The Webcomics Thread: More Webs-Per-Comic than Spider-Man

[Dentrala]

Harrison is a licensed weapons expert in antique firearms, I think.

[Nokob]

OK, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this has been mentioned before, but it's too perfect for me not to say anything about it.

First: If you haven't seen it before, check out Leaf's coma thread.

Now: I just started reading Chasing the Sunset, and at one point this exact sentence appears:
"I leave you alone for ten minutes and Leaf goes into a coma!"


As for the comic itself: just based on what I've read so far, I probably wouldn't recommend it: the art isn't that good and the characters are kind of one-dimensional, though there have been some parts that have been quite funny. But a lot of webcomics get a lot better as you progress through the archives, so I'll wait and see. (One example that comes to mind is The Wotch: I didn't like the beginning at all, but around the second "season" I found myself actually enjoying it and finding the characters and story engaging.)

[BRPXQZME]

Eh, they say most stories have a rough beginning the first time they’re written. Beginning writers are often told to (re)write the first part last, because then you know what to prep the reader for. Webcomics just have it bad in this regard:
- It’s a serial publication style with high emphasis on the latest entry.
- Not many webcomic authors go back and re-do the beginning due to that emphasis (it’s happened, though).
- The entire archive tends to be accessible despite the serial-ness, an expectation paper publications don’t really rely upon (even though it gets more true of them every day as they move online—now just imagine what the world would be like if a paper like the New York Times had to issue corrections for 100 year old articles! It’s not happening.). This is part of why the DC and Marvel universes have had reboots; they want to introduce new readers who may not have been reading for the past 20 years and they sure as heck aren’t going to expect new readers to buy 20 year old comics.
- Due to the low barrier to entry, a lot of webcomic authors are newbies to all sorts of things (art, writing, writing for an audience, sales...). A lot of webcomics are the author’s first and only major work.
- As part of the low barrier to entry, a lot of webcomic authors don’t really have the benefit of vetting and other people’s experience (editors, copyeditors, good advice from old salts you can trust...).

I wish I were better at condensing this list, because I hate having to explain about how “it gets better” for nearly every webcomic I want to share with people. Well, I could always just remind them that the author is always writing by the seat of their pants, but not a lot of people I’d have to explain that to would know that that entails all of the above.

[Nokob]

OK, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this has been mentioned before, but it's too perfect for me not to say anything about it.

First: If you haven't seen it before, check out Leaf's coma thread.

Now: I just started reading Chasing the Sunset, and at one point this exact sentence appears:
"I leave you alone for ten minutes and Leaf goes into a coma!"


As for the comic itself: just based on what I've read so far, I probably wouldn't recommend it: the art isn't that good and the characters are kind of one-dimensional, though there have been some parts that have been quite funny. But a lot of webcomics get a lot better as you progress through the archives, so I'll wait and see. (One example that comes to mind is The Wotch: I didn't like the beginning at all, but around the second "season" I found myself actually enjoying it and finding the characters and story engaging.)

OK, I just realized: how does he get into the coma?

show spoiler

hide spoiler

By RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGEing!

aaaaaaaah it's too perfect!

(ok, yeah, I know I'm just looking at the stuff that matches and ignoring the stuff that doesn't, but still. Aaaaaa.)

[Avi]

Nedroid has a canon???

[Dentrala]

Maaan I need to re-binge nedroid and make mounds of new avatar material. It's so ripe.

[Nokob]

Well, I caught up with Chasing the Sunset, and it does get much better.

And yes, Nedroid is awesome.

[Drillgorg]

Oh shit son, Kris Straub is starting his new comic!

(Beeserker is affecting my speech habits.)

[Avi]

So is this guy crazy or is there something genuinely weird about this town? The cast page says he's superstitious and suffers from anxiety so I bet he's an unreliable narrator.

[Drillgorg]

But he's recalling this to his therapist the reason he moved to Broodhollow. We haven't seen anything set in the town yet!

[Kraft]

What Birds Know updated

[Dentrala]

AHHH THAT COMIC


I recommend it to most people, I'd think? It just has a ridiculous amount of emotional weight into it, and excellent characterization.

ahhhh

[Columbidae]

The Meek updated! I'm so excited for the prospect of regular updates again!

(Having some trouble with the website, but at least the most recent page seems to be working.)


Dentrala, I agree that I'd probably recommend What Birds Know to most people. But when it was recommended to me, I was told not to read it right before bed, which was good advice, I think. (Even though I ignored it. Oops.) But I'm excited for the new updates there, too!

[Wiwaxia]

At least one update a week??

I'm not sure I can handle that much awesome. I'm going Meek at the knees.


I'm sorry

no i'm not

[Drillgorg]

The first scary thing happened in Broodhollow!

[Avi]

Look what I found in Barnes and Noble! The book itself is a gorgeous object.
At some point I stopped reading the comic online so now's my chance to see how the story ends.

[Nimz]

I've been following a comic called Miamaska for a while, when yesterday I noticed the current strip is chapter 4, page 13. Perfect time to start reading it if you haven't already? It updates weekly, has pretty art, and a story that's building up some interesting plots. Imagine my surprise that searching the entire forum for the term miamaska only turned up some posts in the MSPA Ad discussion thread. Is there enough interest here to discuss it?

[Dentrala]

Well that nedroid arc was rather short.


Reminds me of the last DR DISASTER from Gunnerkrigg Court.

[RandomMan]

I like Penny Arcade, but I don't like CTRL+ALT+DEL. Absolutely no disrespect whatsoever intended to CAD fans.

[deathsbuddy]

Here at MSPAF, we're familiar with CTRL-ALT-DEL and how much it sucks.

[RandomMan]

Oh. Well, that's good to know. At least now I'm not the contrarian in this thread.

[BRPXQZME]

Ah, we don’t get a lot of mileage out of those emoticons, but they do draw a rather clear line, hmmyes.

[Dentrala]

Lackadaisy just put up a few new gallery pictures and good lord, this woman's skills astound me every day.

[RandomMan]

Yeah, Lackadaisy is great.

[Drillgorg]

Ahhhhhh need to gush about Broodhollow, I think I'll make a thread for it.