dev_chieftain (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dev_chieftain) wrote2012-04-11 09:01 am
dev_chieftain) wrote2012-04-11 09:01 am
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Twice Upon a Time, and webcomics. This is Bubbles's fault.
This is more a note so I don't forget: there's an animated film called Twice Upon a Time. I saw it once, aired on the Cartoon Network, and I liked what I saw of it. Have never seen it since. It apparently is not available on DVD, only having a VHS release, and seems to have been produced by George Lucas. According to Amazon Reviews, there are actually two versions of the movie-- the 'adult' version, and the edited 'family friendly' version. I don't care which, but I'd like to see this again / show Danny. So, note to self. Find it.
WEBCOMICS
So, talking to Bubbles and thinking about it lately, I've decided it might be kind of fun to make a webcomics recommendation type post. Here it is. My insanely long list. The worst part is, I know this isn't all of them. I'll update and add as I remember. I've already been editing in links and a fix to my hilarious mistype of Randall Munroe as Murdock. I don't even know where that came from.
Rating system: G- Safe for all PG- Sometimes there's violence or innuendo, but nothing really NSFW. R- Totally NSFW, either because of violence/gore or sex.
Comics I check/follow regularly:
Sorcery 101
Rating: PG
How I found it: Danny's favorite comic. Soon became mine as well.
Summary: Danny, a blood-bound ex-prince trying to keep a low profile, is learning sorcery to try to help contribute to the protection of his friends. Trouble is, basic sorcery isn't always enough in this crazy, mixed-up world.
Recommend if: You like modern-day fantasy comics; you're interested in a complete, living setting that moves and feels like a real world; you like character-driven comics; you like story comics.
Hark! A Vagrant
Rating: PG
How I found it: Pure luck. Thank goodness I did!
Summary: History comics. Pokes fun at just about everything, but might teach you something while it does. Great style, great sense of humor.
Recommend if: You like non-story comics; you enjoy humorous comics; you like having reading recommendations to learn more about history with your comics.
Gunnerkrigg Court
Rating: PG
How I found it: Kristen's favorite comic. She was right!
Summary: Antimony Carver is a student at the mysterious Gunnerkrigg Court, a highly advanced technological compound that stretches almost beyond comprehension. Across a great divide, and the Annan waters, stands Gillitie Forest, a similarly vast expression of pure nature and wilderness. These places were once united, but something tore them apart. Perhaps Antimony can bring them back together-- only time will tell.*
Recommend if: You like technology vs. magic stories; you like story comics; you like mythology; you like technology and magic learn to get along stories; you like character-driven comics; you like serious stories that are also rife with humor.
*- I probably misspelled something in here to do with the setting!
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Rating: R
How I found it: I'm sure I followed a link sometime. Probably from S*P?
Summary: Updates daily with jokes on just about every subject. Not for the faint of heart, or the short tempered. Nothing is sacred; but, SMBC postulates, nothing should be! Also has SMBC Theater, which are video shorts put together and shared on Youtube.
Recommend if: You love humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics; you enjoy seeing everybody get equally ribbed for their shortcomings.
Buttersafe
Rating: PG
How I found it: 4chan once linked it, providing the first Skeleton Harvester comic to sell it. I was immediately hooked.
Summary: Tuesday/Thursday comics, usually unconnected but sometimes story. Bizarre is the order of the day, sometimes with humor, sometimes with soul-searchy and weird nihilistic undertones instead. If you ever thought to yourself, "Would life be better if Robin Hood made up wild cusses instead of stealing from the rich?" Then this is the comic for you. It has the answers.
Recommend if: you like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics; you enjoy weird, bizarre, or sometimes disturbing on a philosophical level comics.
Oglaf
Rating: R
How I found it: 4chan; someone posted the first several comics when the site was very new. I noticed the watermark in the bottom of the pages and went to bookmark the site. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE.
Summary: In a world where magic, sex, and weirdness are all really really common, it can be tough to get by. Sometimes you're an innocent peasant being gnawed on by cock-bats. Sometimes you're an adventurer being seduced by a venomous tree. Sometimes you're just a lowly apprentice, being tricked into sucking cock for a pinecone. You never know what you're going to get; but rest assured, it will almost always be hilarious.
Recommend if: You love humorous comics; you enjoy comics that are comfortable with making fun of sex; you like a mix of story and non-story comics; you play D&D, and wish more people would make comics that reminded you of D&D.
Vattu
Rating: PG
How I found it: It is the newest comic being produced by Evan Dahm of Rice Boy; I picked it up after reading his other works.
Summary: Vattu, a young warrior of a dying tribe, has been given to the new conquerors of her land as a gift by her clan's young and feeble priest. But unlike the others, she does not intend to remain in servitude forever; and she might just liberate her friend, the war-man, to go with her.
Recommend if: You like story comics; you prefer comics with unusual and detailed art; you enjoy comics about alien or otherwise non-human races.
Moon over June
Rating: R
How I found it: Through Josh Lesnick's tumblr.
Summary: Summer is a gynecologist miser who loves corrupting the so-called innocent; Hatsuki is a porn-star and mathematical genius who loves tattoos; they live together, and might even like each other.
Recommend if: you like to see comics featuring lesbian protagonists; you like humor comics; you like porn comics; you are comfortable with misandry (on part of Summer).
Supernormal Step
Rating: PG
How I found it: Followed a link from another comic back in the day because the main character had blue hair.
Summary: Fiona has been transported to another universe, where magic is real, a dictator from her world has secret agents known as 'Hendersons' running things, and monsters try to live in peace with the rest of the population. There's just one problem; Fiona kind of wants to go home, and the technology that could help her has been outlawed.
Recommend if: You like superheroes; you like story comics.
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things
Rating: PG
How I found it: One of my flist linked to it somewhat recently. SCORE!
Summary: Commander Badass is here from the future to reform and help re-introduce the badasses of today into normal society. This is a comic about big, buff dudes doing the kinds of things big, buff dudes like to do. Ain't no shame in that.
Recommend if: You like a mix of story comics and non-story comics; you like humorous comics; you like manly guys; you enjoy video game references and occasionally poking fun at them.
The Oatmeal
Rating: PG
How I found it: Oh, how does anyone find the Oatmeal? but I think it was Dustin or Danny that linked me. Possibly Jenn.
Summary: Started off as a goofy joke-lists type site, but has since evolved to a sort of comic blog dealing with various subjects. Grammar, spicy food, airplane etiquette-- take your pick.
Recommend if: You like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Savage Chickens
Rating: PG
How I found it: I used to listen to SongsToWearPantsTo, and the guy there did a themesong for this comic. I started reading at once!
Summary: Office humor, cat humor, zombie humor, and chicken humor. Occasionally you will get the bonus of cool stopmotion animations, and your comics will always be drawn on yellow post-it notes (though no longer always of the same size).
Recommend if: You like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics; you like alternative medium comics, and side art projects (such as the animations).
The Less-than-epic Adventures of TJ and Amal
Rating: R
How I found it: I think this is another one I heard about on 4chan; but I might also have found it through unrelated art posted on DA.
Summary: TJ is a vagabond with a secret history; Amal is a recently outed gay man who was just a few weeks away from potentially finishing medical school, but has been disowned by his family. They go on a road trip together, and become involved.
Recommend if: You like very detailed art; you prefer story comics; you like humor mixed liberally in with your serious comics; you like to see comics featuring gay protagonists.
Zebragirl
Rating: PG
How I found it: Zazie, or possibly Varnia, linked me years ago.
Summary: Once upon a time, Sandra's friends were playing with a magic book and accidentally turned her into a demon. Things went downhill from there.
Recommend if: You like comics that start out humorous, but become very serious and later surreal; you prefer story comics; you like wildly complex settings with multiple parallel dimensions.
El Goonish Shive
Rating: PG/R depending on your feelings re: transformations
How I found it: Ages ago, I don't remember exactly how!
Summary: In a place called Moperville, there are some strange things going on. Some of it has to do with magic; some of it is the fault of alternate realities, and immortal beings; and some of it is the fault of young boy genius Tedd, who loves alien technology and transforming himself and his friends into various things.
Recommend if: You like story comics; you like character-driven comics; you enjoy transformation as a concept (cross-gender and cross-species alike); you like a mixture of humor and seriousness in your comics, erring on the side of humor, usually.
Order of the Stick
Rating: PG
How I found it: Some years back; people talked about it, so I looked it up.
Summary: The Order of the Stick are a group of high-level adventurers. They are working to prevent the opening of extra-dimensional gates that will allow some terrifying evil god to come forth and destroy existence as they know it, but getting there is no easy matter.
Recommend if: you like stick-figure comics; you like D&D humor; you like humorous comics with the occasional serious one thrown in there; you don't mind an irregular update schedule; you aren't intimidated by an enormous archive.
Snowflakes
Rating: G
How I found it: This is a side project done by the guys who did CaptainExcelsior Stupendous and still do SMBC.
Summary: What if a bunch of cute little orphans in a snowy, remote orphanage started to fight over classroom politics? What if some of them thought they were vikings? Well, this is all about that.
Recommend if: you like goofy kids-with-big-imaginations stories; you prefer story comics; you like humorous comics; you have no reverence for nuns.
The Comics Curmudgeon
Rating: PG
How I found it: Pure chance!
Summary: The Comics Curmudgeon reviews various newspaper comics and either lightly teases them, ramps them up to hilariously ridiculous proportions by assuming they will get far more dramatic than newspaper comics ever actually are, or flat out mocks them. Thanks to this guy, I read Apartment 3-G sometimes. He's pretty rad.
Recommend if: you like newspaper comics, but not too much; you like humor; you want to make fun of Family Circus.
Goblins
Rating: R
How I found it: Looking for D&D comics years ago.
Summary: A group of Goblins from a small goblin village decide to become adventurers, but that's harder than they thought. Quickly escalates from a light-hearted, somewhat carefree adventure about the Goblins becoming heroes to their people against adversity and fate itself, and into a depressing epic about the suffering of the Goblins that ought to become more than they were, and various others that know of them in the setting.
