2015 6:28:04 GMT -5
I love Cucumber Quest too! The art is everything I've ever aspired to aaaaghhhh
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2015 20:35:05 GMT -5
Brawl in the Family's my favorite webcomic in the history of ever. The best charac- WAAAAAAAAA *falls in thread* Waluigi time!
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Post by Twillie on Jul 5, 2015 22:02:23 GMT -5
Being reminded of this thread inspired me to update my webcomics list! Gunnerkrigg Court: I'm sure most people on here who read webcomics have heard of this before, but I'll talk about it anyway: atmospheric, lots of content, consistent updates three days a week, beautiful art, likable characters, fantasy and science fiction together. (some mild language and blood at beginning, but overall appropriate content) Paranatural: A sort of Ghostbusters story with preteen children in a club that fights spirits. Filled with genre savvy humor and sarcasm, as well as appropriate content and a clean mouth. It's full of story and detail, as Zack Morrison can't seem to fill up his panels enough no matter what! (appropriate content and language) Sandra and Woo: Inspired partly in humor and setup by Calvin and Hobbes, though at this point I can't say the two are synonymous. A girl and her talking pet raccoon go on adventures with their animal and human friends, either taking a walk in the woods or uncovering hidden money vigilante style. It has something of a story, but also does not. It meanders in plot and humor, and for me some parts are endearing while others are too surreal or forced. Not my favorite, but it never hurts to read as it's always harmless. (some mild language, but very infrequent, overall appropriate content) Blindsprings: Like a fairytale, a young princess meets a charming boy, and her whole world changes. However, instead of living happily ever after, the boy whisks her away from her duties to the spirits, impulsively believing he's saving her from "oppression." She finds herself in a changed world hundreds of years past when she was born, now in chains at the mercy of her "savior." She escapes and finds that Orphics-- witches-- like herself are being persecuted, and that they are rising against the hatred. Many characters are introduced and then quickly left behind, and the plot has many threads that don't tie together at this point. There is still a charm to it though that makes one believe there'll still be payoff in the future. I dunno, I can't say if it's recommendable or not, but I'm at least still reading it. (appropriate content and language) Monsterkind: In a country where human and monsters live together, but at the same time are divided by class, a human social worker is transferred to a district mainly populated by monsters, even though he has never seen one before in real life. He is introduced to the prejudices they face and the struggles they fight every day, and he recruits local friends to help him do his job perhaps also fight for monster's rights. I used to not care for this one, but it's getting more interesting now. I'd say check it out. (infrequent choice words, overall appropriate) Cucumber Quest: Another popular one, I'm sure, but here we go. The art is the greatest attraction, with fantastic color theory filling each page, but cute characters and story go right along with it. The characters have likable gimmicks to them, but I wouldn't expect much development from them as the story goes along. Their personalities aren't much to get wrapped up in, but the world they live in certainly is. (appropriate content and language) Boozle: Discovered this one pretty recently, and it's fairly early in its story still. It follows a grumpy wizard and an optimistic she-cyclops on an adventure to find four MacGuffins, and they meet some colorful characters on the way. It's simple and cute, but that's just enough to keep coming back for updates. (appropriate content and language) Clique Refresh: I'll be honest, I don't follow this one that closely, but there's not much to follow in the first place. Updates are very infrequent and inconsistent, and when the next page is put out, the wait isn't worth it. The pace is super slow, and it feels almost like there's no payoff, like the writer is making it up as she goes. I dunno, I wouldn't recommend this one; I just read it out of morbid curiosity. (some choice language, beware)
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Post by Coaster on Jul 6, 2015 3:16:16 GMT -5
Ah, this thread exists <_< Most of the ones I follow have been mentioned several times already (we're all abundantly aware of Cucumber Quest, Gunnerkrigg Court, Order of the Stick, Awkward Zombie, Paranatural, etc.) and/or have been on permanent or indefinite hiatus/closing (R.I.P. 8-Bit Theater and Brawl in the Family), which doesn't leave much for me to cover that isn't repeated. xD So I'll just mention Rain here; it's definitely PG-13, mostly because it deals almost exclusively with LGBT issues--slice-of-life dramedy about a high-school trans girl, as it is--as well as fairly tame references to sexual content (nature of the subject matter) and rare splurts of strong language. The art's not amazing by any stretch, but the quality is pretty consistent, clear, and gets the point across--the comic's definitely more about the story and relationships. Despite the niche target audience, reasons for linking it (other than to point out the interesting timing at which I found it) include that it takes a surprisingly realistic approach (real-world setting with Bland Name products; the closest thing to gender-bending phlebotinum so far has been dream logic), delves into a lot of actual issues and concerns (aided by the author's personal experience), portrays roughly the whole spectrum of gender and sexuality (seriously, she's trying to include as wide a range as possible), and still manages to keep the tone fairly light and accessible (thanks in part to the implausible distribution of character traits and relationship drama). So if you'd like to follow a more real-world-type take/story on the subject or just learn more about it, I'd say it's a pretty good read.
