Browsing the funnies

[Note: I have written my bibliography to suit publication in a youth-oriented magazine, such as Rave Magazine, Time Off or Scene. The document uses colloquial language and jargon to suit my primary audience and the publications’ style, as well as to complement the topic of my article.]


These days the funny pages are online rather than in your local paper. A far greater audience reach, fewer space and censorship restrictions – these are just some of the reasons why an increasing number of comics are published on the web. Even iconic newspaper strips, such as Dilbert, can now be found online.

With over 18,000 web comics, it can be hard to know where to start looking for your daily laugh. Nikki Hightower helps out with her top ten web comics and some web resources to get you started.

1. Sinfest, www.sinfest.net (updated daily)
Sinfest is a Manga-styled comic that tackles adult topics such as love, religion and sexuality with humorous aplomb. The main characters Slick, Criminy and Monique look about twelve years old but have funny and frank discussions about sexuality, porn and religion. God and the Devil also regularly appear in the comic to antagonise each other, with God frequently getting the last laugh, using a Devil hand-puppet to mimic the Devil and his coveting of God’s popularity.

The juxtaposition of Sinfest’s cutesy graphics with the comic’s scripts works on two levels for writer Tatsuya Ishida. The cutesy style adds a level of playfulness to Ishida’s sometimes deadpan social commentary, while the contrast with the storylines enhances the caustic quality of the strip.

2. Sluggy Freelance, www.sluggy.com (updated daily)
Like any good sci-fi, pop culture parody-infused adventure, describing the storyline of Sluggy Freelance is a journey in itself! Torg and his misfit acquaintances (which includes a killer rabbit, Bun Bun, and a man-eating alien, Aaylee) regularly travel between dimensions to fight demons, pick up hot alien chicks, host interplanetary keg parties and hang out with alternate versions of themselves.

One of the oldest online comics, writer Pete Abrams rewards faithful fans with long story arcs and holiday traditions, such as Bun Bun’s annual Christmas grudge match with Santa. But new visitors to the site shouldn’t be put off – Abrams has created a new viewer’s guide to help Sluggy virgins get intimately acquainted with the story and characters.

3. Dilbert, www.dilbert.com (updated daily)
Our favourite two-dimensional nerd in the cubicle world, Dilbert needs little introduction. While continuing to be syndicated in hundreds of newspapers across the globe, Scott Adams now also publishes Dilbert strips—in both English and Spanish—online.

Having written Dilbert for almost twenty years, Adams’s punchlines seem effortlessly effective. It’s also a great comic to browse on work time as the office content of the strip makes it seem entirely work-related. Even better, Dilbert makes for a great research resource, helping you to flesh out your ‘HR Collaborative Design’ report that was due on your boss’s desk an hour ago.

4. Little Dee, www.littledee.net (updated daily Monday to Saturday)
Little Dee is a light-hearted, happy web comic suitable for all ages. A little girl gets lost in the forest and is found by a bear called Ted. After discussing it over with his dog friend, Blake, and Vachel, his vulture friend, Ted decides to adopt the little girl, whom he calls Dee.

Christopher Baldwin skillfully inverts the human-pet relationship in Little Dee. While the animals all speak, Dee only uses sounds and movement to display her emotions. Dee also happily dishes out affection and loves to play, bringing out a child-like innocence and joy in the animal characters and in the Little Dee reader as well.

5. Dinosaur Comics, www.qwantz.com (updated daily Monday to Friday)
If Jurassic Park gave you the idea that Dinosaurs behave liked tarted-up British backpackers, running amok on tropical islands and eating B-grade celebrities, Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics will set you straight. T-Rex, the sexy new age dinosaur, proselytises to his buddies, Dromiceiomimus and Utahraptor, about everything from science to literature to the perils of unrealisable sexual fetishes (such as being turned on by an egg descrambling itself).

A ‘cut and paste' comic, Dinosaur Comics contains the same visual panels for every strip with only the text changing. Despite this, T-Rex and each storyline roar with personality, demonstrating how the quality of a script alone can create a very clever, popular comic.

6. Questionable Content, www.questionablecontent.net (updated daily Monday to Friday)
Jeph Jacques is somewhat of a web comic writer hero, having managed to quit his ‘real’ job due to the success of Questionable Content. And if you read the comic strip, it’s easy to see why. Jacques has a great graphic style, but it is his characterisations that make this comic so addictive.