Recommend if: You like humorous comics that become ridiculously dark; you like non-standard webcomic designs; you like D&D humor; you like goblins.
Wondermark
Rating: PG
How I found it: Through Dinosaur Comics
Summary: Usually non-sequitur but sometimes sequential comics made using wood-block prints and often completely random, moderately philosophical dialogue added to the often quasi-Victorian scenes. Features the occasional appearances of shapeshifting alien Gax, and madness.
Recommend if: you like humor; you like philosophy; you enjoy woodblocks and alternative webcomic media; you prefer non-story comics but don't mind the occasional story comic in the midst of the rest.
Dinosaur Comics
Rating: PG
How I found it: Probably thanks to Skye, actually!
Summary: Every day, T-Rex and his fellow dinosaurs go about their business. They do almost the same thing during those days, but they talk about anything and everything under the sun.
Recommend if: You like dinosaurs; you like philosophy; you like random medical facts; you like humor comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Questionable Content
Rating: PG
How I found it: Jen, back in the day
Summary: Marten and his friends live out their every day lives in a pseudo-futuristic setting where PCs are AIs, and can be put into various shells that allow them to walk around as humans do.
Recommend if: you like character-driven plots; you like romance as a central comic element; you like humor and drama in about equal parts; you think robots are pretty neat; you like story comics with the occasional non-sequitur.
Darths and Droids
Rating: PG
How I found it: The guys were reading it, so I picked it up too.
Summary: Using screenshots from the Star Wars films as art, the comic covers a long-standing tabletop RPG campaign wherein the players are playing the characters in the movies. Makes extensive light of the prequel trilogy; has just recently gotten to A New Hope.
Recommend if: You like Star Wars; you like humor comics; you like D&D humor; you don't mind making fun of D&D or Star Wars; you think it's entirely plausible that Jar Jar Binks was made up by a twelve year old girl.
Badly Drawn Kitties
Rating: R
How I found it: Years ago, this comic was taken down and removed. But it seems to have been recently reborn and is updating again! I found it after noting that I'd read it before and that it was gone, earlier today. Happily reunited! Ahh.
Summary: Slice-of-life, joke-a-day comic about Lydia and Lucy, two cat-ladies who are sassy roommates.
Recommend if: You like humor; you prefer non-story comics with some minor continuity.
Comics I still check sporadically, even though they are not on my list:
Johnny Wander
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Infrequent updates; new acquisition
Summary: Slice-of-life, usually humorous comics about the creators, plus a little fantasy element.
Recommend if: You like slice of life comics; you like humor comics; you like moderately character driven comics; you prefer non-story comics, but like some continuity.
VGCats
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: Sort of a non-sequitur video-game commentary comic.
Recommend if: You like that sort of thing!
Super Effective
Rating: G
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: A pokemon parody comic detailing the adventures of a character through Pokemon Red. So far, some pretty decent Pokejokes in there.
Recommend if: You are not Skye; you like Pokemon enough to be amused by a comic about it; you enjoy Slowpoke jokes.
Octopus Pie
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: I kind of hate some of the characters.
Summary: Slice-of-life story of bachelorette Eve Ning and her roomie, Hannah. Their adventures are sometimes fantastic, but often it boils down to getting by day to day.
Recommend if: You like slice of life comics; you like occasionally humorous, occasionally dramatic comics; you like romance comics; you like moderately character driven comics; you prefer story comics that are broken up into various smaller storylines.
The Meek
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: very unreliable updates
Summary: In a world torn by war and separation, a spirit embodying spring and magic must find and stop the terrible warlord who, mad in his grief for his wife, follows the advice of the evil spirit that killed her grandfather.
Recommend if: You like epic fantasy; you don't mind graphic gore; you are looking for a comic with very detailed art; you like serious comics; you prefer story comics; you enjoy very rare moments of humor.
Zap! in Space
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: Updates only once a week; plot has become turgid over several years; main character has been captured by villains and silenced for two or three years now.
Summary: Zap is a friendly, happy-go-lucky guy who gets picked to replace missing captain Efrem on a rebel ship. But when things get a little hairy, it becomes unclear if Zap is who he seems to be. Meanwhile, Reona and the others of the crew meet and befriend some pirates in their search to rescue Zap.
Recommend if: you like story comics; you like sci-fi comics; you enjoy plots about psychics; you like humorous comics that become very dark and serious later.
Wasted Talent
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Sporadic updates, and multiple comics that rubbed me just a little bit the wrong way.
Summary: A slice-of-life comic about the artist/author and her life as a lady engineer.
Recommend if: You like slice of life comics; you like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Butterfly
Rating: G
Why it's not bookmarked: Read entire archive upon first discovering. It hasn't updated since then.
Summary: Butterfly is a superhero who loves helping people, and hangs out with not-quite Robin. He eventually accidentally becomes a parody of Captain Marvel.
Recommend if: You like superheroes; you like humorous comics; you like character driven comics; you like story comics that are broken up into smaller storylines.
Lackadaisy
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: In an AU 1920's setting, a bunch of crazy cats are running some kind of bootleg booze ring under the nose of the law. But everything isn't savory, and somebody might get hurt if they're not careful!
Recommend if: You like the 1920's; you enjoy heist and prohibition era stories about the mob; you enjoy a mix of humorous and serious comics; you prefer story comics.
Love me Nice
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: I have no idea what the author is planning to do with it, and I'm not wholly sure I like it.
Summary: In a world where toons and people live together in relative harmony, there are some rough patches when it comes to the equivalent of interracial relations.
Recommend if: You prefer story comics; you like slice-of-life style comics.
Hero: a story
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: A young man decides that he wishes to go on a journey, to see cities and people he has never seen before in the house of the witch who looks after him. On the way, he meets a demon named Vincent, who offers to look after him. Surreal, and often quite beautiful.
Recommend if: You enjoy surreal stories; you like the option to view the artwork without the text on the comic (all dialogue is alt-text, which allows for a very interesting reading experience); you like serious comics with the occasional touch of levity; you find dreamlike stories interesting; you enjoy fantasy.
Pokey the Penguin
Rating: PG?
Why it's not bookmarked: It's kind of crazy!
Summary: Pokey the Penguin is a sprite comic. It is also madness, and I'm not sure it's updated in a while. Regardless, it's brilliantly silly.
Recommend if: You love humor comics; you love bizarre comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Gunshow
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: If I checked this daily, I would be sad all the time.
Summary: Sometimes terrifying, sometimes hilarious, sometimes both. Some subplots follow storylines, while others are one-shot stories. In the end, one thing is for sure: someone will probably commit suicide.
Recommend if: You like unsettlingly bizarre comics; you prefer a mix of story and non-story comics.
Romantically Apocalyptic
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Only found it recently. Also, it's way too big to view easily on my computer screen so it's a hassle to read, and I'm not sure it's really got a story, per se.
Summary: In the apocalyptic future, some people cavort around in gas masks and long, protective coats, playing with the skeletons of the dead in the wreckage of the wasteland. They may or may not be partially mad thanks to surviving the apocalypse. Also, there is some kind of life magic, which was nearly killed recently by a parasitic death thing.
Recommend if: You enjoy the genre of post-apocalypse stories; you enjoy uncomfortable humor; you like photo-realistic digital paintings; you enjoy a story comic with not much of a strict storyline.
No Rest for the Wicked
Rating: PG/R
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: Princess November can't sleep, so she's going on a quest to find whatever she must to fix it so she can.
Recommend if: You like fairy tales; you prefer story comics; you like fantasy; you enjoy moderately humorous, but usually serious stories.
Dresden Codak
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule; losing interest.
Summary: Kimiko used to have random, wacky adventures. Now she has dark adventures. Dark, sciencey adventures to do with artificial intelligence, evolution, and the universe.
Recommend if: You like surreal comics; you like story comics that are broken up into smaller storylines; you like comics that start out humorous but become serious and dark later on.
Go Get a Roomie
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule, I'm not very invested in it.
Summary: Roomie is a polyamorous mostly-lesbian vagabond who sleeps at people's houses thanks to their kindness. She encounters Lazytyke, a girl who spends most of her time sleeping and may have some kind of disorder. Lazytyke likes to dream, and Roomie falls in love with her.
Recommend if: You like lesbian protagonists; you prefer non-linear story comics; you like humorous comics.
Game Genies
Rating: BRILLIANT
Why it's not bookmarked: Very irregular update schedule!
Summary: Hilarity! Two genies who do crazy things. It's mostly just crazy, but probably deserves an R rating just in case.
Recommend if: You like gonzo humor!
Comics I no longer read, but read once:
Girly
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Two girls become friends and go on many adventures together, falling in love somewhere early on and only falling more in love by the end.
Recommend if: You like humor; you enjoy story comics with smaller storylines within the metaplot; you enjoy comics with lesbian protagonists; you like moderately romantic but not too-sappy comics; you like finished comics.
Strange Someone
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: While working on her latest book, Liz Eper interviews a nurse named Jeff to learn more about the medical profession for material. However, the more she talks to Jeff, the more curious she becomes about him-- and not just because she finds him attractive. Now the story is simple: what is Jeff Stewart's secret? Liz has to find out!
Recommend if: you like modern fantasy; you like humorous romance comics; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics.
From Scratch
Rating: Pg
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: This comic details the origins of the mysterious and powerful organization known as Alpha Phoenix, many years ago.
Recommend if: You prefer story comics; you like 1920's fantasy; you like moderately serious comics; you are a fan of Sorcery 101; you like finished comics.
As we Were
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Suzanne is trying to hunt down Seth, the vampire that killed her family, with the help of Lupe, a mystic. On the way, she might come to realize that her new family is a little more important than vengeance for the old one.
Recommend if: You like finished comics; you prefer story comics; you are a fan of Sorcery 101; you like involved mythology and magic.
