MetaFilter posts tagged with webcomics

Scary Go Round 2: The Squeakuel

The Devil Tesla — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:04:29 -0800

So the webcomics institution Scary Go Round has ended. No need to cry, because John Allison is now bringing us the new sexiness that is Bad Machinery. It's the story of two schoolgirl sleuths and three schoolboy investigators, attending Griswalds Grammar School in Keane End, Tackleford. Start here. If you don't read John will have a panic attack. Meet Enviro-Cat, now in t-shirt form. Oh, and the old characters from SGR aren't all gone, it seems that Ryan and Amy are still around.

Happy 70th birthday, Harvey Pekar

mediareport — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:22:35 -0800

The Pekar Project started a couple of months ago from Smith Magazine; it posts new webcomics every other week by Harvey Pekar and one of four artists, like "Pekar and Crumb: Talkin' 'bout Art, plus occasional extras. They just posted a tribute to Harvey's 70th birthday. [Smith Mag's webcomics previously, including Pekar's The Next-Door Neighbor I Don't Know] [via] In case it's not obvious, click the images to advance the stories.

"Magellan" by Stephen Crowley

shetterly — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:33:23 -0800

"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.

The Meta punk/mech/noiac/poli/naut/phage/droid/bot/blade/tron/nancer/War/not Filter

wendell — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:57:18 -0800

The Electro-Plasmic Hydrocephalic Genre-Fiction Generator is the latest inspired creation of Wondermark's David Malki! (exclamation mark his), a slight departure from his usual victorian clip-art comedy (previously) to a wordier bit of satire/inspiration/wackiness/wit/archetyping/talking fish.

Speaking of webcomics and formulas, the "young woman inexplicably transported to a totally weird alternate universe" scenario is being used differently - but successfully masterfully - by THREE different artists: Ramon Perez's Kukuburi, Eldon Cowgur's Astray3 and Michael Lee Lunsford's Supernormal Step (links to the beginnings of the stories... because you gotta). I'm rather surprised the Pirannhamoose has not yet appeared in any of these, especially since Astray3 has featured every other creature you can imagine (or have nightmares about) in its first year. Meanwhile, Malki! is also co-hosting a weekly talkback-enabled interactive audio podblast with fellow webcomicker Kris Straub, that starts with absurdity and goes out from there...

I am your secret scary friend

explosion — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:50:48 -0800

Today marks the end of John Allison's webcomic Scary Go Round. Part silly-spooky mystery in the vein of Scooby-Doo, and part British slice-of-life comic, Scary Go Round ran for over 7 years. Despite the change in title and theme, the strip carried over a large portion of the cast from Allison's previous strip, Bobbins, an office comedy with a light touch of romance. A true veteran of the webcomics business (Bobbins predated the popular Penny Arcade by a couple of months), Allison ended Scary Go Round not because of burn-out or declining readership, but simply because it was time: "Webcomics grew out of people who wanted to draw newspaper comic strips, and with that seems to come the notion that we should whittle away at life-long works. But unless you're whittling - and I choose my words carefully here - some kind of "magic tree", eventually you will end up with nothing left." Scary Go Round's website will continue to be updated next week, and Allison will be launching his new comic on September 21st. Previously: 1, 2

Catching up on webcomics, at your desired speed

jbickers — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:57:25 -0800

"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."

Bang Barstal

Pope Guilty — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:01:34 -0800

The now-defunct Bang Barstal tells the story of a man and his baseball bat after everything went wrong at once.

Hell hell hell.

jbickers — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:39:10 -0800

Just Another Post-Apocalypse Story is a short, sweet, profound webcomic by Edward Grug III, of "Love Puppets" fame, from the always-excellent Top Shelf 2.0 repository.

Superman once went back in time and beat up Hitler. I mean, who can compete with that?

ND¢ — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:49:33 -0800

Man Not Superman based on a story by Jonathan Goldstein about a mortal man dealing with the pressures of dating Lois Lane. Found on Post-it Note Stories: Stories illustrated on little yellow Post-It Notes in beautiful black Sharpie. (via).

"Over 40% of all dialogue guaranteed at least 50% true, if you believe everything you read."

not_on_display — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:07:19 -0800

Tracy White is a webcomics pioneer, having produced TRACED ("lived, written and drawn by me. guaranteed 95% true.") since 1996. There's also the docu-comic Babble Fish, about God revealing himself in the form of a fish to an upstate NY Hasidic community, and her contribution to For Real, a comic documenting the lives of immigrant teens in NYC. You can also follow her work on YouTube and Flickr, where she posts selections from her upcoming book.

fold this comic into a comic that has sexual feelings for another comic

Potomac Avenue — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:05:33 -0800

Three relatively new webcomics in the PBF and/or Cyanide+Happiness mode: Buttersafe, Dirtfarm, and Quiet Glen Mind Police Not new at all, but still going strong are Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Wondermark. Some of my favorites: Buttersafe: Universe Exploder Anti-xkcd scene Mole Free Will The Dangers of Fruit Dirtfarm: Iphone Apps Serious Artistry Relationships Hideous Hearts Oh No Lesbians! Employee Handbook Quiet Glen: Mercy Math Dad Three? Ah hell these are all good. and Recently

Greylock Arts curated webcomics exhibit

mediareport — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:04:23 -0800

A curated collection of web comics over at Greylock Arts, with creator interviews and lots of links to strips like Underwire, Persimmon Cup, Truth Serum, Wondermark, The Process, Amazing Facts...and Beyond!, Phil McAndrew and more, including a few previously featured on the blue. [via Bookslut]

"You're obviously stuck in some drunk logic fugue state"

Navelgazer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:40:24 -0800

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.

