Young
Edd Gould always enjoyed drawing comics of himself and his friends. Growing up in the internet age, his
doodles evolved into Flash animations of increasing complexity, and in time Edd and pals
Tom Ridgewell and Matt Hargreaves teamed up to produce an
"Eddsworld" series of online webtoons and
comics.
At first crude and halting, the group's
"eddisodes" progressed from
surreal shorts and
one-shots into full-fledged productions that pushed the boundaries of amateur web animation, with
expressive characters,
full soundtracks, complex effects, and a fast-paced, off-kilter sense of humor:
MovieMakers -
Spares -
WTFuture -
Rock Bottom -
Hammer & Fail (
2).
At its height, the college co-op was producing shorts for
Mitchell & Webb and the
UN Climate Change Conference,
fielding offers from Paramount and Cartoon Network, and racking up
millions of hits on YouTube.
Work slowed, however, when Gould was
diagnosed with leukemia -- a relatively survivable form, though, and Gould carried on
working gamely through his hospital stays. So it came as a shock last week when Matt and Tom
announced that Edd had passed away, prompting an
outpouring of
grief and
gratitude from
all the
fans he'd
entertained and
inspired in his short 23 years.
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 2, 2012 -
5 comments
Why people like digital comics: you can charge for them, and they look pretty on an iPad. Why people like webcomics: they're free. - Warren Ellis looks at
The Broadcast Of Comics.
posted by Artw
on Oct 11, 2011 -
14 comments
David Malki!, of the "illustrated jocularity"
Wondermark, has released
Wondermark Kinetic. It's a series of ad-libbed, paper-puppeteered videos in an approximation of his usual, surreal style. (If you're unfamiliar with what that style is, he conveniently keeps a list of
his own favorite strips.) I particularly like how a story slowly emerges from the rough start of
this one.
[more inside]
posted by gilrain
on Sep 30, 2011 -
2 comments
Scott Kurtz draws and writes one of the Internet's oldest webcomics,
PvP. He launched it in 1998 and, since then, has won two Eisner Awards and a Harvey Award for his work. Scott has been a trendsetter for webcomics before, infamously (and frequently controversially) brash in defense of its business model, especially in the face of criticism from old media. Today, he announced that he will be
selling product placement in his strips, starting with an arc focused on
Magic: The Gathering. This is a webcomics first. Will it prove a boon to the financial success of artists, or a burden on the freedoms they've won? Or will it catch on at all beyond PvP?
posted by gilrain
on Jul 22, 2011 -
75 comments
"The first Gallery dedicated to artists lying behind cinema, comics, video games masterpieces… and who creat [sic], to entertain, the most significant icons of our time." The gallery has previously featured exhibitions from
webcomic artist
Scott Campbell,
H.R. Giger,
propaganda-style Futurama posters, Superman penciller
Tim Sale,
sketches from
Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and
filmmaker Sylvain Chomet.
[more inside]
posted by kagredon
on Apr 30, 2011 -
5 comments
In 1989, Bill "Calvin and Hobbes" Watterson gave a famous address at Ohio State U.'s Festival of Cartoon Art:
"The Cheapening of the Comics" (transcript). Twenty-two years later, successful webcomic artist Dave Kellett (of
"Sheldon" about a boy and his non-imaginary talking duck, and
"Drive" a sci-fi comic with a convoluted premise and funny aliens) offered a new-generation response at the same venue: "The Freeing of the Comics" (YouTube part
1,
2,
3,
4,
5). While Watterson told how and why newspaper comics were (and are) dying, Kellett explained how webcomics can (and do) replace them (although not necessarily for Watterson).
[more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop
on Mar 11, 2011 -
28 comments
Jessica McLeod draws incredibly cute, funny, awesome cartoons. Cartoons about educated pigs, space rabbits, bad yetis, and rude flowers. You should be warned, they are
very cute.
Mungo Bean: Adventure Pig!,
Book 2,
Book 3 Part 1,
Part 2
Bad Yeti,
Yeti Party
Space Rabbits:
In Space,
Planet Of,
Battle for the Planet Of,
Tea With A
Miscellaneous comics:
The Indefatigable Miss Manners,
Working Class Elf,
Ghost Farm
She has a webcomic,
Activities For Rainy Days [more inside]
posted by JHarris
on Dec 30, 2010 -
10 comments
Draw Brandon Draw is a web comic by Brandon B. that follows short, surreal story arcs. The current arc (which seems to be shaping into something more sustained) is about psychics living in a closed community called "The City". The comic itself is mostly work safe, but the current blog content is Not Safe For Work.
