Summer vacation is on the horizon, and that means more time to kill. With that in mind, I present you with Web comics8212;comics published online, offering free and easy access to readers along with plot lines that could only exist in the uncensored, self-published world of the Web. Happy summer reading!
“Penny Arcade” is a Web comic about video games and the like (geeky, techy culture, in general), and is written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic gained notoriety as one of the first and most successful Web comics. Now in its 10th year, “Penny Arcade” is profitable enough that both Holkins and Krahulik are able to make a living solely off their comic, a rare feat in the Web comic world. Additionally, Holkins and Krahulik use “Penny Arcade” to fund their charity, Child’s Play, which organizes worldwide drives for toys and money to give to children in hospitals. So far, Child’s Play has raised close to $3.5 million.
“Penny Arcade” also gains community involvement points for their annual gaming convention, Penny Arcade Expo (or PAX), which their Web site describes as “a three-day game festival for tabletop, video game, and PC gamers.” PAX 2008 sold more than 58,000 tickets, 45,000 of which were pre-registered tickets. The charity and the convention give Penny Arcade a nonviolent, socially involved reputation, one which separates them from the stigma of video games, in particular violent ones. This is echoed in the comic with jokes about the difference between a storm trooper and a null one week and commentary on the state of political cartooning or the lack of reality in video games another. All of this is filtered through Holkins and Krahulik’s alter egos, Jonathan “Gabe” Gabriel and Tycho Erasmus Brahe. Read about Gabe’s Greater Internet F***wad Theory at www.penny-arcade.com
“Dinosaur Comics,” created by Canadian Ryan North, is about talking dinosaurs. It appears online at www.qwantz.com and in a few newspapers. North uses the same artwork for nearly every strip, featuring the consistent cast of T-Rex, Utahraptor and Dromiceiomimus. T-Rex appears in every panel and is egotistical and delightfully ridiculous, while Utahraptor appears in only panels four and five and serves as the straight man. Dromiceiomimus appears only in panel three, and doesn’t always speak. The dialogue, which changes from strip to strip, is largely a function of T-Rex’s ramblings on esoteric topics such as linguistic history. You can also expect interjections by God or the Devil (heard, but not seen), Mr. Tusks (a dwarf elephant who always makes puns on the word “short”), and fictionalized versions of Edgar Allen Poe, Patrick Stewart, and William Shakespeare.
“Achewood” is a character-based Web comic created by Chris Onstad in 2001, well-known for its long-form story lines, especially “Achewood: The Great Outdoor Fight,” which was recently published as a book. The cast is made up of humanized animals (cats, bears, otters) and robots who get drunk, start businesses, go to heaven, have weddings and watch TV. Each strip also features an alt text, a sentence or two of commentary that appears when you hover your cursor over the strip and is sometimes better than the strip itself.
In addition to The Great Outdoor Fight, Onstad has self-published fifteen books which include collections of the comic, books and zines “written” by characters from the strip, and a cookbook. Characters also write their own blogs, which can be linked to from the main Web site, www.achewood.com.
“Achewood” is the Web comic that first sparked my interest in the genre, but it took a little bit of convincing. Like many Web comics, it takes time to become invested in the characters, their story lines and their quirks. It’s worth it, however, for gems like this one (from “Achewood”): Roast Beef has just come very close to cheating on his fiancée. Ray, his best friend, shows up to bail him out. Panicking, Roast Beef says, “God wait though man I cheated on Molly man I CHEATED ON MOLLY!” “No you didn’t,” replies Ray. “You existed in an area and nobody did moisture-style touches on your body. Calm down.”
If that doesn’t hook you, try these other sites:
pbfcomics.com &- a more morbid version of “The Far Side”
mspaintadventures.com &- a text-based adventure. The artist takes suggestions from readers’ e-mails to create the outcomes
freakangels.com &- Six free pages a week and a message board with occasional Q & A threads from the author
nedroid.com/tag/beartato &- Beartato and Reginald are silly. That is all.
