Decline in the Modern Age

  Whooo! So it's been a while since I blogged it up, so I thought, "hey, why not blog at 7:30 in the morning?" Currently I've been up for 18 hours and counting, so I thought I might abuse myself for the sake of humor. Just kidding, I'd be up anyway, almost everyone here knows that. So I've got about 10 movies here, all ripe for the reviewing, and we'll see how many I get through, probably one or two more. I'm just here to have fun, like the rest of my blog, so don't take these too seriously. And yes, I know it's formatted a bit like Cracked, but I like it, and that's where I'm going with it.

I'm not going to bother summarizing these movies for the sake of spoilers. Besides, that's what all those movie sites out there are for.

  Basically what I did last night was looking up the filmography for Robin Wiliams, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, and Simon Pegg, purely on a whim. I will be updating as I finish the movies, instead of one massive update, it just looks nice!

So here are some movies foooor you!


#1) Good Morning, Vietnam
The Movie:

This one was pretty good. Robin Williams being his quick-talking, funny-voiced self. I was pretty amused, even if I could only understand half of what he was referencing. I liked that the mayor from Pleasantville played the sergeant major (your guess is as good as mine). I just assume that after the war is over, he hightails it to Pleasantville to try and set up the police state he's always wanted. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty surprised his black friend wasn't killed in the roadside bombing three quarters the way through the movie, but I suppose it wasn't supposed to be that type of movie. I understand the underlying point to Military Police, but it almost seems silly. It's like bringing a rifle to a rifle fight. Congrats. On that note, check this out, it was terribly amusing.


Favorite Line:
"You are in more dire need of a blowjob than any white man in history."

EDIT: There will not be a Pt. 2, because it ended terribly (the movie and the writing), so we're just taking this as a review of Good Morning, Vietnam!

DUI- Drawing Under the Influence

Well someone can't draw bandages.

I love the Hippity Hop (Rapper's Delight)

Snake is SO inaccurate. Why doesn't the rabbit run when it sees a 200 ft long snake coming for it?

I hate side-views with a fiery passion. A fiery penis-shaped passion.

  Artists always get the question, "Who are your influences?" and I feel I've drawn (ba-dum-chhh!) from pretty much every piece of art I've seen, one way or another. Obviously Superman carving penises isn't exactly Rembrandt, but using Superman that way and there being a penis joke (originally it was going to be a fist, but then I realized I had the potential for my first dick joke) was heavily influenced by SMBC, though less well-drawn.

  When I came up with the idea for the Hippity Hop comic, I definitely visualized it as a sort of Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes. Though the disproportions were due to being terrible at drawing children... One summer I checked out both anthologies from the library and read every single strip, it was fantastic. There are a couple of these, but the one I kept thinking about for this comic was this one. Obviously Rapper's Delight is not the 1812 overture, but as I always say (though in person I usually yell), all music is just a modified scale, so who cares what kind of music you like (though incidently I like both of those)?

  I suppose you could say that the first comic here is in the style of Far Side, another comic I absolutely adore. I've ready almost all of those, partly through a Comic-A-Day calendar I got for Hanukkah freshman year, and partly through 10th anniversary anthology. I was emailing back and forth for a bit with the webcomicker of Skidmore Bluffs and he was saying that while you might worry you're stealing the style, almost everyone's style is borrowed from one place or another. Then he mentioned someone following in Picasso's footsteps but I didn't know who that was.

  So I suppose what I'm saying is that everything every breath you take, every move you make, was borrowed in some part from other ideas, which is okay as long as it's not, "Ahoy, I'm stealing this comic and everything about it!" For me it's much more of, "Doo dee doo dee doo, working on this comic! Huh, this is a lot like blah blah blah". Also, that Police song is really creepy.

And So It Begins

            "YAAAAAWN…" Arthur moaned, stretching and rolling out of bed. He stumbled across the large, yet single person, dorm room to the window and pushed it open. Arthur leaned his head out the window. Nothing like a deep breath to jump-start the body… thought Arthur.

 He looked up at the sky. It was going to be one of those days. It wasn’t sunny enough out to be cheerful, but it wasn’t gloomy enough to rain. Either end would have been satisfactory, but it was neither, so Arthur was just going to have to accept that. The trees were beginning to turn all the wonderful shades of red and yellow, it being the middle of October and all. Maybe today I’ll sit under a tree and be decorated in autumn’s death… He didn’t know where he came up with stuff like that, but he thought it sounded good.

