Darthmiho on Webcomics

So apparently dollhouse may very well be renewed. At least that's the word in the black.

Labels: Dollhouse, Fans, Fox, The Net, Whedon

I'd like to start out this post with something of a plug for a friend of mine's comic. Enjuhneer is a comic that pretty much focuses in on jokes about life at a techie college. While many of the jokes come back to the artist/writer's being a student at RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), much of the humor is not lost on any student of a technical university. The comic is new and the artist updates it as often as she can being a full-time student but I recomend to anyone that reads this to head over to http://www.rpi.edu/~blancj/enjuhneer/about.html and read up on the comic. She's a newbie to this game, so be gentle folks.

Next up is another entry to the world of webcomics by the utterly prolific artist of the now ended comic Boy Meets Boy. Friendly Hostility. A comic that focuses in on a few characters that were introduced in her first comic. Primarily Fox and Colin, but also the rest of fox's family, who were not mentioned in the old comic. But an unnamed character that eerily resembles Fox's uncle Raffi was seen in the previous comic. The new comic is a great deal more out there than the old, and while it does some with relationships, this theme has a much smaller focus than than it did in Boy Meets Boy. The relationship plots are usually relegated to being subplots. Which usually just makes them all the more intense when they do come up. The comic is utterly hilarious and if you've never read her work before, this is a great place to start. The comic can be found at http://friendlyhostility.com/.

While the term "Diary Comic" is thrown around a lot to describe a lot of semi-autobiographical comics that have long since either become much bigger than that or have become a whole new genre that can't really be defined with any of the usual genre handles. Planet Karen on the other hand is a true to life diary comic. The author makes a point of explaining this early on in the comic's archive. These are the real experiences of the artist. And while there are other real diary comics out there. To at least this writer, there is something different about this comic. Give it a read sometime, perhaps you'll find it as enjoyable as I have. The comic can be found at http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org/

Now I encounter my fair share of odd, enjoyable, but rarely updated comics around comic genesis. Then every once and a while I come across a real gem, something original, regularly updated, and with art that's not too shabby. One such comic is this, Weregeek. The comic is about a guy that does not consider himself a geek, yet is brought into the world of Larping, tabletop gaming, and general hardcore geekery on a full moon and a group of geeks. The comic chronicles his experiences. To many in his life he's not a geek by any stretch, his girlfriend for one has no idea of this. And part of the comic's charm is his attempts to find a way for him to get people to accept his new interests and friends. The comic will make any geek remember their first steps into the greater world of geekdom. The comic can be found at http://weregeek.comicgenesis.com/

Cosplay. It's something we as geeks are all to some extent are familar with. We've all got that friend that's very much into costumes for cons, and is likely built perfectly to go as various characters. Most of the time people go as some anime character, or maybe something from a recognizable sci fi series (the stormtropper 501st anyone?), or perhaps some video game character. But today we are here to talk about a less known breed of cosplay that usually doesn't get as much attention at conventions: the webcomic cosplayer.

The problem with most webcomic characters when it comes to cosplay is that they are for the most part average joes. I mean there are the more recognizable ones like Gav of Nukee's or Dominic of Dominic Deegan. But most webcomic characters aren't that unusual looking. Which is the the bane of the webcomic cosplayer. A perfectly done costume of say Dave Davenport of Narbonic Labs is basically jeans, a plaid shirt, glasses and a husky cosplayer with a scruffy beard. Which to anyone other than a reader of the comic is pretty much unrecognizable. Which brings me to my next point, the limited audience of a webcomic cosplayer compared with an anime or video game cosplayer.

Well done Anime and Video Game Cosplayers enjoy a wider audience of fans at a con compared with a well done webcomic cosplayer. The audience of a webcomic is just by nature smaller than that of an anime or video games. Probably the only place where the webcomic fan has a larger audience is when dealing with a character from perhaps one of the biggest comics such as Megatokyo or Penny Arcade. And even then you'd have to compare with a pretty obscure anime or game. Which is a rarity since few conventions are big on webcomic fans.

But what can be really done about this? Not much honestly, while every con or so you'll see a really really well done say, Agatha Heterodyne or Helen Narbon, but you'll have had to have searched around for the webcomic fan amongst the hordes of Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, and Kingdom Hearts 2 cosplayers. This is for you, the guy that goes to Otakon and dresses as Gav, or the girl that goes to Conneticon dressed as Helen Narbon, or Mell for that matter. Keep at it!

till next time, I'm addicted to webcomics.