Bisclavret
Rating: PG/R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: The story of a man who becomes a wolf, but cannot return to his true form without putting on his clothes. His wife, cheating on him with a nobleman who seeks to take his place, steals his clothes when he reveals this secret to her.
Recommend if: You like harsh moral fairy tales; you like finished comics; you prefer story comics.
Dracula Mystery Club
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I did not really find the comic funny enough or interesting enough.
Summary: A parody of the Twilight books.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, really.
Nedroid Picture Diary
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I forget about it and remember it off and on. I don't remember it regularly enough to put it in the above category, honestly.
Summary: Wacky random humor comics!
Recommend if: You like humor comics; you like bizarre comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Perry Bible Fellowship
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete. (Was? I saw a new update recently... might have to re-add).
Summary: A collection of strange, often surreal or creepy comics. Great stuff.
Recommend if: you like humor comics; you like failed romance comics; you like surreal or creepy comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Starfighter
Rating: R
Why I stopped: I did not find the comic interesting.
Summary: In a typical Space Marine story, a pilot and his navigator get into a standard yaoi relationship and start having lots of sex.
Recommend if: You're into that.
Erfworld
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I consider the first, complete arc to be good, and have no interest in continuing to read the comic.
Summary: A not-very-well-liked nerd from our universe is summoned to another, in which he has the opportunity to put his wargaming strategy skills to use and become a hero. He does, despite incredible odds.
Recommend if: You like fantasy; you enjoy a mix of humor and seriousness in your comics; you prefer story comics.
Sinfest
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: It's very repetitive and updates irregularly.
Summary: Follows a set cast. Includes some kind of cheeky religious dialogue from time to time. Also known to have comics that are just poetry recited by the characters, who like to go to open mic at a local cafe.
Recommend if: You like occasionally humorous comics; you like non-story comics; you like comics that are very similar to newspaper comics.
Boy Meets Boy
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Two guys get together despite their age difference. Wacky shenanigans in the middle aside, they end up living happily ever after.
Recommend if: You like finished comics; you like comics with gay protagonists; you like humor; you prefer non-story comics with some continuity.
Sandra and Woo
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Too much side character, not enough Sandra and Woo.
Summary: Sanda is a little girl; she rescues and befriends Woo, a racccoon.
Recommend if: You like sweet, kid-friendly comics; you like slice-of-life comics.
Wapsi Square
Rating: PG, maybe R?
Why I stopped: Woefully nonsensical; got tired of the plot; got annoyed by the objectification of the plethora of lady characters.
Summary: Monica is some kind of vessel to the spirits of an ancient Native American culture (I can't remember if it's Incan, or I'm just assuming that), and one night she befriends a little god of alcohol who hangs out to try to help her stay in balance. Things get progressively weirder and more dramatic as the cast gets bigger, making a hard shift from 'slice of life' to 'doomsday'.
Recommend if: You like unusual comic styles; you are interested in stories about ancient Incan culture; you prefer story comics but are all right with the occasional nonsensical 'humor' comic.
Dawn of Time
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Dawn is a cavewoman in the time of dinosaurs. Culture seems to be a little counter-intuitive, ala Conan the Barbarian, for there are civilized settlements around-- Dawn simply isn't part of them. She befriends Blue, the triceratops, and a time-traveling man trapped in the past by his meddlesome cohort when his theory about dinosaurs is proved wrong.
Recommend if: You like time travel; you enjoy dinosaurs; you like story comics with a good sense of humor; you enjoy some surreality from time to time; you like comics that experiment with characters who do not speak (Dawn cannot speak).
GastroPhobia
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I forget about it for months at a time before remembering to check it again.
Summary: Gastro and Phobia are a son and his badass barbarian mother, traveling the land in ancient Greece and Egypt.
Recommend if: You like character driven comics; you like humor; you prefer comics that toe the line of story and non-story; you like occasional surreal comics.
Diesel Sweeties
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Too much of the same thing, especially with the 'erased robot memory relationship reset' drama plot, which was repeated at least twice while I was still following it.
Summary: A porn star, dating a robot, ends up having to erase his memory when she cheats on him. However, this doesn't quite fix her relationship problems.
Recommend if: You like robots; you like humor comics; you prefer non-story comics but don't mind continuity; you enjoy modern fantasy.
Two Lumps
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Only so much is done with two cats, and it was sort of repetitive.
Summary: It's about two Russian Blue cats taking on the standard comedy duo of wacky guy and straight man.
Recommend if: You like cats; you like humor; you prefer non-story comics usually.
Unsounded
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Enormous walls of text and exposition became more and more common; kept introducing new characters instead of returning to the original ones, blurring the line of who the protagonist was.
Summary: An undead mage and a young lion-girl are trying to do a service for her father when things take a turn for the worst, as they encounter wicked cultists who are enslaving and murdering children to use them to look into the future.
Recommend if: You like fantasy; you prefer story comics; you don't mind a very large cast with shifting protagonists; you can get through the wall of text exposition chapters.
Arcana
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator. Also, incredibly angsty.
Summary: In a world where Vampires and Harpies are at war, this one guy raped this other guy the night he made him a vampire, and that's unfortunately most of what I can remember about the comic.
Recommend if: I probably wouldn't.
Vampirates!
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator.
Summary: Vampires are being aided by the government, which provides them pills to suppress their craving for blood. However, some vampires object and prefer to prey on humanity. One who embraces the pills hijacks a ship to go meet head to head with his old rival, and drags along his friends for the ride.
Recommend if: You like serious comics veiled in a guise of humor; you like vampires; you prefer story comics.
Under Lock and Key
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator.
Summary: It looked to be a mystery about being trapped in a magical house enchanted to conceal its doors.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, it's been abandoned way too early to have much to read without feeling gypped.
Hanna is Not a Boy's Name
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator.
Summary: Hanna is a paranormal investigator who can use magic and might not be wholly alive. His sidekick, a nameless zombie who can't remember much of his past, relates the story of his first two cases.
Recommend if: You don't mind being left to hang.
Rice Boy
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Rice Boy is tasked with a quest to find the tower of knowledge by The One Electronic.
Recommend if: You like epic fantasy; you like finished comics; you prefer story comics; you like non-standard races as your main characters (such as aliens).
Order of Tales
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: After his family is assassinated for the stories they kept, the main character goes on a quest to take down his uncle, the man responsible. In a recreation of an old story, he brings to his uncle a bottle woman, who contains the elixir that can kill him. They both fall in love with her, but she cannot be loved.
Recommend if: You like non-standard races as your main characters (such as aliens); you like finished comics; you prefer story comics; you like serious comics.
CaptainExcelsior Stupendous
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Elder superhero Captain Stupendous is a super gross dude that you just can't like. This is his story!
Recommend if: You like bawdy humor; you like superheroes; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics.
The Phoenix Requiem
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: A love story between a doctor and her patient, who turns out to be a man cursed to live forever, so long as he aids the wicked spirits in collecting the souls of the dead. Together, they fight to end the corruption of these spirits, even if it might cost the world magic itself.
Recommend if: You like romance; you like serious comics; you like fantasy; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics.
Inverloch
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete. However, the ending left a lot to be desired, for me.
Summary: A young elf, unknowingly trapped in the body of another being, sets out to try to heal the world and fix magic.
Recommend if: You like fantasy comics; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics; you like romance; you like serious comics.
Bobwhite
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: A slice-of-life comic about three college friends and sometime-roommates as they try to make their way out into the world.
Recommend if: You like slice-of-life comics; you like romance comics; you like humor; you prefer storyline comics only in smaller storylines, with an overarcing theme; you like finished comics.
Yu + me
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: A dreadfully boring high school comic that turns out to be a coma-dream. The girl suffering the coma decides to abandon life to descend into the dream world so she can be with the woman she loves.
Recommend if: You like high school comics more than I do; you like surrealism; you like alternate media comics (only some of it); you like fantasy; you like serious comics; you like romance; you like finished comics.
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Jokes about porn, all kinds of porn, of the utterly irreverent variety. The art just gets better, and the jokes just get weirder.
Recommend if: You like tentacle monsters; you like bawdy humor; you hate Megatokyo (because boy, so does Ghastly); you like sexy comics; you prefer largely non-story comics; you like finished comics.
Sexy Losers
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator/Comic finished.
Summary: The worst things on the internet, transformed into porny comics! Some repeating characters to deal with each weird fetish.
Recommend if: you like bawdy humor; you are amused by porn comics; you are not bothered by weird fetishes, or have some of your own.
Sparkling Valkyrie Generation Yuuki
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Updates stopped. Not sure if was actually abandoned or not.
Summary: A guy is turned into a magical girl, and has to fight crime! Or...something. It's been a long while. I remember liking it though.
Recommend if: You enjoy transgender; you like magical girls; you like modern fantasy; you enjoy humorous comics; you prefer story comics.
Chasing the Sunset
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Repetitive and endless plot. It appears to still be going.
Summary: Wildly generic fantasy comic about an elf and his dragon, and their thief friend, the Fairy Feiht.
Recommend if: You like generic fantasy; you prefer story comics.
Keychain of Creation
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Author became increasingly more full of himself and less fun; story became pretentious overdrawn serious plot instead of the fun adventure it started out as.
Summary: A group of Exalts bands together to go on a quest to collect all the Keyblades and protect some ancient artifact that the Abyssal Lords seek to obtain.
Recommend if: You like humor; you like Exalted humor; you prefer story comics; you stop after the completion of the first arc or two.
Sluggy Freelance
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: My god, it goes on forever and it never gets better.
Summary: Multidimensional adventures, but everything was really bland, I remember.
Recommend if: I don't.
Something Positive
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Got tired of following the lives of new characters; got tired of seeing the characters I liked have bad shit happen to them almost all the time.
Summary: Slice-of-life about bad people doing hilariously bad things.
Recommend if: You have the patience, the archives are insanely large now.
Queen of Wands
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Story of a woman who ultimately has to move away when she gets a new job.
Recommend if: You like finished comics.
Elf Only Inn
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator, which was very very sad.
