(Web)comics compilation and reckomendations
Since I've continued reading a few comics (mostly online) again, I've had the urge to write a bit about it. I have some unfinished business with some of them, and I read a few for the very first time. Some of them are very dear to me, some were simply a interesting read/high quality, and the others were just meh, but still nice to read and may or may not be skipped. If you're having trouble with reading them, simply open them in a new tab. |
| Calvin and Hobbes |
Watterson is a genius. He made a comic about a young boy that has a way too much fertile imagination, incredible wits, but is hyperactive and a bit crazy. He "catches" a tiger, Hobbes, which is actually a tiger plushie toy which is manifested in Calvin's mind like an anthropomorphic tiger. |
| The nature of Hobbes' existance is never explained and is rather surreal. He becomes a plush toy the moment someone beside Calvin sees him, and when Calvin's too busy to daydream it's the same. Yet again, it is strongly hinted that Hobbes does exist in reality, because he does some things that have an impact to reality, things that a kid like Calvin would not be able to do himself. |
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| Quite a few comics are devoted to Calvin's daydreaming and imagination. He has many "alter egos" and personalities while playing and daydreaming. The girl is one of the very few (about 5-6) characters that appear beside Calvin's household. He was somewhat minimalistic with the number of character, but he did it rather well. This was also a chance for me to show off Watterson's artistic skills. |
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| Definitely a sweet read that went for 10 long years. Watterson finished in a heartwarming way, saying goodbye with grace and stepped away from the business in 1995. He did not allow merchandising of his work, and the fans are grateful till today. I would recommend it to everyone who wants to awake that warm feeling of childhood innocence again. |
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| Count your sheep, by Adrian Ramos a.k.a. Adis. The first comic :) |
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| Adis wanted to make a comic about a little girl, Katie, counting sheep every night. But he realized that it won't work and it'll become monotone after a few comics. So he proceeded to showing parts of Katie's life and her adventures with Ship, her only counting ship (that's why he's so at his job, she only needs to count him). The comic is inspired by Calvin and Hobbes and has many adorable moments and scenes full of innocence that will make your heart melt. |
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| Katie's mother, Laurie, is quickly introduced and she is one of the three characters that appeared during the comic's run. That's how Watterson inspired Adis too. You can also see how his artwork got cleaner and his drawing style more defined later o. This is also something that pretty much every teenager can relate too! |
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| Laurie gets her episodes as a child too. Instead of the classical blue, they appear in a more purplish tone. Ship was her imaginary friend too, but she can still see and interact with him, unlike Calvin's parents. She is a young widow that is struggling with difficulties of being a single mom, but Ship helps her out as much as he can. |
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| The comic's blue colour was first intended to portray that the comic is occurring during nighttime. Adis later decided to keep the look even during the daytime strips. The palette of blues enchants the feeling of melancholy that Laurie's experiencing during her grieving for her late husband. Katie, unable to understand death like an adult, found her way to cope. She believes that her dad communicates with her through the Beatles songs. |
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| Katie is the typical innocent, optimistic child that isn't fully aware of the suffering that exists in the world, including her mother's grief. When he's not making us cry our hearts out, Adis makes adorable little comics like these. |
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| While her childish innocence does not completely shield her from the problems and horrors of the world, it does help Katie to slowly begin to accept them. Like Calvin, she shows signs of above-average intelligence for her age. Many strips include her questioning beliefs and having philosophical conversations with Ship. |
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| This one always makes me cringe. When I was a kid, my parents faced financial problems too, but I was too young to understand that. No child should ever experience poverty. How can one explain to a kid that people have come to take away your possessions, and you're unable to do anything to stop it? |
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| To conclude, Count your sheep is an adorable, really great comic that will make you laugh, cry and "aww" while reading, especially if you're a sucker feeling nostalgia all the time, like me. One is never too old for counting sheep ^^ |
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| Sandra and Woo A webcomic about friendship, life and the art of (not) eating squirrels. Written by Oliver Knörzer Powree Art by Powree |
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| Sandra North finds a sly raccoon and names him Woo. Another one inspired by Calvin and Hobbes, and similar in many ways. The comic even makes a few references to Watterson's works. I guess most of the readers can relate to this one as well. |
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| Like all the previous ones, Sandra and Woo doesn't draw the humor out of chaos and randomness, but has something that the fans call "modest" or "quiet" humor. |
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| Different way to deal with your parents. Fortunately I have type 3! And this is to show how much this comic ISN'T for kids, but is filled with sexual innuendo, themes like drugs, violence, hatred and politics. Calvin and Hobbes and Count your sheep are intended for adults too, but mostly because kids can't get the quiet humor. But unlike Sandra and Woo, they're still PG, while Oliver struggled to avoid making his work kids-unfriendly, but as you can see it isn't really doing so great. |
