Webcomics, you like 'em!

[Freak]

So, for a while I've been wondering whether I should do this, but I figured that some people might appreciate it so: I read webcomics. A lot. I think I spend about half and hour or more daily to read through all the webcomics in my favourites, and that for years now. So I think I shall start something like a thread where I present a webcomic in a critical manner to you scrawlers out there (well, not really "like", more "exactly that").

Let the fun start:

http://kevinandkell.com/

We start off with a biggie. "Kevin and Kell" is a comic that is as complex as they get.

During 14 years of daily comic strips, Bill Holbrook has created a big cast of interesting and partially peculiar characters in this little anthropomorphic world of his. Nonetheless, each one is special in its own ways and, something that I especially appreciate in comics, they actually evolve emotionally.

Story: The comic is about the adventures of a family that consists of Kevin (a rabbit) and his adopted daughter Lindesfarne (a hedgehog) who married Kell (a wolf) who already had a son (another wolf). They later get a daughter which is a carnivorous bunny, Coney.

Now, you will notice that those animals aren't prone to be friendly to each other in our world, and a marriage between a carnivore and a member of a prey species is something out of the ordinary in the world of Kevin and Kell too.
http://www.kevinandkell.com/1995/kk1225.html/

This is in fact one of the very charming points about the comic, it makes a comment about modern society without holding up a finger and really pointing it out. Principal problems like racism are covered as well as current ones, like the economic crisis (yes, predation in the world of "Kevin and Kell" is economically organized).

As you might have noticed in the linked strips, "Kevin and Kell" is in the format of "one joke a day", meaning that each strip is a self-contained joke most of the time. But they also are incorporated into a larger story (except for the sunday strips, which are always some kind of special treat).

Something else you might have noticed by now is the tendency to make word puns and other jokes based on the fact we're dealing with animals. These will sometimes make you giggle and sometimes will make you cringe a bit, it might as well depend on your mood when you read them. Don't expect the strips to make your day or prep you for a working day in the morning, rather read them for the charming atmosphere and loveable character pieces.

Art: Sometimes the art isn't a big selling point in webcomics, we're dealing mostly with amateurs. So you will have quantum leaps in their development. Bill Holbrook on the other side is a seasoned professional, so the changes between the first and the latest strip are less impressive, nonetheless noteworthy.

Obviously Holbrook at some point introduced colour into the strip. Also, his drawings became less loaded, he developed a clear and tidy style with rounder forms.

Desktop worthy?: In this part I want to argue whether a comic has art that is interesting and good-looking enough to be used as a desktop background, because it's something I like to do with webcomics.

The Sunday pieces have definitely some nice drawings that can be used as backgrounds. Here an example: http://www.kevinandkell.com/2002/kk0526.html/

Extras: "Kevin and Kell" has an archive that is searchable with tags, a FAQ, and a shop.

As an interesting gimmick, there is a web hosting service being offered that exists like this as well in the comic. Also, Lindesfarne (the daughter) has an own blog.

Final Words: To me, reading "Kevin and Kell" is like coming home. I've read through the whole archive two times already and I have searched for special storylines quite often only to relive the character development and the progression of the stories.

I can only recommend this comic to everybody who likes a good story and good characterization with nice (though not spectacular) art. For the daily "lolz", watch out for my next review and skip this one

[steyn]

Wow, I didn't know that webcomic had such a big affect on you, Freak.

[Freak]

It#s like reading a "Peanuts" strip

[The Drastic Spastic]

Wow, I've never even heard of that webcomic. Or I have and have since completely forgotten about it. Probably the second one. The art is too busy (very newspaper comic-looking) and the laughs are also equal to a newspaper comic. What else have you got?

[Freak]

It's thursday, let's rejoice and look at another webcomic.

I was a bit unclear about which to nail next, but then I decided to choose a celebrity among the webcomics:

Girl Genius

Let's look at the Web Cartoonist Choice Award (WCCA). That's an award especially for web comics where the best of the best are being chosen.

In 2008 Girl Genius won "Outstanding Comic", "Outstanding Writer", and "Outstanding Environment Detail".
Also, go figure, the comic was nominated for an Eisner Award. So Phil (the artist) and Kaja (the writer) Foglio good some cred.