Summary: Hilarious parody of forum / online communities. Very accurate. Originally a cut/paste comic to mock the fact that people are associated with a single avatar on a forum or message board. Accurate jokes about RPers online abound. Later tried a reboot where the same characters are on an MMO, but that eventually fell by the wayside.
Recommend if: You love humor; you have a sense of humor about online communities or roleplayers; you prefer both story and non-story comics.
I was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space!!
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Comic became a choose your own adventure about some side character that the audience was supposed to be considering themselves as at some point; it may have reverted back, but this was very off-putting for me, so I stopped reading.
Summary: Follows a create of Lesbian space-pirates, who abduct a young woman from 50's Earth because of a misunderstanding where they think she is their missing princess.
Recommend if: You like pulp fiction; you like sci-fi; you like to see lesbian protagonists; you aren't bothered by the thing above that turned me off of the comic.
Curvy
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Lost interest in the sexfest. Liked the story until then.
Summary: Anaise, resident of Boring World, is called upon by the princess of Candy World to help her escape an arranged marriage she's not interested in.
Recommend if: I kind of don't think I would. The art and concept are potentially neat, but it doesn't go anywhere.
Chester 5000XYV
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Lost interest in the sexfest. Liked the romance until then.
Summary: A scientist, tired of his wife's eager affection, builds her a robot to fuck her in his stead so he can get work done. She falls in love with the robot, who is very gentlemanly and much nicer than her husband, but her husband becomes jealous and tries to sell the robot to a widow who is lonely. When the robot returns, he tries to kill it; ultimately, he ends up with the widow, while his wife stays with the robot. Then...sex continues to happen!
Recommend if: You stop at the part where the wife stays with the robot. Beyond that I don't know, I think it's just more sexy stories. Not bad, but I can't vouch for them.
Dreamland Chronicles
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Everything happened so ludicrously slowly I couldn't stand it!
Summary: Computer rendered comic about a kid who crosses over into another world when he sleeps. As an adult, he starts dreaming again, and becomes a hero to his now-grown-up friends of the dream land. Together they must fight to get rid of the evil dragon Nicodemus, whom Alex awoke when he discovered a magic sword, many years ago.
Recommend if: You have the patience for it; you like fantasy; you prefer story comics; you like romance; you don't mind a little groan-worthy modern-day slice of life + side romance.
XKCD
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Author's condescending tone, combined with the sexism of his 'love' themed comics, grated on me. I decided to stop reading specifically after the one detailing the nerd social fallacy that women Owe Nice Guys Something.
Summary: Stick-figure comics about how Randall Munroe is smarter than you.
Recommend if: You're into that.
Control Alt Delete
Rating: R
Why I stopped: CADbortion was better than any of the comics ever were.
Summary: Ethan is a terrible human being. Other people tolerate him for some reason, because he is in a fantasy world.
Recommend if: You just skip all the character drama, and only read the video-game parody comics. Those are pretty funny, usually.
Daisy is Dead
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Not very good.
Summary: Daisy is a zombie who gets a job at a local supermarket. Not because she needs it of course, since she's filthy rich. Just because someone thought that was interesting.
Recommend if: I wouldn't.
Scandinavia and the World
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: Just jokes about various strange customs from country to country, usually focusing on Scandinavian countries as the main characters. More light-hearted than Hetalia, which I do not like.
Recommend if: The update schedule does not bother you.
Boxer Hockey
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: A made up sport and a tournament for it are the focus! Also, the team might have a cheater on it?! Stay Tuned!
Recommend if: Nahhh, probably not.
Axe Cop
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The author's sexist attitude was a complete turn off. When confronted about sexist portrayal of women, he defended by saying that little boys hate girls, so of course his brother had put that into the comic. However, as the elder brother, I consider him responsible for teaching his younger brother to respect women instead of encouraging him to be sexist, and I consider him fully responsible for the comic, as he is an adult and can make his own decisions.
Summary: A pair of brothers (the writer, age 5; the artist (and edito) age 30) making a comic about a guy who is a cop, with a fireman's axe.
Recommend if: I don't.
Templar, Arizona
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Too many side characters, and I hated most of them.
Summary: Something to do with post-modernist hipster culture in a quasi-apocalyptic AU semi-future. The main character appears to be a very nervous person who actually ran away from home, but the focus of the story shifts to increasingly more side characters until the original character is no longer important at all. Subplot about head-shaving cultists pretty much drove me away. I couldn't stand them.
Recommend if: The subplot about the cultists is finally over.
Looking for Group
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Plot diverged into Serious Town, characters changed completely to suit it, and I did not find it interesting.
Summary: At the start, a silly blood elf teams up with a necromancing zombie, an ogress and a minotaur to go around doing a quest of some kind. Unaware that he's supposed to be evil, he has trouble at first reconciling the fact that he and his allies must fight against people he thinks are probably 'good' to survive. Then things get serious and complex, some time after they team up with the dwarf and some time travel plot about the ancient elves completely changes the blood-elf's character.
Recommend if: I don't.
Least I Could Do
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Sunday preachy Least I could Do Kids! strips; Ryan Sohmer's ego; comic gradually became a soapbox, and lost the humor it had had. I lost interest.
Summary: Rayne is a player. Then, eventually, he's a Deep And Soulful Individual Who Cares About the Important Things, and it's not really a very fun comic anymore.
Recommend if: You like Lar deSouza's awesome art.
Shortpacked!
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic was supposed to be funny and it was supposed to be about Ethan. It stopped being those things when Robin became the main character.
Summary: Before it stopped being Shortpacked, they worked at a toy store and that was the point. Then that stopped being the point.
Recommend if: I wouldn't; if you do, just the first hundred strips or so. Also, when he says 'toys' he mostly just means 'Transformers'. Other toys do not exist in David Willis's paradise.
Roomies/It's Walky
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Crazy melodrama explodes from a college-roommates situation into a military end-of-the-world-for-no-reason situation. But it's okay, because Joyce gets over her childish fear of sex and she and Walky bang for hours.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, really. :|
Platinum Grit
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator; she's focusing on Oglaf though so that's okay.
Summary: Extremely long, overly complex story about Jeremy, who is in no way a Highlander character (except he basically is). But, Jeremy is a virginal genius who lives in a haunted castle and belongs to a weird, creepy family that seems to use him as some kind of experimental piece, rather than treat him as a person. He is aided by Nils, his lifelong love who won't give him what he wants, and Kat, a dour reporter who falls for him.
Recommend if: You like weird comics; you like romance comics; you like humorous but also serious comics; you prefer story comics.
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire
Rating: R
Why I stopped: After the rape plot about-- Grelka? the orc girl, it went steadily downhill. I abandoned it sometime during an arc where Sigfried was sent to hell.
Summary: Just read the first arc, in which Dominic discovers an evil plot by his second brother that would put the entire plane out of balance, and works with all his might to thwart it. He also meets and falls in love with Luna, the female protagonist.
Recommend if: You read only to the end of the plot where Dominic is briefly teleported to the elemental plane of balance, or whatever.
Unicorn Jelly
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: An extremely detailed story about a universe in which people are fleeing the collapse of the universe by building ships to flee the edge of the universe every 60,000 years, putting only the 'best' of society on them, and then going to colonize the next world. One of the pivotal characters is Unicorn Jelly, a jelly (one of the native species of the colonized worlds) who had a religious experience where he met a unicorn, and so was motivated to become braver and bolder than the average jelly. The ultimate outcome of the story is kind of depressing, but it's very detailed and complete, if you end up liking it.
Recommend if: You like sci-fi; you like fantasy; you like technology vs. magic; you like apocalypse; you like alternate dimensions; you like serious comics; you like surreal comics; you like sad or bittersweet endings; you like finished comics.
Pastel Defender Heliotrope
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Not different enough from Unicorn Jelly; also, it bothered me a little that the protagonist was a blow-up sex doll.
Summary: Another part of the multiverse to do with Unicorn Jelly, where a scientist brings life to a blow-up sex doll who decides to be a hero.
Recommend if: I can't, really, I didn't like it much.
Menage a 3
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Became a parody of itself twice over and I got sick of it.
Summary: Gary is a stereotypically hopeless loser who everyone wants to bang for some reason. Slice-of-life comic.
Recommend if: You like sexual humor; you don't mind stereotypes; you like slice-of-life comics.
Eerie Cuties
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: They started a third comic called Magick Chicks about characters I hated, and slowed their schedule down even further. Combined with the above and I quit.
Summary: It's a monster high school for monsters.
Recommend if: Ehh.
Penny and Aggie
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Seriously not my style. I don't even know why I read as much of it as I did.
Summary: It's set in a high school. This is a story about a popular girl and an outcast and how they could be friends, but never will. I found the intentional miscommunication and relationship drama to be really off-putting, but these are staples of this genre, so anyone who enjoys it would probably enjoy this comic. Storylines included a fairly moving one about the popular girl trying to run away with a skater boy she thought she was in love with, and it not quite working out. I am told it is now finished; when I left off, it was doing...pay updates? I wasn't clear, but it seemed there was a members site where you got the real 'whole' comic, and the archives were only available up to a certain point. I may be wrong, or it may have changed since then. I haven't been back since.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, honestly. However, the link is available in case HS dramas are your thing.
8 Bit Theater
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: It was clearly never going to finish*, and I'd honestly stopped caring about the characters so long before then.
Summary: It's FF1 with more dialogue, only totally not even remotely. Parody comic gone rogue.
Recommend if: You dare brave those archives.
* - The comic has since finished, but it's WAY too long and I lost interest along the way. Your mileage may vary.
Penny Arcade
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The guys running this comic have been increasingly rude about their insistence that there's no such thing as a rape culture in video games, and that anyone who says so is discrediting themselves. This has offended me a few times, so I quit the comic.
Summary: What once was a scathing video game review comic with episodic wacky adventures is now all episodic wacky adventures. Hit or miss, especially if internet drama is involved.