           

            Arthur looked down at the flower box hooked onto the windowsill. The plants didn’t look unhealthy, but he could sense their unhappiness with being confined to a box when there was a whole world to explore. You and me both little ones… Arthur took another deep breath, but this time he let it out as a heavy sigh. Across the room, Arthur’s black and white barn cat’s ears perked up at the sound of exasperation. Arthur turned to look at the cat. “Doh… Sorry Bucky, I didn’t mean to wake you!” Grabbing a couple of catnip leaves from one of the box plants, Arthur crossed the room and sat down on the bed. He set the leaves down and began scratching Bucky’s now turned over belly. “We really are perfect for each other, aren’t we…?” Arthur muttered to no one in particular.

            There wasn’t anything too extraordinary about Arthur’s past. Yes, his parents passed away when he was about thirteen, but there was no dark origin story to his present. Sad, but nothing cloak-and-dagger. Arthur’s father was a linguistics professor at the nearby college and his mother was a columnist and cartoonist for the paper. When Arthur was about nine, a publisher signed his mother on to write and draw for children’s books, and his father got promoted to division head. The family did quite well for the next four years.

            While Arthur’s mother was on tour for her new book, Keep the Cape but Please Put Pants On, her plane crashed before even getting out of the airport when another plane was also given clearance for takeoff and both collided. In the span of half an hour his mother went from being a living breathing person with a family to a statistic on some safety technician’s pie chart. That winter his father decided to go on sabbatical in Switzerland to do research on language development in more secluded countries. Arthur knew it was just to get away from the memories. Arthur had been staying with his neighbors when he got the call. His father had gone missing while skiing. It wasn’t uncommon to hit areas of light snow and fall in. Most people aren’t found, and Arthur’s father was one of them. Maybe this was how his dad got the promotion in the first place. Arthur became a ward of the state, but he asked to be put in a boarding school. He didn’t want to be in a home of unwanted and orphaned children. He wanted his own identity. He didn’t know if he could afford it, but supposedly there was a lot of money in children’s books. “At least until you graduate college, maybe longer if you’re careful,” is what the lawyer had told him. This wasn’t some kind of wizard bullshit. His parents became numbers and memories and a dollar amount in a bank account with his name on it.

            That’s how Arthur ended up at Magnus Boarding School, Home of the Magnus Minotaurs. Arthur didn’t quite understand why a half-breed creature trapped in a maze would give a damn about soccer and football, but they had never lost, so he supposed they knew enough about the rules. That was three years ago. Arthur had never left the school since then, including holidays and breaks. Where would he go anyway? His grandparents were in a home, and his aunt and uncle traveled all the time. They were the ones who brought him Bucky. They showed up unannounced on Visiting Day with animal carrier in hand.

“You ever consider owning a pet Arty?” His uncle asked Arthur’s fifteen-year-old self.

“I suppose… I mean, I know a few girls have rabbits, but that just seems silly,” he had replied.

“Well how about something a little more playful? A…kitten perhaps?” His uncle had said, popping open the carrier. Peering inside, Arthur discovered the dozing feline. It looked perfectly normal, not too skinny, not too fat, and it was purring softly. “…We met a lovely couple with a farm in Italy whose cat had just had kittens. Naturally we thought of you and they thought it had been long enough to separate them,” he went on, trying to gauge Arthur’s interest. The kitten woke up a bit and stared up at this young stranger. Arthur stared back. The kitten looked intelligent enough. Why not? It would be nice to have company. He didn’t like sharing a room because his last roommate pushed his potted plants off the windowsill from their fourth floor dorm after an argument about a stolen action figure.

“I’d love it!” Arthur said, hoping he sounded enthusiastic. He didn’t want his aunt and uncle asking the standard, “Are you alright?”

 “Hmm...? Oh, hey Manny… Yeah, just lost in thought. How’d you get in?”

“Left the door unlocked again, mate,” Manny said. Manny was from Birmingham, England because his father got a new job and had to relocate.

“Oh. Want to go grab breakfast?” Arthur responded, rising from the bed and walking to the dresser.

“ Yeah, alright.” Manny walked over play with Bucky while Arthur got ready in the bathroom.

 “Feisty, aren’t you?” Manny asked, removing his finger from the cat’s mouth.

“ Only around you,” Arthur said, giving Manny a wry look. “C’mon, let’s go.”

            Groggily sitting over a plate of eggs and toast, Arthur watched his friend devour two omelettes and four strips of bacon. He didn’t know where he stored it, but he knew Manny would be hungry again in two hours regardless.

