What am I reading?
by czwheeler
Before we get any further, I thought it would make sense to list all the webcomics I’m reading (and, soon, the other authors here). So, you’ll see the name, the link, and whether I like the comic (“+”), dislike it (“-”) or have no strong feelings about it (“0″). Some people may wonder why I continue to read comics I don’t like, but I suppose that’s a topic for a future post.
36 comments
Why aren’t you reading Three Word Phrase and A Softer World? Also, if you are looking for more comics to hate, can I recommend Moon Over June (NSFW!), Supermega, and Jerkcity?
Put some Brawl in the Family in that.
How can you not love MSPA?! Homestuck is the most amazing comic on the web. Everything else, I pretty much agree with, except that Red Meat ran out of steam a long time ago.
How can you be neutral about MS Paint Adventures? It’s bad in every way that it is possible to be bad. Bad writing, bad characterization, bad pacing, bad jokes, and bad/lazy art. And there is nothing good about it to weigh against the bad.
Hating on the Subnormality?! What a world this is to poor old Zoidberg.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who reads SFM despite disliking it thoroughly. It’s not that funny. Maybe I just like the art.
Have you tried reading Order of the Stick (giantitp.com)? It’s easily my favourite webcomic nowadays; consistently hilarious with a strong action/adventure/parody storyline.
Also, am I the only one who thinks SMBC is slowly getting worse?
Its interesting that you like more comics than you dislike, even though I feel some of them are definitely suffering the xkcd quality effect (SMBC to some effect.. but perhaps that is just me being jaded)
Also some of your zeros are actually ’0′s. This is in inexcusable
This is a really cool list- I’ve only heard of a few of these, and I’m having a good time going through the different comics on the list and seeing what they’re like.
By the way: the link to MS Paint Adventures is broken.
I have heard a lot about it but not read it yet. I’ll add it to my list (currently slowly going through Dr. McNinja and trying to catch up on the first few months of scenes from a multiverse)
You should read white ninja, it’s awesome. Well, on second thought it might not be your kind of humor. Anyways, keep up the good work.
it’s all zeros now. dang circles, all gettin’ me confused.
Homestuck does require a significant investment of time to read and understand everything, which a lot of people don’t have. I basically read it for the humour.
Am seconding the Order of the Stick, most definitely my favourite comic ever, and if I had any disposable income, I’d be buying all the books and extra stuff.
As for SMBC, I have to agree that it’s gotten worse so far, but it may just be a downturn. Weiner has to come up with a new one every single day, so you can expect to have a comic with a fair amount of average or even shitty comics, with an amazing gem every now and then.
@Bran, Dex, Defiant
SMBC downturn, wtf? Get your humor checked, he had a picto blog post the other day about time and remembered time, but it had a punchline at least.
Also the votey’s usually either have author commentary or another punchline, you’re just being jaded, a good 80% of what Weiner does is hilarious, and he doesn’t even come off smug about it. And given the quantity he puts out, that 80% is a lot of funny shit.
CARL YOU TERRORIST YOU FORGOT GUNNERKRIGG COURT
(unless you don’t actually follow gunnerkrigg in which case you have another more serious problem on your hands)
@Capn
Oh I love SMBC, and read it every day. Its just when I compare the quality of the comics in the last 6 months compared to earlier comics I feel his miss rate is higher, and when he hits its not as good
Still some hilarious, however I feel he really needs to break out of his “stereotype” jokes, he generally does a very narrow theme and repeats jokes that vary little from this.
He manages originality and cleverness, but his alt picture sometimes hints at him phoning it in (like “look its another dick/graph joke”) almost like he is acknowledging his declining originality and trying to be ironic about it
Awkward Zombie
Order of the Stick
you already mentioned McNinja so I won’t re-mention it
Haven’t you mentioned on xkcdsucks that you like/read A Softer World?
Also, may I recommend The Warehouse, if you’re ever wondering why Cyanide & Happiness stopped being funny when you turned fifteen.
@Dex
I dunno, I’ve been reading his stuff since there were more recurring characters attached to it (yet another, College is so Funny! comic … ugh) and I’m real of glad he got away from those for obvious reasons. So he’s broken his own mold before, and again when he stopped focusing so much on single panels and did multi-panel when he needed to.
