The Daily Dinosaur

December 16, 2004 4:13 PM

The Best Webcomics of 2004 as presented by the Webcomics Examiner Advisory Board [mentioned here previously]
posted by tpl1212 (24 comments total)

"Best" is a strong word. I desperately want someone to give me free comics content that is good. But no one does.

(Quoting me followed by "but have you seen X?" will result in a post saying that X sucks. I've seen it. It's not as good as my favorite print comics, both current and deceased.)
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:22 PM on December 16, 2004

Mayor, what are some good current print comics?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 4:27 PM on December 16, 2004

No Achewood!? Bah humbug.
posted by chaz at 4:29 PM on December 16, 2004

Achewood sucks.
posted by Stan Chin at 4:32 PM on December 16, 2004

Well, one comic that I read made the list. Me and my poor taste...
posted by hopeless romantique at 4:41 PM on December 16, 2004

If you like these kind of lists, here's Comixpedia's List of 25 People in Webcomics for 2004.
posted by Stuart_R at 4:41 PM on December 16, 2004

It is a fabulous thing that A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible (previously discussed here, with full disclosure that I was the author of the letter reprinted in the thread) made the list, and at the very top, too. Of course, the list is in alphabetical order, but that hardly matters.

David has promised to update more frequently as soon as finals stop filling his days and nights.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:09 PM on December 16, 2004

what are some good current print comics?

Y The Last Man is good, so is We3. <--acrobat link

also, 100 bullets is uneven, but excellent overall.

(I don't mean to be a vertigo fanboy, but golly, they're making the best comics)
posted by undule at 5:47 PM on December 16, 2004

No, um, YOU SUCK Stan Chin!
posted by mookieproof at 5:49 PM on December 16, 2004

I haven't seen any of these--thanks!

but what about GYWO? It doesn't count?
posted by amberglow at 7:39 PM on December 16, 2004

It is very gratifying to see A Lesson is Learned... get recognition, but whyfor no Perry Bible Fellowship?

Ballad looks like what Joel and the 'bots often referred to as good old-fashioned nightmare fuel.
posted by MrBadExample at 7:47 PM on December 16, 2004

GYWO is editorial tooning - never the best. Editorial is the very definition of "not the best". God I hate editorial cartoons so much.

I am sad that Achewood didn't show up, but it is a gag comic, rather than a story comic. This list seems heavily weighted towards story-telling rather than funny-making. Which explains why the amazingly hilarious PBF is also not on it.
posted by kavasa at 7:59 PM on December 16, 2004

GYWO is editorial tooning - never the best. Editorial is the very definition of "not the best". God I hate editorial cartoons so much.

You need to read different editorial cartoonists. Kevin Kallaugher, aka KAL, from my hometown's own Baltimore Sun is the one against whom I find most other political cartoonists to come up short.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:09 PM on December 16, 2004

Kavasa -- I'd have to disagree. A lot of comics on that list, including A Lesson is Learned... (which I love) are gag-based. In that particular example I dunno if "gag" is the right word, but certainly there's no plot continuity.

Also, Achewood strips are often as not part of a storyline. They're even sorted by storyline in the pulldown menu on the front page.
posted by Hildago at 8:10 PM on December 16, 2004

THAT'S IT! Thank you, MrBadExample! Thank you so much! I was seriously about to post an AskMe about this great webcomic I couldn't find, and here you go and mention it so's I can bookmark it this time. You are my hero today.

(I get the impression PinkStainlessTail was trying to think of current print comic strips that are good, and I'm at a total loss too, except for Tom the Dancing Bug...)

(I don't agree with kavasa re editorial cartooning at all, but GYWO was definitely strongest when it first started. See David Rees in the 25 webcomicists of 2004 article linked above - he admits as much.)
posted by furiousthought at 8:13 PM on December 16, 2004

At the risk of sounding mean, this kind of "serious" journalism is part of why paper comics essentially died as a lively public art form.

Less big words, more fun!
posted by clango at 9:05 PM on December 16, 2004

I disagree, clango. I'd say it was because of syndication and "never offend" culture of saleable print comics.

Or if you mean superhero comics, I dunno, more compelling forms of media seems to be a better explanation. And big-words comics led to people like Frank Miller creating a big bag of awesome.
posted by kavasa at 11:01 PM on December 16, 2004

GYWO is editorial tooning - never the best. Editorial is the very definition of "not the best". God I hate editorial cartoons so much.

Gosh, thanks.

However, I think your issue might be with hating "traditional" editorial strips- eg. single-panel stuff that seems identical in every local paper. I think most of the best cartoons out there are editorial ones... pick up either of Ted Rall's two Attitude volumes to see at least 35 or so examples of this. To say Bob the Angry Flower or Too Much Coffee Man aren't great cartoons is blasphemy.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 3:53 AM on December 17, 2004

I think PBF is a print comic that gets published in various newspapers that also has a web presence. I mean the line is blurry, but that's my theory anyhow.

I'm starting to make an effort to find good webcomics. I used to be fairly dismissive in a sweeping manner, but I've found a couple good ones. There must be more. The stale gag strips, the furry crap and the craptacular Ameri-manga that clog the genre do a good job of obscuring quality.
posted by picea at 4:36 AM on December 17, 2004

None of the comics I read made the list. Naturally, I feel that at least one of them should have.
posted by Lafe at 8:04 AM on December 17, 2004

Alrighty, let me preface this by saying that my opinion of the ultimate webcomic is Pokey the Penguin, if that tells you anything about what kind of comics I like. Other good webcomics are Dinosaur Comics, Friend Bear (yes, they are both very similar to Pokey), Achewood, Cat and Girl, Hotendotey , Boy on a Stick and Slither, Death to the Extremist, Comic Strip, A Lesson is Learned, But the Damage is Irreversible.

Print comics on the web that kick ass include The Parking Lot is Full, Red Meat, P. S. Mueller.
My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable (in Horse Races) are both great print comics by David Rees.

If you're looking for webcomics, a great place (categories and all) is The Webcomic List.
posted by nTeleKy at 8:50 AM on December 17, 2004

Ted Rall is a hack and I stopped reading BtaF around... hm. Sometime after UBOPE came out. Funny strips were becoming less and less and less (and less) common and it finally was no longer worth the effort to click the link. And yes, XQUZYPHYR, assuming you do an editorial comic, I would almost certainly hate it too. Editorial toons exist solely to erect and then set fire to straw men. That is the whole and sum of what they do.

nTeleKy - who in the name of god printed PLIF? Jesus! Even the hip trendy papers I've encountered would be loathe to print a comic grossly fat people stuffing little aliens into their mouths (amongst other things).

And I didn't say the list was exclusively storytelling, but rather heavily weighted to it. Which is true. 18 of the 24 comics are story-style.
posted by kavasa at 1:10 PM on December 17, 2004

And yes, XQUZYPHYR, assuming you do an editorial comic, I would almost certainly hate it too.

Someone's mommy seriously neglected them by refusing to read to them from Green Eggs and Ham before bedtime.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 1:53 PM on December 17, 2004

kavasa - It was a while ago, so I don't remember where I saw it, and now I'm not so sure I even did. But it does say on the website that it started in the artists' university paper. So someone printed it.
posted by nTeleKy at 6:36 AM on December 21, 2004