“So… Think you’ll do… you know… today?” Manny said, looking up from his food for the first time in fifteen minutes.

“Magic?” Arthur said, looking at Manny wryly for the second time that day. It was a good look to give Manny, though Arthur was a bit sarcastic by nature anyway.

“Don’t make fun of me…  What you can do is weird, and you know it,” Manny retorted, getting defensive.

“Well yeah… Of course it’s weird, but it’s not like I can just not be able to because ‘it’s weird’…” Arthur replied.
“I guess what really bothers me is that you have a goddamn superpower and don’t do more with it than keep really healthy plants!” getting a bit loud.

“Will you keep it down?” hissed Arthur, leaning across the table. “I don’t need that getting around any more than you need Sarah Towtly to know you’ve liked her for two years!”

 “It’s a secret that you don’t want getting out because it might get back to the wrong people!”

“So you use a crush as an example? Seriously?"

"I dunno... It was the best example I could think of..."

Manny scowled. "For Pete’s sake, create a secret identity or something! Do something cool with it for once!” still getting louder.
“Will you shut the hell up?! People are starting to stare!” Arthur whispered angrily.

“All I’m saying is think about it! You can create plant life from absolutely nothing and what’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done since you could control it?” Manny replied, finally getting quieter, though not by much.

“Grow marigolds in the snow…” Arthur said, blushing.

“Exactly. What about that journal of yours? You have, what, at least fifty different types of ferns alone written down?” Manny said, his voice showing true concern. “Just have fun for once.”

“So what, I should put on some green tights and prance around stopping robberies in town? I’m sure that would go well. ‘Human Flower Found Shot Dead in Alley, Scientists Baffled’ splashed across the front page in every newspaper in the universe…”

“First of all, I doubt they’ll deliver The Times to Mars. But what about opening up a store or something? You’d have the best stock around,” Manny leaned back in his chair, relaxed. Arthur had at calmed down a bit.

“I have a hard enough time managing school work, and I'm sure that someone will wonder why there's never a delivery truck around the store. Or how a seventeen year old boy was able to start his own shop.”

“True... Alright, well at least think about it. What’s the worst that could happen?” Manny asked, shrugging.

“What’s the worst that could happen indeed…” Arthur murmured.

You've Gotten Scum All Over My Internet...

  I promise this time was actually a bit more legit. ish. I was reading Penny Arcade, who made a joke with rape in the context, who in turn responded to angry people with a comic. But that's not what this is about, they have more than enough responses. Anyway, Penny Arcade linked to one particular blogger, and I was reading her stuff, and then later on she mentions how there's a lot of trafficking for underage women in the Adult section of Craigslist. I have a bit of a superhero complex, save the people! and all that, so I went to check it out, figured I might spend half an hour having a flagging-marathon (I guess you could say I have no life, but I was supposed to be working on an essay, so it's totally okay. Right? Guys?), but unless they moved it, they've taken it down. Which is good, as long as it's not been moved somewhere else with internet code for trafficking, because I don't 5p3ak 7h3 best internet (though that's probably more than 40% of my readers so go me). Anyway, once again shirking my duties I decided to grab some Craigslist links, figuring I shouldn't waste the trip for nothing. Enjoy:

 http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/act/2062785820.html
  So this is a nice one. He was 27 when this happened. And he couldn't tell that the girl was more or less 10 years younger than him. I will give him that it can be hard to tell the difference between 17-19 year old, you probably couldn't tell me apart from my 18 year old self (a month ago), so at least he's got that going for him. On the other hand... people randomly hooking up with people ten years older than themselves, you'd think they'd do something to give it away. But yeah, he's sad. You should write him. You know, so he has your address and stuff.


http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/cas/2064292902.html
I almost don't know what to say to this one. "I want to cheat on my wife, so I thought I'd just broadcast to the world." This is a lot like Pina Coladas and I really hope that's how it ended up.


http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/cas/2064100901.html
[I just want to put this out there right now, I have nothing against homosexuals. That has nothing to do with why this is here. "Pffh, gay people on craigslist? What's next, women's rights?!" No, it's just another uber-sketchy thing I happened across.]
  Besides the fact that his boyfriend is in jail for gods-know-what, just the wonderful passing tidbit of... "oh yea i am hiv positive so you need to know now that thats out the way". JUST in case that's a problem.


http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/w4m/2059136827.html
I'm pretty sure that should say, "seeking someone to put my head firmly in the ground while my feet are in the clouds," but I see typos everywhere. I don't really know what the latter means, but knowing the amount of serial killers in Craigslist, I would say the first part works quite nicely.


