Tuesday, 10 August 2010 01:38 pm
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deckardcanineI used to read a lot of newspaper comics daily—nearly all the offerings in The Washington Post, in fact, with soap operas being the main exception. I got more selective in college, when I had to look them up online. Not surprisingly, this was also when I got acquainted with Web comics.
Today I read very few syndicated comics more than once a week, but Web comics have filled the void. My regimen is pretty fluid, as many go on extended hiatuses or end after a few years, and some just stop appealing to me—but promising new ones come into being every year at least, and my taste has been diversifying.
Rather than list every Web comic I currently read (let alone ever have), I’d like to describe my favorites. My criterion for "favorite" is that news of an abrupt, unexpected end to the comic would ruin my morning. They are in alphabetical order, not order of preference.
Basic Instructions (Mon & Thu). You could make the case that part-time standup comedian Scott Meyer would do better in another medium, seeing as the humor is almost all in the dialog and the images are almost as repetitious as in "Red Meat" (tho it still looks better than "The Boondocks" did). Regardless, BI stands out for having at least one punchline in every panel and usually more, aside from a few early strips. By the time I reach the end of a strip, those punchlines have built on each other enough that I’m bound to smile if not laugh out loud.
Caveat 1: Much of the humor comes from characters implying negative things about themselves or each other, generally without the target’s acknowledgement. Caveat 2: Don’t take his advice too seriously. Personally, I like the absurd parts best, like the dubious utility of Omnipresent Man.
Incidentally, Meyer says he’s made spelling errors every time, but I never look before he’s corrected them.
Brawl in the Family (Tue & Fri). There’s no shortage of video game-themed Web comics, but they tend to make jokes I can barely appreciate because I haven’t played the game in question. BITF, named for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, may be the best choice for a Nintendo loyalist like me. Matthew Taranto has a simple hand-drawn style, typically in mere blue and white, that manages to complement the writing pretty nicely. With his predilection for the Kirby games, it’s nearly as cute as a young Patrick McDonnell ("Mutts") would make it. It helps that the humor rarely if ever sounds like a complaint; Taranto’s* ridiculing of the implications of game worlds is quite affectionate. There is a slight edge as some characters blur the line between good and evil, but at this level of silliness, it won’t disturb you.
*Chris Seward is identified as a creative consultant. Hard to know where his contribution ends.
Carry On (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Kathy Garrison Kellogg has taken her comic far from its origin as a fanfic of her future husband’s "21st Century Fox." I never thought I’d learn to like it better than 21CF, but her focus on the antics of a few characters instead of a big-picture adventure has paid off.
The CO anthros often belong to unpopular species but are still pretty cute (perhaps an inspiration for "Downscale"). Many are caricatures of people Kellogg knows, including herself, which may give them an extra fleshed-out feel. At the same time, her experience with real animals has allowed her to infuse the cast with accurate animalistic traits, producing a warts-and-all look at a relatively logical furry society.
How a farmer with dozens or hundreds of animals can make time for more cartooning than I do is beyond me.
El Goonish Shive (Mon, Wed, & Fri with sketches Tue & Thu). The strange eponymous title suits a work whose main purpose is to express the twisted mind of Dan Shive. One of the more evolved comics on my list, it now has perhaps the best B&W art, whether the aim is pure beauty, intensity, horror, humor, cuteness, or sexiness.
Yes, the mood varies that much. It’s hard to summarize a comic that runs from screwball comedy to poignant drama to awesome action. There are enough plot points to track that you’d best start reading from the beginning, keeping in mind that Shive changes his mind about some things along the way.
Mostly it feels like a TV anime deconstruction, but don’t let that scare you. I have little knowledge of that medium and still less desire to delve further, yet I don’t feel left behind. The characters know their world is silly in many ways. That doesn’t stop them from reluctantly accepting an internal logic of sorts.
Perhaps the most notorious aspect of EGS is the presence of fetishistic material. The main characters, half of them shapeshifters, are five photogenic girls, a gay guy, and two guys who keep turning into girls (one typically by accident, the other mostly for self-gratification). Fortunately, Shive plays the prurient points for laughs—effective laughs IMO, particularly when things get awkward between Elliot and the amusingly named Tedd—and he maintains strict PG or PG-13 limits. As far as I can tell, they’re all still virgins, which is especially good as they’re in high school.
