Results tagged “web comics”

Recipe for One Ridiculously Good Webcomic

• 1 doctor who is also a ninja


• 3 tablespoons of raptor-riding bandito sidekick


• 896 pounds of gorilla receptionist with a heart of gold


• add to taste - vampires, zombies, giant lumberjacks, ancient tennis-playing temples of doom, and the most radical man in the radical land


• a hint of Batman-esque vigilantism


• Stir gently, adding the gorilla receptionist slowly until mixture appears like a brown mush. Post to internet, updating tri-weekly and serve, piping hot.

What you have is The Adventures of Dr. McNinja by Chris Hastings. He’s a doctor who is also a ninja, go figure.

I realize that these sorts of potpourri comics (where you smash random internet memes into one another like a Large Hadron Collider) are dime-a-dozen, but before you go rolling your eyes and moving on to the next post, let me say this: Dr. McNinja is really really good. Head and shoulders above the rest of the mash-up comics, Dr. McNinja sets itself with fantastic writing, great dialog, and really cool characters.

Nothing Negative

R.K. Milholland is a webcomic artist who has hit on the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” philosophy of writing comics. His art hasn’t evolved a great deal, unlike a lot other webcomics, and the humor has been pretty steady throughout.

And this is all a good thing.

[Click image to enlarge. Credit: Tillie]

Welcome to a new monthly web comic we’ll be hosting here at Suvudu! Hammer George likes to hammer things. As you can tell from the comic above. Full disclosure - Tillie’s been a friend of mine for many years so I may be a tad biased in loving everything she does.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about Hammer George so leave us a comment. Do you want to see more? Never see it again?

The Most Unpopular Webcomic on the Face of the Internet

Have you heard of this Penny Arcade comic? Apparently all these people are talking about it, like it’s funny or something.*

*Note: Sarcasm may not come across as well written on the computer screen as it would said in-person. The statements above should fall directly under “blatantly sarcastic.”

While perhaps not the granddaddy of webcomics (and really, even though it’s a medium that’s been around for over a decade, can we really say anyone is the “granddaddy”?), Penny Arcade has established itself as one of the premier comics (and websites in general) on the Internet. Ostensibly a video game review site, what’s so amazing is how little you actually need to know about the video games to enjoy the brilliant, antic writing of Tycho (Jerry Holkins) and the exciting, colorful, and often over-the-top graphic art of Gabe (Mike Krahulik).

Now, I do have to warn you: there is a penchant for naughty language in these strips. But how can you argue with such brilliance:

Really? You can argue with that? How about this:

I think what helped create this into such a phenomenon—besides the fact that video game players were the first dedicated group to utilize the Internet—is the fact that the writing is genuinely funny, and their observations are unique. And just as important, there is a consistency to the characters that makes readers feel like it’s important that you actually read the strip every time it updates, because while there might be one-offs, there also is growth and development that all good story-tellers are able to sustain. For example, the super-popular Carboard Tube Samurai is so gorgeously displayed, I kind of wish it was its own comic:

An Introduction, and XKCD

I’ve decided to start a new weekly feature here on Suvudu, in this case dedicated to growing medium known as webcomics. While I’m sure there can be arguments about whether reading a comic strip on the web is any different than reading them in the newspaper (and I think all arguments ultimately point to the fact that, yes, it is different—all praise Marshall McLuhan!), the important thing is that, as newspapers unfortunately die their slow death, comic artists are needing to find new venues for their material. In addition, new artists—those who were never syndicated in the funnies—realized that they could get their work to an audience without necessarily having a contract. Thus, labors of love could be produced as well as comics whose ultimate goal was financial gain.

Not to mention that the Internet offers possibilities that newspapers couldn’t. Subject matter could range from childish to NSFW, there were no format or panel restrictions, and every day could be in color. Art didn’t need to be great, and neither did content, but as long as someone enjoyed your work—or, just as important, as long as the creator enjoyed doing the work—there was always a way to distribute and disseminate.

The comic I want to start off with is one of the most popular webcomics out there, xkcd an example of which is above. Created by Randall Munroe, these seemingly simple stick-figure drawings are a combination of the absurd, the brilliant, and, I’ll admit, the sometimes downright confusing. With references that range from geeky pop-culture to in-depth knowledge of computer programming and math, XKCD is a great comic because it’s literally smart, and still very funny. Even when going for “gags,” such as a flow-chart or bar graph, the joke is genuinely clever—even if you don’t necessarily get every one.

I will warn you: some of the strips contain mature content. As the site itself explains, XKCD is “a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.” And sometimes that romance gets physical (and, seriously, he can make stick-figures doing it more graphic than you might think possible), and the language can get adult. If these things don’t bother you—or if you don’t know if they’ll bother you—I’d say check it out, and see for yourself. With it’s quirky sense of humor, strangely compelling art, and sometimes heartbreakingly beautiful sentiment, I think you’ll be happily surprised.

