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
On 11/11/11,
Homestuck entered
Act 6 (of 7). This follows
an explosive 13-minute finale to Act 5, which brought down its host
Newgrounds on the day of its unveiling and was released with
a fantastic companion soundtrack. In the two and a half years since it was created, Homestuck has become a full-blown epic, approaching the length of War and Peace, but with hours of
accompanying animation,
several interactive games, a
loop machine, and a baffling 19 soundtrack albums, ranging from
VG-inspired soundtrack to
jazzy mood music to
solo piano to
parody kids TV show soundtrack. It also has an obsession with
Nic Cage and
Betty Crocker, and comes with a metawebcomic called
Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff which is in and of itself pure gold. Intimidated? You probably should be! But it's hilarious, epic, and surprisingly addictive, so if you've got nothing else on your plate, you can either
start from the beginning, or, if it seems too daunting, you can learn...
[more inside]
posted by Rory Marinich
on Nov 17, 2011 -
66 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
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
Kill Bill + Harry Potter =
Kill Harry, featuring cameo appearances by Bender the robot, Bruce Campbell, and Zombie Rick James, bitch.
posted by Gator
on Feb 20, 2006 -
16 comments
Same Difference, Derek Kirk Kim's great online comic has come to it's conclusion. For Kim it's been "2 years. 79 pages. 9 pens. 2 countries. 3 computers. 4 residences. 6 conventions. 725 lonely nights." But for us it's been nothing less than the slow episodic revelation of an amazing talent. I love his elegant line and the depth of his characters. It's funny as hell, but touching enough to make you cry.
posted by gametone
on Feb 21, 2003 -
24 comments
From PVP Online's Forums: "If we do wage war, will we be any better? What happened today, 9-11-01, was atrocious and could not be justified by any means. However, how could we justify violence while abhoring it?"
posted by philulrich
on Sep 12, 2001 -
11 comments
When I Am King seems to be the latest supercool discovery in online comics. This guy updates weekly, and he's got 18 episodes so far.
posted by David Gaddis
on Jan 28, 2001 -
37 comments