Pirates, Ninjas, Cthulhu, BOOM!

Artw — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:25:39 -0800

Free comics! BOOM! Studios' new web comics site, launching today, will be posting a page a day from six different titles including its Ninja, Zombie and Cthulhu Tales anthologies...

The Hole in the Wall on Top Shelf!

taz — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:09:09 -0800

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.

On the Rain-Slick Precipace of Darkness

Caduceus — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:40:02 -0800

The first video game based on the internet's most prominent gaming comic, Penny Arcade is released today. After nearly a decade of being a juggernaut of criticism and foul language to the game industry, the duo behind Penny Arcade put their money where their newsposts are; will their game be any good? I don't know yet, as I'm stuck at school all day. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, developed by independent game studio Hothead Games, is a 1920s style pulp adventure with steampunk and Lovecraftian elements, mixed with the gameplay elements of a traditional turn-based Japanese console RPG and Penny Arcade's typical brand of humor. The Penny Arcade team divided their work on the game very much like their work on the comic; Gabe (Mike Krahulik) did the art design, and Tycho (Jerry Holkins) wrote the story and script (and each and every description of everything, as I understand it). While I imagine if you're a fan of Penny Arcade you already know about this and whether you want to buy it or not, I thought I'd throw it up anyway. It's available by download for PC, Mac, and Linux, for $20. Also available on X-box Live Arcade.

You like money, I like money, let's hang out

PenDevil — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:26:37 -0800

Webcomics Weekly #29 features a 2 hour (at times raucous) round table between Scott Kurtz, Ted Rall, Brad Guigar, Matt Bors and others on how to make money from webcomics.

Time-Lapse Digital Cartooning

clango — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:41:59 -0800

Ever want to watch a comics page get drawn at ridiculous speed? I've been reading Mer's comics since day one, but seeing an entire strip drawn and inked as a movie is almost better than watching an animated cartoon. Before anyone asks, she's using a semi-obscure app called Manga Studio on a Cintiq monitor. I've never met anyone else who can make MS work this well. I'm posting this partly in the hope of tricking her into doing an online tutorial.

It's always funny until you're the one being made fun of

sdodd — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:20:14 -0800

"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. The March 7th episode, "Our Crucial Pamphlet" [MP3], typifies the process. It starts with an informal brainstorming session to discover topics for the day's comic (and associated essay/blog post). The brainstorming is frequently interrupted by digressions. A short list of choices is produced. A topic is chosen and the layout, dialog, and action is discussed. The final comic is written out (dialog and description) panel by panel. One participant is the writer and one the artist, but you won't be able to tell who is who; no strong division of labor is evident in the give and take. Finally, the written description is read aloud, declared good and the recording ends. It's lunchtime. The March 3rd episode, entitled "PON PON PATA PON" [MP3], diverges from the pattern. But only in that the final comic is a Hitchcock-influenced horror scene with no dialog. We hear Tycho and Gabe remove lines of dialog one by one until only the action remains. The "pennyarcade" tag is alive and well here at MetaFilter, but the podcast has not yet been discussed. This is only my second post to the Blue, so criticism is welcome.

Have you ever TRIED to fuck a grapefruit?

wendell — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:00:07 -0800

I knew that sooner or later, the backlash to xkcd would begin, but I never expected it would start over.... fruit... R. Stevens, that old Diesel Sweetie, is the first to respond.... Now, a very well-interfaced polling device is put online for your fruit opinions...Vote for the fruit of your choice... but vote! Anybody can make an X/Y chart... as this response found @reddit proves... (the poster says... "Um... the grapefruit drew it. I just uploaded it for him." and "Please also keep in mind that the grapefruit has an axe to grind.")

the tighty whiteys are funny

ZachsMind — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:12:58 -0800

"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? Zuda's owned and operated by DC Comics. You can submit one to the contests yourself if you're artisically inclined (but know your rights before you do), or you can just read what others have submitted. I guess the winner is the reader, because for the moment at least, it's free. Yay free. One that caught my eye was Alpha Monkey but it's hard to find a favorite. I thought this one was a bit too bloody, but one's trash is another's treasure and all that.

Indexed on US Politics

whir — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:47:31 -0800

Jessica Hagy, author of indexed (previously) covers the 2008 Presidential Election for McClatchy's "alt.campaign" site.

Brilliant comics, unknown artists

ELF Radio — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 00:41:46 -0800

Online nerds have known for years that webcomics are often much more daring and interesting than newspaper tripe like Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible. An unknown kid from Fresno by the name S. Sakurai has brightened many of our days with his frequently brilliant work. His ongoing strip Muertitos is a Beetlejuice-esque afterlife gem, and Gorgeous Princess Creamy-Beamy is mostly about skewering anime cliches, aliens, lesbians, and junk food. I was hooked as soon as one of his alien characters described our land vehicles as being "powered by exploding dinosaurs." Highly recommended for any Bloom County/Calvin and Hobbes fans, particularly those who grew up playing 8-bit Nintendo and watching Sailor Moon.

I'm the gosh-darn Batman!

piratebowling — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 07:07:30 -0800

Little Batman. Like Batman, but little. He fights crime. He likes bats. Sometimes he misses mom and dad.

You should read Gunnerkrigg Court

Lentrohamsanin — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:38:18 -0800

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.