Also, it’s not my idea of sexist: Everyone’s handled with respect here. No one’s two-dimensional. Even the fleeting walk-ons tend to be interesting in some way. Readers sometimes complain about a lack of credibility, but it wouldn’t be EGS otherwise.
Evil Inc. (Mon-Sat). For someone who’s read about five action comic books in his life, I take a pretty strong interest in superheroes and supervillains. In Brad Guigar’s world, both are plentiful and fulfill the clichés, but one can ostensibly run a villain-helping business within the bounds of the law. Rather than dismissing that as a glut of cynicism, I think of it as a fun frame of reference. When a typical Saturday begins with a secretary on the phone saying, "Evil Inc., how may I harm you?", you can expect Charles Addams-style hijinks. And, it turns out, frequent puns with a labored setup.
EI does have heart, tho. It features the most improbable marriage I’ve ever seen, between a superhero and a supervillain, complete with a young son of no clear alignment. They manage better than you’d think, but not ideally. Another complicated relationship involves a mad scientist who desperately grafted his brain onto his wife’s dog: She won’t forgive him for that, but thanks to the dual control of the dog’s body, she still shows him some love. In truth, no character seems all bad or all good, and many show a potential to switch sides. That’s enough to stir my intellect.
Faux Pas (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Robert and Margaret Carspecken have redone a comic that was pitched for syndication back in the ‘70s. Perhaps it had too little demographic targeting to succeed then. Regardless, it now has a highly professional look and feel.
Of all the animal-focused comics I read, this one has the least anthropomorphism, suggesting the possibility that it’s our world and we don’t give animals enough credit for intelligence. Not that any of these characters are what I’d call brainy. Cindy is highly naïve about all of civilization, TV-raised Randy is barely attuned to any instincts, and pretty much all the rest don’t know as much as they like to think. Why Cindy fell for Randy and remains patient with him, I may never know.
In keeping with the low level of anthropomorphism, FP features some of the cutest comic art I’ve seen. The Carspeckens do dabble in higher levels, tho. I have a gorgeous example on my wall from the 2004 Anthrocon auction. Kinda sad that nobody else bid on it.
Freefall (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Mark Stanley shows a lot of scientific understanding in this simply drawn but carefully constructed take on an unspecified future century. If you’re as ill-versed in science as I am, you may appreciate the lessons or just concentrate on the mostly real-time (more influence on "Downscale"?), middle-brow funny story. While the focus is usually on a Zero Mostel-like alien criminal, his dim robot, and/or their bioengineered lupine foil, we learn lots of believable things about future humanity that reflect on the good and bad of our present.
Guilty confession: The aforementioned wolf has been my crush at times. What she lacks in shape, she makes up for in smarts and virtue (when she’s not predatorily hungry). At least I have good company on this one.
Girl Genius (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Graphic novel legend Phil Foglio teamed up with wife Kaja for this Hugo-winning saga, one of only two Web comics to gain Mensa’s endorsement. You might call it steampunk; they call it a "gaslamp fantasy" to indicate a broader take on an alternate version of 19th-century Europe. Basically, imagine if there had been a gene for centuries that produced a number of brilliant mechanical and biological engineers, usually at the cost of their moral sanity. Now imagine the victim of circumstance who learns at 18 that her father was one of the most brilliant of all. Can she fend off her foes and handle the inherited power? Will she take after her heroic father or her irredeemable mother?
I admit it took me several tries to get into the comic, partly because there’s way too much sneering going on (you might expect as much all things considered), partly because there are too many characters and other details to remember (definitely start from the beginning), and partly because it’s a little more violent than my usual motionless fare. Then I discovered how funny it can be. I’ve said before that I tend to laugh harder when the work is not primarily a comedy, because it catches me off guard that way. The funniest characters IMO are the Jaegermonsters, goofy humanoid warriors with thick German accents and a penchant for nice hats.
Some of you may know Mr. Foglio better for his porn. Well, both men and women here are voluptuous and sometimes accidentally underdressed (tho Victorian underwear doesn’t reveal much), but it doesn’t get very racy. Steamy moments are invariably fleeting, because the heroine has two prospective lovers and they all drive each other nuts. I have my doubts that this will all end happily.
