Strip update for Monday, Mar 31

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I feel the need to write this down - Boy on a Stick and Slither has really made me giggle lately. For those who don’t know, BoaSaS is a MWF webcomic under the Dumbrella banner, home of Diesel Sweeties, Scary Go Round and others. The strip been around since 1998 (forever in the web world) according to its Wikipedia page. Heck, the fact that it has a Wikipedia page tells you something. Wikipedia regards most webcomics as one step below the dried gum under a middle school desk.

The comic has exactly the flavor of wry observational minimalism that catches me off guard. Click around and see if you agree.

Strip update for Friday, Mar 28

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Strip update for Wednesday, Mar 26

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Strip update for Monday, Mar 24

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Strip update for Friday, Mar 21

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What if I told you about a guy whose webcomic is basically awful fish puns drawn on printer paper with a ball-point pen?

Meet NobbyNobody and his gag strip Odd-Fish. No, really. Go have a look. Click “Random” a few times. I’ll wait.

Probably not what you expected, huh? Odd-Fish is about an octopus and a puffer and the goofy denizens of their undersea world. The jokes are intentionally cringeworthy, but the character designs and sweet crosshatch art just pop off the screen. They instantly grab you. Nobby draws almost entirely with ball-points pens (called biros in crazy European “languages”) and he wields them like a sushi chef with brand new knives. Seriously, I’m tres molto jealous.

To be honest, while he comes across as a sweet guy, sometimes I think Nobby is a closet sadist. He deliberately subjects us to horrible puns because he knows we can’t resist reading the next strip, regardless of the pain. Nobby, why do you torture us so?

Strip update for Wednesday, Mar 19

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There’s a genre of webcomics called “slice of life,” which deals with normal people living normal lives, for values of “normal” that make sense in a comic strip. It’s generally wacky roommates with wacky girlfriends in a wacky apartment working wacky jobs, plus a cute mascot.

A Slice Of Life isn’t one of those.

A Slice Of Life is a single-panel gag strip featuring a blank, nameless protagonist (if you can imagine such a thing) in a parade of unrelated and unrelenting situations, some mundane, some not so much. In fact the term “protagonist” doesn’t really apply, either, as the comic isn’t so much driven by him as it happens to him. Okay, it’s a bit elusive to describe. But it’s amusing, often micro-ranty stuff.

At any rate A Slice Of Life is really about the art: stylized, black-and-white linework executed with a brush or brush pen (or maybe a Wacom tablet simulating a brush? I never asked). It’s a distinct style with an appealing hook and crosshatchy flair. (I found it doubly catchy when I first saw it. I was playing with brush pens after the start of Gordian Algebra, toying with similar techniques. Then I ran across ASOL and thought “Oh, that’s how it’s done.”)

The strip is created by Noel Graham, a webcomic enthusiast and generally nice chap (and avid Stumbler, for those of you arriving randomly). Pop on over and swim through the archives. Maybe you’ll get hooked.

(In which we continue our tour of online comics with intriguing art, of which you may not have heard.)

Sometimes you read a webcomic because you want it to succeed.

Usually the comic in question isn’t very polished or even particularly good, but you like the tone or the quirkiness or the creator shows glimpses of talent that begs nurturing. (In fact, if one were to be frank, most webcomics probably fall in this category.)

With Loyalty & Liberty, I want it to succeed because I respect its goals. Yes, it has goals. L & L bills itself as “an Educational Graphic Novel” that seeks to “educate ages 12 and up about 18th century life” and the conflicts involved in the American Revolution. I’ve got two boys in elementary school. I call that worthwhile.

Not that Loyalty & Liberty reads like a kid’s comic, mind you. We start in 1774 by following a company of British footsoldiers investigating gunpowder thieves in Boston. I suspect their flintlocks will soon unload some .75 caliber whoopass in the faces of outmatched colonial kitty cats.

Did I mention the kitty cats?

The characters are rendered as anthropomorphic cats. Think Puss In Boots as a redcoat. It lends accessibility and visual appeal to a strip that’s produced with loving detail by obvious history geeks. Makes for an interesting juxtaposition. The color artwork - I’m not sure if it’s digital or hand-drawn - feels like illustrations in a children’s book, which is not a condemnation (have you seen some of the kid’s books out there lately?). It needs some work to fully integrate into the comic format, but the raw ability is on the page.

Having said all that… L & L isn’t very polished and “shows glimpses of talent that begs nurturing.” The writing and typography are stiff and not always grammatical. The comic updates a page a week (if that) and only went live in late December, so there’s not much story yet and no guarantee the whole thing won’t die on the vine, as so many webcomics do. But that’s one reason I’m mentioning it here. Let’s put some eyeballs on Loyalty & Liberty and see how this intriguing dish cooks up.