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| The kids have a serious, stable relationship for someone who's about 12. There are also themes like going astray/adultery, but its kept rather PG (holding hands, kissing). Also you can all aww now x3 |
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| And I like this one too. I'm sometimes such a grammar nazi that it really looks like something I'd do one day. |
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| The author is not afraid to speak up his mind, but it goes horribly wrong sometimes. He lives in Germany and sometimes talks about the situation in the USA, and is misinformed. |
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| Slice of life comic? Check! A kid protagonist? Check! Talking/Imaginary animal? Check! Dead parent? Check! I'm starting to sense a pattern here... |
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| The author is also a fan of (eastern) RPGs and sometimes mocks and jokes about them. The boy is even named Cloud and has a sister called Yuna because his parents are obsessed with Final Fantasy. |
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| And this one hits home so hard. I grew up having a physician mother telling me how certain things are bad for my health while doing exactly those things. And yeah sure, he's talking about ducks, riiiiiight. I just haven't figured out if it's about drugs or about dic... PG RATED. Yeah, that's pretty much what Oliver loves doing to his audience. |
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| Shit just got surreal |
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| Copper is strange. Copper is weird. Copper is a beautifully abstract adventure. Yeah, the characters are a boy and his dog, you guessed it. :P But talking dogs are not a part of imagination here. Copper's world is totally messed up in the best way possible. The skillful artwork makes the experience even more rewarding. |
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| Many strange inhabitants dwell in Copper's world. Dreams and reality are have a very thin line, and you can never be sure if Copper's dreaming or not. There are also no story arcs, this is pretty much as much plot as you'll get. It's more about exploring than having a story. |
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| And this is pretty much how normal and benign Copper can get. This is also an introduction to some of the plot the comic has. Also, I love this drawing style! |
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| More fragments of Copper's imagination. Another strip I can relate to, in the end :Đ |
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| And sometimes, the comic is just plain creepy and so abstract it can seriously fuck you up. |
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| No pink ponies, a comic with a pretty random name and a perfect nerd girl as the lead. Very mushy and lovey-dovey. |
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| The comic is about Jess, a nerd girl that loves reading comics, having a crush on the Cute Comic Guy (It's actually somewhat of a running gag, all important female characters are named, while the males don't have names). Most of the comic's humor is drawn from the unresolved tension and awkwardness between the two. |
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| Jess has poor social skills. This is a typical conversation with her best friend. Real smooth, Jess. |
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| More awkwardness |
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| I guess we all know this feeling when you're expecting a phone call from someone important to you. And the disappointment, when it turns out to be your grandmother or someone like that -.- |
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| She managed to lock herself in. Beside being socially awkward, she's also clumsy. |
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| And a perfect ending to a pretty tense arc. |
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| The comic is perfect for those who are feeling mushy and want to read romantic shit at the time. While the author went on a very, very long hiatus, I think he continued his work now. |
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| Xylia tales It's a comic about a guy trying to fulfill his promise he made in one of his many previous lives to his great love. The promise binds him to find her, and he may not rest and live happily until he does it. As you can see, his love interest is kinda messed up at the moment. It's a great comic for those who are into fantasy stuff. It also has corgis, shut up :P |
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| The author won my heart and attention in the very beginning when he introduced the corgi. The well done artwork also had an effect. |
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| Many things from another realm are haunting the main characters, including this vile seductress. That's right, Charlie, give into the temptation. She looks totally legit. Ignore the bad feeling your adorable dog has, what does he know anyway? -.- |
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| The consequences of not listening to your corgi. You'll get your shit fucked up, badly. "Why must my legs be so short?!" <3333 |
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| The author forgot to draw the lipstick marks and wounds on the first panel :P Introduction to the magical realm. The corgi is not only very badass (he can transform into a giant corgi :ĐĐĐ), but can also talk telepathically. Who wouldn't want a dog like that?! Things get only weirder later on. |
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| A wonderful comic about forbidden, exotic love separated by war. Illustrated by Sarah Ellerton. Written by Bobby Crosby. He also made a comic with the author of No pink ponies, it's called Marry me. |
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| A comic with an interesting story and very pretty and professionally done illustration. Sarah really outdid herself here. The plot is complex, but still enjoyable without having to bang your head. It all begins when Elanor speaks her first words as a baby - in a foreign language that she never heard... I can't reveal more, as the story is kinda spoilerish and should be read from the beginning. |