I'm not going to directly link you, because I don't think her ranting, while it may have good points, needs any more views than it probably has.

I have yet to write my post about being a bad person.

Duh Duh Duh, Another One Bits the Dust

  Besides the most badass way to give CPR, though hopefully not a prediction, it's also a useful way to say goodbye to comics that are moved to Caught Ups for reasons that are not due to The Lull. Those are the saddest. It usually means the comic has stopped updating long enough to be considered dead and not worth loading based on the update schedule. Today we say goodbye to Mint Condition. It was an interesting comic, and I hope that it returns someday. I also hope that it didn't stop updating due to the author's wife, because that was the original reasoning and would be terrible...

  But as we live and die, so do comics. As someone that was not me and lived in the past said, probably more than once, "Out with the old, and in with the new!" Much like a hydra, as we say goodbye to one comic, six more have come to take its place! While I will miss each comic that is moved to Caught Ups, I enjoy finding new comics to read and become attached to. That being said, these new comics are reviewed and Comics Galore as a whole has been revised a bit, as I discovered that a month and a half old post was very poorly written and not impressive at all. That has hopefully been fixed, but feel free to point out gaping errors. Typos will be corrected at some point, but it's such a long piece, and updating over time, that it takes a lot of time, so I appreciate your patience. Feel free to make a short walk over to Comics Galore and take a gander! It's even free!

It's Not Racism, I Swear!

  https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
It's true, it's not. It asks you to associate some words with "self" and then some words with "others". I suppose Harvard is not very bright after all. Here are my results.

Science!

See? Nothing about racism. But I enjoyed my results. When it first asked me to associate myself with what the test considered "Cold" I actually laughed, because it's kind of true. Externally I seem like a really cold person, which is more of a defensive thing than anything else. On the other hand, I thought it was funny that it said I saw no association between extroversion and introversion. Anyway, this isn't really about me telling people that I swear I'm nice. I just thought it might be cool for people to see this. I'm pretty sure it's measuring how many mistakes you make when taking it, which isn't really a good measurement, but... whatever. I didn't make it, and it's not a world-wide thing, so oh well.

Extra! Extra! Nothing Really Too New!

  I sat down today thinking, "I'm going to draw!" So I gathered up a bunch of paper in the event of mistakes and grabbed my big ol' eraser, revved up and when... "Oh... I don't know what he looks like."
Well believe you me, that was quite the realization! I spent the next few hours (see: nine) working on a face. That's really the hard part of everything, the face. It holds almost all of the emotion the character will ever express for the rest of his unnatural born life. The body is useful for a lot of things, but most artists draw bodies the same way and the face is really what's different. Of course, that's true in real life as well. If everyone had the same face, you wouldn't really be able to tell the difference! Anyway, I've been working for quite some time on the face of the main character, and I think I've got him nailed down. I'm hoping to get the first update up by friday, but with my research paper moving along, time needs to be spent there more than here, most unfortunately. Anyway, I just thought I'd let everyone know that the main character has a face and thus more of a personality and I hope everyone likes him!

Not him, but enjoy anyway!

Post #20 (written before CTC)- Promises Promises

  I keep making all sorts of promises to myself. Tonight I'll get more sleep. Today I'll study more. Next week I'll start that paper earlier on.
Everyone makes these kinds of promises. They're like new years resolutions. I remember my psych teacher last year saying, "I came in to the gym today, and it was packed. All sorts of new people everywhere, it was awful. Completely unorganized. I asked the manager, 'What's going on? This is really annoying.' 'Ah, don't worry about it. January is our busiest time of the year. Give it two weeks, 75% of these people won't come back.'"

  I kind of feel like that with creative new ideas. "Ooh, I'm going to write about this and draw that and it will exciting and everyone will love it and everything will be so wonderful, by the gods my head just exploded from all the potential energy stored inside of it!" Well folks, this time I think, or at least hope, that I've hit the mark. I have about four pages written. You probably don't consider four pages to be a lot in comparison to say, a book, but think about it from a comic perspective. If I drew everything that happened in this comic and updated daily, say 8 panels a day like Dominic Deegan does, it would probably give me about two months, if not more, worth of updates, even if everything was predrawn before being uploaded. Also, books usually have been established and you sit down and say, "I'm going to read this book because it is a book and 250 pages is nothing!" No one gets online and goes, "I'm going to read this blog because it is a blog and 250 pages is nothing!" You tell someone you have 250 pages worth of blog posts and they'll probably assume you're a raving lunatic with an internet connection.

