57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

Today we get into the 20s, which is all about relationships; relationships between boys and girls, girls and girls, fantasy and reality, and even relationships between a beaver and a lizard.

But before the list, I promised I would talk briefly about all those webcomic voting sites.

I have nothing against voting sites, they are a great way to find new comics you may never have seen before, but they are in no way reflective of the popularity of a particular strip. This is because the voting systems are easy fooled, can be manipulated to increase the number of votes and so on. One of the most popular ways I have seen web comic sites get votes is to offer a “bonus” strip in return for your vote. Others simply ask for an e-mail address to confirm the vote, but if you have more than one e-mail address you use, you can vote multiple times. Plus there is also the popular notion that those on the top of the lists will automatically attract more votes simply because they hold the top spots.

Voting sites to measure popularity of a web comic - not good. Voting sites as a way to find new strips to read - very good.

With that out of the way, here is today’s installment.

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

Day two of the 57 web comics you should be reading continues, with #40-31. Ah, the dreaded 30s. I hated those levels in World of Warcraft as I struggled to move up in the ranks.

Before we get to the list for today, I did receive an e-mail from Chris at Reasonably Clever, who asks, “Are most of your daily reads, comics that have been passed around by word-of-mouth or do you have a particular site you’ll check for new/interesting releases in the webcomic world?”

Glad you asked Chris, my Top 57 comes from two main sources; word of mouth, and ads. In the case of word of mouth, a student or colleague may say, “Hey, check out this comic, I think you’ll like it”. This of course means these people know what I think is funny or good. Other word of mouth comes from direct links in a commentary by the web author (kind of like what I just did with Reasonably Clever).

The other way I find my web comics is through the ads placed on other sites. For example, I found A Mission Deep via an ad link placed on Commissioned Comics. Some days I’m just bored as hell and begin trolling for new comics to read. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not so much.

What about voting sites? I’ll give you my thoughts on those in tomorrow’s installment. For now, let’s get to the list.

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57 varieties of web comics you should be reading

When I created the Major Spoilers Best of 2006 list, I placed Web Comics at number nine. There are just so many creators out there doing some great (and not so great) work. I also mentioned in the article (you really should read it), that I have over 50 web comics I visit every day. So why not count them down?

Over the next five days, I’ll bring you my top 57 web comics out there and by this time next week, you’ll either have a lot of reading to do, or a lot of fighting over who did or didn’t make the top 10.

Today, I’m bringing you #57 – 41. Unfortunately, at the bottom of the list many of these have faded – meaning they are not being updated, or have had a huge lapse since the last installment. Some (like A Mission Deep) have struggled to actually restart regular updates. Regardless, even for those that haven’t been updated in months, there is still a plethora of back issues for you to dive through and enjoy.

“Top 57? WTF?”

Hey it’s 56 more than those liars over at Heinz…

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While I have no problem writing Best Of and Top Ten lists, this is my first year coming up with a Best Of list for comics, and it has been a real challenge. First there is the whole “thousands of titles out there” deal, then there is the fact that these kinds of lists are a touchy subject to write. What may be on my Best Of list, is on the @$$ List for someone else. Regardless, it’s time to look back over the year and see what was tops when it came to comics.

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Viper has announced the five “winners” selected from all those submitted to Viper’s first webcomic search. The fab five will join You’ll Have That and the Horrible Pirates on the publisher’s website.

Find out who the winners are after the jump.

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I got a huge kick out of Scott Johnson’s My Extra Life strip today.  He’s been doing a series on Famous Last Words - those things that were proably the last thing said by a moron before getting what s/he deserves.  The reason why I like Scott’s strip today is because I suggested it (GRIN).

We’ll have the transcript to an interview I did with Scott up real soon, so until then, keep visiting his site!

via MyExtraLife.com (link)

Viper Comics has announced they will now be accepting open submissions for a webcomic to join the company’s existing strips You’ll Have That and The Horrible Pirates.“Viper is always on the lookout for the newest talent in comics and hopefully this opportunity will allow us to showcase a great unknown to a world-wide audience,” said Viper President Jessie Garza.

Creators will need to provide sample pages/strips of their webcomic (with finished art) and a full pitch regarding the characters and content. Only submissions from complete creative teams will be accepted. All submissions should be sent to info@vipercomics.com .

The chosen webcomic will launch on the Viper Comics website alongside Viper’s You’ll Have That by Wes Molebash and The Horrible Pirates by Patrick Bussey.

You’ll Have That is a comic-strip about a young married couple updated every weekday. It has received one print collection with a second due in December.

The Horrible Pirates launched in late 2005 and has since been thrilling readers with the adventures of the world’s nastiest pirate crew and their evil monkey rivals. A print collection of the weekly comic is expected for 2007.

I’m a huge fan of Wapsi Square by writer/artist Paul Taylor. I came across the online comic about three years ago, and have been hooked ever since. Great deep plot lines, interesting characters, and wonderful fun art. Recently Paul and his wife had a baby boy. That’s the good news. The bad news, he was born a month premature and has had several complications that require extended hospital stays. Extended stays mean high medical bills.

To help out Blank Label Comics is announcing a fund raiser to help the Taylor family out.

Several BLC members and friends are auctioning off original art and other amazing items over the next two weeks. The money made from these auctions will be donated directly to Paul Taylor and his family.

If you don’t want to bid on one of the auctions, you can donate directly at the Wapsi Square (www.wapsisquare.com) through the online Paypal Donation button.

Auction items:

Ugly Hill original art, by Paul Southworth

Sheldon original art, by Dave Kellett

Melonpool original art by Steve Troop

Original PVP cover art by Scott Kurtz

Shortpacked! original art by David Willis

Numbered sketch edition of Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management by Howard Tayler

Original Checkerboard Nightmare art by Kris Straub

Evil Inc original art, matted and framed, by Brad Guigar

Logo, Stationary, Branding Design by Elizabeth Dean

Wapsi Square original art, Golem Girls, by Paul Taylor

Wapsi Square original art, Katherine Gilchrist, by Paul Taylor

Wapsi Square original sketch, Monica, by Paul Taylor

Wapsi Square original art, Shelly with guitar, by Paul Taylor

Wapsi Square original art, Shelly finds hope, by Paul Taylor

Wapsi Square original art, Shelly and Monica jogging, by Paul Taylor

More auctions will appear on the BLC site as they become available!

via Blank Label Comics (link)

Scott Johnson from myextralife.com has been drawing fat superheroes as a side project for a while.  Fans of his work have been super excited over his renditions of Daredevil, Wolverine, Batman, Wonder Woman, and more.  Now Scott has announced a new contest where you can win an autographed copy of Fat Batman.  Head over to his site for complete details.

via myextralife.com (link)

We will forgive those who slept through June…

The Homestar Runner website has been updated with a new animation which clues us in on what everyone did on their “time off”. Bologna sammich anyone? (yes there is an Easter Egg in this one).

It’s good to see Homestar and company back after the death of the Chapman brother’s father in April.

Welcome back Homstar Runner! We missed you! And…uh…yes, we missed you too Strong Bad. Don’t you have some e-mails to answer?

via Homestar Runner (link)