Web Comic Recommendations

It occurred to me, after a couple of links were sent to me by argle bargle, that we've not really had any sharing of webcomics. A bit of an oversight given that I think we all came here via Drive (and/or Sheldon).

So I thought I'd start the ball rolling with a few of my faves - just a few, since I have a LOT that I follow but don't want to snow you with them. Here are some of the plot driven ones I like, in no particular order:

• Digger. Beautifully written and drawn by Ursula Vernon. A now-complete story with excellent comic writing coupled with action and pathos. Grumpy wombats! Vampire squash! Oracular slugs! What's not to like?

• Freakangels. By comics overlord Warren Ellis and artist Paul Duffield. Post-apocalyptic fun and drama in Whitechapel, London - nearing the end of it's story. Features steampunk helicopters, a dozen poorly-adjusted young super-humans and some well rendered English piss-taking.

• Platinum Grit. One of the longest running webcomics ever I believe - has been going since 1994. Don't be daunted though - the number of episodes isn't huge. Difficult to describe or pigeon-hole but it's a surreal blend of sci-fi, fantasy, secret societies, magic and humour. Can't recommend it enough although if you do get hooked be prepared for months - if not years - between updates..

So - anyone else with anything to share?

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Webcomics I read, in no particular alphabetical order.

XKCD - http://xkcd.com - if you know how to access the internet and you don't read XKCD, you are doing life wrong.

The Battle of Dovecote Crest - http://dovecotecrest.com/ - A Civil War re-enactor and her friends work at a somewhat-underfunded historical site kept alive by love for history and caring for each other. Bridget is a genius at drawing awesome facial expressions.

Order of the Stick - http://www.giantitp.com - If you like any game bearing any superficial resemblance to D&D 3.0/3.5, you are probably already reading this webcomic. If not, START. Right now. Even if you aren't a pen-and-paper gamer, check it out anyway. The early strips have several references that might be lost, but the rest of his humor will appeal to everyone with a funny bone.

Dark Legacy - http://www.darklegacycomics.com/ - a dysfunctional World of Warcraft guild's wacky antics. If you don't play, you probably won't get most of the jokes. If you do play, you really should read. Forgive the early crappy art, it gets better as it goes.

Dreamland Chronicles - http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com - when children fall asleep, they travel to the Dreamland. Alex is in college now, but he still makes the journey every night, where he finds the land has been taken over by Nicodemus, the large red dragon who is a little irritated that 'his' kingdom is supposed to be ruled by an outsider.

Sarah Ellerton - http://seraph-inn.com/ - In my not terribly humble opinion, you will not find an artist with a more compelling art style than Sarah. She's written and drawn two of her own comics, plus illustrated another.
-- Inverloch - her first story. I read it a long time ago, but it's a high-fantasy go-on-a-journey story. Her art evolves dramatically over the course, as I recall.
-- Phoenix Requiem - her second story. In a coal-age world where the old beliefs are often at conflict with the new science and women almost never progress beyond the stage of mothers and nurses, Anya is training to be a doctor. Jonas is a mysterious man with a secret past who always seems to be on the edge of death, even when he should be far over the other side of it. The problem is, the old beliefs are actually true... except for the part where they're lies.
-- Dreamless - written by Bobby Crosby, begun about halfway through PE, Dreamless is the story of an impossible love that crosses both an ocean and the boundaries of a war.

Marry Me - http://marryme.keenspot.com/ - written by Bobby Crosby, illustrated by Eisu. At a concert he didn't really want to attend in the first place, Guy holds a 'marry me' sign for his brb-rr friend, never imagining that the singer on stage would take the sign seriously. She does, they get married on the spot, antics ensue, and a broken family is somewhat healed in the process.

PvPOnline - http://www.pvponline.com - As far as I recall, it arose in the same swath of gaming-webcomics that also spawned Penny Arcade, User Friendly, GPF, InkTank (or it's predecessor? was it always named that?) and similar ilk. However, I admit to finding webcomics much later than that point in time so my recollection could be off. The story started out very current-game-culture oriented and set entirely in-the-office, and slowly became more character-driven. Kurtz is not afraid to morph his art style and has spawned several spinoff stories that take place under the noses of the main cast. (Lolbat 4evr!)