Housepets! (Mon, Wed, & Fri). My latest big Web comic discovery sounds deceptively banal in a one-sentence summary: Childlike anthros, mostly dogs and cats, live as suburban pets and interact with each other. Few have any problem with their status with regard to humans; in fact, "Mom" and "Dad" are common epithets for owners. PETA’s effort to "liberate" a pet was not shown in a good light.
We’re still learning the rules of Rick Griffin’s world, both social and natural. Interspecies friendships are okay, but interspecies romantic interest (mocking the feelings of many readers) is best kept a secret. As is the zoo dolphins’ ultimate goal. And the occasional magic. One instance of magic turned a delinquent human into a dog; while not fully reformed in mind, he’s now a fan favorite for both relatability and appearance.
From what I can tell, Griffin does not cut corners. It may look that way when he presents Peanut’s amateur comics, but even that style of drawing and writing takes effort on the real cartoonist’s part. And Pridelands… wow, with all the snippets the characters touch on, you could just about believe that it exists as a real bestselling young-adult novel series and film adaptation.
Kevin & Kell (daily). My gateway to Web comic fandom is the longest running—with no vacations—and the other Mensa recommendation in the medium. It helps that Bill Holbrook had already spent more than a decade with "On the Fastrack" and several years with "Safe Havens" in syndication, both of which I deem underrated as relatively bright newspaper comics. He is to furry comics pretty much what his idol Charles Schulz is to comics in general: a great pioneer.
No, I don’t mean "furry" in its acquired naughty sense. K&K uses a little suggestive humor, especially for the titular rabbit and wolf (an intermarriage right up there with the "Evil Inc." one), but nothing meant to turn us on. Heck, most characters wait until marriage, and those who don’t will generally regret it.
What’s more objectionable is offstage violence in the form of legal predation in society. Even big fans like me have some trouble accepting that many otherwise good and lovable people remorselessly kill innocent sapient strangers, even to maintain balance and diversity of species. Holbrook uses dietary difference to stand for any difference that causes conflict among humans, but what do we have that’s so intrinsically adversarial? And how could an immigrant from the parallel human world prefer to live with this system?
Nevertheless, contrary philosophy is my only problem with K&K. Everything else is wonderful to me: the cartoony look, the various cute romances, the mood rhythm and pacing, the semi-escapist premises, the unpredictable twists, and of course the clever gags. Subtle changes have transpired since a newspaper picked it up, but nothing too bad. Sunday strips even assumed a less conventional shape in the last couple years.
Lackadaisy (about bimonthly). This updates so rarely that I have Tracy J. Butler’s deviantART account on my watch list instead of visiting the official comic site. That may change soon, tho, as she’s held a poll on whether to update in much smaller increments.
Drawn in sepia to evoke Prohibition-era photos, the art is beautiful and the anthro-cats look sweet. That’s where the dissonance comes in, as most of them are gangsters, albeit fairly likable gangsters. It feels something like an early ‘30s movie, but with more wit.
Animality never affects the story. Butler says she made them cats primarily for ease of drawing. I’m not complaining.
Tales of the Questor (random). I’m reluctant to recommend the numerous works of Ralph E. Hayes, Jr. to anyone, because he’s prone to ranting against left-wing and non-Baptist values via one of his pet characters. Fortunately, TotQ is one of his least preachy outputs, with a pseudo-medieval setting that doesn’t lend itself to immediate modern connections. It focuses on the Rac Cona Daimh, a race of little anthro-raccoons whose proficiency with a form of energy undetectable to most humans has rendered them anathema as alleged sorcerers, so they mostly keep to a hidden set of villages. While more culturally advanced than humans, they’re starting to hurt for resources, especially metals.
The main story follows Quentyn, runt among runts, whose lack of outstanding abilities influences his decision to become the first questor (think knight-errant) in generations. Everyone thinks he’s quixotic, until he starts proving his heroic usefulness. Even then, he comes to learn why it hasn’t been a popular career choice.
It’s easy to love and sympathize with Quentyn. He can be smart or stupid, lucky or unlucky, awesome or humiliated. And always cute, unlike the less scrupulous of his kind.