Comics displayed here are taken from xkcd.com

It’s one of the biggest events going on during Comic-Con: the Will Eisner Comics Industry Awards, or “The Eisners” for short. It honors some of the best of the best working in the industry and pays tribute to the most well-known of names (like Mike Mignola) to the integral but sometimes overlooked comics workers, like those nominated for Best Lettering. It’s an opportunity to celebrate, educate, and have a little fun.

So why is so little written about them?

Well, here at Suvudu we’re trying to bring the Eisners to you in a big way. We ran a shakedown of many of the Eisner categories, we tabulated our results, and we filmed the ceremony. Now it’s time to bring the show to you. This year’s show brings some humor to the preceedings as well as a few of those big names. It was an interesting awards ceremony and now it’s your turn to see how it all went down.

With that in mind, let’s start the show. And the nominees are…

Patton Oswalt Presents the Best Publication for Kids & Best Publication for Tweens/Teens

Patton Oswalt opens the awards with a touch of humor and some minor difficulty with name pronunciation. We can’t fault him there. Check out the awards and speeches in the video below.

Say that five-times fast.

Simply put, if you don’t already read Scott Kurtz’s PvP, you should do yourself a favor and check it out. Currently, he’s doing what I hope is the beginning of a rather clever play on The Watchmen utilizing characters from the funny pages (side-note: is that what you call them? “Funny pages?” I always called them “the comics,” and maybe that’s a regional thing, like the way they say “coke” in the South to mean any kind of soda. Or perhaps it’s generational, like the way my parents call movies “the talkies.”).

But even if this is a one-time thing, PvP is one of those seminal web-comics that should be bookmarked on pretty much every computer.

Different note: if the schools in the city are closed, work should be closed. I’m just saying.

I know, it’s been too long since I did a Comics Friday post. And yes, I know you’re eager to get going and discover some of the best comics on the web*. However, before we get underway, did you notice what I did to the title? “Free Comics Friday” has become “eComics Friday.”

I made this change not so much to promote donating to the talented people who produce the comics I’ll talk about here, but to ensure that I’m not dissuading anyone from donating to them**.

Okay, so that’s that. Now on with the show. I’ve talked about Sarah Ellerton before and recommended that you check out Phoenix Requiem (and if you haven’t yet, you should). But P.R. isn’t her first stab at an eComic, before she started work on Requiem, there was Inverloch. And if you haven’t discovered that one yet, you are in for a big treat.

Allow me to stretch my blogging legs a bit, if you will; it’s been a while. I took some time off to watch 2008 fade away and 2009 materialize like Romulan Warbirds toying with us before they attack. And attack 2009 has.

So, what’s currently on my radar? Here are a few things:

Happening already is Zuda’s first contest of the year. That means that my year is already off to a fantastic start. I love Zuda because it offers up such a variety of web comics each and every contest. So far, my favorite of this most recent batch has been Safe Inside by Zerocalcare, but I haven’t yet been able to work my way through all of the entries yet, so don’t consider that a “best of show” endorsement yet. Still, it shows a lot of promise, so I’ll be keeping my eyes on it.

Sure, the holidays are great: lots of eating and drinking and sitting.

But, let’s be honest - after awhile gluttony can get, well, exhausting.

So, why not do something cultural with your days off?

Here’s an idea: get yourself to the Brooklyn Public Library! From now until January 10, they are showing an exhibition about Josh Neufeld and the making of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge.

The exhibition, which features original artwork from the book, is one you don’t want to miss!

And, be sure to check out PantheonComics.com for more updates about the book.

This week’s pick comes to us from the cold (or at least, moderately cool) lands of Canada, where web comic author and artist Jenny Romanchuk has crafted an interesting and original addition to zombie comics.

I want you to understand that zombies and I don’t really get along. I acknowledge their existence in the horror realm, but I don’t exactly celebrate it. Why? They scare the crap outta me, more than any monster with scales, or fur, or teeth the size of golf clubs ever could. Zombies go against the grain two ways. First, they are, or were, human and are now hunting other humans. They could be your neighbors, your friends, or your family. They are monsters who are using our own skin…our own dead skin. And that would be against-the-grain number two: these are way, way, way outside of natural. The dead rising from their graves to eat the living is just…urk, you know?

So I want you to realize that my picking up a zombie comic and not just reading it, but becoming pretty addicted to it, is no small feat. I don’t know if that says more about the comic or about me (probably the former), but I think it’s a big lurching step taken by one of us (probably Jenny).