General Protection Fault (GPF) - http://www.gpf-comics.com - like PvPOnline, this comic has been around for aaages. Like PvPOnline, it started out very much in-the-office. Like PvPOnline, the story has since left the office (and the timestream, and this reality). Unlike PvPOnline, much about the art style has remained relatively unchanged since the beginning.

Girl Genius - http://www.girlgeniusonline.com - wow, where do I start. Set in a steampunk alternate semi-European history, Agatha has a gift so coveted that men will kill to find her and women will kill to be her. The story is long, great in parts, drags in others, and has, what, two Hugos? Something like that.

Gunnerkrigg Court - http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/ - Antimony's mother died when she was very young, and her father has all but abandoned her to the school where her parents met. The school is full of science and secrets, the forest outside the school is full of magic and secrets. All secrets eventually seem to lead back to Antimony, but the few who know why aren't talking.

LinT - http://www.purnicellin.com/lint/2004/01/10/01102004/ - that's the link to the first strip. LinT is a completed story that starts out with somewhat low art and a somewhat aimless 'story', and evolves into an amazing story with good art, great characters, one of the best bad-guy-gets-his moments everrrr, and a very bittersweet finale. Reeeead ittttt omg.

Hark! A Vagrant - http://beatonna.livejournal.com/ - Oh my gosh if this isn't one of the most hilarious webcomics on the internet today, I don't know if my sides can handle what is. Her art style isn't what could be called 'polished', but it just works so well with her just-barely-off-beat humor. Read this, you will not regret it

Hyperbole and a Half = http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/ - I'm not certain that this counts as a 'webcomic', which is why my claim about Hark A Vagrant still stands. H&aH is more an 'autobiographical blog with pictures.' But I dare you to find a post in here that doesn't kill you with laughter.
Start with This is why I'll never be an adult and also read The Alot is better than you at everything.

Fall on Me - http://www.littleteacup.net/ - one of two wife-and-hubby slice-of-life stories I read at the moment, this one is an "autobiographical comic based on moments and anecdotes from newlywed life." He likes video games, she likes tea, together they are funny and cute.

Odori Park - http://www.odoripark.com/ - the other wife-and-hubby slice-of-life story. This one is about a Japanese woman married to an American man, and how they try to raise their son to be part of both cultures while simultaneously having a small-business bookstore and keeping themselves afloat. This one is more overarching-story-like whereas Fall on Me is more moment-to-moment.

Thistle Mistle Kistle - http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/ - Coal is an einherjar who has been commanded to help Loki. I think. It's been a while since I read the beginning. The art is interesting.

Two Lumps - http://twolumps.net/ - it's like Pinky and the Brain, only with cats, and less building of silly contraptions.

Kickass McAwesome - http://kickassmcawesome.com - 35% World of Warcraft humor, 55% slice of life humor, whatever-is-left% current-gaming-culture humor. The art is somewhat low-end but I played Wowcraft a little bit with the guy who writes it, so I'm sure he'd be thankful for the pageviews if anyone wanted to swing by and take a look.

Shadowgirls - http://www.shadowgirlscomic.com/ - I follow this sporadically so I'm a little loose on what the story is. There's a woman and her daughter who each have half of this super-natural entity in their heads... except the entity wasn't supposed to have been split in half, so when it's time for the entity to wake up and kick bad guy butt, that can get a little complicated. A lot of the story deals with the backstory of the mom, why she's at odds with the blond woman, and how the blond woman's daughter figures into it. The art is pretty good, but you have to be able to handle getting told 60% of a story and being able to figure out the rest of it in order to really enjoy this one.

