MetaFilter posts tagged with Webcomic and funny

Left-Handed Toons

JHarris — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:52:00 -0800

Here is Left-Handed Toons (By Right-Handed People), a weekdaily webcomic drawn by two guys, Justin and Drew, using their "off" hands, and with their "off" brains. They have a lot of series. Here's some highlight strips.

The Cartoon Guide to Life, the Universe, and Everything

Rhaomi — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:20:53 -0800

Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running Cartoon History of the Universe (later The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's Zinn-by-way-of-Pogo chronicle The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of Cartoon Guides to other topics, including Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!) Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as a webcomic look at Chinese invention, assorted math comics (previously), the Muse magazine mainstay Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his "New Muses"), and more. See also these lengthy interview snippets, linked previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside! Reading note: All the book titles in the post above link to readable versions on the web. Some of the older Cartoon Guides and the first chunk of the original Cartoon History of the Universe comics (through Volume 9 -- ancient China) are available in full; the rest, including the (two-part) Modern World series and The United States, are available partially through Harper-Collins' free book preview feature, which includes the first dozen or so pages of each book and then jumps ahead randomly from there to the end. So pay attention to the page numbers on those links to avoid getting caught off guard by the (unannounced) page-skips! Amazon links:

Cartoon History: The Cartoon History of the Universe I (Vol. 1-7): From the Big Bang to Alexander the Great (1990) The Cartoon History of the Universe II (Vol. 8-13): From the Springtime of China to the Fall of Rome (1994) The Cartoon History of the Universe III (Vol. 14-19): From the Rise of Arabia to the Renaissance (2002) The Cartoon History of the United States (1991) The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 1: From Columbus to the U.S. Constitution (2007) The Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 2: From the Bastille to Baghdad (2009) Cartoon Guides: The Cartoon Guide to Genetics (1983) The Cartoon Guide to the Computer (1991) The Cartoon Guide to Physics (1992) The Cartoon Guide to (Non) Communication (1993) The Cartoon Guide to Statistics (1994) The Cartoon Guide to the Environment (1996) The Cartoon Guide to Sex (1999) The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry (2005) Other: Kokopelli & Company in Attack of the Smart Pies (2005)

Delicious Doomsday

Rhaomi — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:30:39 -0800

Romantically Apocalyptic is a morbidly funny webcomic from Russo-Canadian digital artist Vitaly Alexius (interview, gallery). Set in the starkly diaphanous wreckage of post-nuclear Manhattan, it follows an eccentric contingent of Soviet soldiers as they poke through the detritus of the past and contend with the mutants, cultists, aliens, and other horrors that inhabit the ruins. The comic's striking art style is the result of an arduous process, using "Photoshop, live actors, dead actors, sexy assistants, greenscreen, a camera, and a Wacom tablet" to composite "6 years worth of textures: 1 terabyte of stock footage, shot in real abandoned, forgotten places of our world." This multimedia ambition has burgeoned into plans for a community-powered animated/live-action web series (teaser video, animatic, fanart). While waiting for that to come together, be sure to spend some time on Kimmo Lemetti's excellent Gone With the Blastwave (previously), a very similar webcomic project with a more subdued palette that turned out nearly fifty pages of richly-illustrated post-apocalyptic humor before going on indefinite hiatus.

Watch this video, or stay cold all winter. Your choice.

sweetkid — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 11:22:40 -0800

Allie Brosh explains how to put on a coat. Extremely descriptive step by step process on how to put on a coat, complete with cautionary tips, from Hyperbole and a Half's Allie Brosh.

Me Go Too Far! Me Am Play Gods!

WCityMike — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:55:50 -0800

Caveman Science Fiction. Me Go Too Far! Me Am Play Gods! Also: Advanced Dungeons and Discourse, You're a Good Man, Charlie Darwin, and the large gaping hole in the center of your chest. All from the smart-funny that is Dresden Codak.

Thank God There's Not a "George's Journal" ...

WCityMike — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:32:09 -0800

"Hi. My name is Gene and this is my journal." Young Gene Roddenberry meets two Garfield-eyed aliens who proceed to take him everywhere in their exploration of this strange planet Earth. In the process, we see where Gene came up with the idea of a unified borderless, moneyless world that would allow dashing starship captains to seek out new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no one has gone before. We see where Gene first met tribbles, Orion slave girls, Organians, and the Guardian of Forever, and how Gene came up with phasers, tricorders, the Prime Directive, food replicators (from which he orders gagh), Questor androids, and the Enterprise design. Some perennial Star Trek secrets are finally revealed: why redshirts always die, sometimes in transporter accidents; the secret origin of IDIC; a really good use for warp nacelles; and why there are no bathrooms on the Starship Enterprise. The author even pays attention to the non-Trek areas of Roddenberry's life: young Gene has a major crush on his teacher, Miss Chapel, and would like to maybe be a fighter pilot or policeman when he grows up. There's even one or two references to, ahem, the Distinguished Competition. "You're one weird kid, Gene Roddenberry."