I recently arrived at college for my spring quarter, and had a thought of something to post here.

If nothing else I've got a few new recommendations.

Ozy and Millie.

An old comic, but one I only recently discovered. I had been reading another comic by the author, a funny little comic by the name of "I drew this". The comic follows the life of two 10 year old's Ozy and Millie. They're far more interesting than most kids their age, and through the comic you'll likely wind up learning a thing or two. While at the same time being completely overwhelmed with how much fun the characters are.

Girl Genius.

I found the comic the other day, if you've ever read the comic narbonic, the phrase I've constantly used to describe it is, "IT'S LIKE STEAMPUNK NARBONIC!" Honestly, it's freaking amazing and I recommend you go read it.

Narbonic.

This is a comic that ended at the end of 2006, but the archive is still up and really should be read. The comic was at a paysite for a long time until the author made the archive available in the comic's last year. The premise is that you've got this guy Dave, he's just graduated and the first job offer he gets is to debug doomsday machines. The comic blossoms so much from there. The comic ends in the best way a comic can end, with the story concluded with all ends tied up.

Three panel soul

Many of you will remember the formerly long running comic Mac Hall, done by Ian McConiville and Matt Boyd. They ended Mac Hall in late 2006, much to the sadness of their fans. They had said that they would possibly coming back to webcomics in the future, and this comic is their new project. It's still very young, but it's the sarcastic humor and great art fans of mac hall had come to expect from this duo. Read it so it stays alive.

Punch And Pie.

While still on the subject of new projects, the former author of the now ended webcomic, Queen of Wands. Some time after QoW ended, there was talk that Aerie would be working on a new project. One that she would write for but not draw. A few months ago it was confirmed that the artist of her new project would be Chris Daily, the artist of keenspot member comic Striptease. Recently the comic went live and while they're a bit iffy about their updates so far, put this in your list and keep an eye on it, with this much talent on board it's bound to wind up being something great.

I've found a few new comics as well, but I'm not sure what to say about them just yet.

There is one thing I have truly enjoyed when it comes to reading Applegeeks these days. One thing that fans of a particular comic tend to hate, is when a formerly funny comic decides to take a more serious spin. And while a more serious storyline can be an engaging read, some of the magic that brought us in feels like it's gone.

Hawk's recent storyline, however serious really is a great story. Now if it weren't for the addition of the mini-comic applegeeks-lite, we would have more of the complaining so often found on the megatokyo fourms, "where's teh funny?", refering to the former comedy of megatokyo that was absent in more recent chapters.

Applegeeks lite maintains the goofy mac humor we all fell in love with when we started reading Applegeeks, allowing our good friends Hawk and Ananth to continue this great story they've been crafting lately.

If you've never read applegeeks, do so now, it's great fun and a comic I make sure to check whenever it updates.

I've been out of luck when it came to ideas on what to write my next entry on and I came upon this idea. There are characters that when we think of them they are invariably identified with webcomics.

First off we have the most deadly mini-lop this side of one of riff's laser cannons, the one the only, Bun Bun. Known for his love of his switchblade, alfafa margaritas, and baywatch. Suprisingly similar to an AI bunny in the world of John Ringo's Council Wars books.

There were two pairs of characters that many people will really identify with when they think of comics. Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade fame. Also the dynamic duo of Piro and Largo of Megatokyo. These two pairs are among some of the best known pals of webcomics.

I really don't know where this post came from, but it sounds okay.

A bit more than a year ago, I was introduced to the utterly out-there webcomic El Goonish Shive. The comic, written and drawn by Dan Shive was completely unlike any other comic I had read before. The plot is as great and can be as convoluted as Megatokyo's, and as easily discussed if you know someone that reads the comic regularly.

Even when compared with comics that feature a large cast of characters, (i.e. Dominic Deegan), most of those comics still focus on a small portion of the characters. EGS has an extremely large cast of characters, but unlike other comics the portion of the cast that could be described as the main characters is much larger than other comics.

But why am I boring you with discussion of casts? On to the discussion of the story!

The premise of the comic is the adventures, relationships, and conflicts that arise around characters, while that pretty much describes 99% of all comics on the web, it truly is the characters that make this comic shine. First off we have Tedd, a junior in high school and resident mad scientist with a flair for gender transformations via his transfomation gun. Second we have Tedd's girlfriend Grace, who can transform herself at will. And while i'm really not doing the comic justice with this description, as I don't want to give anything away about the plot if you do end up reading it.

