Webcomics and Stuff

Hello there friends. Surya here, haven't posted in ages. As some of you may or may not know, I am a friend of Shounak, and a hardcore manga, anime, sci-fi and fantasy addict. I shall now proceed to shamelessly advertise my interests by listing my top 10 manga (several of which have been reviewed here already)

One Piece (of course)
Anatolia Story aka Red River (Great blend of action, politics, fantasy, and romance)
Skip Beat! (I got into more romance recently)
Berserk (hell yeah!)
Hunter x Hunter (I'm thinking of building a shrine to this one)
Vinland Saga (a truly fantastic and accurate historical manga.... about Vikings!)
Hajime no Ippo (850+ chapters, and it is as fresh as ever)
20th Century Boys (Superb psychological and suspense manga)
Full Metal Alchemist (Did you think I would fail to include this?)
Black Lagoon (Welcome to Roanapur, leave your conscience at the door)

However, I did not come here to speak of manga. I came here to speak of the latest enthusiasm to sweep the dullness from my existence: webcomics.

All of you know what webcomics are. There must be thousands of them. What few people know is that some of them are outright fantastic. Just how good are they? Well, if you forced me to choose between my favorite webcomics and the top 10 manga I listed above, I'd take the 3rd option and murder you for forcing me to make such a choice.

Below, I review four of the greatest pieces of fiction I have ever read, and they are all webcomics. Click on the pictures to see them completely.

1) Sluggy Freelance

This is the story of four young men and women (Torg, Riff, Gwenne, and Zoe), who without ever trying anything much, somehow end up getting involved in insanely dangerous adventures. They often have something to do either with one of Riff's failed inventions, or the evil Hereti-Corp company and its attempts at world domination. This particular webcomic falls smackdab in the middle of "dark comedy". Extremely dark. For example, numerous friends of the main cast were brutally slaughtered ( as in shredded to pieces) by satanic kittens. Gwenne has been possessed multiple times by a demon, and Zoe has been cursed into turning into a camel when someone says the magic word ("shupid", and "kwi" to turn her back). Character deaths and collateral damage abound, yet in spite of it, the main character Torg remains cheerful and happy-go-lucky.

And of course the show isn't complete without talking animals. So we have the alien Aylee (think the movie Alien, or maybe Species), Kiki the hyperactive ferret, and of course, the star, the hard-drinking, Baywatch-watching, knife-waving, gun-toting, indestructible, psycho, homicidal Bun-bun the mini-lop rabbit.

The webcomic has been running since 1997. The author has taken occasional days or weeks off, but the comic continues to be updated daily, if not with content then with guest stories and art.
Visit www.sluggy.com

2) The Order of the Stick

This is a color webcomic drawn entirely using stick figures, about a group of adventurers in a world running entirely on Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 RPG rules. It is notable for its simple yet compelling art, its complex storylines, and its rich character development. It is a fantasy adventure comedy, with most of the humor coming from the fact that the characters are aware that the world operates on D&D rules.


Thus, one of the party, the bard Elan, becomes a much better swordsman after someone shows him the rules for the Dashing Swordsman profession, and the villains are seen studying the "Book of Vile Darkness" (a famous D&D book) for new ideas on torturing prisoners. And of course, everyone studies the Monster Manuals.

While a knowledge of D&D is useful, it is not at all necessary for enjoying this comic. The sad news is that updates are rather irregular, though there are already 690 pages available at www.giantitp.com .

3) Erfworld

This is a fantasy webcomic set in a world which goes entirely by the rules of a turn-based strategy wargame. All beings have 'stats', what a city can produce depends on its size and level, and once production finishes, the object, unit, or person, simply 'pops' into existence. Everyone takes turns while fighting, and no one fights at night, wounded units are healed at the start of a new turn. The story begins when the losing side in a war uses powerful magic to summon a human wargamer to be their new Chief Warlord, and to magically enslave him to their ruler, Stanley the Tool.

While the comic has several humorous elements, it explores several dark and adult themes such as death, submission and domination, and brainwashing, as well as political and social commentary. The fantastic artwork doesn't hurt either. The comic is in graphic novel form, and the first book, "The Battle for Gobwin Knob" was rated by Time magazine as one of the top 10 graphic novels of 2007. Book 2 has just started, and updates once every five days.

4) Schlock Mercenary

My favorite of the entire lot. Where to start? It is a sci-fi webcomic covering the adventures of a crew of interstellar mercenaries, "Tagon's Toughs". It is a 'hard' sci-fi work, in that many of the facts stated are based on actual science and maths. The name comes from Seargeant Schlock, an amorph who looks like a five-hundred pound pile of crap.

The comic has been running since 2000. The author Howard Tayler deserves some sort of award, considering that the comic has been updated, daily, with no breaks at all, for over nine years, and is still going strong. In that time the artwork has greatly improved. Above is the very first strip. Below is one of the newer ones.

As a long-running comic, Schlock Mercenary has a large primary cast with dozens of recurring characters and villains. It is a superbly rich and detailed story covering two galaxies, and was nominated for the Hugo Nebula Award (science fiction's Booker prize). View at www.schlockmercenary.com, be sure to check the archives for previous strips.