TotQ is adventure first and foremost, sometimes reminiscent of video games, especially the Zelda franchise. Heck, Quentyn even dresses similarly to Link much of the time. Occasionally there’s bloodshed, but I wouldn’t put it above the PG level. And yes, it can be very funny.
Tally HO (random). The other RHJunior comic to meet my criteria for this list takes an "Over the Hedge" approach as a nameless fox finds his niche in the suburbs. Elderly hound Sigfried has a rather unstable companionship with him and a steadier love for a nameless rabbit, thanks to semi-senility. Few humans recognize their smarts, but things get pretty wacky at times, like when the fox recruits a troop of Internet meme-warped zoo denizens to steal tires for his fortress of solitude. It makes, well, enough sense in context.
The Dreamland Chronicles (Mon–Fri). Amazing that parenting cartoonist Scott Christian Sava has time for five updates in most weeks—to a beautiful CGI comic, no less. This on top of strides toward a movie adaptation. One of the few Web comics I might recommend to young children (tho preferably in the comic book format), it follows a college student, Alex, who rediscovers the fantasy realm where his mind went every time he slept as a kid… and comes to understand it’s both real and in need of his help. The realm itself is rather hackneyed with its elves and fairies and whatnot, but the element of Alex alternating between two lives (usually involuntarily when he wakes up) and passing word on to his initially skeptical brother and friend makes the overall story fresh. And Alex is more of an uncouth simpleton than most fantasy heroes.
xkcd (Mon, Wed, & Fri). This famously polarizing choice must look out of place after all the other comics I’ve listed. In keeping with the title that looks like a keyboard misfire, the characters are faceless stick figures, only some of whom are clearly not one-timers. The most prominent of these is the man in the black hat, a self-described "classhole" (yeah, it can get profane) whose recreation ranges from barely perceptible shenanigans to killing sprees, but always original in style.
Randall Munroe has proven that he can draw in detail, but he’d rather reserve the effort for his strong point: writing. And he’s frequently ingenious on that score. In truth, about 20% of the time, I need Google to parse his insight into advanced math, physics, computer science, or pop culture. But hey, when I don’t laugh, at least I learn. That makes "xkcd" more valuable than 90+% of other comics I’ve seen, syndicated or not.
Today I read very few syndicated comics more than once a week, but Web comics have filled the void. My regimen is pretty fluid, as many go on extended hiatuses or end after a few years, and some just stop appealing to me—but promising new ones come into being every year at least, and my taste has been diversifying.
Rather than list every Web comic I currently read (let alone ever have), I’d like to describe my favorites. My criterion for "favorite" is that news of an abrupt, unexpected end to the comic would ruin my morning. They are in alphabetical order, not order of preference.
Basic Instructions (Mon & Thu). You could make the case that part-time standup comedian Scott Meyer would do better in another medium, seeing as the humor is almost all in the dialog and the images are almost as repetitious as in "Red Meat" (tho it still looks better than "The Boondocks" did). Regardless, BI stands out for having at least one punchline in every panel and usually more, aside from a few early strips. By the time I reach the end of a strip, those punchlines have built on each other enough that I’m bound to smile if not laugh out loud.
Caveat 1: Much of the humor comes from characters implying negative things about themselves or each other, generally without the target’s acknowledgement. Caveat 2: Don’t take his advice too seriously. Personally, I like the absurd parts best, like the dubious utility of Omnipresent Man.
Incidentally, Meyer says he’s made spelling errors every time, but I never look before he’s corrected them.
Brawl in the Family (Tue & Fri). There’s no shortage of video game-themed Web comics, but they tend to make jokes I can barely appreciate because I haven’t played the game in question. BITF, named for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, may be the best choice for a Nintendo loyalist like me. Matthew Taranto has a simple hand-drawn style, typically in mere blue and white, that manages to complement the writing pretty nicely. With his predilection for the Kirby games, it’s nearly as cute as a young Patrick McDonnell ("Mutts") would make it. It helps that the humor rarely if ever sounds like a complaint; Taranto’s* ridiculing of the implications of game worlds is quite affectionate. There is a slight edge as some characters blur the line between good and evil, but at this level of silliness, it won’t disturb you.
*Chris Seward is identified as a creative consultant. Hard to know where his contribution ends.