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Post by Nimras on Jul 30, 2015 11:35:27 GMT -5
My current two favorites that are't "the biggies" (Girl Genus, Gunnerkrig Court) are: Miskatonic U, which is set in the 1920s is is ... well Lovecraftian Chthulu mythos... with college kids. Skin Deep, which is set in the near past (2000s), and all the mythological creatures are real and are in hiding and I'm terrible at explaining it, but it's well written and very pretty.
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Post by Fraze on Jul 30, 2015 13:44:57 GMT -5
So a while ago I watched Strip Search. Made by the Penny Arcade guys, it was basically America's Next Top Webcomic Artist; that is, a reality show where aspiring webcomic artists competed to get a spot in Penny Arcade's offices for a year. The entire thing is on Youtube and is maybe eight or ten hours-ish. There's some adult language and humor, but it's a heck of a lot of fun and way more friendly and less hostile and drama-filled than your typical reality show. I also found two great new comics by looking through the contestants' websites. (Well, all right, I found one comic, then found Strip Search, and that got me to the other comic. But anyway.) Camp Weedonwantcha: Summer camp! Who doesn't love summer camp? If only it never ended...well, for the kids at Camp Weedonwantcha, it doesn't. Kids whose families no longer want them are abandoned at this camp and left to fend for themselves. It's Lord of the Flies meets Gilligan's Island, with all the mood whiplash you would expect from a pairing like that. There's strong continuity, with lots of recurring background characters, and the story may or may not be building up to a longer myth arc as more kids' (tragic) backstories get revealed. Also, every single page after a certain in-comic event (you'll know what it is when you get there) has a cat hidden in it somewhere. See if you can find them all! Updates on Tuesdays and Fridays, the art is stylized but looks very professional. The Last Halloween: If the artist of Hark! A Vagrant made a comic about a monster apocalypse, it would turn out something like this. Terrifying monsters have appeared all over the world and are killing people left and right, and it's up to an extremely unwilling young girl named Mona to try to stop them. Alternating between wacky humor and gruesome body horror, this comic really shouldn't work nearly as well as it does. The story seems to be really tightly plotted and well planned out, and only gets more interesting as it goes on. My only real complaint is that some of the humor is one-dimensional and quickly gets played out, but there are still plenty of humorous moments that work. The art is black-and-white and done in a very striking style. Only updates once a week, on Wednesdays, but the updates are big. One page of this comic could easily be three to five or more updates from a different comic, so the plot advances at a good pace.
