Webcomics Redux

[stoutfellow]

I thought I'd give a quick rundown on what I did with the various recommendations people made a couple of months ago. Mostly, I've been going through the archives, where possible; I've got the current runs of several of them in a Candidates folder. "Girl Genius" has already been promoted to my Amusements folder; in fact, it's got two slots, for GG 101 and the Advanced Course.

There were a couple of recs that I couldn't connect to. "Pibgorn" looked interesting, but also confusing, and with the archives apparently behind a paywall I didn't see how to catch up properly, so I reluctantly dumped it. (I'm still open to persuasion on that one.) "It's Walky" has the main storyline behind a paywall, too, and I'm not inclined to pay on spec. (There's also the fact that I don't have, and don't particularly want, a PayPal account.)

I went through the archives of "Queen of Wands", which was a lot of fun. I'll have to keep an eye out for Kestrel's appearances in "Something Positive", although I'm not sure she'll carry over well.

"Freefall", "A Miracle of Science", and "Evil Inc." will probably move up to the Amusements folder pretty soon. "Freefall" is just silly; I like Florence a lot. "Evil Inc." is silly, too; I like the riffs on traditional comics. (Dr. Haynus is a scream.) "A Miracle of Science" is a nice bit of space opera; even the evil characters (and oh, are they evil!) are somehow appealing.

The other strips in the Candidates folder are "Sluggy Freelance" (jury's still out), "General Protection Fault" (growing on me), "Irregular Webcomic" (not a strong candidate - too, well, irregular in quality), "Count Your Sheep" (sometimes a little too cutesy, but fairly entertaining), "Legostar Galactica" (also growing on me), "Terinu" (dialogue's a little on the bombastic side, but the storyline looks fairly interesting; I don't know what's going on in current continuity yet), "Starslip Crisis" (not a strong candidate; I don't really find any of the characters appealing), and "Catharsis" (which wasn't recommended; I stumbled across it somewhere, probably via CYS).

Comments

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Where are you up to in Terinu's storyline? I never considered the dialog "bombastic". Though I'll admit there is quite a bit of shouting, between Terinu's temper, Lance's temper, and Mavra Chan's general evil lunatic-ness.

Well, there is the Gene Mage. But he thinks he's a god anyway... :P

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I've finished Season 1, and just begun Season 2. "Bombastic" isn't the right word; "melodramatic" fits better, I think. I'm thinking especially of some of Lance's dialogue, especially when he's face-to-face with the Galapados. It's not necessarily a bad thing; it's traditional for certain kinds of space opera. But I find it a little - only a little - offputting.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Okay, Lance and Gisko facing off as "Honorable Enemies" is pure ham, I'll admit. Every time they start fighting I keep seeing Kirk facing off with the Gorn captain in "Arena". :)

[horn toot] FYI For a slightly (okay, more than slightly) skewed look at past and future issues of Terinu, hunt around the forums at main Terinu discussion topic for the "Five Minute Terinu" summaries. The first four can be found here: http://www.terinu.net/FiveMinuteTeri1.htm [/horn toot]

[tygerr.livejournal.com]

Very* early Sluggy is kind of hit-and-miss. About 6 months in it really hits its stride, and keeps the Nifty up until around the Holiday Wars. The past couple years just haven't been up to par, but I keep hoping.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

I'm about a year into the archives, and you're right, it has improved. Of course, I'm still in mid-1998... (I'm seriously wondering how the strip got from There to Here. I'll admit, seven-plus years is a long time.)