Recommend if: I don't know if I can honestly recommend it. There were good ones that were funny, but those have not been common for a long time. By contrast, the early comics were too video-game specific and don't strike me as funny either.
This is so long my shoulder hurts. Argh.
WEBCOMICS
So, talking to Bubbles and thinking about it lately, I've decided it might be kind of fun to make a webcomics recommendation type post. Here it is. My insanely long list. The worst part is, I know this isn't all of them. I'll update and add as I remember. I've already been editing in links and a fix to my hilarious mistype of Randall Munroe as Murdock. I don't even know where that came from.
Rating system: G- Safe for all PG- Sometimes there's violence or innuendo, but nothing really NSFW. R- Totally NSFW, either because of violence/gore or sex.
Comics I check/follow regularly:
Sorcery 101
Rating: PG
How I found it: Danny's favorite comic. Soon became mine as well.
Summary: Danny, a blood-bound ex-prince trying to keep a low profile, is learning sorcery to try to help contribute to the protection of his friends. Trouble is, basic sorcery isn't always enough in this crazy, mixed-up world.
Recommend if: You like modern-day fantasy comics; you're interested in a complete, living setting that moves and feels like a real world; you like character-driven comics; you like story comics.
Hark! A Vagrant
Rating: PG
How I found it: Pure luck. Thank goodness I did!
Summary: History comics. Pokes fun at just about everything, but might teach you something while it does. Great style, great sense of humor.
Recommend if: You like non-story comics; you enjoy humorous comics; you like having reading recommendations to learn more about history with your comics.
Gunnerkrigg Court
Rating: PG
How I found it: Kristen's favorite comic. She was right!
Summary: Antimony Carver is a student at the mysterious Gunnerkrigg Court, a highly advanced technological compound that stretches almost beyond comprehension. Across a great divide, and the Annan waters, stands Gillitie Forest, a similarly vast expression of pure nature and wilderness. These places were once united, but something tore them apart. Perhaps Antimony can bring them back together-- only time will tell.*
Recommend if: You like technology vs. magic stories; you like story comics; you like mythology; you like technology and magic learn to get along stories; you like character-driven comics; you like serious stories that are also rife with humor.
*- I probably misspelled something in here to do with the setting!
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Rating: R
How I found it: I'm sure I followed a link sometime. Probably from S*P?
Summary: Updates daily with jokes on just about every subject. Not for the faint of heart, or the short tempered. Nothing is sacred; but, SMBC postulates, nothing should be! Also has SMBC Theater, which are video shorts put together and shared on Youtube.
Recommend if: You love humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics; you enjoy seeing everybody get equally ribbed for their shortcomings.
Buttersafe
Rating: PG
How I found it: 4chan once linked it, providing the first Skeleton Harvester comic to sell it. I was immediately hooked.
Summary: Tuesday/Thursday comics, usually unconnected but sometimes story. Bizarre is the order of the day, sometimes with humor, sometimes with soul-searchy and weird nihilistic undertones instead. If you ever thought to yourself, "Would life be better if Robin Hood made up wild cusses instead of stealing from the rich?" Then this is the comic for you. It has the answers.
Recommend if: you like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics; you enjoy weird, bizarre, or sometimes disturbing on a philosophical level comics.
Oglaf
Rating: R
How I found it: 4chan; someone posted the first several comics when the site was very new. I noticed the watermark in the bottom of the pages and went to bookmark the site. BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE.
Summary: In a world where magic, sex, and weirdness are all really really common, it can be tough to get by. Sometimes you're an innocent peasant being gnawed on by cock-bats. Sometimes you're an adventurer being seduced by a venomous tree. Sometimes you're just a lowly apprentice, being tricked into sucking cock for a pinecone. You never know what you're going to get; but rest assured, it will almost always be hilarious.
Recommend if: You love humorous comics; you enjoy comics that are comfortable with making fun of sex; you like a mix of story and non-story comics; you play D&D, and wish more people would make comics that reminded you of D&D.
Vattu
Rating: PG
How I found it: It is the newest comic being produced by Evan Dahm of Rice Boy; I picked it up after reading his other works.
Summary: Vattu, a young warrior of a dying tribe, has been given to the new conquerors of her land as a gift by her clan's young and feeble priest. But unlike the others, she does not intend to remain in servitude forever; and she might just liberate her friend, the war-man, to go with her.
Recommend if: You like story comics; you prefer comics with unusual and detailed art; you enjoy comics about alien or otherwise non-human races.
Moon over June
Rating: R
How I found it: Through Josh Lesnick's tumblr.
Summary: Summer is a gynecologist miser who loves corrupting the so-called innocent; Hatsuki is a porn-star and mathematical genius who loves tattoos; they live together, and might even like each other.
Recommend if: you like to see comics featuring lesbian protagonists; you like humor comics; you like porn comics; you are comfortable with misandry (on part of Summer).
Supernormal Step
Rating: PG
How I found it: Followed a link from another comic back in the day because the main character had blue hair.
Summary: Fiona has been transported to another universe, where magic is real, a dictator from her world has secret agents known as 'Hendersons' running things, and monsters try to live in peace with the rest of the population. There's just one problem; Fiona kind of wants to go home, and the technology that could help her has been outlawed.
Recommend if: You like superheroes; you like story comics.
Manly Guys Doing Manly Things
Rating: PG
How I found it: One of my flist linked to it somewhat recently. SCORE!
Summary: Commander Badass is here from the future to reform and help re-introduce the badasses of today into normal society. This is a comic about big, buff dudes doing the kinds of things big, buff dudes like to do. Ain't no shame in that.
Recommend if: You like a mix of story comics and non-story comics; you like humorous comics; you like manly guys; you enjoy video game references and occasionally poking fun at them.
The Oatmeal
Rating: PG
How I found it: Oh, how does anyone find the Oatmeal? but I think it was Dustin or Danny that linked me. Possibly Jenn.
Summary: Started off as a goofy joke-lists type site, but has since evolved to a sort of comic blog dealing with various subjects. Grammar, spicy food, airplane etiquette-- take your pick.
Recommend if: You like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Savage Chickens
Rating: PG
How I found it: I used to listen to SongsToWearPantsTo, and the guy there did a themesong for this comic. I started reading at once!
Summary: Office humor, cat humor, zombie humor, and chicken humor. Occasionally you will get the bonus of cool stopmotion animations, and your comics will always be drawn on yellow post-it notes (though no longer always of the same size).
Recommend if: You like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics; you like alternative medium comics, and side art projects (such as the animations).
The Less-than-epic Adventures of TJ and Amal
Rating: R
How I found it: I think this is another one I heard about on 4chan; but I might also have found it through unrelated art posted on DA.
Summary: TJ is a vagabond with a secret history; Amal is a recently outed gay man who was just a few weeks away from potentially finishing medical school, but has been disowned by his family. They go on a road trip together, and become involved.
Recommend if: You like very detailed art; you prefer story comics; you like humor mixed liberally in with your serious comics; you like to see comics featuring gay protagonists.
Zebragirl
Rating: PG
How I found it: Zazie, or possibly Varnia, linked me years ago.
Summary: Once upon a time, Sandra's friends were playing with a magic book and accidentally turned her into a demon. Things went downhill from there.
Recommend if: You like comics that start out humorous, but become very serious and later surreal; you prefer story comics; you like wildly complex settings with multiple parallel dimensions.
El Goonish Shive
Rating: PG/R depending on your feelings re: transformations
How I found it: Ages ago, I don't remember exactly how!
Summary: In a place called Moperville, there are some strange things going on. Some of it has to do with magic; some of it is the fault of alternate realities, and immortal beings; and some of it is the fault of young boy genius Tedd, who loves alien technology and transforming himself and his friends into various things.
Recommend if: You like story comics; you like character-driven comics; you enjoy transformation as a concept (cross-gender and cross-species alike); you like a mixture of humor and seriousness in your comics, erring on the side of humor, usually.
Order of the Stick
Rating: PG
How I found it: Some years back; people talked about it, so I looked it up.
Summary: The Order of the Stick are a group of high-level adventurers. They are working to prevent the opening of extra-dimensional gates that will allow some terrifying evil god to come forth and destroy existence as they know it, but getting there is no easy matter.
Recommend if: you like stick-figure comics; you like D&D humor; you like humorous comics with the occasional serious one thrown in there; you don't mind an irregular update schedule; you aren't intimidated by an enormous archive.
Snowflakes
Rating: G
How I found it: This is a side project done by the guys who did Captain
Summary: What if a bunch of cute little orphans in a snowy, remote orphanage started to fight over classroom politics? What if some of them thought they were vikings? Well, this is all about that.
Recommend if: you like goofy kids-with-big-imaginations stories; you prefer story comics; you like humorous comics; you have no reverence for nuns.
The Comics Curmudgeon
Rating: PG
How I found it: Pure chance!
Summary: The Comics Curmudgeon reviews various newspaper comics and either lightly teases them, ramps them up to hilariously ridiculous proportions by assuming they will get far more dramatic than newspaper comics ever actually are, or flat out mocks them. Thanks to this guy, I read Apartment 3-G sometimes. He's pretty rad.
Recommend if: you like newspaper comics, but not too much; you like humor; you want to make fun of Family Circus.
Goblins
Rating: R
How I found it: Looking for D&D comics years ago.
Summary: A group of Goblins from a small goblin village decide to become adventurers, but that's harder than they thought. Quickly escalates from a light-hearted, somewhat carefree adventure about the Goblins becoming heroes to their people against adversity and fate itself, and into a depressing epic about the suffering of the Goblins that ought to become more than they were, and various others that know of them in the setting.
Recommend if: You like humorous comics that become ridiculously dark; you like non-standard webcomic designs; you like D&D humor; you like goblins.
Wondermark
Rating: PG
How I found it: Through Dinosaur Comics
Summary: Usually non-sequitur but sometimes sequential comics made using wood-block prints and often completely random, moderately philosophical dialogue added to the often quasi-Victorian scenes. Features the occasional appearances of shapeshifting alien Gax, and madness.