[more inside]
posted by codacorolla
on Dec 5, 2010 -
4 comments
PORTRAIT-DEX! Cartoonists create Pokémon self-portraits, with all three evolved forms. Featuring, among other fine artists,
Scott Kurtz (PVP),
Box Brown (Everything Dies, Bellen!),
Anthony Clark (Nedroid),
Aaron Diaz (Dresden Codak), and
Steve Wolfhard (Cat Rackham), who also runs the project.
posted by Gator
on Oct 27, 2010 -
13 comments
Caring about something is about taking the pain and the joy. The pain is hard. Taking the pain, facing it, dealing with it are the ways I think we can show we really care. That we know we care. --
Bob, the story of a dog.
posted by Gator
on Sep 18, 2010 -
16 comments
From 1979 to the end of the '80s,
Sam Hurt produced a strange and wonderful little
comic called
Eyebeam. I'm very happy that the
entire archives are up, as well as
later additions. About the drab but sometimes very weird life of the eponymous character, the comic addressed a wide range of topics, including
the decor of Chinese restaurants,
wearing the wrong clothes to work,
beach gidgets,
job security,
male answer syndrome,
not-quite-vegetarianism and
time travel. It managed to be pretty
wise while still being
funny. Just don't take it too
literally.
posted by jiawen
on Jun 18, 2010 -
20 comments
"Magellan" by Stephen Crowley may be my favorite superhero comic on the web. The art seems to owe more to Tintin than Marvel or DC. The dialogue and plots are fun. The cast is huge, but the characters are distinctive, and generally charming. If you like Paul Grist's
Jack Staff, give this a try. To start at the beginning:
here.
posted by shetterly
on Oct 8, 2009 -
11 comments
"Have you ever found an interesting looking webcomic, looked at the archive, and thought: I can't start reading this! There are hundreds of strips to catch up on! Rather than spend a whole day or more bingeing on a comic archive, set up an
Archive Binge feed. You can start from the beginning, or wherever you're up to. You can set your custom feed to deliver a strip every day, 4 strips every weekday, or whatever you want, up to 10 strips a day."
posted by jbickers
on Sep 7, 2009 -
24 comments
Next-Door Neighbor, from
SMITH Magazine, takes a bunch of renowned artists and writers from the world of Indie Comics and asks them to tell stories about, well, memorable Next-Door Neighbor experiences. "
The Next-Door Neighbor I Don't Know," by
Harvey Pekar and
Rick Veitch is worth a look, of course, but personal favorites for me include "
Halloweens Ago," and "
Hank & Barbara." And after reading, "
Dream Train," be sure to check out the
video link of the subject playing an old cowboy song.
posted by Navelgazer
on Jul 16, 2008 -
5 comments
The Hole in the Wall [via mefi projects] is our own
interrobang's surrealistic cat story now being serialized at
Top Shelf Comics as part of their new Webcomics section, and it's definitely something special - pen & ink & watercolor adventures of two cats exploring a mysterious and dangerous underground landscape. More comics like this will be posted there depending on the popularity of this one, so if you love art, great comics, or cats, you
will want to check it out. This was a part of interrobang's
Year in Comics project, so if you fall in love with the Hole in the Wall kittehs (you will!), go have look at his other stuff, as well.
posted by taz
on May 23, 2008 -
30 comments
"We need to make a comic so I can eat lunch." You're in your office sitting at your desk. There's a hot mic in the room. It's 45 minutes 'till lunch, your tummy's grumbling and you still have to write a comic. Fortunately your best friend -- who is also the co-founder of your decade-old business empire -- is sitting at his desk a few feet away. You are "Gabe" or "Tycho" of Penny Arcade, and the next 45 minutes will be captured on tape and published for all the world to hear as a podcast. But only if it's good. "
Downloadable Content, The Penny Arcade Podcast" is practically a documentary on collaboratively authoring webcomics. The most recent episode is a particularly good example of that.
[more inside]
posted by sdodd
on Mar 11, 2008 -
23 comments
"Zuda takes the Web publishing aspect out of the creators' hands, freeing them up to focus on writing and drawing the story. But to get Zuda to publish your comic, you first have to win a competition..." A major player enters into the fray of web comics publishing, previously populated mostly by
independents. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
[more inside]
posted by ZachsMind
on Dec 28, 2007 -
47 comments
Gunnerkrigg Court is a lovely and strange webcomic by
Tom Siddell. While its scenario bears a passing resemblance to Harry Potter (magic school, main character with a strange destiny, etc.), there's something quite different going on here.
Chapter One, for instance, deals with how to get an anthropomorphic shadow back to its forest home, using only a box of discarded robot parts and a young girl's initiative. And that's just the beginning. Need a more trustworthy endorsement than mine?
Neil Gaiman likes it.
posted by Lentrohamsanin
on Oct 12, 2007 -
19 comments
