Webcomics I love

I made a classic blunder with my previous article: I did not read the final draft before publishing.

Had I read the text, I would have noticed that the claim that I like talking about freely-available webcomics comes after spending.. most of an article talking about a paywalled webcomic. Oops!—claims should not be disproven by the article that makes them! So, to save face, and without further ado...

Here's 5 freely-available webcomics that I love to read, reminisce about, and browse whenever I get the chance. 😊

Schlock Mercenary

I had heard of Schlock Mercenary way back while browsing TVTropes, but failed to get into it right away. Unlike most of the other comics I read back then, this one has a grand story spanning over seven thousand strips, which used to air daily. Only later did I started reading it from the first strip and could get the full experience of the story.

What's to like about it:

• A punchline in every strip. Even the one about missing a punchline.
• A grand story. Set in SPACEEEE!
• No loose ends left untied. Story threads often grow until they impact the whole galaxy, and there's nothing too tiny to make a difference.
• A rich, living, reacting world, with a well-built futuristic culture, complete with cuisine, cultural phrases, and values.
• Plenty of philosophical and ethical discussions along the way. Such as why an virtually-immortal advanced society might opt to live in solitude.

What's not to like about it:

• Some skirting around sexual topics. Oh well.

Some of my favorite strips of Schlock Mercenary include:

• "Never" will be easy to put on your calendars
• There might not be a "down" to define "under," but there's definitely a "between" ..
• What's your plan for victory if you get defeated?
• "I will pay you handsomely to start working quickly" B: "Yes, you will"
• The "Don't accidentally volunteer for something" game
• "You appear to believe might makes right" ... B: "I don't like where this is going"
• If they are in a book, they are not lost, are they?
• Further use of force would be regrettable...
• When you think you are about to win, it means you are about to lose
• If I dial it up to 10, I bet [metaphorical blood]'s gone too
• Fire our attorney!
• The results will say "Go Fish"
• That would be a terrible thing to do... I'll have to do it quickly
• The opposite of simple
• Sometimes you have fun, and sometimes the fun has you

...As may be apparent by the length of that list alone, I really really like Schlock Mercenary. Howard Tayler did an amazing job on storytelling and humor--and it shows.

Order of the Stick

Another story-heavy comic strip I enjoy following along with is Order of the Stick. I believe I discovered it after DB of the Rings got me intrigued by the whole "webcomics about fictional tabletop roleplaying games" genre, even though I never had the chance to play a TTRPG myself.

Order of the Stick tells the story of a band of Dungeons-and-Dragons heroes in a fantasy world of self-aware stick figures, on the grand mission to save their world from an endless cycle of recreation. (...come to think of it, endless cycles of extinction were also a theme in Schlock Mercenary. Hmm...)

What's to like about it:

• Long-form strips covering a few pages each.
• Story with plenty of dramatic irony, as the reader is often aware of things the characters are about to face.

What's not to like about it:

• Strips are still coming out, once every few weeks, and it's currently around the climax. We want the rest of the story, AAAH! 😂

Darths and Droids

Darths and Droids, like Square Root of Minus Garfield, is a parody webcomic made by The Comic Irregulars, a group of cool Australians.
Darths and Droids is also a fictionalized roleplaying game, built around the Star Wars movies, in an attempt to build a coherent narrative around the movies that goes awry as soon as the players playing Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon decide to loot the Trade Federation quarters instead of negotiating.

What's to like about it:

• Creative take on the story; instead of the Jedi's weapons being a relic of a more peaceful age, they are the result of players fast-talking the dungeon master; R2D2 gains and loses various abilities (like rocket flight) in a temporary switch of DM-s, Han is a serial identity thief.
• On occasion the story is even better than the original movies, to the point I'm misremembering which is the original and which is the parody. 😅
• Big fish. Also, puns, and rank puns.
• The players slowly grow through their experience; from quirky individuals into a like-minded group that can stand for each other out in the wider world.

What's not to like about:

• Not much. It's really wholesome, all of it! ✨ ✨

XKCD

XKCD is a classic in the programming community. Randall Munroe has a great mind/eye for spotting nerdy things and turning them into webcomics. He has also worked at NASA and graduated with a physics degrees, which probably helps. 😅

What's to like about it:

• The XKCD phone, of course.
• Lots of well-known comics; such as Compiling, Python, or Success.
• Some useful references, such as Tic Tac Toe.
• Interactive comics / games every year, like Escape Velocity!
• Etymology-Man 😁

What's not to like about:

• The occasional strips that venture far into sexual or otherwise "icky" topics.

Space Boy

Space Boy is a story of a girl, Amy, readjusting to a futuristic society after a space voyage involving cryosleep, and stumbling upon a conspiracy that can easily cost her life. It comes complete with some horror undertones, plenty of dream sequences, and, a subtle commentary on mobile phone apps. I first heard of it recommended by a friend, and I had already read all the available comics three days later - it's that good!

What's to like about it:

• The characters! 😍 Amy and Oliver are so, so sweet! And the rest of the characters, too, have deep motivations, goals they work towards, things they excell at. The whole comic is a masterclass in character-building.
• The worldbuilding around virtual reality glasses is pulled off pretty well.
• Plenty of exploration into topics like hope, fear, honesty, love, self-worth, and safety. ✨

What's not to like about:

• Waiting for the next season to come out. AAAARH.

Honorable mention: DM of the Rings

DM of the Rings is a classic in the fictionalized tabletop games genre; and is what served as inspiration for Darths & Droids. Unlike Darths & Droids, which is a about Star Wars, DM of the Rings is about the Lord of the Rings movies. Great humor about tropes (many of which arose due to the Lord of the Rings's popularity), such as forests always being enchanted. Bit sad what the author did to Aragorn's character, as it is basically opposite from what is in the book/movies.

Honorable mention: Mimi and Eunice

Mimi and Eunice is a CC-BY-SA webcomic from Nina Paley, a graphic designer and free culture activist. It has a lot of cool commentary on bad arguments and reactions, between the two titular characters. Some of my favorites include Help, Steel Cage, and You May Be Right.

Conclusion

In conclusion...

Who even titled that section "conclusion" anyway? (editor's note: it was the author) (author's note: if the editor tries to sneak up a note back there, note that it was written before my note.) (editor's note: hah)

In conclusion, I really like webcomics, they are one of a few kinds of art content that can capture my attention fully and keep me engrossed for hours at a time——comics are better than movies in terms of how engaged I am, and better than books in terms of how quickly I get interested by them. But after I've read through a webcomic, the next best part is sharing about it, and spreading the best moments of fun and joy futher. And the best way for that to happen is if a webcomic is freely licensed—like XKCD or Mimi and Eunice—ensuring it can be viral and stay viral. The next best way would be to have it freely accessible, like the rest of the comics here; it still works to spread culture. The best way to kill a work of art is to make it inaccessible in any way. It's good that I titled this section "conclusion" and not "summary", because it most certainly is not a summary of the article.

Either way, till next time!

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