  If I release one page plus art every couple of days you wouldn't think anything of it. One page sound manageable, especially since Hyperbole and a Half said that you never want to hit your reader with a wall of text. Even thought it's formatted quite nicely like a book, four pages posted here would seem overwhelming because it's all continuous. Although, how many of you read the entirety of Comics Galore? Congratulations, you read seven and a half pages (to those of you copy and pasting into word, yes, I deleted the giant empty spaces between comics)! Chances are you wouldn't read that all the way through if I had posted it in bigger blocks without nice formatting. Also I'd like to point out that Cracked once mentioned this by saying that they can people to read 3,000 word articles by formatting it the way they do.

  The overarching point, and sorry for any digression, is that if it seems like things are going sort of slow, it's because I don't want to overload you with mass amounts of text. It also gives me time to keep writing because that takes time as well. With school, I only have so many hours to draw, which is really what probably takes the longest out of anything if I want it to be really good. It makes it feel more comicky rather than just a blog story as well as giving you time to digest the story instead of just trying to read it in one sitting and then everyone is done and we can all just go home. And if anyone knows anything about Variable Interval, it brings you back to my site more often (to anyone reading this in the future, if there are ads on my site, I wrote this pre-ads, so no, I'm not trying to randomly make mass amounts of money without work)! I like having readers because it also means you might read any in between posts, such as comic reviews (COMING SOON: Dead Winter, Tiny Ghosts, and Penny Arcade!!!) and interesting tidbits.

  So unlike most comic ideas I've had and/or started (Hiatus is almost always death for a webcomic. Veeery few come back from that- Thunt), I've started this story, I've put a lot of time and dedication into it, and I can promise you that I will try not to disappoint!
  -Happy Landings

Class-Time Comics

Click to Enlarge

Pow pow!

Building Comics One "Chopping Block" At a Time

  Everyone remembers where they were May 6th, 2009. It was a distressing day for all. Well, all who really cared. So me. I remember where i was May 6th, 2009. I was at my computer checking the mass amount of comics i had at the time (Pah! I think i was reading about 15 comics to the 39 i now read throughout the week. And to think i used to brag about how 15 was so many...). Click. Click. Click. Then, terror struck. Where was Chopping Block's update? "Hm. Maybe he's sick. That's saddening, but it's not the first time a webcomic's done that. I'll wait a day or two." So i came back to the site. Again, nothing. "Where was the update? He's a monday through friday comic, this is irregular!" A couple of weeks and no sign of an update...

  It was with a heavy heart that i did one of the few things that brings a sad disappointment to my day: i moved the comic to "Caught Ups". Now some of you are probably thinking, "pffh, so what? It's just a comic. Biiiiiiig deal!!!" Well when you spend as much time reading webcomics as i do, you start to grow attached to these characters and authors. Whether once a week or once a day, the author graces you with a view into their mind, and it's an absolutely wonderful feeling. The other thing to know is, "Caught Ups" is the back-alley hospital with direct-to-graveyard transport; AKA, where comics go to die. It probably doesn't put me in a very good light because that's also where i've stored the 8 comics that i considered hitting the Lull without hopes of coming back but didn't want to completely get rid of in case they do get better. That's where i kept LICD and looks where that's gone. For the most part, and the original meaning/use, that folder was for comics that either ended their storyline or just stopped updating, whether by notice or not. I've sort of digressed i feel...

  So anyway,  i've been reading a bit about Blind Ferret because the author of Goblins, Tarol Hunt/Thunt signed on with them. If my comicstory takes off as much as i'd like it to (maybe? please?), i might go about contacting them (do i have to capitalize my "i's" if they accept me?). I'm also writing a paper on newspaper comics going to the internet and so i was looking at Keenspot and i noticed they were hosting Chopping Block. "What's this? That's new, i could have swore he used to be self-hosted... Why would they pick him up if he's not updating? If they're anything like Blind Ferret that's incredibly unprofessional..." So I clicked over and... Lo and behold, Chopping Block has returned!!! It's only been updating since last monday, but hey, it has returned and is back to being updated monday through friday. The Aboot section warns you that it has bouts of hiatus, and apparently it's always been on Keenspot, so i suppose i'm just forgetful since that's not where i found the comic originally. So as with Least I Could Do, we welcome back Chopping Block to the Daily Checks!

