Online webcomics - graphic novel or manga style

December 8, 2007 8:05 PM

Can webcomics fans point me to some good online manga or graphic novel type comics? Bonus points if the story is complete and I don't have to wait for an update every week (side question - why is it so hard to find webcomics that are completed?). Sex, violence, serious, silly, whatever, as long as the story is engaging and the artwork is well done.

Some I have found so far that I like (although all are unfinished): Last Blood, No Rest for the Wicked, Rice Boy, Flipside.

posted by arcticwoman to computers & internet (20 comments total)

I subscribe to the RSS feed for Full Story, which indexes completed webcomics. There are hundreds—maybe thousands?—of finished stories, searchable by category.
posted by cgc373 at 9:03 PM on December 8, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Wish3 and Inverloch both finished their runs recently and are not bad -- both are in the domain of fantasy, but they have reasonably interesting stories, I believe.
posted by Alterscape at 9:14 PM on December 8, 2007

Concerned and A Miracle of Science are both finished. And I liked them both a lot.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:21 PM on December 8, 2007

The Killer is excellent. Previously...
posted by wsg at 9:34 PM on December 8, 2007

Death Note.
posted by Soup at 10:50 PM on December 8, 2007

Unicorn Jelly has a complete storyline, some manga influences to the style. Quite amusing and touching, though it clobbers you over the head with Gender Stuff sometimes.

Kid Radd is a sprite comic without any detectable manga influences, but again it does have a complete storyline.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 1:03 AM on December 9, 2007

Templar, Arizona, while not having a Manga style, is very graphic novel, heavy on the story, and just plain brilliant. It's not done, but the first two chapters are, and there's two intermissions to hold you over as well.
posted by SansPoint at 4:35 AM on December 9, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

side question - why is it so hard to find webcomics that are completed?

Grandiose blue skying with no practical planning to back it up. Or fear of driving to a definitive conclusion, despite creating a strip that was meant to have one. Megatokyo is the classic example of the latter, as nothing has actually happened in the strip for a year or two now, and not because of deliberate and careful plotting, but because the writer/artist is terrified of doing anything that might move the story along to its end.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 5:14 AM on December 9, 2007

side question - why is it so hard to find webcomics that are completed?
~ Grandiose blue skying with no practical planning to back it up. Or fear of driving to a definitive conclusion, despite creating a strip that was meant to have one.

Or, perhaps, the artist realizing that they were on the negative side of the Labor/Reward scale? Lots of work to keep the strip going, versus actual income from the labor? Had to get a day job?
posted by Thorzdad at 6:13 AM on December 9, 2007

Much as I hate to be a self-promoter, I just finished my own graphic novel, which is available online. It'll also be available in print, shortly.

Waitaminute. I actually love self-promotion!
posted by jpburns at 7:08 AM on December 9, 2007

Just finished the first chapter and intermission of Templar, Arizona and that is some really fun storytelling right there. Looking forward to checking out the others. Thanks, for this question and the answers so far.
posted by mediareport at 7:35 AM on December 9, 2007

I love the hell out of Exploitation Now. Long, good art(it gets better over time), finished, hilarious and violent and sexy.

Poe's current strip is more like playing a boring RPG for me, but you could check it out as well.
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:28 AM on December 9, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Any idea why episode 11 of The Killer still isn't available, but episode 12 is?
posted by arcticwoman at 9:37 AM on December 9, 2007

Narbonic
When I am King
posted by hades at 10:30 AM on December 9, 2007

This is fabulous. I am going to have tons to keep me procrastinating from my assignments. Yay!
posted by arcticwoman at 11:29 AM on December 9, 2007

Dylan Meconis' Family Man is a weekly graphic novel-y deal and has a pretty good amount already completed - nearly 100 pages. Not really manga-esque, but there are footnotes, if you like those!
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 11:59 AM on December 9, 2007

It's all about the utterly brilliant universe of Girl Genius Online.
posted by effugas at 12:24 PM on December 9, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Queen of Wands is complete and now comes with strip-by-strip commentary.
posted by concrete at 5:22 PM on December 9, 2007

I would be remiss if I didn't at least try to promote my own webcomic, Nowhere Band; it's about a group of guys fumbling around the entry-level music scene, and the emphasis is on character over cheap gags. It's not complete (it's only been going for a few months), but I'm experienced enough as a writer to be pretty confident that it will eventually be complete; no abandonment.

I've also got some graphic short stories up here. Art quality varies.
posted by COBRA! at 7:02 AM on December 10, 2007

Just discovered Shooting War, a complete story online that's also been revised and expanded into a print graphic novel. I'm a few chapters in and like it a lot - 2011, terrorism, media, war...good stuff.
posted by mediareport at 8:49 PM on December 11, 2007