Carry On (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Kathy Garrison Kellogg has taken her comic far from its origin as a fanfic of her future husband’s "21st Century Fox." I never thought I’d learn to like it better than 21CF, but her focus on the antics of a few characters instead of a big-picture adventure has paid off.
The CO anthros often belong to unpopular species but are still pretty cute (perhaps an inspiration for "Downscale"). Many are caricatures of people Kellogg knows, including herself, which may give them an extra fleshed-out feel. At the same time, her experience with real animals has allowed her to infuse the cast with accurate animalistic traits, producing a warts-and-all look at a relatively logical furry society.
How a farmer with dozens or hundreds of animals can make time for more cartooning than I do is beyond me.
El Goonish Shive (Mon, Wed, & Fri with sketches Tue & Thu). The strange eponymous title suits a work whose main purpose is to express the twisted mind of Dan Shive. One of the more evolved comics on my list, it now has perhaps the best B&W art, whether the aim is pure beauty, intensity, horror, humor, cuteness, or sexiness.
Yes, the mood varies that much. It’s hard to summarize a comic that runs from screwball comedy to poignant drama to awesome action. There are enough plot points to track that you’d best start reading from the beginning, keeping in mind that Shive changes his mind about some things along the way.
Mostly it feels like a TV anime deconstruction, but don’t let that scare you. I have little knowledge of that medium and still less desire to delve further, yet I don’t feel left behind. The characters know their world is silly in many ways. That doesn’t stop them from reluctantly accepting an internal logic of sorts.
Perhaps the most notorious aspect of EGS is the presence of fetishistic material. The main characters, half of them shapeshifters, are five photogenic girls, a gay guy, and two guys who keep turning into girls (one typically by accident, the other mostly for self-gratification). Fortunately, Shive plays the prurient points for laughs—effective laughs IMO, particularly when things get awkward between Elliot and the amusingly named Tedd—and he maintains strict PG or PG-13 limits. As far as I can tell, they’re all still virgins, which is especially good as they’re in high school.
Also, it’s not my idea of sexist: Everyone’s handled with respect here. No one’s two-dimensional. Even the fleeting walk-ons tend to be interesting in some way. Readers sometimes complain about a lack of credibility, but it wouldn’t be EGS otherwise.
Evil Inc. (Mon-Sat). For someone who’s read about five action comic books in his life, I take a pretty strong interest in superheroes and supervillains. In Brad Guigar’s world, both are plentiful and fulfill the clichés, but one can ostensibly run a villain-helping business within the bounds of the law. Rather than dismissing that as a glut of cynicism, I think of it as a fun frame of reference. When a typical Saturday begins with a secretary on the phone saying, "Evil Inc., how may I harm you?", you can expect Charles Addams-style hijinks. And, it turns out, frequent puns with a labored setup.
EI does have heart, tho. It features the most improbable marriage I’ve ever seen, between a superhero and a supervillain, complete with a young son of no clear alignment. They manage better than you’d think, but not ideally. Another complicated relationship involves a mad scientist who desperately grafted his brain onto his wife’s dog: She won’t forgive him for that, but thanks to the dual control of the dog’s body, she still shows him some love. In truth, no character seems all bad or all good, and many show a potential to switch sides. That’s enough to stir my intellect.
Faux Pas (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Robert and Margaret Carspecken have redone a comic that was pitched for syndication back in the ‘70s. Perhaps it had too little demographic targeting to succeed then. Regardless, it now has a highly professional look and feel.
Of all the animal-focused comics I read, this one has the least anthropomorphism, suggesting the possibility that it’s our world and we don’t give animals enough credit for intelligence. Not that any of these characters are what I’d call brainy. Cindy is highly naïve about all of civilization, TV-raised Randy is barely attuned to any instincts, and pretty much all the rest don’t know as much as they like to think. Why Cindy fell for Randy and remains patient with him, I may never know.
In keeping with the low level of anthropomorphism, FP features some of the cutest comic art I’ve seen. The Carspeckens do dabble in higher levels, tho. I have a gorgeous example on my wall from the 2004 Anthrocon auction. Kinda sad that nobody else bid on it.