The core QC cast—Marten, Faye, Dora & Sven—are young, hip, intelligent ‘thangs’ that make wry comments about life and demonstrate affection with sarcastic barbs. The individual quirks of each QC character quickly enamour the reader and the witty banter between the group keeps you hanging for the next strip. Faye, however, is the drawcard of QC, simultaneously enticing and destroying amorous young men with her flirtatious wisecracks and putdowns.

7. Indie Tits, www.indietits.com (updated daily Monday to Friday)
Another Jeph Jacques comic, Jacques describes Indie Tits as ‘a bunch of birds making obscure band references and stupid jokes’. And, yep, that’s pretty much what the comic is. But, hey, the comic has a great title and is full of laughs, even if you’re not a music aficionado.

As in Questionable Content, Jacques has a knack for dialogue and brutally funny one-liners, which he uses to great effect in Indie Tits. The comic makes me want to develop an unhealthy fixation with music, birds, and with Jacques.

8. Ctrl + Alt + Del, www.cad-comic.com (updated 4 times a week)
While not actually a favourite web comic of mine, Ctrl+Alt+Del deserves mention as the most popular web comic online, receiving up to 10,000 visits to the website each month. CAD is a gaming comic, a popular sub-genre of web comic that focuses on the world of video game players. CAD revolves around the life of two young guys, Ethan and Lucas, and their video game fetishes.

In its infancy, CAD’s humour was narrowly aimed at the gaming community – if you weren’t familiar with Xbox, Playstation and PC-gaming conventions, the comic gags were unlikely to make much sense. However, as the comic has established itself, its storylines and jokes have become more general in nature, making the comic an easy and enjoyable read for gamers and non-gamers alike.

9. A Softer World, www.asofterworld.com (updated weekly)
A Softer World is like a Christmas present from your crazy Aunt Bessie – a package wrapped up in pretty pastel tissue paper, with something slightly distasteful inside. Photographer Emily Horne collaborates with writer Joey Corneau to present three panels of sliced photographs overlaid with simple, reflective text. While not always black, Corneau definitely has a dark side and his sparse, humorous reflections beautifully contrast the soft-focused simplicity of Horne’s imagery.

With no consistent cast or storyline, A Softer World is like a weekly calendar quote for the slightly cynical at heart.

10. Alien loves Predator, www.alienlovespredator.com (updated irregularly)
Everyone loves a good showdown between Alien and Predator, but Bernie Hou makes it even better by spawning some New York humour in the mix. Instead of the usual bloody intergalactic battle, Alien and Predator, aka Abe and Preston, are bickering New York roomies with the usual cosmopolitan gripes. Subway commuter depression, New York Yankee fanaticism and finding love – these are just some of the issues facing these aliens in the big city.

ALP is very funny stuff, poking fun at contemporary culture as well as the comic's own written style (making reference to its Sex and the City and Woody Allen similarities). The only downside is that the comic isn’t updated more frequently. Hou sometimes lets months slip by before posting a new comic, potentially ‘alienating’ new fans. The website does contain a subscriber list, however, which lets fans know when the comic is updated.

11. The Web Comic List, www.thewebcomiclist.com
If the above list of comics doesn’t take your fancy, The Web Comics List can help you find web comics suited to your taste. WCL tracks approximately 10,000 online comics, ranking and categorising the comics according to their popularity and genre. The website informs readers when comics are updated as well as when new comics are added to the list. A host of other features, such as interviews and fan forums, makes the site a very valuable and interactive online community.

12. The Webcomics Examiner, www.webcomicsreview.com
Unfortunately, The Webcomics Examiner hasn’t been updated since November 2006. However, the site still serves as a fantastic archive for those curious to learn more about web comics and discover brilliant comics hidden in the million of website pages online.

The Examiner describes itself as a ‘forum of frank, sophisticated discussions of webcomics as a fine art’ and contains a mix of monthly articles, interviews, reviews and roundtable discussions on all things ‘webcomic’. While some in the web comic community have poked fun at The Examiner’s lofty aspirations, the website has generally been well regarded by the rest of the comic community.