I don’t think it’s so much as irony as it is honesty in comic-…ing …. that he derides himself whenever he uses a dick joke.
Maybe there is a slump, I usually read his stuff in batch anyway, so I mostly remember the one or two really good ones of the week that I go through it. Or I’m just a kiss ass Zack Weiner Cuddlefish, who knows.
I think it’s Rob who is a hardcore A Softer World fan.
I’m no great a fan of MSPA, but you seem to have a low standard for +. If nothing else, it’s certainly better than Amazing Superpowers, which is absolutely terrible. SMBC also is suffering a steep decline; I haven’t laughed at one of those in almost as long as xkcd at this point.
Re: SMBC
Actually, I feel the opposite – there’s more misses in the hit and miss, but it’s still amazing when it does hit. Which is why I still follow it religiously.
The thing is that SMBC does a few bad things. Like having too much of an elaborate set-up or explanation in order to make the comic be understood by the reader. But I don’t get as mad as I do at XKCD, because SMBC does have very good comics every now and then.
Quick review of the past few
2021 – internal chuckle, nothing too amazing
2020 – way too damn long and complicated; it was fairly funny, but the sheer length and explanation detracted a lot from it
2015 – a true wtf that a lot of people didn’t know
2012 – pure gold
2010 – awesome
2009 – I get it, but it’s too long
etc…
I think Zach has spread himself too thin with SMBC Theater, Snowflakes, etc. So SMBC Theater and SMBC itself have both become kind of lame. #2015 doesn’t even make sense.
Also, anticscomic.com is fantastic.
Eh, SMBC has been good overall. Some little stuff bother me sometimes, though.
Such as how it seems every science joke is “scientists overreact about trifle things” lately. We had the “altruistic mollusc” then, today we have “nookular”.
I tolerate Zach’s missed because he’s doing daily comics with half-decent art, unlike some other comic “artists” that update only 3 times a week and think stick figures whose heads don’t even connect with their bodies is passable…
[...] So there you go. The head prophet for the proposition that xkcd might not be the greatest webcomic in the world has gone and started an all new blog, scaling back xkcd Sucks duty to a once-a-week at best. Will Carl start talking about webcomics he actually likes? Maybe. [...]
these are mostly all gag strips, but you don’t read gunshow?!
Hey hey hey. http://www.buttersafe.com/
Read Buttersafe. I like this one a lot, for some reason.
surprised that you dont read the webcomics staples (pvp, questionable content ctrl alt del, dr mcninja,the least I could do etc) even if you dont like some of them kinda those are needed to be read to be webcomic critic
May I recommend “Hanna is Not a Boy’s Name”? The first chapter is a little shaky because the artist did a lot of experimenting, but the series gets loads better afterward.
Wow. That’s a highly predictable like list.
So predictable that I had to post a comment about it.
Hmm, I’m against Penny Arcade myself. I just don’t find it funny. Of the comics I do read that you don’t, I particularly like Freefall (for interesting hard sci-fi), Lackadaisy (oh my word the art lookit that background!), Order of the Stick (one of the best written out there), and Sinfest (feels like a newspaper comic, but better).
I just have a couple of things to say here:
Irregular Webcomic!
Darths and Droids
Someone else has already mentioned Freefall. Go read ‘em.
if you’re not averse to explaining, why oh why don’t you like cyanide and happiness?
i dont mean to debate, just curious to understand, since you seem to have very well formed views on the webcomic scene.
So, you’re reading the same junk everyone else puts on their reading lists. And you’re writing about it. WHO CARES. Not like we’ve heard about this stuff a million times before. How about picking some of the newer stuff that’s out there. Give us something new to read. What’s the point of rehashing everything everyone already knows about? Man, I’m already bored of what you’ve written and you just got started.
Homestuck’s a brilliant comic, but in a limited sense of the word. You either love it or don’t get it. It’s not funny for everyone. It’s not even understandable to everyone. But if you put in the time to really understand the world Hussie is building, you’ll be amazed by the intense, unparalleled storytelling that characterizes Homestuck (not to mention the flash animations, pesterlogs, soundtrack, and interactive games).
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