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| YU + ME dream A surreal comic about dreams. Yeah, another one. This one's just full of surprises. It changes the genre and art style very quickly. One of the impressive things about it is that the author used a completely different style or medium for each chapter. Some are digitally, some traditionally drawn. Some are even made with photographs and clay figurines! The plot and humor are avarage, but the illustrations will make you breathless, especially later on. The comic is about free love and is about a lesbian romance. Readers must not be narrow-minded in order to read and enjoy this unusual masterpiece. |
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| Housepets! by Rick Griffin These "characters under the tree shade" pictures are apparently popular... |
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| It's a silly comic about life of two pets, Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly (don't ask) and their owners (mom and dad, as they call them). It also shows other pets from the neighborhood, sometimes even more than the two characters. |
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| This is King, a human cursed to be transformed into a corgi :Đ He's the comic's most adorable and lovable character, probably the fandom's favourite. |
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| And one of the aww moments from Housepets! which makes most fans ship these two and believe it's the OTP. |
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| Griffin is not afraid to show his opinions through the comic, demonizing PETA as much as he can. Can't blame him, though. |
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| The story is divided into arcs, and this is my favourite. It left me and most of the fandom scared, as the title was "Not all dogs"... As most have heard of the All dogs go to heaven movie, you can only imagine why the fans feared for the fate of their favourite characters. |
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| I guess we all behave like this. |
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| The earlier strips didn't have colour. Griffin mastered his colouring skills rather soon, but not in the very beginning. The dolphins are always portrayed as sociopaths that can and want to destroy the world (or at least exterminate the human race), but fortunately have a very short attention span. |
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| Thank god for attention deficit! |
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| Mac Hall, my old love <3 xD Drawn by Ian McConville Matt Boyd joined a bit later as a writer A typical two gamers on a couch comic about college students that are roommates and live in the titular Mac Hall. But later, it has evolved into something way more epic. |
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| Ah, Freud... |
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| Some strips are about their experiences at class or cons. Crazy manga artists :Đ |
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| Like this blog gets most traffic from shady Russian porn sites, so did Mac Hall from Digimon porn. The authors were confused at first, but took the fact with humor and grace, making it later a running gag. |
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| I just love Ian's character, I can often relate to his crazy, yet somewhat childish and naive outlook on the world and behaviour. |
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| I added this one just to show how Ian's style and art developed over the 6 years of the comic's run. It has a somewhat unique and strange style that many associate with Samurai Jack. |
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| A strip about gaming ^^ |
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| Another one, this time about WoW |
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| Omnomnom :Đ |
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| One of my faves... So true :Đ |
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| GPOY... much? |
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| The dream of every gamer guy x3 |
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| Another one where I can relate to Ian |
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| Aaaaand another one. |
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| Over the years, Ian gained a random cat that lives on his hat :D |
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| Another one that I like |
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| The best part? The phoenix looks like a chocobo x3 |
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| Okay, I'll stop spamming with Mac Hall now. The comic went on till 2006 when Ian and Matt decided it's time to move on. They ended it with style, and it was a rather well done end (something unusual and rare in this medium) Later, they made Three Panel Soul, another very good comic, in a similar manner. |
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| Awkward zombie by Katie Tiedrich (a woman, even if most find it hard to believe. Can't blame them though, her character is drawn with scruffy hair and most assume it is just a long haired gamer dude) A comic about gaming, with some hilarious detail. Here we have the wonders of blood magic :Đ |
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| Wow, somebody remembers Age of Empires 2 o.O |
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| Gotta love minecraft physics x) |
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| Još jedan za Vrapčicu x3 Kurwa otkrila klopku na vreme. Srđan. o.o |
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| Doggieeeeee </3 |
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| The Sandman Finally a serious comic here. I didn't read it for long, but it pulled me right in. Even if I just started and read only the first book, I already love it. Definitely a must read. |
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| One of my favourite scenes. Don't let it fool you because it's silly, the comic has lot of violence, hatred, sex and rape, death and a lot of gore at times. Even this seemingly innocent scene is about Death (the girl) taking a short break from her job as the Grim Reaper. But we see her doing her job, and she's good at it. Fortunately, she's the nicest Grim Reaper that is compassionate and kind when doing her job. |
I think that's enough of me blabbing. Go and read some of these :P
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