Recommend if: you like humor; you like philosophy; you enjoy woodblocks and alternative webcomic media; you prefer non-story comics but don't mind the occasional story comic in the midst of the rest.
Dinosaur Comics
Rating: PG
How I found it: Probably thanks to Skye, actually!
Summary: Every day, T-Rex and his fellow dinosaurs go about their business. They do almost the same thing during those days, but they talk about anything and everything under the sun.
Recommend if: You like dinosaurs; you like philosophy; you like random medical facts; you like humor comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Questionable Content
Rating: PG
How I found it: Jen, back in the day
Summary: Marten and his friends live out their every day lives in a pseudo-futuristic setting where PCs are AIs, and can be put into various shells that allow them to walk around as humans do.
Recommend if: you like character-driven plots; you like romance as a central comic element; you like humor and drama in about equal parts; you think robots are pretty neat; you like story comics with the occasional non-sequitur.
Darths and Droids
Rating: PG
How I found it: The guys were reading it, so I picked it up too.
Summary: Using screenshots from the Star Wars films as art, the comic covers a long-standing tabletop RPG campaign wherein the players are playing the characters in the movies. Makes extensive light of the prequel trilogy; has just recently gotten to A New Hope.
Recommend if: You like Star Wars; you like humor comics; you like D&D humor; you don't mind making fun of D&D or Star Wars; you think it's entirely plausible that Jar Jar Binks was made up by a twelve year old girl.
Badly Drawn Kitties
Rating: R
How I found it: Years ago, this comic was taken down and removed. But it seems to have been recently reborn and is updating again! I found it after noting that I'd read it before and that it was gone, earlier today. Happily reunited! Ahh.
Summary: Slice-of-life, joke-a-day comic about Lydia and Lucy, two cat-ladies who are sassy roommates.
Recommend if: You like humor; you prefer non-story comics with some minor continuity.
Comics I still check sporadically, even though they are not on my list:
Johnny Wander
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Infrequent updates; new acquisition
Summary: Slice-of-life, usually humorous comics about the creators, plus a little fantasy element.
Recommend if: You like slice of life comics; you like humor comics; you like moderately character driven comics; you prefer non-story comics, but like some continuity.
VGCats
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: Sort of a non-sequitur video-game commentary comic.
Recommend if: You like that sort of thing!
Super Effective
Rating: G
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: A pokemon parody comic detailing the adventures of a character through Pokemon Red. So far, some pretty decent Pokejokes in there.
Recommend if: You are not Skye; you like Pokemon enough to be amused by a comic about it; you enjoy Slowpoke jokes.
Octopus Pie
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: I kind of hate some of the characters.
Summary: Slice-of-life story of bachelorette Eve Ning and her roomie, Hannah. Their adventures are sometimes fantastic, but often it boils down to getting by day to day.
Recommend if: You like slice of life comics; you like occasionally humorous, occasionally dramatic comics; you like romance comics; you like moderately character driven comics; you prefer story comics that are broken up into various smaller storylines.
The Meek
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: very unreliable updates
Summary: In a world torn by war and separation, a spirit embodying spring and magic must find and stop the terrible warlord who, mad in his grief for his wife, follows the advice of the evil spirit that killed her grandfather.
Recommend if: You like epic fantasy; you don't mind graphic gore; you are looking for a comic with very detailed art; you like serious comics; you prefer story comics; you enjoy very rare moments of humor.
Zap! in Space
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: Updates only once a week; plot has become turgid over several years; main character has been captured by villains and silenced for two or three years now.
Summary: Zap is a friendly, happy-go-lucky guy who gets picked to replace missing captain Efrem on a rebel ship. But when things get a little hairy, it becomes unclear if Zap is who he seems to be. Meanwhile, Reona and the others of the crew meet and befriend some pirates in their search to rescue Zap.
Recommend if: you like story comics; you like sci-fi comics; you enjoy plots about psychics; you like humorous comics that become very dark and serious later.
Wasted Talent
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Sporadic updates, and multiple comics that rubbed me just a little bit the wrong way.
Summary: A slice-of-life comic about the artist/author and her life as a lady engineer.
Recommend if: You like slice of life comics; you like humorous comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Butterfly
Rating: G
Why it's not bookmarked: Read entire archive upon first discovering. It hasn't updated since then.
Summary: Butterfly is a superhero who loves helping people, and hangs out with not-quite Robin. He eventually accidentally becomes a parody of Captain Marvel.
Recommend if: You like superheroes; you like humorous comics; you like character driven comics; you like story comics that are broken up into smaller storylines.
Lackadaisy
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: In an AU 1920's setting, a bunch of crazy cats are running some kind of bootleg booze ring under the nose of the law. But everything isn't savory, and somebody might get hurt if they're not careful!
Recommend if: You like the 1920's; you enjoy heist and prohibition era stories about the mob; you enjoy a mix of humorous and serious comics; you prefer story comics.
Love me Nice
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: I have no idea what the author is planning to do with it, and I'm not wholly sure I like it.
Summary: In a world where toons and people live together in relative harmony, there are some rough patches when it comes to the equivalent of interracial relations.
Recommend if: You prefer story comics; you like slice-of-life style comics.
Hero: a story
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: A young man decides that he wishes to go on a journey, to see cities and people he has never seen before in the house of the witch who looks after him. On the way, he meets a demon named Vincent, who offers to look after him. Surreal, and often quite beautiful.
Recommend if: You enjoy surreal stories; you like the option to view the artwork without the text on the comic (all dialogue is alt-text, which allows for a very interesting reading experience); you like serious comics with the occasional touch of levity; you find dreamlike stories interesting; you enjoy fantasy.
Pokey the Penguin
Rating: PG?
Why it's not bookmarked: It's kind of crazy!
Summary: Pokey the Penguin is a sprite comic. It is also madness, and I'm not sure it's updated in a while. Regardless, it's brilliantly silly.
Recommend if: You love humor comics; you love bizarre comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Gunshow
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: If I checked this daily, I would be sad all the time.
Summary: Sometimes terrifying, sometimes hilarious, sometimes both. Some subplots follow storylines, while others are one-shot stories. In the end, one thing is for sure: someone will probably commit suicide.
Recommend if: You like unsettlingly bizarre comics; you prefer a mix of story and non-story comics.
Romantically Apocalyptic
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Only found it recently. Also, it's way too big to view easily on my computer screen so it's a hassle to read, and I'm not sure it's really got a story, per se.
Summary: In the apocalyptic future, some people cavort around in gas masks and long, protective coats, playing with the skeletons of the dead in the wreckage of the wasteland. They may or may not be partially mad thanks to surviving the apocalypse. Also, there is some kind of life magic, which was nearly killed recently by a parasitic death thing.
Recommend if: You enjoy the genre of post-apocalypse stories; you enjoy uncomfortable humor; you like photo-realistic digital paintings; you enjoy a story comic with not much of a strict storyline.
No Rest for the Wicked
Rating: PG/R
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: Princess November can't sleep, so she's going on a quest to find whatever she must to fix it so she can.
Recommend if: You like fairy tales; you prefer story comics; you like fantasy; you enjoy moderately humorous, but usually serious stories.
Dresden Codak
Rating: PG
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule; losing interest.
Summary: Kimiko used to have random, wacky adventures. Now she has dark adventures. Dark, sciencey adventures to do with artificial intelligence, evolution, and the universe.
Recommend if: You like surreal comics; you like story comics that are broken up into smaller storylines; you like comics that start out humorous but become serious and dark later on.
Go Get a Roomie
Rating: R
Why it's not bookmarked: Irregular update schedule, I'm not very invested in it.
Summary: Roomie is a polyamorous mostly-lesbian vagabond who sleeps at people's houses thanks to their kindness. She encounters Lazytyke, a girl who spends most of her time sleeping and may have some kind of disorder. Lazytyke likes to dream, and Roomie falls in love with her.
Recommend if: You like lesbian protagonists; you prefer non-linear story comics; you like humorous comics.
Game Genies
Rating: BRILLIANT
Why it's not bookmarked: Very irregular update schedule!
Summary: Hilarity! Two genies who do crazy things. It's mostly just crazy, but probably deserves an R rating just in case.
Recommend if: You like gonzo humor!
Comics I no longer read, but read once:
Girly
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Two girls become friends and go on many adventures together, falling in love somewhere early on and only falling more in love by the end.
Recommend if: You like humor; you enjoy story comics with smaller storylines within the metaplot; you enjoy comics with lesbian protagonists; you like moderately romantic but not too-sappy comics; you like finished comics.
Strange Someone
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: While working on her latest book, Liz Eper interviews a nurse named Jeff to learn more about the medical profession for material. However, the more she talks to Jeff, the more curious she becomes about him-- and not just because she finds him attractive. Now the story is simple: what is Jeff Stewart's secret? Liz has to find out!
Recommend if: you like modern fantasy; you like humorous romance comics; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics.
From Scratch
Rating: Pg
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: This comic details the origins of the mysterious and powerful organization known as Alpha Phoenix, many years ago.
Recommend if: You prefer story comics; you like 1920's fantasy; you like moderately serious comics; you are a fan of Sorcery 101; you like finished comics.
As we Were
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Suzanne is trying to hunt down Seth, the vampire that killed her family, with the help of Lupe, a mystic. On the way, she might come to realize that her new family is a little more important than vengeance for the old one.
Recommend if: You like finished comics; you prefer story comics; you are a fan of Sorcery 101; you like involved mythology and magic.
Bisclavret
Rating: PG/R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: The story of a man who becomes a wolf, but cannot return to his true form without putting on his clothes. His wife, cheating on him with a nobleman who seeks to take his place, steals his clothes when he reveals this secret to her.
Recommend if: You like harsh moral fairy tales; you like finished comics; you prefer story comics.
Dracula Mystery Club
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I did not really find the comic funny enough or interesting enough.
Summary: A parody of the Twilight books.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, really.
Nedroid Picture Diary
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I forget about it and remember it off and on. I don't remember it regularly enough to put it in the above category, honestly.
