Excellent webcomics: sagas and series
I don't link to nearly enough webcomics, though I enjoy them very much and have a sizeable collection of links. So it's time to start putting them up, starting with long-running series. These are mostly graphic-novel type comics, all of them worth your time.
(A ways back I did do "Comics to blow your mind", which I really recommend seeing if you haven't yet.)
First is Demian5, a fantastic artist I only just discovered today. Most of his work requires a subscription to view (a measly $3, which I will have no problem shelling out one day when I have the time), but available for free is the wonderful medium-length series "When I Am King", a stylized hypercomic in an innovative sidescrolling format, using animation, 3-d rendering, and other sophisticated effects. With only visuals and no text, the comic follows the adventures of the king of a sunny, Egyptianesque country, an amorous giraffe-dragon, two quirky guards, a pair of sultry village women, a gaggle of children, and some bees. A large portion of the narrative involves the king's quest for his loincloth or a suitable replacement. There is quite a bit of nudity, sex, and scatological humor, but it's all so charming and abstract that only the most dour of Puritans could manage to be offended. Well, maybe some of the moderately dour ones, too.
Faith Erin Hicks's Demonology 101 was one of the first webcomics I ever read, and it's still one of my favorites. An adopted demon girl named Raven copes with high school, friends, and an epic struggle between a resistance group called the Network and the dark Powers that Be. Very nice artwork and a well-executed, engaging story mixing dark themes with humor make this one a winner -- plus, as Faith points out in her intro, it's the longest completed story-based online comic out there. So there you go.
The Green Crow promises to be a fantastic webcomic someday. It's an epic reworking of Peter Pan, with an impressive admixture of literary and mythical allusions and historical tidbits. Unfortunately, there's not very much of it -- just Part One of Book I, with Book I on a two-year hiatus, and Books II and III slated for 2009 and 2015(!), respectively. Now that's some planning ahead. But go and enjoy what there is, with some professional-quality art, terrific character design, and skilled storytelling. If only there were more!
Justine Shaw's Nowhere Girl is a beautifully drawn, very moving story about a troubled young woman named Jamie and how she tries to make sense of her life. Everything about the comic is impeccable -- great characters, wonderful art, flawless design. Highly recommended.
NYC2123 is a striking, two-tone graphic novel designed for the PSP. It's about a grim, future, technopunk Manhattan and the lawless barge cities outside it, ruled respectively by martial law and organized crime. A good, solid sci-fi story with some nice worldbuilding, not to mention some very stylish artwork.
Jenn Manley Lee's Dicebox is a new discovery for me. I was at first taken with the skillful, detailed artwork, and quickly drawn in by the futuristic world and interesting cast of unusual characters. The series also incorporates an element of mysticism and symbolism that adds some spice. I'm still reading, and you should, too.
Indigo Kelleigh's The Circle Weave is another new one for me, but after one chapter, I'm hooked. It's a long medieval-fantasy epic with some smashing artwork and great storytelling. What more do you need to know?
(A ways back I did do "Comics to blow your mind", which I really recommend seeing if you haven't yet.)
First is Demian5, a fantastic artist I only just discovered today. Most of his work requires a subscription to view (a measly $3, which I will have no problem shelling out one day when I have the time), but available for free is the wonderful medium-length series "When I Am King", a stylized hypercomic in an innovative sidescrolling format, using animation, 3-d rendering, and other sophisticated effects. With only visuals and no text, the comic follows the adventures of the king of a sunny, Egyptianesque country, an amorous giraffe-dragon, two quirky guards, a pair of sultry village women, a gaggle of children, and some bees. A large portion of the narrative involves the king's quest for his loincloth or a suitable replacement. There is quite a bit of nudity, sex, and scatological humor, but it's all so charming and abstract that only the most dour of Puritans could manage to be offended. Well, maybe some of the moderately dour ones, too.
Faith Erin Hicks's Demonology 101 was one of the first webcomics I ever read, and it's still one of my favorites. An adopted demon girl named Raven copes with high school, friends, and an epic struggle between a resistance group called the Network and the dark Powers that Be. Very nice artwork and a well-executed, engaging story mixing dark themes with humor make this one a winner -- plus, as Faith points out in her intro, it's the longest completed story-based online comic out there. So there you go.
The Green Crow promises to be a fantastic webcomic someday. It's an epic reworking of Peter Pan, with an impressive admixture of literary and mythical allusions and historical tidbits. Unfortunately, there's not very much of it -- just Part One of Book I, with Book I on a two-year hiatus, and Books II and III slated for 2009 and 2015(!), respectively. Now that's some planning ahead. But go and enjoy what there is, with some professional-quality art, terrific character design, and skilled storytelling. If only there were more!
Justine Shaw's Nowhere Girl is a beautifully drawn, very moving story about a troubled young woman named Jamie and how she tries to make sense of her life. Everything about the comic is impeccable -- great characters, wonderful art, flawless design. Highly recommended.
NYC2123 is a striking, two-tone graphic novel designed for the PSP. It's about a grim, future, technopunk Manhattan and the lawless barge cities outside it, ruled respectively by martial law and organized crime. A good, solid sci-fi story with some nice worldbuilding, not to mention some very stylish artwork.
Jenn Manley Lee's Dicebox is a new discovery for me. I was at first taken with the skillful, detailed artwork, and quickly drawn in by the futuristic world and interesting cast of unusual characters. The series also incorporates an element of mysticism and symbolism that adds some spice. I'm still reading, and you should, too.
Indigo Kelleigh's The Circle Weave is another new one for me, but after one chapter, I'm hooked. It's a long medieval-fantasy epic with some smashing artwork and great storytelling. What more do you need to know?
brewed by Jess Haskins at 19:49
5 Comments:
I'm looking forward to looking at these comics in the days to come; I'm still chewing my way through some of your recent posts. Metaphysik is causing various people I know to tear their hair out as I type this, I'm sure.
As for your previous comics post (which I missed the first time around): while I don't normally like Electric Sheep - Farley reminds me way too much of the technohippies who essentially drove me out of Massachusetts - I do quite like "The Guy I Almost Was." Did you read that one? What did you think?
As for "Books II and III slated for 2009 and 2015(!), respectively. Now that's some planning ahead." - my own web comic started in 2002; six issues have been released, though two still haven't been colored; nineteen scripts are already finished. I was about to write more but I realized that at this rate my artist already has work lined up through 2012.
I did read "The Guy I Almost Was," and I liked it a lot. I liked most of the "technohippie" stuff, too, though (I guess you could tell by my recommendations). It was really only his older shorts that I didn't care for that much.
Here´s a very original online comic that I´ve discovered recently:
THE RIGHT NUMBER
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/trn/intro.html"
"The Right Number is a projected three part online graphic novella about math, sex, obsession and phone numbers presented in an unusual zooming format"
Hope you like it!!
Greetings from Argentina!!
p.s. I really enjoy reading your Blog!
Sorry! The correct link to the comic is:
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/trn/intro.html
(without the " at the end! my mistake!)
Bye!
Scott McCloud has so many good-looking comics that I'd set his whole site aside to deal with at some unspecified later date, but this one was a real gem -- thank you for pointing it out to me!
Post a Comment
<< Home