Freefall (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Mark Stanley shows a lot of scientific understanding in this simply drawn but carefully constructed take on an unspecified future century. If you’re as ill-versed in science as I am, you may appreciate the lessons or just concentrate on the mostly real-time (more influence on "Downscale"?), middle-brow funny story. While the focus is usually on a Zero Mostel-like alien criminal, his dim robot, and/or their bioengineered lupine foil, we learn lots of believable things about future humanity that reflect on the good and bad of our present.
Guilty confession: The aforementioned wolf has been my crush at times. What she lacks in shape, she makes up for in smarts and virtue (when she’s not predatorily hungry). At least I have good company on this one.
Girl Genius (Mon, Wed, & Fri). Graphic novel legend Phil Foglio teamed up with wife Kaja for this Hugo-winning saga, one of only two Web comics to gain Mensa’s endorsement. You might call it steampunk; they call it a "gaslamp fantasy" to indicate a broader take on an alternate version of 19th-century Europe. Basically, imagine if there had been a gene for centuries that produced a number of brilliant mechanical and biological engineers, usually at the cost of their moral sanity. Now imagine the victim of circumstance who learns at 18 that her father was one of the most brilliant of all. Can she fend off her foes and handle the inherited power? Will she take after her heroic father or her irredeemable mother?
I admit it took me several tries to get into the comic, partly because there’s way too much sneering going on (you might expect as much all things considered), partly because there are too many characters and other details to remember (definitely start from the beginning), and partly because it’s a little more violent than my usual motionless fare. Then I discovered how funny it can be. I’ve said before that I tend to laugh harder when the work is not primarily a comedy, because it catches me off guard that way. The funniest characters IMO are the Jaegermonsters, goofy humanoid warriors with thick German accents and a penchant for nice hats.
Some of you may know Mr. Foglio better for his porn. Well, both men and women here are voluptuous and sometimes accidentally underdressed (tho Victorian underwear doesn’t reveal much), but it doesn’t get very racy. Steamy moments are invariably fleeting, because the heroine has two prospective lovers and they all drive each other nuts. I have my doubts that this will all end happily.
Housepets! (Mon, Wed, & Fri). My latest big Web comic discovery sounds deceptively banal in a one-sentence summary: Childlike anthros, mostly dogs and cats, live as suburban pets and interact with each other. Few have any problem with their status with regard to humans; in fact, "Mom" and "Dad" are common epithets for owners. PETA’s effort to "liberate" a pet was not shown in a good light.
We’re still learning the rules of Rick Griffin’s world, both social and natural. Interspecies friendships are okay, but interspecies romantic interest (mocking the feelings of many readers) is best kept a secret. As is the zoo dolphins’ ultimate goal. And the occasional magic. One instance of magic turned a delinquent human into a dog; while not fully reformed in mind, he’s now a fan favorite for both relatability and appearance.
From what I can tell, Griffin does not cut corners. It may look that way when he presents Peanut’s amateur comics, but even that style of drawing and writing takes effort on the real cartoonist’s part. And Pridelands… wow, with all the snippets the characters touch on, you could just about believe that it exists as a real bestselling young-adult novel series and film adaptation.
Kevin & Kell (daily). My gateway to Web comic fandom is the longest running—with no vacations—and the other Mensa recommendation in the medium. It helps that Bill Holbrook had already spent more than a decade with "On the Fastrack" and several years with "Safe Havens" in syndication, both of which I deem underrated as relatively bright newspaper comics. He is to furry comics pretty much what his idol Charles Schulz is to comics in general: a great pioneer.
No, I don’t mean "furry" in its acquired naughty sense. K&K uses a little suggestive humor, especially for the titular rabbit and wolf (an intermarriage right up there with the "Evil Inc." one), but nothing meant to turn us on. Heck, most characters wait until marriage, and those who don’t will generally regret it.
What’s more objectionable is offstage violence in the form of legal predation in society. Even big fans like me have some trouble accepting that many otherwise good and lovable people remorselessly kill innocent sapient strangers, even to maintain balance and diversity of species. Holbrook uses dietary difference to stand for any difference that causes conflict among humans, but what do we have that’s so intrinsically adversarial? And how could an immigrant from the parallel human world prefer to live with this system?
Nevertheless, contrary philosophy is my only problem with K&K. Everything else is wonderful to me: the cartoony look, the various cute romances, the mood rhythm and pacing, the semi-escapist premises, the unpredictable twists, and of course the clever gags. Subtle changes have transpired since a newspaper picked it up, but nothing too bad. Sunday strips even assumed a less conventional shape in the last couple years.
