Saturday, December 10, 2011

Webcomics, Anyone?

I've noticed that, while most of us seem to read webcomics, we rarely discuss them in our social media.  Sure, XKCD gets the occasional mention in one's Twitter stream, but that's about it.  For lack of anything better to do, I thought I'd toss out my daily "first cup of coffee" webcomics and invite you to do the same.  Without further ado, the list:

Questionable Content - Centers around a group of young people, their coffee house, and various romantic entanglings.  Geek credit for the notion of AnthroPC AIs, one now in human form.  A bit much on the sexual content and language on occasion, but still a good read.

General Protection Fault - The (mis)adventures of the cast/crew of a software development firm.  Heavy sci-fi and James Bond influences.  Requires a healthy suspension of disbelief.  Fairly long plotlines.  If you like the look of GPF, you DEFINITELY need to go back and read the full archives.

XKCD - The site's tagline says it all - "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language."  Seriously, XKCD provides daily shots that are groaners at worst and deeply thought-provoking at best. with a massive dose of tech/science content.  A definite winner.

Starslip (formerly Starslip Crisis) - Sci-fi set in the far future.  Storylines cover everything from time-traveling criminals to reformed (or unrepentant) pirates to the lost love of a princess.

PVP (Player vs. Player) - Life with the editor and staff of a gaming magazine in the Pacific Northwest.  Storylines include a cat who wants to rule the world, Christmastime battles (good stuff - check the archives), Apple fandom and Magic: The Gathering.

Ctrl-Alt-Del -Primarly one-shot gags revolving around video games, but also runs storylines involving a trio of gamers...and their sentient, bipedal-augmented XBox, Zeke.

Something Positive -SP is chock full of dry, sarcastic humor with an occasional dose of heavy irony.  Storylines of varying length.

Sluggy Freelance - Heavy tech/sci-fi/magic influence, but I read Sluggy for Bun-Bun, the lop rabbit who takes no prisoners.

There's also one I'm in the process of "deciding upon" - Girls With Slingshots.  In recent weeks, the content has been heavily sexual (though not explicit); the strip keeps going back and forth over my personal "too much" boundary, but I'm going to let the current storyline finish before I decide whether to keep this one bookmarked.  Your mileage may vary, so check it out if you like.

That's pretty much it for pure, online-only webcomics.  I do read a few traditional comic strips online, notably Doonesbury, Dilbert, and one that may surprise you - Gil Thorp.  Yeah, it's somewhat disturbing that EVERY problem seems to be resolved in Milford, but here's the thing; as the parent of 3 high school athletes, I see MANY of my kids' teammates reflected in the strip, as well as quite a few of their parents to boot.  In that sense, there's a pretty healthy dose of Schadenfreude in seeing such people get their comeuppance from "the Gilfather."

Well, enough about my preferences - what webcomics do YOU read?

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