What's Good On The Web?

[athelind]

I've recently stumbled across a trio of Very Good Comics which have quickly worked their way into my affections.

• Kid Radd
  Schedule: Concluded.
  An "Animated Pseudo-Sprite Comic". My vote for Best Use Of The Medium As Something Other Than A Paper Substitute, Kid Radd uses just the right amount of animation to keep things, um, moving. It's not a cartoon, but it's not a static comic, either. It starts off looking like a fairly standard gag-a-day sprite strip, but slowly builds into an adventure saga that genuinely rates the oft-abused term "epic". Unlike most comics, web or otherwise, this one actually has a resolution, so reading it is more like reading a novel than adding another comic to your already-long list.
  
  
• A Miracle of Science
  Schedule: Mondays & Thursdays.
  Hard SF, plus "Science-Related Memetic Disorder" (Mad Science Syndrome!), plus a "technological singularity", plus the only sympathetic human group-mind I've seen in science fiction makes this strip give Schlock Mercenary a run for its money as My Favorite Hard SF Comic. It most certainly wins my award for Setting I'd Most Like To Live In. From the pacing and the full-page comic format, I suspect that it, too, will eventually conclude.
  
  
• Dominic Deegan, Oracle for Hire
  Schedule: Daily
  Another strip that starts out gag-a-day, then builds into a series of extended storylines. Dominic, as the title says, is a clairvoyant in a classic RPG fantasy world with a little anime influence. It's frequently funny without falling into the now-dreary genre parody trap; it also manages moments of genuine suspense and drama.

I suppose, at some point, I should give a more complete rundown of the web comics I read, or, at the very least, my favorites among them. These three just happened to fall into my lap within a few weeks of each other, and all have very strong, solid storytelling, pacing, setting and characterization.

Comments

[stalbon.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I've fallen out of a lot of webcomics that I used to follow. Some of the very first things I got into with the furry community online were comics (by the dozens at belfry.com), but over the years I've dropped all but a few. Acid Reflux was one of the best I've read, but its been kaput for over a year and a half now, and so I only follow Kevin & Kell and Sluggy Freelance, each of which is only half as good as they used to be. I don't have a lot of hope for K&K, but if Sluggy Freelance can focus more on the interaction between all the characters instead of just one, it should become a good comic again.

[richardf8]

DD's an on-again-off-again favorite of mine, and I really should get caught up with it.

[tephra]

I'm rather fond of Dominic Deegan, Oracle for hire myself. I follow most of Tiffany Ross' comics as well with Alien Dice and Pure being my favorites. Unfortunately Pure seems to be relatively unpopular and therefore doesn't get enough donations to have it update regularly, even when there aren't computer issues or child hospitalizations interrupting.

The links section of my homepage is a pretty fair listing of the comics I follow, though in need of some cleaning up (again). It seems like most of the things I like have stopped updating. I really miss Strings of Fate.