Awesome Webcomics, take 2
August 26, 2014 5:34 PM Subscribe
I previously asked for webcomic recommendations. Now I'm back, I've run out of things to read, and I want more.
The recent mefi post re The Dresden Codak / Magnolia Pearl kurfluffle made me think of re-pitching this question.
I appreciate good drawing, smart writing, and strong female characters. I'm still following Teahouse, Menage a 3, Girls with Slingshots and a couple of others. I figure I'm missing out on a ton of awesome new things that I haven't heard of yet, so please help me stay up-to-date on my reading!
The recent mefi post re The Dresden Codak / Magnolia Pearl kurfluffle made me think of re-pitching this question.
I appreciate good drawing, smart writing, and strong female characters. I'm still following Teahouse, Menage a 3, Girls with Slingshots and a couple of others. I figure I'm missing out on a ton of awesome new things that I haven't heard of yet, so please help me stay up-to-date on my reading!
My two favorite web comics are Awkward Zombie (weekly) and Freefall (3 times a week).
Katie started doing Awkward Zombie when she was in high school, and I've been reading it all the way while she went to college, graduated with a degree in ME, and now has been hired by an aerospace company. It's mostly about video games and there isn't any long term story.
Freefall stars Florence Ambrose, a genetically engineered wolf who walks upright and has human-level intelligence (at least!). It's actually telling a story, about a world which is undergoing terraforming, with most of the work being done by hundreds of millions of sentient robots. (By contrast there are about 30,000 human inhabitants.) It also stars Sam Starfall, an alien squid who wears an environmental suit which makes him look vaguely human because his true form tends to make people nauseous. (I have a sneaking suspicion that without the suit he looks like Cthulhu.)
One of the best lines in the entire series is from one of the large construction bots responsible for cutting river valleys: "I understand subtlety. That's when I use chemical explosives instead of nuclear."
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:06 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Katie started doing Awkward Zombie when she was in high school, and I've been reading it all the way while she went to college, graduated with a degree in ME, and now has been hired by an aerospace company. It's mostly about video games and there isn't any long term story.
Freefall stars Florence Ambrose, a genetically engineered wolf who walks upright and has human-level intelligence (at least!). It's actually telling a story, about a world which is undergoing terraforming, with most of the work being done by hundreds of millions of sentient robots. (By contrast there are about 30,000 human inhabitants.) It also stars Sam Starfall, an alien squid who wears an environmental suit which makes him look vaguely human because his true form tends to make people nauseous. (I have a sneaking suspicion that without the suit he looks like Cthulhu.)
One of the best lines in the entire series is from one of the large construction bots responsible for cutting river valleys: "I understand subtlety. That's when I use chemical explosives instead of nuclear."
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:06 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I like the writing in Spacetrawler.
Khaos Komix handles shifting perspectives in a queer high school social circle well.
Homestuck has a large and half-female cast and makes very interesting use of a couple of different media. It's quite long, and it takes a little bit to get started - get through the first two acts, and after that if you're not into it it's reasonable to quit.
A Stray in the Woods has charming art.
Megan Gedris' Yu+Me Dream is artistically inventive and features an interesting dream world / real world juxtaposition centered around a high school lesbian romance.
Gunnerkrigg Court has nice art that gets better as you go, and an interesting storyline focusing on two teenage girls.
Evan Dahm makes some good stuff.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:07 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
Khaos Komix handles shifting perspectives in a queer high school social circle well.
Homestuck has a large and half-female cast and makes very interesting use of a couple of different media. It's quite long, and it takes a little bit to get started - get through the first two acts, and after that if you're not into it it's reasonable to quit.
A Stray in the Woods has charming art.
Megan Gedris' Yu+Me Dream is artistically inventive and features an interesting dream world / real world juxtaposition centered around a high school lesbian romance.
Gunnerkrigg Court has nice art that gets better as you go, and an interesting storyline focusing on two teenage girls.
Evan Dahm makes some good stuff.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:07 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
The Family Man by Dylan Meconis is a slow-burning novel about werewolves, intense family drama, personal and ethnic identity, and theology students in Germany in the 1700s.
O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti is a near future sci-fi story about the dawn of AI set against an unfolding queer family drama.
Strong Female Protagonist by Molly Ostertag and Brendan Lee Mulligan, is a coming of age superhero deconstruction that "follows the adventures of a young middle-class American with super-strength, invincibility and a crippling sense of social injustice."
Templar, Arizona by C. Spike Trotman is an alternate-history vicious social satire/slice of life, set in an alternate Tuscon. Spike is also the co-author of Poorcraft, tips about living cheaply in the neo-depression. She is also the editor and a contributer to the incredible Smut Peddler (link to Spike's projects website), a yearly anthology of woman-made pornographic comics.
Speaking of porn, Oglaf is a near perfect fantasy sex parody romp.
Emily Carroll does fantasy horror like no other.
