I know I’ve written about Count Your Sheep recently, so I’m glad your attention is on it. For those of you whose attention isn’t on it, go check it out starting here. Adis! has changed the style to honor of the third year anniversary of the strip. It’s a return to the roots, as it’s Katie and Ship in Katie’s bed, Katie in her PJs and Ship ready to help her count to sleep. (In fact, it seems to be mirroring these two strips.)

Originally, the strip was meant only to be Katie and Ship, and only jokes about counting sheep. But soon Katie’s mother was introduced, and we’ve gotten glimpses of Laurie’s past. Then there was the More Than Cute campaign, which brings the characters even more depth. They’re brilliantly strong female characters, and I love them.

Note the distressed eyebrow tweak on Ship. It’ll be interesting to see how Adis! plans to send up his own strip for its anniversary. I’m excited.

Jenn Manley Lee says that Griffen and Molly of Dicebox walked into her head in 1990: their personalities, their dynamic, their situation. That’s a long time to know someone, especially fictional characters. Jenn’s familiarity with them is apparent in the execution of the first book, which she describes as a “slice of life� in her fantasy science fiction world.

The art is detailed, with specific colors for each character, and has been talked about before. Jenn even outlines it for the readers. I’m more interested in the story telling – and the way that Dicebox is driven by character dialogue. Griffen and Molly have the most impressive dialogue, which shows the intimacy between them in the details that are left out (because they don’t need to say them).

Jenn describes this first book of four as a slice of life, and it works well as one. Between Molly’s visions and missing finger and Griffen’s trouble making and duel identity (as Peggy Clevenger), we begin to see exactly how the world is constructed for the migrant workers that they are. They have to register for their citizenship every year; they decide between beer and beds, there are curfews and medical insurance woes. I’m not sure where the story is going – I suspect that it has something to do with their pasts – but as the next book is entitled Chase, it promises to be full of action.

So, anyway. Dicebox, updates Wednesdays, one page at a time. I’m really looking forward to the third book, called Tour of Duty, which Jenn says will be driven by political intrigue. That’s my favorite genre of anything, so I’ll be a faithful, patient reader until then. Check it out.

Venus Envy has a very clever name.

It is, of course, referring to Freud’s theory of penis envy and the 20th century, European idea that young girls envied the power of the penis and went to lengths to castrate their fathers. Victorians loved to whisper about such scandelous things. Now it’s a debunked theory, in that it only applied to 20th century, European child development.

Venus Envy is a clever title because Venus in greek mythology is a symbol of feminity, and in astrology charts is represented by the biological symbol for female. And the main character in Venus Envy, Zoey, is a Male to Female Transgender operation canidate, seeking that beauty that previously wasn’t part of her life.

Okay, so that sounds a little cheesy. But in truth, Venus Envy has a cast of compelling characters — Zoë and Larson, specifically — who are struggling with their identity, including the history good or bad that got them there. The updates are sporadic, but the art style is consistant, and Erin struggles with some serious issues. I’ll leave you with her disclaimer, I think it sums up the mission of the comic pretty well:

Venus Envy is Rated WEB-14 and probably isn’t suitable for younger viewers or those who find the following things offensive: Homosexuality, Bisexuality, Transsexuality, Jews, Slapstick, Mixed-Religion Marriages, Women in the Workplace, Women in Pants, Plot, Girls’ Soccer, or Chickens teaching Hard Science.

I love storytelling. Characters make me squeal, I love seeing how a storyline works out. But there is a certain part of me that is really drawn to one-shot comic strips. They remind me of koans.

A koan is an unanswerable question or a meaningless statement, which you often have to find an answer to or find meaning in. The most famous koan is, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?�

A Softer World is a koan to me. They always give me something to think about, even when the thoughts aren’t particularly comforting or comfortable.

There’s a place for webcomics that make you think, just a little bit, to get the joke. Thinking is sometimes in short supply on the internet.

Well, it seems that in the change of the list of comics on the sidebar, Count Your Sheep has disappeared. But I would like to bring your attention Count Your Sheep and particularly today’s comic.

Adis! (as he always signs his name) manages to always give a childish view point to every subject. I find it really admirable – taking the subject of why applause gives someone that warm fuzzy feeling and turning it into an insight that I certainly wouldn’t have realized from my adult-trained mind.

Kudos, Adis, for writing Katie and Laurie as children with heart and really see the world in childish ways. There aren’t many out there who have the skill to write at the level of childhood.

Okay, so we’ve already established that the twenty webcomics I read on a weekly basis do not constitute a good statistical sample. And I’ve talked about update schedules – both when to update and what happens when they’re not met. I guess this is the next in the continuing series of me talking about the methodology of webcomics and the readers who are creators weighing in. Really, I’m just feeling my way around in the dark.

I have a lot more webcomics that update on Mondays than I do any other day of the week. Some comics only update then. It may make sense, to use the week for planning, and the weekend to sit down and draw. But then there are the daily comics that update every weekday.

