Elliot's Top Ten Ongoing Web Comics

[Elliot Kane]

The web comics thread is getting pretty long and serves as little more than an index anyway, so I figured I'd give some more details on my favourites and why I think you should be reading them. I took a number of things into account when creating this list, as follows:

1. Story. Paramount, of course. A great story over-rides all else, to me, and can cancel out relatively poor artwork, where even the greatest of artists cannot create a wonderful comic from a poor story. This naturally includes characterisation and plotting skills.

2. Art. The art must be appropriate to the story. That doesn't always involve photo-realism but allows for the fact that many art styles exist that can be used to tell a story well.

3. Regular updates. Many fine web comics update erratically or rarely, but I have excluded thm all. to make this list, a comic should update at least once a week regularly.

4. Longevity. Everything on this list has been around for a good few years and is likely to be around for a lot more years to come.

It's not all fantasy, it's not all aimed at any one target audience and not all the protagonists are even human - in fact the one thing that all these strips DO have in common is that they are at least as good as anything you'll find on a shop shelf.

Judge for yourselves...

Links to the comics are in the titles, in case you miss them

[Elliot Kane]

1. Girl Genius

Updates: M W F

Story In a world ruled by mad scientists and their crazy inventions, Agatha Clay is a bumbling geek who can barely cope with the most basic science projects without tripping over her own feet. But all is not as it seems, for the loss of a strange amulet she has always worn seems to bring Agatha's mind to life... Could she really be the incredibly gifted Daughter of a now vanished legend? Well.. yeah! ;D

Genre: Victorian Gothic Cyberpunk Romance is the best I got for this one. It's about mad scientists and their crazy inventions.

Artwork: Extremely good. Not photo-realistic, but incredibly detailed. Initial B&W artwork gives way to colour.

[Elliot Kane]

2. Gunnerkrigg Court

Updates: M W F

Story: The story of Antimony Carver's school days. At a school where science and magic are both very real and creatures out of myth and legend abound. Robots rub shoulders with minotaurs (Though uneasily), with the totally cool and unshakable Annie (Aged around 11-ish at the start) finding her feet amidst all the weirdness.

Genre: Defies classification (At least by me!). A broad mix of myth, science and school.

Artwork: Cartoonish, but more European than Disney. Quite distinct and improves over time.

[Elliot Kane]

3.Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic

Updates: daily, including weekends

Story: Starts out as a love story between Gren the Goblin and Bob the Beholder (Yes, really!), but soon grows to encompass the denizens of the cave complex they live in, then the surrounding kingdoms... This thing is huge and at over 900 strips still shows no sign of story fatigue.

Genre: mainly comedy and fantasy, but some of the content can get quite serious from time to time. Not really suitable for a younger audience.

Artwork: black & white cartoon.

[Elliot Kane]

4.Penny & Aggie

Updates: M W F

Story: The lives of high school rivals Penny (The popular one) and Aggie (The weird one) and their friends (And often enemies). Deals with a lot of teen issues like popularity, relationships and general growing pains. A very compelling cast of characters makes this interesting to people of all ages, however.

Genre: Could be considered 'school life' or 'comics for girls'. There are no fantasy elements at all (Worth noting, given the rest of my list ;D).

Artwork: Always B&W and starts very cartoony, but improves vastly over the run and is almost photo-realistic by the current story.

[Elliot Kane]

5. Order Of The Stick

Updates: thrice weekly at random

Story: Starts as a satirical look at D&D and other RPGs but slowly changes over time to become the story of how the Order try to save the world from the evil lich Xykon (Personally, my money's on Xykon ;D). Starts very funny, becomes funny AND compelling.

Genre: Fantasy, comedy & RPG.

Artwork: Stick figure art. Sort of. Only more so...

[Elliot Kane]

6. The Dreamland Chronicles

Updates: daily on week days.

Story: Alexander Carter is slacking at school and in danger of flunking out, but that's not his biggest problem. He's being sucked back into the world of his childhood dreams whenever he falls asleep and that world may just turn out to be a lot more real than he ever imagined...

Genre: Fantasy.

Artwork Computer rendered in amazing detail.

[Elliot Kane]

7. Looking For Group

Updates: Not sure. 2-3 times a week.

Story: Cael is out to be a hero... in a world where all his fellow elves are evil bastards. Can he make it? And who else will he drag along in his wake? Surely not the evil warlock, Richard... right? Right? This story can be very funny but it veers sharply between comedy and very serious. It's certainly not suitable for younger readers.

Genre: Fantasy, comedy, MMORPGs

Artwork: High quality cartoon throughout.

[Elliot Kane]

8. Tales of The Questor

Updates: once a week, usually.

Story: The young Rac'connan Quentyn wants to become a Questor - a protector of the oppressed and vanquisher of evil - but the job is long considered obsolete. Yes, the lead is a Raccoon, kinda, but don't let that put you off. The story is about courage and strength of heart overcoming adversity and how even seemingly 'ordinary' people (Or raccoons) can be heroes.

Genre: Fantasy.

Artwork Cartoon. Improves over time.

[Elliot Kane]

9. The Phoenix Requiem

Updates: Mon & Thurs

Story: Dedicated doctor's apprentice Anya has no time for romance until a mysterious stranger is discovered in the local wood with gunshot wounds. But what are the strange spirits he seems to attract?

Genre: Supernatural Romance, possibly Horror.

Artwork: Photorealistic and you'll have a VERY hard time finding better on the shop shelves, it's that good.

[Elliot Kane]

10. The Dreamer

Updates: Tues & Thurs (I think)

Story: 17 year old American Bea Whalley has a pretty normal life until her dreams seemingly start throwing her back through time to the American war of independence and into a life she seemingly lives there but cannot remember... and the handsome soldier who loves her! Is any of this real? And if it is, how can she possibly find true love across the centuries?

Genre: Historical Romance. With no real fantasy elements despite the premise.

[Elliot Kane]

That was fun - especially the really good comics I had to leave out! ;D

I've tried to make the list varied and interesting and hopefully there'll be something on there to interest everyone - male or female, young or old.

Enjoy - and please post your comments, even if it's only "Your list sucks!" ;D

[The Sonar Chicken]

Yeah... LFG rocks! Oh and I think it contains a bit of gore so it's recommended for the weak-hearted to look away while the next page loads. ^^;;

Oh and Dreamer is awesome... thanks for reccing it to me, a few months ago.