Kagerou - http://kageroumanga.livejournal.com/ - You know what I said about getting 60% of the story and being happy? Kagerou gives you less than that. See, first off, there's Kano, who exists about 85% of the time not-on-Earth, but rather in this alternate/side universe thing that has a 35% chance of being all in his head. Second off, there's more than one entity/spirit/soul/personality/person/independant-thought-mechanic inside Kano's head.... in fact, I /think/ there are four? And one of them is not very nice at all. Third off, there's a war going on in the not-on-Earth/maybe-in-his-head side of things, and he is the Champion, complete with a sword he cannot hold. This one is NSFW, there is more than one instance of boobies. But don't tell Cho you looked, or she'll kick your ass. Very little is explained to the reader, and what is explained doesn't really help you much. This comic is full of Crazy Junk, so read at your own discretion.

And now for something completely 180 of that:

Sheldon - http://www.sheldoncomics.com - a 10-year-old boy makes the internet run faster, and becomes a billionaire CEO, but he still has to go to school. He lives with his grandfather, his dumb-as-a-brick pug dog, his talking duck named Arthur, and Arthur's lizard son Flaco. One of the few (it seems like) remaining truly family-friendly (ie safe for kids) webcomics left on the internet. Also written by the guy who does Drive, which is... kind of the point of our fleet. So you probably know this one already.

This is about 75% of the comics in my rss feed. The rest are either defunct, on (perma-)haitus, or just not really good enough to be worth a writeup. HOW DO I GET ANYTHING DONE IN LIFE GUIZ, SO MANY WEBCOMICS OMG.

One of my favorite webcomics is: Looking For Group http://www.lfgcomic.com/
my current avatar is a character from this comic.

I'd have to list:

Spacetrawler - story of a small group of humans abducted and taken into space for a charitable cause, and then all hell breaks loose and the plans run amok. There's blood, but it doesn't bother me at all. And after chatting with the artist in person, he said he doesn't like gory movies himself - so no wonder I can read his gory parts just fine, he's like ME! Very good storytelling, nice humor, real space physics, and of course one human who has sex with every alien species he meets. LOL Same artist as did Little Dee, and Bruno.

Shi Long Pang, Shaolin Monk - historic story following the life of a wandering Shaolin monk. (I'm probably not spelling that correctly!) Beautiful water-color type graphics, great story telling, historically accurate (or as much as he can humanely do to make it accurate), humor. Right now it's a flashback to his childhood up at the monastery.

Isn't updating regularly as paying-job-life has taken over, but SPQR Blues is set in ancient Rome in the years leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius during the reign of the emperor Titus. Mostly, it’s a soap opera about the daily lives of the ordinary people of the city of Herculaneum, though there are the occasional murders, mysteries, wars, imperial banquets, and bears.

The Dreamer - young modern teenage girl falls asleep and finds herself in the US Revolutionary War. eep! When awake, she's in her world. When asleep, she's there. Historically accurate, well researched, sometimes can move VERY slowly even with regular updates (I sometimes tell the webcomic to GET OVER ITSELF ALREADY AND MOVE THE STORY ALONG!) but it's still very good if you like history.

Sluggy Freelance - How to describe it? Um .... wow. 4 best friends, talking murderous rabbits, poingy talking ferrets, dimensional travel, horrific storylines .. it's dark, it's funny, there's lots of blood. Lately it's gotten too confusing for me, I've lost few months of storyline, so I'm going to have to sit down some day and go through about a year's worth of archives!


YAY that someone else recommends Hark A Vagrant! I *LOVE* her work. Yay!!!! Ditto Two Lumps.

I'll have to check some of these out. I know some of them, even if I don't follow regularly. It's nice to find a new one and have a big backlog to read, though.

I'd suggest Sinfest. http://www.sinfest.net/index.php Satire of contemporary issues and human nature as well as religion.

Oddly, although we have a nice assortment of webcomics above, I think I read a grand total of two of them (OOTS and Girl Genius). Anyway, my recommended list follows directly.

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - http://www.smbc-comics.com/
Written by a hard scientist married to another hard scientist. It's obvious once you start reading.

Nerf Now!! - http://www.nerfnow.com/
Lots of video game humor here, with some fun story arcs thrown in. Team Fortress 2 is technically the focal point of the comic, but it has gotten away from it with time.

Erfworld - http://www.erfworld.com/
Started out being hosted side-by-side with Order of the Stick, but has recently struck out on its own. If you are a fan of tabletop gaming or turn based video game, this comic is likely for you.

