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Does anyone else read webcomics?
I was wondering if anyone else around here consistently reads any of the many webcomics out there. I really love reading XKCD, CommitStrip, Questionable Content, Alice Grove, and Mare Internum.
If you'd like to have a discussion about art styles, writing, the communities around the comics, how in the world Randall Munroe manages to continually come up with ideas for comics that make XKCD even more relevant for everything, or whatever else you might want to talk about, I'd love to talk with you about it.
I haven't kept up with webcomics anywhere near as much as I'd like to, but I really respect the format and it's such a wonderful avenue for longform storytelling, something I think we're really lacking (and I think the emergence of cinematic universes is trying to fill). It's a wonderful feeling when you start a webcomic from over a decade ago and accidentally see the most recent submission, and there's a completely different cast of characters or the genre and style of storytelling are entirely different, with much better art stacked on top. Watching that transition is a really cool thing that I very rarely feel in other artistic mediums. There's something really special about watching that evolution through the same series. Sure, you can watch a film director grow and evolve, but they generally aren't working with the same story, setting, and characters for their whole career. It's such a unique phenomenon that doesn't get appreciated enough.
I say that, but I've dropped out of following most webcomics I cared about. I don't even remember where I was in Rain or ShortPacked, so it's difficult to pick them back up. I want to find another one to pick up, soon. I still follow xkcd, of course, and I check in to the occasional SMBC or Whomp...but I'm not super active.
Since you mentioned him Randall is a creative genius and I can't express how much his work means to me / how much it constantly impresses me. Time is probably the greatest piece of art I've seen in terms of how it leverages the internet to do what it does. Speaking of Time, I miss the OTT. I never completed a full blitz but that community is one of the coolest things I've seen happen on the internet. Anyway, I could lump praise on xkcd all day, but it has cemented its own legacy so firmly that it's not even worth doing.
This is one reason I really love webcomics, too. Seeing that artistic progression is just so cool.
I also really enjoy seeing artists I know from webcomics grow professionally. The creator of Mare Internum is preparing to publish her second work and has created a new anthology and publishing company. Another webcomic creator I started following over a decade ago has been an author, artist, or both for many graphic novels at this point, and she's even writing for an Avatar: The Last Airbender comic. Very neat~
I have an entire bookmark page for all the Webcomics that I am into. I love Webcomics. I love so much that I used to do one myself. Based on my username.
Watching the artistic progression/evolution really is amazing. I forgot to mention it in my post, but I also read Ctrl+Alt+Del, and it was so cool to see Tim's (and Jeph's with Questionable Content) art style mature throughout the years of comics.
When I was younger I read a large amount of web comics. However, over the years I've dropped just about everything and just read a few here and there as time permits.
This is what I've been reading lately:
Maybe that was the URL back then, but now it is at
https://heckifiknowcomics.tumblr.com/
current subs (some of which are no longer updating)
I read all of QC but stopped reading it because I felt like the author had run out of ideas.
Stuff I have read all or part of that's not on the above list includes:
I stopped reading Megatokyo a while ago and I simply can not pick it back up again. Every time I try and get back the latest page is completely inscrutable to me and yet it feels like the overall tone is the exact same, quirky yet dour yet trying-really-hard-to-be-mysterious one that made me stop reading
Once it was single author it lost a lot
Yup. That exactly why I put it down myself. It made sense when I was reading through it initially, but at this point I have no idea what's going on. Same reason I put down Paranatural too.
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things is probably the best video game comic on the net.
I do read web comics, but mostly non-english ones. And some of them are completed. :) Here are a few:
Dr. McNinja
Homestuck
Problem Sleuth
Noblesse
19 Days
Like a Butterfly
The original One Punch Man
XKCD strips in the last few years have been pretty hit or miss for me. I love his what if series though.
Here are my recs:
EDIT: dont read homestuck
What if is brilliant. I check it way to often though absentmindedly and am always dissapointed there isn't a new one.
Also a huge fan of What If.
I've been following San & Fuzzy for a few years now, after it had adopted the serial format. I continue to enjoy it, the author it's consistent and high quality art and storytelling.
Gunnerkrigg is one that's been in my bookmarks forever, but I still haven't gotten around to reading through the backlog. Same for Charles Christopher.
For adult themed but very high quality (if sometimes confusing) there is always Oglaf (NSFW, ever!)
I agree about Homestuck but their previous comic, Problem Sleuth, is excellent.
I've got a folder full of bookmarks, but when I saw the title the first webcomic I thought of was Mare Internum*. So I was happy to see you mention it! I love Mare Internum for its art, worldbuilding, and the complex topics the creator addresses. (Also Kalla is the best.)
*ROT13 Content Warning for MI: nggrzcgrq fhvpvqr, puvyq frkhny nohfr, zragny vyyarff
Yeah, Mare Internum is a great one. A bit difficult to start reading in my opinion, but the art is great and, as you say, the worldbuilding is awesome. Kalla is indeed the best :)
Sure, I read a lot of what others have already posted, but I’m shocked The Whiteboard hasn’t been mentioned yet
I always had difficulty with comic books— they’re hard to read because I get visually distracted easily so my eye jumps around the page too much and I have to really concentrate to read it in order. Webcomics, though, might be better for me because there tends not t be too much content on a single page! I juat started Check, Please! and am finding it really charming!
I read Sluggy Freelance and Gunnerkrigg Court occasionally. I tend to take long breaks in between so that I don't have to deal with being impatient for new content. Have actually been considering catching up on them - haven't checked them for maybe half a year.
I'm a long time reader for XKCD but I've recently got into patt comic which I'm loving. Homestuck was great and I only got half a day into that and that was nowhere near a lot of it. I'll need to read that on my next break.
I like many including Mr. Lovenstein, Owl Turd Comics, xkcd, Safely Endangered, Extra Fabulous Comics, and Oglaf.
I'd completely forgotten about Oglaf! I need to go catch up with that one.
I used to read comics but some updated so infrequently that I relied on seeing updates from /r/webcomics, then they banned a lot of the popular webcomics and found the material posted on it too inconsistent and ended up unsubbing, lost track of a lot of the comics I used to read. Every now and then I go to pbf to see if he's posted new material but that's about it.