Webcomics

Ok. Many of you have noticed my 'COTD' links. Some more of you may even have used my list of froody comics on the left of catnews.

I'm not going to assume that you know what a webcomic is. I guess I must be bored, or enjoy underestimating my opposition. Either way - a web comic is a comic-strip, on the web. If you know what webcomics are, then you can probably skip most of this article - you already read the big ones I am going to mention anyway. I'll do another column listing some of the less well known but still great ones later.

There are many types. Some are created purely so that the atist can practice their art. Some to practice jokes, or story writing. Some are created with an aim to go 'pro' and get into newpapers - some go 'pro' on the web. Others never intend to go pro at all, and revel in their niche.

Some comics come out monthly, some daily and many come out 'whenever the artist feels like it' Some comics are in colour, some black and white, some animated and interactive - most simply static images. Some are painted, some photoshopped and some are done with MS-Paint. Most are scanned in from pen/pencil drawings then touched up in photoshop.

Some try to copy well known art styles, others create their own unique style - and some copy and paste sprites from computer games (the best of these also make and edit their own sprites)

Every comic in my list is worth reading the entire back archive of - most are worth reading when they come out. To make an exhaustive list of what makes each comic great would take forever - so I'll try and be quick.

Please note, the list in catnews is in no way sorted - although the ones at the top are mostly ones I have discovered recently.

The Big List

Ok. I started a big ass list of everything worth reading. Then realised that there was no way to keep it short even with only a line about each (not without making them all sound the same) So I'll pick out my 'best of the best'.

Megatokyo

Three times weekly - though sometimes punctuated with 'dom does the art days' (to be feared) and by 'dead piro days' (art without main plot - to be celebrated)

Megatokyo is a wondeful celebration of gamers, anime fans and whiny-losers everywhere. Stunning art that he is continually striving to improve and wonderful (though meandering) plot. Megatokyo unites everything you could want - from self-insert piro (a struggling artist who doubts his ability, and finds himself re-enacting digicharat and dating games) - through largo (a gamer who sees zombies everywhere, and lays about them with weaponry, training a class of high schoolers to follow in his footsteps) to ping-chan (a PS2 accesory)

Absolutely brilliant, though you may have to watch more anime, play more games and read more manga than is entirely healthy in order to get half of the subtleties - without that you can enjoy the art and the jokes.

Mondays wednesdays and fridays, read Megatokyo

Ozy and Millie

Daily - although weekends happen only rarely now, and the artist takes long breaks sometimes.

Ozy and millie is a look at childhood through the cynical eyes of a child - and a look at adulthood through the innocent eyes of a child. Childrens eyes can be scary things. Simple and effective art (which evolves slowly) and timeless plots - the humour isn't carried by jokes mainly, but by the situations themselves. Its the kind of humour that you have to stop thinking about, and then go "Oh yeah, why IS it like that?" to get. By no means a black comedy - the children (millie, an irrepressible red fox, and ozy - a philisophical grey... something) never stay unhappy for long - their world is filled with distractions both real and imagined.

Often deeply meaningful, always incredibly funny, totally irreverant and charecterised to every archetype (so that you cannot fail to find people you know expressing themselves in it)

Monday to Friday, read Ozy and Millie

Eight Bit Theatre

More than once a week - the artist seems to get distracted a lot.

Eight bit theatre is a remake of the classic "final fantasy" - starring "Fighter" "Black Mage" and so on. Sprites supersized and placed over photoshopped backgrounds, dialogue that makes you wonder if - just maybe - the game was really like this and HUGE multipanel comics.

Silly, but what can I say? I like swords

Whenever the artist feels like it, but usually three times a week, read 8bit Theatre

FreeFall

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - every dot, on the dot.

Freefall is the tale of Sam (an alien who can break anything except his code of morals - because he hasn't stolen one of those yet) Helix (a robot with some IQ problems, a literalness and who is being weaned from his programming by Sam) and Florence (a genetically engineered engineer who tries to make this disaster area work)

Unlike every other long running comic out there - freefall looks like the artist wrote the whole thing on a single day - and drew it that day too. The art stays perfect from beginning to end. And it's long. Partially because of the 'gag a day' nature, a single conversation takes months to complete (and a whole day?. But it's good, so you won't mind. Originally black and white, there's a huge community project to colourise it which has got almost every strip in (and for some reason, some of the later ones are animated).

Three times a week, throw yourself into Free fall

Sinfest

Updated every day of the week.

Sinfest. Often referred to as 'the' webcomic. It really does play out like a real newspaper comic - albeit a slightly edgey one. The author claims to want to get syndicated, and then insists on putting god and the devil in. Oh, and jokes about porn. Not adult rated jokes, to be sure - but still ;)

Art is consistent and clean, jokes are usually funny - and he alternates between several different threads. The adventures of ronnie and percy (a cat and a dog, who act pretty much as a typical cat and dog - sleeping a lot) seem to have nothing to do with the adventures of the other characters. And the occasional 'where japanese writing comes from' and 'geisha theatre' strips are welcome too.

I'm sorry - there's just no excuse for not reading sinfest. It's like a modern... what's one of those newspaper comics that was good? Oh. Well, it's like a moern whatever you wished those were like.

Every day of your life, read Sinfest

Bob The Angry Flower

Updates on Sundays - though sometimes rants during the week too.

Bob the angry flower is one of those rare comics that has actually been syndicated. No one is entirely sure why or how, it's subject matter is what other comics would consider "slightly controversial" (such as the strip 'Slapping the Shit out of George W. Bush!!!' in which the 'hero' of the comic, well, slaps the shit out of George W Bush...)

It handles its subject matter fabulously, mocks all without restraint and as long as you're not an up tight little shit is funny as hell. Art style is a little unusual - and some are certainly worse than others (some of the old stuff is fantastic, but much of it is very hard to read)

So every week, read Bob the Angry Flower