As Promised (Sort Of)
Last week I found out, somewhat to my surprise (though, really, I shouldn’t be surprised at all), that there are still about eighty-five hundred MILLION webcomics I’ve never even heard of (such as this one and this one..and, uh, this one too). I had a look at them–thanks for the suggestions!–and it was interesting to compare them to the list of webcomics I’d ended up showing the poor suckers captive audience in my office.
Here’s the list I mentioned last week, which is sort of a short list of my favorites.
Cat and Girl. This is one of the few webcomics I actually read (as a minicomic) before I ever started thinking about webcomics. Wacky Icelandic t-shirts, quirky pop culture references; what’s not to love? If I only knew about it during grad school…
Diesel Sweeties. One of my favorites. I know us Fleen folk get a fair amount of grief about the whole Rah! Rah! Dumbrella! criticism, but over time DS has proven itself as one of the very few webcomics to which I return on a regular basis even though I have friends who’ve lost interest in it (though one, who has gotten back into it lately, recently exclaimed on the phone, “Hey, Diesel Sweeties is kinda dirty!” which made me laugh like crazy).
And he’s got killer t-shirts, trumped perhaps only by Creatures In My Head. I swear, I look at this site and I start this bizarre Pavlovian drooling (less nasty than it sounds, really) over the shirts. Please, fellas, Halloween–the most awesomest holiday ever–is mere weeks away. What marvels do you have on tap for this year?!
Many of the others I pointed out in the office are webcomics I’ve written about before, like Exploding Dog and Teaching Baby Paranoia. While I don’t know Questionable Content all that well, it made the list, along with one of my perpetual favorites, High Maintenance Machine (with cool new site design!). And I still really enjoy reading Minimalist Stick Figure Theater. (Plus, y’know, we’re actually kind of pro-Comic Sans here in the office, for all of the font and typeset geekery which goes on here).
And I’m not sure I could show people webcomics and not mention one of my newer favorites (Scene Language) and one of my long-standing favorites (Overcompensating, which I especially love when it goes over-the-top with referencing a whole stack of other webcomics). I’m, embarrassingly, a little out of the loop on Scary Go Round at present, but I adore it (especially the color work and the wacky hand-lettered stuff from a while back).
This is like the worst list ever for newbies, isn’t it? Oops. (But you know what everyone went nuts over? Creatures In My Head. No joke.)
Unrelated, I loved this question in the comments: Have you had the ‘No, I’m not a republican, that’s a character from a book’ conversation yet?”. I don’t think anyone who sees me near my car makes that assumption, and certainly not the ones who recognize this. Yeah.
In case you’re still looking for webcomic suggestions, might I mention my own, Fite?
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/mike_luce/fite/series.php
Thanks for your consideration. I’ll take all the readers I can get.
By Mike L on 08.24.07 12:10 am
Anne, Anne, Anne. Don’t be pro-Comic Sans! Blambot.com has SO MANY COMIC FONTS that are better. Half of them are even free!
PS: you shoulda said hi when you saw me on the street. Or at MoCCA! WHAT I AM SAYING IS *STOP LURKING*
By J. Jacques on 08.24.07 2:49 am
I know I’ll just get hollered at for being negative, but lately it seems like every Fleen article looks something like this: “Hey, here’s a list of sites. I think I might like some of them. There was a convention where people sold stuff to other people who sold stuff and only the people who went actually went to the convention even care. Oh, and some guy who makes a comic had a baby. I know! That’s NEVER happened before! And here’s some people pimping their comics but are too cheap to pay for ads. Whoops, time to name-drop some semi-internet-famous comic creator who said a thing. Now you know I’ve got connections.” Where are the interviews, the analyses, the occasional how-to? I see mostly fluff for the sake of posting daily. I know, I know… if I don’t like it, I shouldn’t read it. But I used to like this site more, and I have a feeling others are getting a little tired of it, too, judging from the lack of comments. But, hey, do what YOU find fulfilling. I just know, as a creator, I would LOVE a full spectrum of feedback – not just the unconditionally positive kind.
By Crispy on 08.24.07 8:17 am
I’m not gonna holler at you. I’ll just shoot you instead.
By Autsa on 08.24.07 2:31 pm
Crispy’s attitude might be a little harsh, but I do agree with the overall point.
By iamnotachicken on 08.24.07 6:27 pm
I thought Crispy’s post was kind of funny, actually. (But no shooting!)
In truth, I wanted to spend a little time reading more webcomics and kind of getting my footing with them before writing pieces which were more critical. I just didn’t feel like I knew enough yet. I still sort of don’t. There’s so much out there and it’s kind of overwhelming, even after seven-odd months of posting.
But, in truth, that’s where I plan to go in coming weeks; pieces which are a little more critical, things which are a little more academic. When I started writing, I’d planned to alternate from week to week between something critical and something more, well, fannish.
I’d love to do more interviews, but I really don’t have the same kind of connections that Gary does (although, maybe now I should interview Jeph! It’d certainly make me stop lurking!).
But I loved the SDCC coverage, ’cause I couldn’t go. AND it would be awesome if we had, you know, more writers! When I signed on, there were a few more over here…
By Anne on 08.24.07 6:48 pm
In all honesty Fleen is a blog not a news site. As such its going to be slightly insular and repetative.
I have mentioned other peoples comics in email in hopes that they got some press based solely on the caliber of work. nothing.
I never bothered to plug my own site in a “press release” because once I hit the one year mark I was so disappointed in Fleen as a webcomic community site.
By Shane on 08.24.07 7:46 pm
When my laptop died and I had to move to a new system, I forgot to copy my fonts. And yet I was able to continue making my comic because CS was already there on my new system… waiting for me like an old friend… like that cat I fed once so now spends every night hiding in the bushes outside my house. The point of my story is that you shouldn’t leave out food for stray cats overnight. It’ll just attract coyotes.
I don’t mind the name-dropping articles (selfish motives aside), as long as they are balanced off by other informative articles. It’s not a matter of “you need to stop doing this” so much as “everyone needs to start doing more of something else.” Kvetchers, if you want more out of the website, why don’t YOU write an article or two?
By Thanatos on 08.24.07 8:27 pm
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