I love reading Patches because it updates on the funny days of the week that no one else seems to like: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And it gives me something absurd to read while I do. (Wednesday is definitely a well-used update day. Forgive my generalities.) I really like that Loserz, when it’s sticking to its update schedule, has a full color Sunday comic.

So, what are the best days of the week? Is it important to plan update schedules so that they leave time to make each comic? What about the daily comics? This is what I ponder as a non-creator and observant person.

Something that I miss (and don’t) about high school is yearbooks. My high school had the distinction of making the second largest yearbook that Jostens produced, the first being a Texas University. And so, I would have to carry around a 500 page yearbook for two weeks so that everyone could sign it, including the people who I would see the day after school let out to go to the local pool.

Now, you think that may be an aside. But it’s not! It is a segway into what I want to talk about.

Today, I have decided to branch into the strange realm of fancomics. I’m sure I’ll come back to this topic again soon, as I have other examples, but today! Today we’re going to look at 24 the Comic Strip, which has combined both fanaticism and high school nostalgia.

The two pages of the yearbook thus far have been centered around the season that just ended: Day Five. The first page are supporting characters, no one well loved, no cast members that have been around since season one. After all, you have to draw the readers in to keep the coming back. But each joke makes more sense if you’re a fan of the show.

Anyway, some people said that they wanted to see what we thought was cool. More philosophical discussion of fancomics later.

edit: I meant to post this last night at 11:30 pm EDT. I saved it and went to sleep. Please enjoy now.

Today, I would like to chat a little bit more about Livejournal and its role in webcomics. I think Livejournal isn’t considered nearly enough by webcomic creators when they consider how they’d like their content to appear to their readers. There are some lazy readers out there, after all — and they like their webcomics to appear on their friends pages like they do in their daily newspaper.

This little feat is done with RSS feeds, and can only be created by a paid or permanent Livejournal account holder. (Creators do have control, but they have to take an active role in stopping the feed.) If the feed isn’t in the top 1000 on LJ, or isn’t advertised in the community, it’s nearly impossible to find. But each official or unofficial feed has people commenting. (Notice the icons in those comments. Bunny icon, Megatokyo icon, Calvin and Hobbes icon!)So, while comics may have forums, there’s discussion elsewhere, which is something that should be realized, if not looked at, or — if you’re just that cool and above your celebrity — interacted with.

Personally, I don’t use syndicated accounts to read my comics. Using Mozilla’s wonderful “open all tabs” I keep folders for each day of the week and just open them all at once… several times a day. (Sorry for the false hits, guys…) It means I don’t get to play the “first post!” game, or even interact with other fans… but I prefer my friends page free of clutter.

Thoughts?

Update schedules have been covered. But what about the time of day when the update appears? It is, after all, some sort of cliché thing that says “Timing is everything.�

Consider two types of readers:

(There are, of course, more. But for the sake of argument let’s go with this.)

Your insomniac readers, of which I am one, who wait until the midnight or 1 am updates to update before going to bed. Comics that get updated at night are Questionable Content and Megatokyo (except when behind. Then it becomes more like the second type here).
And your daytime readers, who read the comic when they wake up, on their lunch break, or after the evening news. Comics like this include Friendly Hostility, which comes with commentary.
When you update, of course, has something to do with what kind of person the creator is. Maybe you’re most creative at night, or in the afternoon. It really depends.

Do you make sure your content is up for the insomniacs? Or are you content to get the middle-of-the-day surfers?

Does it matter?

Topical humor always tickles my funny bone. I live in Michigan, and in Michigan there is a certain reputation for being frigidly cold. Now, like every other place, they also say that if you wait five minutes the weather will change. But for the last two days (and tomorrow as a third) it has hit 90 degrees with a heat index in the mid-90s.

Michigan doesn’t get heat indexes.

I thought I would share with you a particular story-arc from the archives of Loserz – strangely enough, a webcomic set in Michigan. I am lucky enough to have friends with cars who also have parents with pools. Good thing, too, because there weren’t enough people around this weekend for a proper waterfight.

Loserz, created by Eric Schoenek, is the story of three friends who are (according to the header) “Cynical Punk-Ass Teenagers.” They love video games, Jodie loves Sex, Eric’s hat is always changing, and Ben is lovesick. They’re the best of friends (but not in an ooey-gooey way). But that’s neither here nor there, because we’re talking about a WATERFIGHT.

Jodie, Eric, and Ben are joined by Max and Cecil, and the entire thing has a vaguely Calvin and Hobbes-esque feel to it, which the author admits in his commentary. But what makes this arc most enjoyable is not the jokes, but when it gets read.

Enjoy it as a beginning-of-summer treat. Hopefully, there will be other romps in the park like this one, all over the internet, which can take our mind off the fact that computers like to shut themselves down when they over heat.