I’ve been reading The Order of the Stick (partially on recommendation from the Dope, actually!) and have dabbled a little in Erfworld; I’ve got Lovecraft is Missing in my bookmarks; but there must be so much else out there. So I’m turning to the Dope to recommend web comics.
What are your favorites?
Bonus: Which web comics seem to do the most with their “medium”?
Your opinions would be much appreciated!
A few to get you started:
Breakfast of the Gods - Now defunct story about a war between good and evil cereal mascots.
FreakAngels - A good story and amazing artwork.
Girl Genius - Long-running steampunk fantasy.
Girls With Slingshots - Story about two women and their social circle.
Loserz - Now defunct story about three high school friends
Menage a 3 - A man and two women sharing an apartment. Occasionally NSFW.
Oglaf - Popular but very NSFW
Questionable Content - A long running slice-of-life story. The artwork varies widely over the years so check out different periods.
Something Positive - Another long running slice-of-life story. The characters are often somewhat dysfunctionial.
Another vote for Girl Genius and Questionable Content, two of my favorites.
I’d also recommend Schlock Mercenary. Very funny, well written sci-fi action webcomic. The best part is, there’s plenty of it to read! (It’s been updating daily for over ten years, only missed an update for a day or two because the server exploded. I can’t make that up.)
Aside from the aforementioned, my personal favorite is Air Force Blues, a webcomic about fighter pilots, by a Sergeant in the US Air Force. A lot of the jokes you kinda gotta be in the military to fully “get”, but most of it is funny no matter who you are. The comic is centered on the most self-centered, narcissistic stereotypical fighter pilot in the Air Force, one Captain Ken “Barbie” Dahl, and his fellow pilots (and the enlisted members) of the 809th Fighter Squadron, AKA “The Raging Peckers”.
If you like OotS, then you should also enjoy Goblins a D&D story from the monsters pov
Achewood is the best webcomic I have read. It’s hard to get into though, so you might want to start reading from the beginning, or at least at the start of one of the story arcs.
Gunnerkrigg Court is my favorite webcomic of all time. The art evolves, but the artist does a good job of continuously experimenting, usually with superb results.
Erfworld is another one you’re sure to love if you like order of the stick. Keep with it for at least 15-20 pages, as it doesn’t go where you might think.
Questionable Content starts out as a gag-y comic about hipsters and music with lots of in-jokes and dick jokes. 500 strips later it’s a surprisingly deep slice of life comedy/drama with characters who have gone from being shallow, sallow pastiches to well-rounded individuals you honestly care about and like reading about. 1,500 strips later and it’s still going strong.
I’m worried it’s becoming too much of a soap opera.
I know what you mean, although I don’t think it’s effecting the overall quality too much yet. I think the real problem is that there are some areas that Jeph doesn’t write all that well, and one of the things he really has trouble with is inter-personal dynamics within stable relationships. Combine that with the fact that some of his characters seem to have exhausted their initial ceiling for growth, and I think a lot of the soap opera angle comes from his experimenting with places for them to go.
I do honestly hope that he’s positioning Marten to break up with Dora though. I think she’s been the least interesting member of the central cast for ages, and while I don’t like pouty singles plots any more than the next person, she really does need to get the boot.
Keeping in the vein of Order of the Stick and Erfworld, there’s Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, which really has little to do with gamers; it’s just set entirely in a custom D&D setting.
I’ve also been digging Sequential Art. It doesn’t update often, but the art and the writing are a lot of fun.
http://www.userfriendly.org/static/ - for the nerds amongst us
http://www.somethingpositive.net/ - another vote
http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/ - Lego comics with a tremendous amount of intelligence stealthed in
http://www.sinfest.net/ - devil girls, nerdy guys and a stoned pig. What more do you want?
http://www.questionablecontent.net/ - another vote
http://www.the-whiteboard.com/ - for paintballers, but I find it hilarious
http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/latest - WoW, anyone?
Not story based per se, but xkcd is fantastic – and unnervingly topical. It’s also a Dope standard.
Userfriendly is currently rerunning old strips, due to the authors personal life. I miss it.
Si
Another good one that’s no longer active - The DM of the Rings - the Lord of the Rings trilogy as a poorly played RPG session.
Which has been continued in spirit by Darths & Droids, a similar project using all six Star Wars movies (they’ve recently started on Revenge of the Sith, with Star Wars next). It’s not done by Shamus, but it’s very worthwhile all the same. The creators weave the original Star Wars story, the RPed story, and the metastory of the players themselves together pretty expertly. It’s fascinating to read.
Seconding (or thirding or whatever)
Questionable Content, Something Positive, Schlock Mercinary, XKCD, Achewood, Girl Genius, Girls With Slingshots and FreakAngels. All are great and worth reading regularly.
I also read
Skinhorse - About a covert government beuracracy that deals with self aware non humans. Staring a talking dog, a Zombie, and a cross dressing psychologist who the ladies all love. Written by Shaenon Garrity formerly of Narbonic, which was one of the best web comics ever to be written (now finished, but read the archives.)
Scene’s From a Multiverse, four panel gag a day comic with a twist. Good stuff. From the guy who brought you Goats (again, also worth reading).
Octopus Pie is so good I am not even going to try to explain why. Just go read it. You don’t have to start from the very beginning, but don’t start with the current storyline. Go back a little ways.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. is a hit and miss gag a day. It hits more often than it misses.
Dr. McNinja- A Classic. Start from the beginning.
Punch N Pie: Not as good as Queen of Wands was, and a bit slow paced, but still worth following. But go read Queen of Wands.
Oh, and I can’t believe I forgot Anders Loves Maria.
It’s finished, and it’s perfect. Read it. It’s stunningly beautiful.
I love LFG, but it stopped being closely connected to WoW lore or current events a LONG time ago. Once they started into the continuity of the plot, they threw any non-cosmetic WoW elements out of the carriage.
I’m also logging a vote for Something Positive, Girls With Slingshots, Goblins and Questionable Content. Sandra K. Fuhr, who I’m a huge fan of ever since way back with Boy Meets Boy, has finished Friendly Hostility and is now in the middle of a relatively new strip called Other People’s Business, which I like but which has had some frustrating deadline issues lately.
There IS a WoW-inspired comic called Complex Actions, but it’s really more of a gag-a-day commentary on the game than the kind of continuing storyline that LFG is. And if you liked Everquest, there’s The Noob.
I have quite a few in my RSS reader from the last time we discussed the topic.
I’ve not been able to check Axecop for a while. “Written by a 5 year old, and illustrated by his 29 year old brother”, every bit as good as that sounds.