Lovecraft is Missing - http://lovecraftismissing.com/
A self-styled "graphic novel" set in a universe where HP Lovecraft wasn't writing fiction. Extremely well written and suspenseful.

Toothpaste for Dinner - http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/
This comic strip is often nothing more than a few doodles and some text from the artist, but he does update daily. Short, funny, and to the point.

Dresden Codak - http://dresdencodak.com/
Probably the most artistically and philosophically intense of the bunch; especially enjoys dealing with the topic of transhumanism and singularity. Enjoy it, but don't expect an update more than once a month.

oh! I forgot:

Savage Chickens Weekday cartoon (most with chickens) drawn on a Post-It Note.

"Scary Go Round", from Bad Machinery. Love this strip, it's been struggling for followers. It deals with British schoolchildren and their adventures. The last storyline involved an ogre, a fox, a firebug, and a fantastic new fire engine from the future. Hee.

First comic here:
http://scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20090921

MegaTokyo - Although I only check it once a year now, this comic is one of the granddaddies. It is heavily story driven now, but the early strips are gag-heavy. The story follows the (mis)adventures of a couple of Americans stuck in a version of Tokyo that behaves like every Japanese movie/anime trope were real. It supposedly updates twice a week (at last check), but the author is notorious for going into side stories and missing updates, hence my yearly reviews.

Zap! - http://www.zapcomic.com/ - Updated weekly, Zap is a (now) very well drawn space opera.

The Abominable Charles Christopher - http://tacc.txcomics.com/ - Charles is a yeti. He does not speak. He does not have a clue. He does have a mission to save the forest that he lives in and to protect its various (hilarious) critters who share it with him. Updates once a week.

The Adventures of Dr. McNinja - http://drmcninja.com/ - He is a doctor, who is also a ninja. If absurdist humor is something you care for, you ought to give this a try. The adventures are in chapter format with each chapter taking slightly over a month to finish. Update 3x per week.

Wow, I'm going to go through all these fantastic suggestions!
One my favorites, Girl Genius, is already here, so I'm going to be reading rather than suggesting for the time being.

Thanks for the Digger by Ursula Verne recommendation !! I spent an hour at work reading the first 75 comics and they are great

Oh yes yes, Abominable Charles Christopher! It makes me weep, makes me laugh, makes me think. It's just gorgeous, in both art and storytelling.

Wow, good responses!

Of the ones mentioned I'm an avid follower of XKCD (geeks FTW!), Hark! A Vagrant (Kate Beaton RULES), Sheldon (should be required reading for anyone who reads Drive), Dresden Codak (definition of stylish and smart), Savage Chickens (especially the zombie ones, and cat adventures), and The Abominable Charles Christopher (has moved me to tears..).

Also occasionally read/am catching up with/have seen Girl Genius, Gunnerkrigg Court, Order of the Stick, PvPOnline, Penny Arcade, Space Trawler, SMBC, Erfworld, Scary Go Round, and Lovecraft is Missing.

I'd also agree that while Hyperbole and a Half isn't technically a webcomic YOU MUST ALL START READING IT NOW. Too funny for words - literally. Not many things I've read online have had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

Additionally:

• Octopus Pie. Delightful slice of twenty-something life and love in Brooklyn. Absurdist slacker humour, excellent characters and dynamically drawn. Contains mild drug use (as all lives should).
  
  Indexed. Clever and funny graphs on catalog cards. Appeals to both my geeky nature and librarian heritage.
  
  Something Positive. A very long running webcomic that I've been following for years - basically the adapted-with-names-changed story of R K Milhollands life. Ok, perhaps the cannibal catgirls never happened - but if you've ever been to a comic con you can imagine it..
  
  Nobody Scores!. Seems to be on hiatus, possibly permenantly but the existing comics are a surreal and hilarious explosion of mayhem and misadventure. Nobody wins, everyone dies, often the world is destroyed - then they do it all again the next strip!
  
