#webcomics recs

[taniushka12]

webcomic recommendations (+ some example pages)

Gunnerkrigg Court

the longest and oldest of the recs, mixing both fantasy and sci fi elements, follows annie and kat (the red haired and black haired girls, respectively) through the years in the school/industrial complex Gunnerkrigg Court, across the ravine from The Forest. It plays a lot with mythology, specially the creation and the power of myth, and is a very fascinating (AND funny, AND sad) read! the art is not the best at the beginning, but as u can see it quickly gets better u_u

This Is Not Fiction

romance novel fan julian wants to meet his platonical crush The Mysterious Romance Novelist Sydney Morgan, but to do so his best friend asks the help of The Godfather of High School, landon, who julian hates!!! What Shall Happen?? >:O!!! (this comic is just a lot of fun, it starts SO silly and gets progressively more grounded but without ever losing its sense of humor, its got a lot of heart and i love it ♥) (it is, also, currently on its very last chapter :') so id say its the best time to read!)

So Long, Bloodsuckers!

what if a blood oath you made with your bff as a kid saved him from getting sacrificed by a cult, but also made them all vampires? and now are trying to hunt him AND you down? but hey, at least you two meet again after years :') (its on its second chapter at the moment but aaaaaa i excitedly await for every page! its got such an expressive style, love it!)

Kitty Corner

A haunted small town outcast decides to use her ability to see ghosts to solve an odd local homicide, landing herself a strange alliance in order to do so. Her new ally, however, seems to have a bit more than murder on his mind.

👆 the official summary on tapas! ive been waiting for this comic for a while now, and with the introduction and a big chunk of the first chapter already out, the mixing of styles (between the b&w, halftones and colors) is already an inspiration, artistically speaking ♥

[rotationalsymmetry]

So that I’m posting about something other than tumblr drama, have some old as fuck webcomic recs. In general some of these have adult themes but none are unsafe for work. Most of these I found back around 2006-2008, when I was reading webcomics as my main form of not doing whatever I was supposed to be doing.

The Princess: cute comic about a trans girl. Girl as in not an adult. (Themes of transphobia, but overall positive/optimistic tone. Not an adult themes comic.)

Darths and Droids: screencap comic of Star Wars as a table top role playing game. Very well executed. Keeps making me want to read DM of the Rings but every time I try I get disappointed. Warning: there is a lot of it. (As best I can recall this comic doesn’t get any raunchier than the movies.)

Questionable Content: I’m doing current page rather than first page on this one. If you go back to the beginning, be aware that it gets better and much more queer later on. Also has a lot. Slice of life/coffeeshop original. Has a recurring theme of “character is lonely and bad at doing the having friends thing, makes friends.” Nobody can keep track of all the characters.

Queen of Wands: the webcomic that got me into webcomics. (Some stuff might have not aged well? I haven’t read it in a while. A bit of polyamorous rep near the end. Slice of life. Young adults being young adults. Starts with a joke of the day format, has some high drama arcs later on. Has an actual ending.) (the follow-up comic Punch and Pie nominally has an ending but I found it kind of unsatisfying? It’s enjoyable on a strip to strip basis though. Realistic polyamorous rep in that “polyamorous, but is not actually seeing anyone or is only seeing one person at a time in practice” is in fact pretty common.)

The Devil’s Panties: less exciting than it sounds, but kinda a comfort comic in a weird way. Apparently still going. Slice of life/autobiographical. Has fun with the shoulder angel/shoulder demon trope. This comic has a special place in my heart because it covered the protagonist breaking up with a long time partner when I was working up the nerve to do the same thing. Also, it’s written by a Unitarian Universalist.

Dykes to Watch Out For: has some formatting issues. Origin of the Bechdel Test. It’s about dykes. And feminism. And being the sort of dork who doesn’t know how to connect with people except by ranting about politics. Relatable?

Manic Pixie Nightmare Girl (sorry you’ll have to google for it): this one is kinda dark but it’s, uh, something. Trans woman creator.

Hyperbole and a Half: I’m throwing you into the middle of this one. Link is for one of the depression strips. Title is accurate. Autobiographical. There’s physical books now so this is something you might be able to get from the library or bookstore if you’d rather have paper.

1/0: this is a terrible comic, do not read it. (Man, I miss the early days of webcomics where half the creators had zero art skills.) (No really, I do. It feels dramatically harder to find new webcomics now and I don’t know why. Sometimes you just want to read super random amateur shit, you know?)

A girl and her fed. I don’t know what to say about this. The art style changes dramatically. There’s a talking koala with a bad attitude and the ghost of Benjamin Franklin. I have no idea what the genre is supposed to be.

Spikey haired dragon, worthless knight: black and white comic with light fantasy elements. Kind of a downer just so you know. No longer active. Weekly links to flash games that may or may not still be working.