Lackadaisy (about bimonthly). This updates so rarely that I have Tracy J. Butler’s deviantART account on my watch list instead of visiting the official comic site. That may change soon, tho, as she’s held a poll on whether to update in much smaller increments.
Drawn in sepia to evoke Prohibition-era photos, the art is beautiful and the anthro-cats look sweet. That’s where the dissonance comes in, as most of them are gangsters, albeit fairly likable gangsters. It feels something like an early ‘30s movie, but with more wit.
Animality never affects the story. Butler says she made them cats primarily for ease of drawing. I’m not complaining.
Tales of the Questor (random). I’m reluctant to recommend the numerous works of Ralph E. Hayes, Jr. to anyone, because he’s prone to ranting against left-wing and non-Baptist values via one of his pet characters. Fortunately, TotQ is one of his least preachy outputs, with a pseudo-medieval setting that doesn’t lend itself to immediate modern connections. It focuses on the Rac Cona Daimh, a race of little anthro-raccoons whose proficiency with a form of energy undetectable to most humans has rendered them anathema as alleged sorcerers, so they mostly keep to a hidden set of villages. While more culturally advanced than humans, they’re starting to hurt for resources, especially metals.
The main story follows Quentyn, runt among runts, whose lack of outstanding abilities influences his decision to become the first questor (think knight-errant) in generations. Everyone thinks he’s quixotic, until he starts proving his heroic usefulness. Even then, he comes to learn why it hasn’t been a popular career choice.
It’s easy to love and sympathize with Quentyn. He can be smart or stupid, lucky or unlucky, awesome or humiliated. And always cute, unlike the less scrupulous of his kind.
TotQ is adventure first and foremost, sometimes reminiscent of video games, especially the Zelda franchise. Heck, Quentyn even dresses similarly to Link much of the time. Occasionally there’s bloodshed, but I wouldn’t put it above the PG level. And yes, it can be very funny.
Tally HO (random). The other RHJunior comic to meet my criteria for this list takes an "Over the Hedge" approach as a nameless fox finds his niche in the suburbs. Elderly hound Sigfried has a rather unstable companionship with him and a steadier love for a nameless rabbit, thanks to semi-senility. Few humans recognize their smarts, but things get pretty wacky at times, like when the fox recruits a troop of Internet meme-warped zoo denizens to steal tires for his fortress of solitude. It makes, well, enough sense in context.
The Dreamland Chronicles (Mon–Fri). Amazing that parenting cartoonist Scott Christian Sava has time for five updates in most weeks—to a beautiful CGI comic, no less. This on top of strides toward a movie adaptation. One of the few Web comics I might recommend to young children (tho preferably in the comic book format), it follows a college student, Alex, who rediscovers the fantasy realm where his mind went every time he slept as a kid… and comes to understand it’s both real and in need of his help. The realm itself is rather hackneyed with its elves and fairies and whatnot, but the element of Alex alternating between two lives (usually involuntarily when he wakes up) and passing word on to his initially skeptical brother and friend makes the overall story fresh. And Alex is more of an uncouth simpleton than most fantasy heroes.
xkcd (Mon, Wed, & Fri). This famously polarizing choice must look out of place after all the other comics I’ve listed. In keeping with the title that looks like a keyboard misfire, the characters are faceless stick figures, only some of whom are clearly not one-timers. The most prominent of these is the man in the black hat, a self-described "classhole" (yeah, it can get profane) whose recreation ranges from barely perceptible shenanigans to killing sprees, but always original in style.
Randall Munroe has proven that he can draw in detail, but he’d rather reserve the effort for his strong point: writing. And he’s frequently ingenious on that score. In truth, about 20% of the time, I need Google to parse his insight into advanced math, physics, computer science, or pop culture. But hey, when I don’t laugh, at least I learn. That makes "xkcd" more valuable than 90+% of other comics I’ve seen, syndicated or not.
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I'm sorry you never got hooked on Precocious (http://precociouscomic.com/), it's my current favorite. I'm also quite hooked on Order of the Stick (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html) from my Dungeons & Dragons days as a kid.
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