Summary: Wacky random humor comics!
Recommend if: You like humor comics; you like bizarre comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Perry Bible Fellowship
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete. (Was? I saw a new update recently... might have to re-add).
Summary: A collection of strange, often surreal or creepy comics. Great stuff.
Recommend if: you like humor comics; you like failed romance comics; you like surreal or creepy comics; you prefer non-story comics.
Starfighter
Rating: R
Why I stopped: I did not find the comic interesting.
Summary: In a typical Space Marine story, a pilot and his navigator get into a standard yaoi relationship and start having lots of sex.
Recommend if: You're into that.
Erfworld
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I consider the first, complete arc to be good, and have no interest in continuing to read the comic.
Summary: A not-very-well-liked nerd from our universe is summoned to another, in which he has the opportunity to put his wargaming strategy skills to use and become a hero. He does, despite incredible odds.
Recommend if: You like fantasy; you enjoy a mix of humor and seriousness in your comics; you prefer story comics.
Sinfest
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: It's very repetitive and updates irregularly.
Summary: Follows a set cast. Includes some kind of cheeky religious dialogue from time to time. Also known to have comics that are just poetry recited by the characters, who like to go to open mic at a local cafe.
Recommend if: You like occasionally humorous comics; you like non-story comics; you like comics that are very similar to newspaper comics.
Boy Meets Boy
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Two guys get together despite their age difference. Wacky shenanigans in the middle aside, they end up living happily ever after.
Recommend if: You like finished comics; you like comics with gay protagonists; you like humor; you prefer non-story comics with some continuity.
Sandra and Woo
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Too much side character, not enough Sandra and Woo.
Summary: Sanda is a little girl; she rescues and befriends Woo, a racccoon.
Recommend if: You like sweet, kid-friendly comics; you like slice-of-life comics.
Wapsi Square
Rating: PG, maybe R?
Why I stopped: Woefully nonsensical; got tired of the plot; got annoyed by the objectification of the plethora of lady characters.
Summary: Monica is some kind of vessel to the spirits of an ancient Native American culture (I can't remember if it's Incan, or I'm just assuming that), and one night she befriends a little god of alcohol who hangs out to try to help her stay in balance. Things get progressively weirder and more dramatic as the cast gets bigger, making a hard shift from 'slice of life' to 'doomsday'.
Recommend if: You like unusual comic styles; you are interested in stories about ancient Incan culture; you prefer story comics but are all right with the occasional nonsensical 'humor' comic.
Dawn of Time
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Dawn is a cavewoman in the time of dinosaurs. Culture seems to be a little counter-intuitive, ala Conan the Barbarian, for there are civilized settlements around-- Dawn simply isn't part of them. She befriends Blue, the triceratops, and a time-traveling man trapped in the past by his meddlesome cohort when his theory about dinosaurs is proved wrong.
Recommend if: You like time travel; you enjoy dinosaurs; you like story comics with a good sense of humor; you enjoy some surreality from time to time; you like comics that experiment with characters who do not speak (Dawn cannot speak).
GastroPhobia
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: I forget about it for months at a time before remembering to check it again.
Summary: Gastro and Phobia are a son and his badass barbarian mother, traveling the land in ancient Greece and Egypt.
Recommend if: You like character driven comics; you like humor; you prefer comics that toe the line of story and non-story; you like occasional surreal comics.
Diesel Sweeties
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Too much of the same thing, especially with the 'erased robot memory relationship reset' drama plot, which was repeated at least twice while I was still following it.
Summary: A porn star, dating a robot, ends up having to erase his memory when she cheats on him. However, this doesn't quite fix her relationship problems.
Recommend if: You like robots; you like humor comics; you prefer non-story comics but don't mind continuity; you enjoy modern fantasy.
Two Lumps
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Only so much is done with two cats, and it was sort of repetitive.
Summary: It's about two Russian Blue cats taking on the standard comedy duo of wacky guy and straight man.
Recommend if: You like cats; you like humor; you prefer non-story comics usually.
Unsounded
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Enormous walls of text and exposition became more and more common; kept introducing new characters instead of returning to the original ones, blurring the line of who the protagonist was.
Summary: An undead mage and a young lion-girl are trying to do a service for her father when things take a turn for the worst, as they encounter wicked cultists who are enslaving and murdering children to use them to look into the future.
Recommend if: You like fantasy; you prefer story comics; you don't mind a very large cast with shifting protagonists; you can get through the wall of text exposition chapters.
Arcana
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator. Also, incredibly angsty.
Summary: In a world where Vampires and Harpies are at war, this one guy raped this other guy the night he made him a vampire, and that's unfortunately most of what I can remember about the comic.
Recommend if: I probably wouldn't.
Vampirates!
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator.
Summary: Vampires are being aided by the government, which provides them pills to suppress their craving for blood. However, some vampires object and prefer to prey on humanity. One who embraces the pills hijacks a ship to go meet head to head with his old rival, and drags along his friends for the ride.
Recommend if: You like serious comics veiled in a guise of humor; you like vampires; you prefer story comics.
Under Lock and Key
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator.
Summary: It looked to be a mystery about being trapped in a magical house enchanted to conceal its doors.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, it's been abandoned way too early to have much to read without feeling gypped.
Hanna is Not a Boy's Name
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator.
Summary: Hanna is a paranormal investigator who can use magic and might not be wholly alive. His sidekick, a nameless zombie who can't remember much of his past, relates the story of his first two cases.
Recommend if: You don't mind being left to hang.
Rice Boy
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Rice Boy is tasked with a quest to find the tower of knowledge by The One Electronic.
Recommend if: You like epic fantasy; you like finished comics; you prefer story comics; you like non-standard races as your main characters (such as aliens).
Order of Tales
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: After his family is assassinated for the stories they kept, the main character goes on a quest to take down his uncle, the man responsible. In a recreation of an old story, he brings to his uncle a bottle woman, who contains the elixir that can kill him. They both fall in love with her, but she cannot be loved.
Recommend if: You like non-standard races as your main characters (such as aliens); you like finished comics; you prefer story comics; you like serious comics.
Captain
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Elder superhero Captain Stupendous is a super gross dude that you just can't like. This is his story!
Recommend if: You like bawdy humor; you like superheroes; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics.
The Phoenix Requiem
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: A love story between a doctor and her patient, who turns out to be a man cursed to live forever, so long as he aids the wicked spirits in collecting the souls of the dead. Together, they fight to end the corruption of these spirits, even if it might cost the world magic itself.
Recommend if: You like romance; you like serious comics; you like fantasy; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics.
Inverloch
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete. However, the ending left a lot to be desired, for me.
Summary: A young elf, unknowingly trapped in the body of another being, sets out to try to heal the world and fix magic.
Recommend if: You like fantasy comics; you prefer story comics; you like finished comics; you like romance; you like serious comics.
Bobwhite
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: A slice-of-life comic about three college friends and sometime-roommates as they try to make their way out into the world.
Recommend if: You like slice-of-life comics; you like romance comics; you like humor; you prefer storyline comics only in smaller storylines, with an overarcing theme; you like finished comics.
Yu + me
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: A dreadfully boring high school comic that turns out to be a coma-dream. The girl suffering the coma decides to abandon life to descend into the dream world so she can be with the woman she loves.
Recommend if: You like high school comics more than I do; you like surrealism; you like alternate media comics (only some of it); you like fantasy; you like serious comics; you like romance; you like finished comics.
Ghastly's Ghastly Comic
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Jokes about porn, all kinds of porn, of the utterly irreverent variety. The art just gets better, and the jokes just get weirder.
Recommend if: You like tentacle monsters; you like bawdy humor; you hate Megatokyo (because boy, so does Ghastly); you like sexy comics; you prefer largely non-story comics; you like finished comics.
Sexy Losers
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator/Comic finished.
Summary: The worst things on the internet, transformed into porny comics! Some repeating characters to deal with each weird fetish.
Recommend if: you like bawdy humor; you are amused by porn comics; you are not bothered by weird fetishes, or have some of your own.
Sparkling Valkyrie Generation Yuuki
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Updates stopped. Not sure if was actually abandoned or not.
Summary: A guy is turned into a magical girl, and has to fight crime! Or...something. It's been a long while. I remember liking it though.
Recommend if: You enjoy transgender; you like magical girls; you like modern fantasy; you enjoy humorous comics; you prefer story comics.
Chasing the Sunset
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Repetitive and endless plot. It appears to still be going.
Summary: Wildly generic fantasy comic about an elf and his dragon, and their thief friend, the Fairy Feiht.
Recommend if: You like generic fantasy; you prefer story comics.
Keychain of Creation
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Author became increasingly more full of himself and less fun; story became pretentious overdrawn serious plot instead of the fun adventure it started out as.
Summary: A group of Exalts bands together to go on a quest to collect all the Keyblades and protect some ancient artifact that the Abyssal Lords seek to obtain.
Recommend if: You like humor; you like Exalted humor; you prefer story comics; you stop after the completion of the first arc or two.
Sluggy Freelance
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: My god, it goes on forever and it never gets better.
Summary: Multidimensional adventures, but everything was really bland, I remember.
Recommend if: I don't.
Something Positive
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Got tired of following the lives of new characters; got tired of seeing the characters I liked have bad shit happen to them almost all the time.
Summary: Slice-of-life about bad people doing hilariously bad things.
Recommend if: You have the patience, the archives are insanely large now.
Queen of Wands
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Story of a woman who ultimately has to move away when she gets a new job.
Recommend if: You like finished comics.
Elf Only Inn
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator, which was very very sad.
Summary: Hilarious parody of forum / online communities. Very accurate. Originally a cut/paste comic to mock the fact that people are associated with a single avatar on a forum or message board. Accurate jokes about RPers online abound. Later tried a reboot where the same characters are on an MMO, but that eventually fell by the wayside.
Recommend if: You love humor; you have a sense of humor about online communities or roleplayers; you prefer both story and non-story comics.