Phoebe and her unicorn: kinda like Calvin and Hobbes if Calvin was a girl and Hobbes was a self-absorbed unicorn. This one’s family-friendly.

Kimchi cuddles: the touchy-feely polyamory webcomic.

Anyways, enjoy, or don’t, it’s up to you.

[vaguely-concerned]

Some more webcomic recs!

Hotblood: Follows the story of centaur James Rook, a washed out Civil War vet and secretary to the irreverent, criminally-inclined steel tycoon Asa Langley. JESUS CHRIST, you guys, the landscapes in this thing always fuck me up big time, they’re so gorgeous and perfect and astonishing, the colours of the outdoor scenes perfectly chosen and delicate and fjsdalfsdj it so good. It’s completed and a manageable length, has some excellent Western undertones, doesn’t shy away from taking the time to develop the characters and their grey morality as well as the central M/M romance, and moves at an interesting, almost serene pace; I found it to be a very relaxing read. Also, as stated, incredible scenery. Like. damn. 

...I feel compelled to point out that as the description states one of the guys is a centaur and the other isn’t, which I suppose you could take as a deterrent or... whatever else you might consider it... as you wish lol. For what it’s worth I’m normally Extremely Not Into That but wasn’t bothered by it at all in this -- there’s implied sexual content but nothing explicit, and the whole thing is really rather sweet, in a morally ambiguous dumbasses sort of way haha.

ALSO: don’t go into the sequel unless you’re ready for some sadness! I know I would have liked some warning about that ahead of time, and this story is otherwise completely self-contained and fairly happy! 

Tiger, Tiger: From the comic’s own about page: A young noble lady steals her brother's identity and his ship to sail across the world to find love and adventure, and to write a book about her favourite subject: the fascinating life cycle of sea sponges! mwah *chef kiss emoji* honestly what more could I ask for, what a sentence, what a premise. Wonderfully expressive and precise art with amazing details and charming (...if not always the brightest haha) characters. There’s also Dat Good Queer Content and crossdressing hijinks ahoy. My favourite character is Jamis, who is a 7 foot tall bisexual disaster with a glorious beard described as having ‘a head made of wood and a heart made of gold’, which is not normally my type but dang if he isn’t making it work for him.  

Witchy: Set in a richly developed fantasy universe where the strength of magic users is determined by the length of their hair, and the government conscripts people with promising locks -- which is very unfortunate for our main character, who understandably carries a grudge against the system over the murder of her father. The art is so unique and pretty, the world is intriguing -- described as ‘a melting pot of Asian and Oceanic cultures’ -- and there’s a talking birb who I naturally adore and treasure. 

Run Freak Run: I’ll level with you: this is some of the most stunning black and white art I’ve ever seen. Every time I look at it I just... glance at how the artist has chosen to ink a particular piece of a background element or something and have a conniption because it’s so unfairly, stupidly beautiful and elegant and weird. Okay with that out of the way: it’s self-described as a ‘gothic comic about  medieval witch hunts, mythical creatures, and evil queens’, and also has a strange but warm sense of humour underlying it all. It’s finished and manageable to read (nine short-ish chapters altogether, mostly vignette-style entries that slowly build up to something bigger), has some excellent F/F with a happily ever after going on, and while I think the art slightly outshines the writing it’s an extremely enjoyable ride. (Quick warning: there’s some full frontal (though very unsexy... unless you’re into some weird shit I guess) male nudity in a couple of the chapters!)

[laughingpinecone]

eva i keep meaning to tell you! i got pinged to work on a conlang for a friend's webcomic (@naniroxy's SwitchOut, what my icon's from) & i'm bouncing ideas off another linguistics friend & it's rly fun! 8D highlights include xenoanthropology, base-36 systems, & an orthography with cues from korean & cree syllabics 83 as u can tell it's super geeky so obvs i wanted to share w the biggest geek friend in my life ;*. thats all.

Well I kept meaning to ask you where your icon came from so it all is well what ends well (unless it ends in a well, as an old card game would have it) :D

This is incredibly geeky and looks like lots of fun! (”highlights include: xenoanthropology and a custom numeral system” “I’m in”) I’ll be checking out the webcomic to see how it all works in-universe! I’m glad you’re working on a cool fun thing and that you wanted to tell me ♥ and thanks for the rec!!

[agenderarcee]

Webcomic rec: Schlock Mercenary. Updates daily with large story arcs, it's a comedic Space Opera about a crew of mercenaries (Tagon's Toughs) and the various ways their job tries to prevent them from living to spend their money. Author at one point realized he was being shitty about the roles he was giving women and actively moved to correct himself, has been doing much better since. Probably the first thing I check every day.

ok cool good to know!

[funnyinenochian]

Update my Webcomics Rec so now it has all the authors, artists, and summaries for your enjoyment!

I'll repost it while I update it more for I have a few more comics I've been meaning to read but haven't.

As it says, the list is ever-changing and webcomics are not-so-secretly really great