Webcomics I'm Reading, Part 1: The Stalwarts
If there's one thing that's changed about my life during the pandemic, it's that I am reading many fewer books. As I've mentioned before, part of this is just that I don't have many books left in the house that I want to read, and M isn't super comfortable with the idea of curb-side for the library. More pragmatically, I'm just having trouble focusing long enough to read new books, in what is probably the main stress symptom of the pandemic that I've personally encountered.
This means that I need to read short, focused works that are easily digestible. Webcomics are pretty much for it. At the moment I've got nine comics that I read regularly, by which I mean I have bookmarks saved on my phone for them. Most of these have been in my rotation for years, but I'll cover them here and write up some of the ones I've binge read during the pandemic in a future post.
I've loosely grouped these by genre.
Science Fiction
1. Schlock Mercenary recently concluded a twenty year story line with the first hiatus the author has taken in that time. I was with Tagon's Toughs since literally day one. For about 16 years of that run it was one of the best science fiction comic going. At some point the number of characters outgrew my interest in keeping up with them, but I still happily have purchased all of the books to date (16) and will keep doing so until they are all released (20 planned). I look forward to whatever comes next.
2. Freefall is the closest to a "hard" science fiction comic, and is another comic I've been reading continuously since it started in the late 1990s. For many of the comics they show the match in interesting ways. Despite its long existence and continued high quality scifi, it's not even notable enough to have a wikipedia article and doesn't even sell merch. I can't explain this, but for some reason it never get out of its initial niche.
3. Like Schlock Mercenary, Drive is a funny scifi space romp about an interstellar war. That's about all they have in common though, as Drive's universe relies far less on handwavey technologies and has a much more physical sense of humor. Fortunately, there's room for both in the world. I just bought the second book over Black Friday so my collection is up to date.
Fantasy
4. Order of the Stick is the best table top gaming comic out there, which is saying something in a glutted market. Like the best comics in most categories, it grew past being a one note gaming comic while still keeping that original core. I was pointed to it in the first couple of hundred strips, and have been known to refresh over and over waiting for one of the updates. I just bought a pile of books over the Black Friday sales.
5. Daughter of the Lilies is a fantasy comic about a group of adventurers, but is not in any way a DnD comic. Instead it's an extremely well written comic about fighting through ones own demons, not to mention real demons when necessary. I just funded their Kickstarter for the first book. I don't remember how I came across this comic but I'm glad I did. They deserve to be wikipedia notable.
Slice of Life
6. PvP is a comic that I've been reading since nearly the first day it came out in 1998. I remember when the idea of comics on the web was new and novel, and if there was any part of early internet culture that I was heavily involved in it was webcomics. PvP started as a stereotypical video game comic. Fortunately, it mostly left video games behind when I did, so I kept reading it. With that said, it's really not nearly as good as it used to be, and I read this mostly out of nostalgia more than anything else. I also read the Table Titans spin-off when it updates - it's arguably a much better comic at this point. I've never got quite gotten to the point of buying merch from them, which I should correct. I've certainly gotten $20 worth of entertainment.
7. In further proof that virtually every fandom has some kind of webcomic, indie rock was what originally launched Questionable Content, another comic I've been reading since the earliest strips. Fortunately, it soon went into interesting explorations of artificial intelligence and relationships, which expanded the range dramatically. I own all the books thus far, which regrettably only covers about 40% of the strip to date.
General Geekiness
8. As a computer science person, I am probably legally obligated to read XKCD. It can definitely be hit or miss, but when it hits it takes them out of the park. I've not bought any of the merch, which I should correct at some point.
9. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a geeky comic like XKCD, but frankly on most days I find it to smarter and funnier, not to mention dramatically better drawn. I've bought several of their books.
This means that I need to read short, focused works that are easily digestible. Webcomics are pretty much for it. At the moment I've got nine comics that I read regularly, by which I mean I have bookmarks saved on my phone for them. Most of these have been in my rotation for years, but I'll cover them here and write up some of the ones I've binge read during the pandemic in a future post.
I've loosely grouped these by genre.
Science Fiction
1. Schlock Mercenary recently concluded a twenty year story line with the first hiatus the author has taken in that time. I was with Tagon's Toughs since literally day one. For about 16 years of that run it was one of the best science fiction comic going. At some point the number of characters outgrew my interest in keeping up with them, but I still happily have purchased all of the books to date (16) and will keep doing so until they are all released (20 planned). I look forward to whatever comes next.
2. Freefall is the closest to a "hard" science fiction comic, and is another comic I've been reading continuously since it started in the late 1990s. For many of the comics they show the match in interesting ways. Despite its long existence and continued high quality scifi, it's not even notable enough to have a wikipedia article and doesn't even sell merch. I can't explain this, but for some reason it never get out of its initial niche.
3. Like Schlock Mercenary, Drive is a funny scifi space romp about an interstellar war. That's about all they have in common though, as Drive's universe relies far less on handwavey technologies and has a much more physical sense of humor. Fortunately, there's room for both in the world. I just bought the second book over Black Friday so my collection is up to date.
Fantasy
4. Order of the Stick is the best table top gaming comic out there, which is saying something in a glutted market. Like the best comics in most categories, it grew past being a one note gaming comic while still keeping that original core. I was pointed to it in the first couple of hundred strips, and have been known to refresh over and over waiting for one of the updates. I just bought a pile of books over the Black Friday sales.
5. Daughter of the Lilies is a fantasy comic about a group of adventurers, but is not in any way a DnD comic. Instead it's an extremely well written comic about fighting through ones own demons, not to mention real demons when necessary. I just funded their Kickstarter for the first book. I don't remember how I came across this comic but I'm glad I did. They deserve to be wikipedia notable.
Slice of Life
6. PvP is a comic that I've been reading since nearly the first day it came out in 1998. I remember when the idea of comics on the web was new and novel, and if there was any part of early internet culture that I was heavily involved in it was webcomics. PvP started as a stereotypical video game comic. Fortunately, it mostly left video games behind when I did, so I kept reading it. With that said, it's really not nearly as good as it used to be, and I read this mostly out of nostalgia more than anything else. I also read the Table Titans spin-off when it updates - it's arguably a much better comic at this point. I've never got quite gotten to the point of buying merch from them, which I should correct. I've certainly gotten $20 worth of entertainment.
7. In further proof that virtually every fandom has some kind of webcomic, indie rock was what originally launched Questionable Content, another comic I've been reading since the earliest strips. Fortunately, it soon went into interesting explorations of artificial intelligence and relationships, which expanded the range dramatically. I own all the books thus far, which regrettably only covers about 40% of the strip to date.
General Geekiness
8. As a computer science person, I am probably legally obligated to read XKCD. It can definitely be hit or miss, but when it hits it takes them out of the park. I've not bought any of the merch, which I should correct at some point.
9. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal is a geeky comic like XKCD, but frankly on most days I find it to smarter and funnier, not to mention dramatically better drawn. I've bought several of their books.