Tom Siddell's Gunnerkrigg Court is a very deeply human YA about two teenage girls at a supernatural British boarding school.
The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ And Amal by EK Weaver is a beautiful, cinematic road trip love story.
Mefi's own A Stray In The Woods by Alison Wilgus is lovely and profound.
Dicebox by Jenn Manley Lee is a long, sprawling sci-fi story about two middle-aged women who work as itinerant laborers throughout a future galaxy. Beautiful and extraordinary; there is really nothing going on in comics remotely like it.
Subnormality by Virus Comix is an old school, "the lesson is learned" style strip, text heavy but very very worth it with strong and complex female friendships linking the often disparate strips.
Darryl Ayo Braithwaite's Little Garden is perfect, like a more gently magical realist Love and Rockets. Angels, monsters and hipsters hanging out. His personal tumblr is also pretty excellent.
Who am I missing here? Jess Fink, Megan Rosalarian Gedris, Erika Moen Carla Speed McNeil... help me out, mefi.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 6:26 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
O Human Star by Blue Delliquanti is a near future sci-fi story about the dawn of AI set against an unfolding queer family drama.
Strong Female Protagonist by Molly Ostertag and Brendan Lee Mulligan, is a coming of age superhero deconstruction that "follows the adventures of a young middle-class American with super-strength, invincibility and a crippling sense of social injustice."
Templar, Arizona by C. Spike Trotman is an alternate-history vicious social satire/slice of life, set in an alternate Tuscon. Spike is also the co-author of Poorcraft, tips about living cheaply in the neo-depression. She is also the editor and a contributer to the incredible Smut Peddler (link to Spike's projects website), a yearly anthology of woman-made pornographic comics.
Speaking of porn, Oglaf is a near perfect fantasy sex parody romp.
Emily Carroll does fantasy horror like no other.
Tom Siddell's Gunnerkrigg Court is a very deeply human YA about two teenage girls at a supernatural British boarding school.
The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ And Amal by EK Weaver is a beautiful, cinematic road trip love story.
Mefi's own A Stray In The Woods by Alison Wilgus is lovely and profound.
Dicebox by Jenn Manley Lee is a long, sprawling sci-fi story about two middle-aged women who work as itinerant laborers throughout a future galaxy. Beautiful and extraordinary; there is really nothing going on in comics remotely like it.
Subnormality by Virus Comix is an old school, "the lesson is learned" style strip, text heavy but very very worth it with strong and complex female friendships linking the often disparate strips.
Darryl Ayo Braithwaite's Little Garden is perfect, like a more gently magical realist Love and Rockets. Angels, monsters and hipsters hanging out. His personal tumblr is also pretty excellent.
Who am I missing here? Jess Fink, Megan Rosalarian Gedris, Erika Moen Carla Speed McNeil... help me out, mefi.
posted by moonlight on vermont at 6:26 PM on August 26, 2014 [4 favorites]
I also like Cat and Girl and Hark! A Vagrant! quite a bit.
posted by bile and syntax at 6:45 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by bile and syntax at 6:45 PM on August 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm amazed by Minna Sundberg's stuff. A Redtail's Dream (Nordic mythology epic about a boy and his dog) and the in-progress Stand Still Stay Silent (survival horror teenage super scandinavian team)
posted by anthill at 7:29 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by anthill at 7:29 PM on August 26, 2014
Check, Please! is an adorable comic about college hockey players (I know that doesn't make sense), and was a random tumblr find. The writer/artist switches art styles for certain entries, to great effect. My favorite part is probably the related twitter account from the point of view of the main character.
posted by loulou718 at 8:49 PM on August 26, 2014
posted by loulou718 at 8:49 PM on August 26, 2014
Best answer: Digger is an absorbing, unusual story with a great female protagonist.
I second the recommendation for Evan Dahm's work --Rice Boy, Order of Tales, and Vattu. They are amazing epics set in beautiful and surreal worlds, and the art is just lovely.
Bad Machinery is (mostly) about a group of kid detectives (3 girls, 3 boys) getting into and out of all kinds of "problems, issues, manifestations, bad deeds, schemes and trouble" in a small English town. It's funny and clever, and it's really enjoyable to watch the kids grow up into smartass, kickass teenagers as the comic progresses.
posted by ourobouros at 9:41 PM on August 26, 2014
I second the recommendation for Evan Dahm's work --Rice Boy, Order of Tales, and Vattu. They are amazing epics set in beautiful and surreal worlds, and the art is just lovely.
Bad Machinery is (mostly) about a group of kid detectives (3 girls, 3 boys) getting into and out of all kinds of "problems, issues, manifestations, bad deeds, schemes and trouble" in a small English town. It's funny and clever, and it's really enjoyable to watch the kids grow up into smartass, kickass teenagers as the comic progresses.
posted by ourobouros at 9:41 PM on August 26, 2014
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by the_blizz at 5:53 PM on August 26, 2014 [5 favorites]