But, what's this about?

Story: Girl Genius plays out in a medieval/steampunk world, where brilliant minds, so-called "Sparks", make life a bit more interesting with mechanical zombies, clockwork robots, and flying castles. The story is about Agatha who is out to find out who she is (and then fights to get what she deserves).

As pointed out already, a big chunk of the story revolves around the steampunk theme, although it never overtakes the basic storytelling, like in this case. Yes, that is indeed a steam-powered mecha.

As the strip has shown, the format here, as in "Kevin and Kell" is one pun a day. And here too, they are integrated into the main story. A difference however is that in "Kevin and Kell" the story is far more split up. We have arcs that have one definite beginning and one definite end. In "Girl Genius" you have the huge, all encompassing story of Agatha, which branches out, sometimes leads us to side characters, but always comes back. In this it is far more similar to a normal comic (which is supported by the format).

Apart from the humour and the steampunk, what else speaks for the comic?

Well, there's also action, love, and boobs!(Phil Foglio also has an own, adult themed comic)

Art: Seriously? Do I have to convince you even more that this is top-notch, despite what I've shown yet?

Oh well, how about I show how the comic developed? After all, it started out like this. Yeah. That's how it started out! And it only got better. And more voluptuous...(I think Phil likes them boobs a lot...)

The format is simple pages with varying numbers of panels.

Desktop worthy: Well, the clank picture up there? It's the cropped version. How about the original? There are lots of really cool desktop motives to be found.

Extras: There is no archive. All the strips can be directly chosen from a bar under the comics. There is a FAQ and a glossary. And there are short stories that are being put up each time Phil and Kaja go on vacation, right here.

Additionally I want to point out a little very recent feature that I liked a lot: Paper dolls.

Finally, the publication of the comic isn't daily, but it regularly updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Final Words: If you're reading a few web comics already, you will have heard of Phil and Katja already. Other web cartoonist hold them in highest regard and you will never ever find even one of them talking badly about those two (which is quite rare, sometimes webcomic-world is like an episode of Dallas).

This comic is one of the coolest around and even made it into paper-print. Try it out.

[The Drastic Spastic]

I've heard of this, but I was under the impression you had to pay to read it. Not sure why. Maybe they were advertising a book on Elf Only Inn or something.

[Freak]

Nah, it's free. You can buy a print version, though.

[Freak]

Okay, here's the next installment:

8-Bit-Theater

You will notice that this is a sprite comic on the first glance. Sprite comics are generally comics where the "artist" simply takes a background and characters out of an old 8-bit game and inserts speech-bubbles. Yeah, sprite comics are for lazy people with very limited talent.

So, shouldn't you read this, because it is a sprite comic? Well, i wouldn't review this if it were bad, would I? Actually, 8-bit-theater is the one single sprite comics commonly accepted and with a huge fan-base.

Story: I...honestly said, I don't know. The whole thing starts out as the adventure of two anti-friends: Fighter and Black Mage. Then they and two others (Red MAge and Thief) become warriors of light by using ligthbulbs, and from there on it gets only more convoluted.

You can read through the whole archive, but you can also just read single strips, we got a "one-joke-a-day" comic again. I think it helps if you are familiar with the concept of role play games. The story progresses like in one of those: First it starts out small, then ever-stronger adversaries and ever-more dangerous adventures await, including a level-up.

Generally, the story thrives on the very distinct personalities of the four main protagonists: Black Mage is evil, Fighter is stupid, Thief is a cut-throat, and Red Mage is smart-stupid (he thinks the rules of table-top RPGs apply, and sometimes he's even right).

As for the humour, I'll just let this latest strip speak for itself.

Art: Principally not much to say. However, sometimes the author (Brian Clevinger) has quite smart and funny ideas how to play with his restricted material, like here.

For those of you who are interested and don't know already: The main characters are sprites from Final Fantasy I, others are from the same or later games in the series.

Desktop worthy: Nah, not really. Even if you like a page, the art principally is too erratic and distracting.

Extras: An archive exists, only with strips sorted by date, though. So looking for an old strip is tedious. Also, there is a wikipedia entry.

Final words: If you like easy fun and are a videogame nerd or at least affectionado, this is a comic for you.