The point i'm making here is, if you're looking for a comic that's very likely unlike anything you've probably read before, at least give EGS a look, you will not regret the choice.

Until next time, I'm addicted to webcomics.

I had the fortune to be introduced to Webcomics by a friend of mine who had picked up the second Megatokyo book, from there I read the archive of the comic, thus taking me down the road I tread now. But what if you don't have a starting point like this? The plan for this post is to give people who are new to webcomics a few comics they could start with.

When many people think of webcomics they think of Megatokyo, while not the longest or most colorful comic out there, it has quite possibly one of the most engaging plots this writer has encountered. Good enough that you'd want to start talking about the strip as soon as you're done reading it. It starts out similar to other gaming comics, but eventually morphs into something completely origional. A great comic for those starting out and will want amazing art.

The second comic I've recomended for new readers is the ever loveable antics of Gabe and Tycho over at Penny-Arcade. This comic is what most other gaming comics on the web are similar to. The two guys, the couch and the unseen TV that they game on. Complete with threats from Jack Thompson, Nyphomaniac Juicers, and Alcholic Home Theater Equipment. If you don't want to have to deal with a plot, and just want some laughs and gaming, this is your comic.

These were some of my first comics, and I ended up branching out through various methods. Perhaps I saw a guest strip whose art I liked, so I looked up the artist and read their comic. Or maybe a friend mentions some comic I haven't heard of before, or at the very least haven't read yet, so I try that one out. But remember, these are not the only ones out there, read what you like.

Until next time, I'm addicted to webcomics.

Okay, now while I normally would be writing about some new comic I've discovered, today I'd like to address an issue that runs rampant throughout the web. Bad Fanfiction, note I say "bad", I have no problem with well written fanfiction that respects the characters. But why do badfic writers seem to have this uncontrollable urge to write not only slash pairings that should have never existed and had little or no basis in the canon (meaning the series on which the fic is based), but some truly sickening works of fiction that really make you wonder about the mental state of the person who wrote it.

Example of a fiction that makes you not just feel bad for the fandom, but for the writer, is one of the classics of bad fanfiction (yes. There is such a thing). The title, Agony in Pink, the subject, a full-featured torture fic in which Lord Zedd of Power Rangers goofy villain fame, creates a monster solely designed to torture humans. Zedd then captures the Pink Ranger and proceeds to horribly torture her in countless ways. Now I haven't been a fan of Power Rangers for quite some time, but I still had some good memories. And after reading this fic, not only was I disgusted, but as I read it, I couldn't help but wonder why the author was writing the story, because if you read this, you'd see how much disgusting detail the author goes into.

On a less psychological fiction note, there are people that write pairings that are obviously contrived to help the writer get off. This is not only in the realm of Male/Male pairings. Ever read a Neon Genesis: Evangelion fanfiction? About 9 times out of 10 there will be a pairing that involves either:

*note: spoilers ahead for the serries*

A.) Rei and Auska in a gay relationship, now this one is of prime annoyance, as while in the serries all but one of the relationships were stated merely in subtext. These relationships built a fair amount of the serries, such as the never mentioned but completely implied crush Auska had on Shinji. But of all the relationships that were mentioned in the serries, only one was a homosexual one, and then it was still only implied. The relationship between Dr. Akagi and her assistant Maia. This is one that could never happen as Risko is firmly straight, but it was a sorta nice one. However, the fanbrats seem to need to write gay pairings on both sides of the line that never had a basis, such as the aformentioned Rei and Auska relationship.

B.) Shinji and Kaoru, oh mien gott, as Auska would say. I've got some fangirl friends that like Eva, and this is the motherlode of yaoi fanfics for the serries. Now there is some discussion about Kaoru, as he does make some pretty serious advances on Shinji, however a few friends of mine have worked out a fairly resonable explaination for this. In the past at least one angel had tried to merge with Unit 01 as well as Shinji. This lends some explainations for Kaoru's seemingly sexual advances, Kaoru is trying to merge with Shinji. Not have sex with him, which would be impossible as the angels have no gender.

C.) Some really random pairing that had absolutely no basis in the serries. Examples include Gendo and Fuyuski, Kaoru and Kenske, Risuko and Auska, etc.

Basically this was a entry to let people know that while fanfiction is not inheriantly bad, it's very easy to make it so. If any fanfic writters read this, please follow this piece of advice: if you're writing a pairing, please make it a plausible one, and by that I do not mean a mary-sue. Thank you and goodnight.