So about this comic, we learn during the first panel that humanity has been infected with this Zombie virus that has turned much of the population into undead hordes. A small community of survivors has set up shop on an island and is trying to get on with life. As a means of protection, they have formed a small military group called the Red Halos and they, in turn, organized the Zombie Hunters (civilians who are recruited to help the Red Halos recover salvage, lift public morale, and assist in any organized assault or defense). It is with a group of these Zombie Hunters with which the comic is concerned.

More after the jump…

In honor of Halloween, I have a few real treats for you here. Including two web comics which have contributed to my inability to get a good night’s sleep lately.

I have been using this space to introduce you to new series that you might not have tried yet, but going forward, I’m going to begin putting an emphasis on webcomics, and today’s post reflects that gentle shift. I’ll still post a few previews (like the brilliant one leading things off today), but I’ll be moving to more coverage of online Comic scribblers and e-inkers.

So with that, let me also address what I’m calling this little Friday shin-dig. Free Comics Friday means, of course, that you can read these comics for free. When introducing previews I had no problem just leaving it at that, but webcomics frequently let you read it for free on the honor system: if you like it, you’ll contribute a few bucks or what you can afford. I like this system and I encourage it in both directions, so if you find one you like, please donate to the creators - they spent a lot of time and effort on this stuff and it shows.

Just a heads-up.

[/rant]

So how about some comics, huh? Read on, my friends, read on…

Cemetery Blues

Let’s kick things off with a little demon and undead hunting, shall we? Cemetery Blues is a black-and-white book that tells the story of Mortimer Ridley and his companion Falstaff, as they hunt down and neutralize things that go bump in the night. They’re good at what they do…but not great. So it’s a little concerning when they’re recruited, after a mistakenly interrupting a funeral, by the church for a demon hunting expedition.

This is a story that requires the characters to carry things, and Ridley & Falstaff are up to the task. Mort Ridley is the “brains” of the operation while Falstaff fills out the sidekick role with humor, but enough know how that you aren’t left wondering how he could possibly do the job he does. They’re interesting, without being over the top, and that subtle touch is well appreciated.

The art is, as I mentioned, black-and-white and appears to be primarily pencil and graphite. The panels move around a bit, breaking up the action without causing confusion. It’s all very well done.

If you’re interested, you can check out Cemetery Blues, by clicking here.

Two amazing webcomics after the jump…
(seriously, don’t miss these)

Well, thank goodness for that.

I thought I was the only one who did this.

(From the amazing XKCD)

I may be speaking in generalizations here, but it turns out that political artists aren’t made. They’re born to other political artists.

Or, at least that seems to be the case with Josh Neufeld, the author of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge.

If you didn’t already know: A.D. began as a result of Josh Neufeld’s volunteer work after Hurricane Katrina.

As it turns out, his mother is a pioneer in the worlds of video and political art. Want to know more? Check out in this article from The New York Times.

Happy Reading!

Slate’s Paul Collins has a ghoulish time cooking Banana Pancakes Stonehenge and other horrifying delights from Vincent Price’s cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes. Yes, that Vincent Price. Listen to Vincent describing the preparation of Viennese stuffed eggs.

Read a new Bryan Lee O’Malley and Hope Larson webcomic, Bear Creek Apartments. [via Heidi @ The Beat]

Get ready for the next book in the Ice and Fire series by studying up with the Tower of the Hand , a fan-authored George R.R. Martin Encyclopedia. Along with the expected but wonderfully exhaustive resources like character bios and plot summaries, the site also offers deep investigations into important series questions: My favorite: Who Are Jon Snow’s Parents? [via SciFi Weekly]:

In 1984, Russian animators created this beautiful and unusual animated version of Bradbury’s classic short “There Will Come Soft Rains” [via The Website at the End of the Universe]

Ok, I’ll admit it, I’m a little late to the party on this one. I only discovered Josh Neufeld’s web comic A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge earlier this summer, when I learned that Pantheon was publishing a book version of it.

I haven’t wasted any time in catching up, which, of course means that - like everyone else - I’m anxiously waiting for the next installment.

Just in case you haven’t heard, there’s a site out there called Zuda Comics and it is pure comics awesomeness! The idea is pretty simple, they post several excerpts of different unpublished comics and allow you to read them and vote for them. At the end of the voting period, which ever comic has the highest total of votes, gets published in full.

The philosophy is similar to Top Cow’s Pilot Season program (more on this one later). Allow new or not-so-established writers and illustrators to present their work to the masses, find one that really resonates, and publish it.

How’s that for democracy in publishing?

However, the Zuda difference really shines though with the variety of comics and voices that they present for each competition. We need look no further than the current line up to see this dedication to diversity in action.