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Post by Fraze on Nov 24, 2015 12:22:18 GMT -5
Improving yourself is hard, especially when you're struggling to do something that other people can do without any effort. If you have bad habits or just a way of living that you aren't happy with, then you will fail when you try to overcome it, over and over again. The disillusionment that you get when you realize that your negative patterns of behavior aren't so easily broken leads all too easily to self-loathing and hopelessness, to the point of making you not notice when you actually do make progress. And if what I just described hits a bit too uncomfortably close to the mark, then you should seriously go read Prequel. It's a comic set in the Elder Scrolls universe and done in a style clearly based on MS Paint Adventures, but you don't need to know about either of those works to follow the story. The comic follows a female cat person named Katia, who leaves home and travels to a different land to try to build a new life for herself. Problem being, she has no money, no job, and no useful skills. What she does have are an alcohol addiction and a tendency to wake up in bed next to strangers with no memory of the previous night. (Meaning that right off the bat, we've clearly got content warnings for adult language and situations.) But she's determined to overcome all of that and build a successful new life for herself. Even as the (sometimes supernatural) reasons for Katia's messed-upedness become explained, it always remains her own task to improve herself. There are plenty of humorous and uplifting and heartwarming moments, but the story also delves into some pretty deep, dark corners of self-loathing that really hit home for me. The way the comic is going, the author seems to be heading for an "earn your happy ending" ending, but the main character will reeeeally have to work for it. (The sub-title for the comic is "Making a Cat Cry: The Adventure".) The art is always fairly nice to look at, but becomes gradually more detailed as the story progresses. Pages are quite long, usually featuring multiple panels with narration and a lot of reader suggestions interspersed throughout. The story dabbles with other media, similar to MSPA: there are several flash updates, both games and straightforward animations, and also a stunningly beautiful dream sequence animated without the use of flash. On the other hand, it updates very infrequently: there was a three-month gap between the current update and the one before it, but the artist does seem to be intent on finishing the story. There are also several side-stories focusing on some of the other characters introduced during the comic.
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Post by Twillie on May 18, 2016 15:04:02 GMT -5
Gigi D.G. of Cucumber Quest recently released a minicomic called Lady of the Shard. I read it only once, so I'll have to go through it again to better gather my thoughts on it, but I was wondering if anyone else had read it/had an opinion of it.
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Post by Coaster on May 18, 2016 16:49:30 GMT -5
Gigi D.G. of Cucumber Quest recently released a minicomic called Lady of the Shard. I read it only once, so I'll have to go through it again to better gather my thoughts on it, but I was wondering if anyone else had read it/had an opinion of it. Yes, I saw this one somehow! Obviously fairly short and quick (and designed to be read in one sitting), but a cute story, for sure. (I also would need to do some re-reading for more detail and to see if there's anything super-problematic or anything like that, though. xD)
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Post by Twillie on May 19, 2016 11:40:41 GMT -5
I might read it over again today if I don't forget, but either way I'll be sure to give my thoughts on it soon Up front, I'd agree with "cute" and say that's the best descriptor I can give to it right now. I didn't find anything particularly deep about it, but it was still a nice read. I also love Gigi's art style in general, so it was pleasant to look at as well.
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Post by Moni on Jul 15, 2016 20:53:00 GMT -5
I don't really follow webcomics. I haven't really found one that has captured my imagination, but to be fair I haven't looked at them much. I've looked at some popular ones and I found they weren't my cup of tea, so I'm backlogging through the thread to find ones I like because my webcomic experience is pretty much nonexistent. I see Brawl in the Family, but not being a big Nintendo fan I think I might put it off until I can finish reading Cucumber Quest. The writing and characters are serviceable but the art is really colorful and pretty! I like the character designs and style; it's very unique and fitting to the story so far. The compositions of some panels really knock it out of the park, especially as they get more recent. I guess I follow comic strips like Existential Comics which really don't have a story to them, but they make really funny jokes and considering I wasn't really well-versed in the subject matter, got me to research a bit about philosophy. I would say it's rated PG-13 overall, with some comics maybe rated M because of more explicit dialogue (but not imagery.) And ugggggh, Lady of the Shard. It was a comic with some cute moments and few striking images, kind of mindlessly vapid to be honest, but once I read it through, the only emotion that stuck with me was vague disgust. (this is spoilered because the reason I dislike this comic has to do with its accidental approval of sexual abuse.) The childlike MC gets hypnotized into having sexual contact with the evil goddess (which is basically rape; maybe not forcible/violent rape but it's still pretty disguisting). On its own, that wouldn't be a strike against the comic because merely portraying these things isn't inherently bad, but then the context hits you. The resolution of the main conflict is by having the MC express love that same goddess to heal a broken heart caused by the dumbest of backstories.
If you have trouble understanding why this evokes disgust, try swapping the evil goddess out a for male god. If you can see the unfortunate implications of the plot now, then know it's not any less creepy because of the all-female cast (and if the cast were all-male, rather than have it be "cute," it would probably be played for laughs.)
Compared to other stuff out there, it's not the worst thing ever by far but since the comic didn't have that much going for it in the first place other than "oh look this is cute!" this basically undoes that and sours it.
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