I was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space!!
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Comic became a choose your own adventure about some side character that the audience was supposed to be considering themselves as at some point; it may have reverted back, but this was very off-putting for me, so I stopped reading.
Summary: Follows a create of Lesbian space-pirates, who abduct a young woman from 50's Earth because of a misunderstanding where they think she is their missing princess.
Recommend if: You like pulp fiction; you like sci-fi; you like to see lesbian protagonists; you aren't bothered by the thing above that turned me off of the comic.
Curvy
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Lost interest in the sexfest. Liked the story until then.
Summary: Anaise, resident of Boring World, is called upon by the princess of Candy World to help her escape an arranged marriage she's not interested in.
Recommend if: I kind of don't think I would. The art and concept are potentially neat, but it doesn't go anywhere.
Chester 5000XYV
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Lost interest in the sexfest. Liked the romance until then.
Summary: A scientist, tired of his wife's eager affection, builds her a robot to fuck her in his stead so he can get work done. She falls in love with the robot, who is very gentlemanly and much nicer than her husband, but her husband becomes jealous and tries to sell the robot to a widow who is lonely. When the robot returns, he tries to kill it; ultimately, he ends up with the widow, while his wife stays with the robot. Then...sex continues to happen!
Recommend if: You stop at the part where the wife stays with the robot. Beyond that I don't know, I think it's just more sexy stories. Not bad, but I can't vouch for them.
Dreamland Chronicles
Rating: G
Why I stopped: Everything happened so ludicrously slowly I couldn't stand it!
Summary: Computer rendered comic about a kid who crosses over into another world when he sleeps. As an adult, he starts dreaming again, and becomes a hero to his now-grown-up friends of the dream land. Together they must fight to get rid of the evil dragon Nicodemus, whom Alex awoke when he discovered a magic sword, many years ago.
Recommend if: You have the patience for it; you like fantasy; you prefer story comics; you like romance; you don't mind a little groan-worthy modern-day slice of life + side romance.
XKCD
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Author's condescending tone, combined with the sexism of his 'love' themed comics, grated on me. I decided to stop reading specifically after the one detailing the nerd social fallacy that women Owe Nice Guys Something.
Summary: Stick-figure comics about how Randall Munroe is smarter than you.
Recommend if: You're into that.
Control Alt Delete
Rating: R
Why I stopped: CADbortion was better than any of the comics ever were.
Summary: Ethan is a terrible human being. Other people tolerate him for some reason, because he is in a fantasy world.
Recommend if: You just skip all the character drama, and only read the video-game parody comics. Those are pretty funny, usually.
Daisy is Dead
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Not very good.
Summary: Daisy is a zombie who gets a job at a local supermarket. Not because she needs it of course, since she's filthy rich. Just because someone thought that was interesting.
Recommend if: I wouldn't.
Scandinavia and the World
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: Just jokes about various strange customs from country to country, usually focusing on Scandinavian countries as the main characters. More light-hearted than Hetalia, which I do not like.
Recommend if: The update schedule does not bother you.
Boxer Hockey
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Irregular update schedule.
Summary: A made up sport and a tournament for it are the focus! Also, the team might have a cheater on it?! Stay Tuned!
Recommend if: Nahhh, probably not.
Axe Cop
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: The author's sexist attitude was a complete turn off. When confronted about sexist portrayal of women, he defended by saying that little boys hate girls, so of course his brother had put that into the comic. However, as the elder brother, I consider him responsible for teaching his younger brother to respect women instead of encouraging him to be sexist, and I consider him fully responsible for the comic, as he is an adult and can make his own decisions.
Summary: A pair of brothers (the writer, age 5; the artist (and edito) age 30) making a comic about a guy who is a cop, with a fireman's axe.
Recommend if: I don't.
Templar, Arizona
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Too many side characters, and I hated most of them.
Summary: Something to do with post-modernist hipster culture in a quasi-apocalyptic AU semi-future. The main character appears to be a very nervous person who actually ran away from home, but the focus of the story shifts to increasingly more side characters until the original character is no longer important at all. Subplot about head-shaving cultists pretty much drove me away. I couldn't stand them.
Recommend if: The subplot about the cultists is finally over.
Looking for Group
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: Plot diverged into Serious Town, characters changed completely to suit it, and I did not find it interesting.
Summary: At the start, a silly blood elf teams up with a necromancing zombie, an ogress and a minotaur to go around doing a quest of some kind. Unaware that he's supposed to be evil, he has trouble at first reconciling the fact that he and his allies must fight against people he thinks are probably 'good' to survive. Then things get serious and complex, some time after they team up with the dwarf and some time travel plot about the ancient elves completely changes the blood-elf's character.
Recommend if: I don't.
Least I Could Do
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Sunday preachy Least I could Do Kids! strips; Ryan Sohmer's ego; comic gradually became a soapbox, and lost the humor it had had. I lost interest.
Summary: Rayne is a player. Then, eventually, he's a Deep And Soulful Individual Who Cares About the Important Things, and it's not really a very fun comic anymore.
Recommend if: You like Lar deSouza's awesome art.
Shortpacked!
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic was supposed to be funny and it was supposed to be about Ethan. It stopped being those things when Robin became the main character.
Summary: Before it stopped being Shortpacked, they worked at a toy store and that was the point. Then that stopped being the point.
Recommend if: I wouldn't; if you do, just the first hundred strips or so. Also, when he says 'toys' he mostly just means 'Transformers'. Other toys do not exist in David Willis's paradise.
Roomies/It's Walky
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: Crazy melodrama explodes from a college-roommates situation into a military end-of-the-world-for-no-reason situation. But it's okay, because Joyce gets over her childish fear of sex and she and Walky bang for hours.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, really. :|
Platinum Grit
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Abandoned by creator; she's focusing on Oglaf though so that's okay.
Summary: Extremely long, overly complex story about Jeremy, who is in no way a Highlander character (except he basically is). But, Jeremy is a virginal genius who lives in a haunted castle and belongs to a weird, creepy family that seems to use him as some kind of experimental piece, rather than treat him as a person. He is aided by Nils, his lifelong love who won't give him what he wants, and Kat, a dour reporter who falls for him.
Recommend if: You like weird comics; you like romance comics; you like humorous but also serious comics; you prefer story comics.
Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire
Rating: R
Why I stopped: After the rape plot about-- Grelka? the orc girl, it went steadily downhill. I abandoned it sometime during an arc where Sigfried was sent to hell.
Summary: Just read the first arc, in which Dominic discovers an evil plot by his second brother that would put the entire plane out of balance, and works with all his might to thwart it. He also meets and falls in love with Luna, the female protagonist.
Recommend if: You read only to the end of the plot where Dominic is briefly teleported to the elemental plane of balance, or whatever.
Unicorn Jelly
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The comic is complete.
Summary: An extremely detailed story about a universe in which people are fleeing the collapse of the universe by building ships to flee the edge of the universe every 60,000 years, putting only the 'best' of society on them, and then going to colonize the next world. One of the pivotal characters is Unicorn Jelly, a jelly (one of the native species of the colonized worlds) who had a religious experience where he met a unicorn, and so was motivated to become braver and bolder than the average jelly. The ultimate outcome of the story is kind of depressing, but it's very detailed and complete, if you end up liking it.
Recommend if: You like sci-fi; you like fantasy; you like technology vs. magic; you like apocalypse; you like alternate dimensions; you like serious comics; you like surreal comics; you like sad or bittersweet endings; you like finished comics.
Pastel Defender Heliotrope
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Not different enough from Unicorn Jelly; also, it bothered me a little that the protagonist was a blow-up sex doll.
Summary: Another part of the multiverse to do with Unicorn Jelly, where a scientist brings life to a blow-up sex doll who decides to be a hero.
Recommend if: I can't, really, I didn't like it much.
Menage a 3
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Became a parody of itself twice over and I got sick of it.
Summary: Gary is a stereotypically hopeless loser who everyone wants to bang for some reason. Slice-of-life comic.
Recommend if: You like sexual humor; you don't mind stereotypes; you like slice-of-life comics.
Eerie Cuties
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: They started a third comic called Magick Chicks about characters I hated, and slowed their schedule down even further. Combined with the above and I quit.
Summary: It's a monster high school for monsters.
Recommend if: Ehh.
Penny and Aggie
Rating: R
Why I stopped: Seriously not my style. I don't even know why I read as much of it as I did.
Summary: It's set in a high school. This is a story about a popular girl and an outcast and how they could be friends, but never will. I found the intentional miscommunication and relationship drama to be really off-putting, but these are staples of this genre, so anyone who enjoys it would probably enjoy this comic. Storylines included a fairly moving one about the popular girl trying to run away with a skater boy she thought she was in love with, and it not quite working out. I am told it is now finished; when I left off, it was doing...pay updates? I wasn't clear, but it seemed there was a members site where you got the real 'whole' comic, and the archives were only available up to a certain point. I may be wrong, or it may have changed since then. I haven't been back since.
Recommend if: I wouldn't, honestly. However, the link is available in case HS dramas are your thing.
8 Bit Theater
Rating: PG
Why I stopped: It was clearly never going to finish*, and I'd honestly stopped caring about the characters so long before then.
Summary: It's FF1 with more dialogue, only totally not even remotely. Parody comic gone rogue.
Recommend if: You dare brave those archives.
* - The comic has since finished, but it's WAY too long and I lost interest along the way. Your mileage may vary.
Penny Arcade
Rating: R
Why I stopped: The guys running this comic have been increasingly rude about their insistence that there's no such thing as a rape culture in video games, and that anyone who says so is discrediting themselves. This has offended me a few times, so I quit the comic.
Summary: What once was a scathing video game review comic with episodic wacky adventures is now all episodic wacky adventures. Hit or miss, especially if internet drama is involved.
Recommend if: I don't know if I can honestly recommend it. There were good ones that were funny, but those have not been common for a long time. By contrast, the early comics were too video-game specific and don't strike me as funny either.
This is so long my shoulder hurts. Argh.