  Basic Instructions. Clever and funny in the format of an instructional comic. Hmm.. I do seem to tend towards the geeky side of comics...
  
  a softer world. Three panels of genius. Photos supplied by Emily Horne with words by Joey Comeau - at times wistful and unnerving, surreal and distubing, hilarious and uncomfortable, creepy and poignant. It's an oddity I can't recommend enough.
  
  kukuburi. On hiatus for quite a while but they've set a date for return. It's a surreal adventure through an alternate universe with flying battlewhales, menacing skeletons, and the hat gang.
  
  Border Crossings. Alternate world fantasy adventure with the bizarre crew of The Rhizome in a waterworld full of intrigue and mystery.
  
  The Meek. Beautifully drawn and interesting complex story set in a fantasy world. It's only a couple of chapters in but looks excellent.
  
  The Secret Knots. Stories told with pictures. Another comic that has at times moved me deeply. Occasionally funny, often uncanny, always worthwhile.
  
  Dawn of Time. Funny, silly, odd and cute. Follows a mute(?) girl and her pet triceratops in their adventures through time. Does nasty cruel things to lungfish regularly.
  
  Subnormailty. Walls of text - seriously, you'll be reading a LOT of words in many of these. But SO worth it. Very smart, sometimes polemical, sometimes hilarious, sometimes deeply moving.
  
  The Perry Bible Fellowship. The gold standard for smart, offbeat short comics. Now sadly defunct/on lengthy hiatus but rummage through the archives - so many gems.
  
  We, The Robots. Also now defunct but a comic that strikes close to my office-drone heart... Funny and wincingly accurate.
  
  Oglaf. NSFW. Seriously. No, really - SERIOUSLY. But very funny nonetheless.

Umm.. I've got more but I'll leave it at that for the moment before you all start to (accurately) think I do little else but read webcomics and play SP...

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Oglaf is by the same artist as Platinum Grit (and, yup, it is NSFW).

Also NSFW is Chimneyspeak

I'd go with a lot listed above ( Gunnerkrigg, Erfworld and many other on my list ).

Also on my listed, and not spotted above yet...

Wapsi Square (start light, gets deeper and stranger, and sometimes you really have to pay attention)
Skin Horse (mad science meets social services...)
Freefall (fairly slow moving but some serious SF issues going on in a gradually revealed backstory)
Godseeker (very pretty and different setting from almost anything else - dawn of civilisation stuff)
Sequential Art (a more-than-perpetual motion slinky and a nuclear powered net to catch it in came up here recently...)
Flaky Pastry (nice clean art style, and silly story)
Dead Winter (zombies vs waitress and friends)
Slightly Damned (very cute, and another revealing back story over time)
Yet Another Fantasy Gaming Comic (7 days a week and frequently very funny)
Winter Melody (I'm a sucker for nice pencil art, and the recent change to colours works for me too)
The Dawn Chapel (collection of unrelated short stories, some fun, some sad, some strange)
Robot Beach (big plot stuff just started happening)

I've Finished Digger (thanks again!) and fully am up to the current comic in Gunnering Castle

About FreakAngels - I recall reading this completely a year or so ago, and then didn't follow once it updated after that.
I could keep listing stuff, but instead just want to shout out to all you folks who posted your comics in this thread - I am having so much fun discovering or re-finding some brilliant art

Lackadaisy: Set in the prohibition era, this comic follows a now failing speakeasy. Oh and the characters are anthropomorphic cats. Lackadaisy

Goblins: Tired of being killed by low level adventurers a group of goblins decide to become playable characters in this d&d comic. Goblins

Boxer Hockey: Follows a ridiculous team in the equally ridiculous sport of Boxer Hockey (part hockey, part polo (not the water kind), part soccer, and part bio-engineered frog) Boxer Hockey

Manly Guys Doing Manly Things: About an organization designed to reintegrate the super manly characters from video games (and Jared the pokemon trainer (but we don't talk about him)) into society. Manly Guys

Wizard School: Think Harry Potter except the main character is thirty some years old and a career asshole.

Fun Quote: "Let's see, you've got stupid names for everything, and your animals are all fucked up looking. I know! You kidnapped me and took me to Australia."