Grammar? I hardly know 'ar!

  There's this thing I have about proper nouns. Who the hell said they deserve to be proper? What did I ever do to get capitalized? Nothing that I can recall important to warrant being larger than all the other words. I can totally understand why the beginning of sentences are capitalized, they got there first, they earned it. But think about it in context of language. Other languages don't capitalize "I". Hell, we don't capitalize "me" but it's the same thing as "I", just accusative. Countries are the same. What'd America ever do that was SOOOOO great that they deserved to get the reaction of, "Whoa, snap, there's America, right there in the sentence!"? Anyway, I'm just putting this out there as one of the few rants (I'm trying not to be that stereotypical rant blog by those 25 and under) and partially as a heads-up. I'm sure a lot of you will sit there in agony reading a post that says, "Today i traveled to england and it was a blast. I can't wait to travel to foreign countries again like france, germany, and spain!' Tough. Stories, such as my soon-to-be-released comicstory (either that or storycomic for the official title, BUT NOT WORTH CAPITALIZING) will be correctly formatted correctly because I want it to at least seem professional. Input blogs like this one or a review of a comic has a higher chance of not having proper nouns capitalized. Just a warning, because I figured I don't want to see like some punk off the street who can't write. I'm a punk off the street with weird ideals who can't write! Pow pow!

Brooooonk. Brooooooonk. Brooooonk.

This is the emergency broadcast system. Alert:
  So the second post on this blog was Webcomics Galore. In it I mentioned that I'd stopped reading Least I Could Do, and it's true. I haven't read it in about eight months. Buuut, when I wrote that review I went, hm, it has been a while, why not give it another go? So long story short, I read the past few weeks' comics, and I must say, the chaos and fun has returned! I feel ever comic has a lull in the story. Somewhere that the characters need to move the plot along and the way it is done is really hard to be made funny (gods that's an awful sentence, but there's no good way to say it).
 
  I will be honest, I didn't think LICD would return from that, but I suppose when you actually look at the comic as a whole, it was impossible for it not to. For one thing, it's a daily comic. Now say the comic only updated twice a week, the lull might not last as long because the comic might be based on bigger updates. E.g. LICD is a daily comic so it updates four panels a day, SMBC is daily, usually a couple of large panels a day, where as something like Goblins or Darken (yes, I acknowledge exceptions!!!) updates in a whole page or two about once or twice a week (Goblins is a Tuesday/Friday update, which wreaks havoc with my comic folder organization...).

  I don't want this to seem like there was some horrible drama going on or that the comic offended me, "The Lull" sounds a lot more ominous than it really should. Basically to those of you wondering what it was, some of the Noel and Kate got married. The proposal was cool, but it was extended over about a week or so, and the marriage took about two weeks I think. Now you're probably thinking, how hard is it to read a four-panel comic once a day? YOUR LIFE SOUNDS SO DIFFICULT. And then you realize you're yelling at a computer and are an embarrassment to your family. Way to go. But personally I just didn't like reading something I'd grown to love and then watch it get really boring. That probably makes me sound like an awful person, and I promise that doesn't extend to human relationships!

  Anyway, LICD covers less per update if you consider it that way. Four panels may convey a pun or a joke in one day but barely move the storyline along, where as Darken updates so irregularly that updates are usually quite large so the story is like BLAM! Anyway, the lull is over and it's back to being funny, so while I don't really have much credibility except to say that i read a bajillion webcomics, this is back to being added to my daily folder. So Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, Dominic Deegan, Accursed Dragon, Bug Comic, Drowtales, Surviving the World, and Scenes from a Multiverse, extend a warm hearty handshake in honor of the return of Least I Could Do!

Adventures on Craigslist

Technically you must be 18 to follow those links. Just saying.

So I was looking at hyperbole and a half and looking into advertising (i hit 200 page views about an hour ago! But I'd probably only really consider ads if my readership expanded past facebook friends) and then I was thinking about online dating for some reason...? Probably because of this thing in English and advertising... Long story. So I got to thinking about craigslist, and I decided to see how weird it got. It got pretty weird. Here are some of the most interesting ones:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nch/w4m/2041413237.html
"I used to be jailbait and now that I'm old enough, I'm seeking someone who wants to pretend I am."

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/w4m/2041404442.html
I think she meant pothole, but maybe her child is going to be born mentally handicapped. Her life became a horror novel when she found out the torture dungeon was not for sexual purposes. Anyway that's an awful environment to raise a child in.


http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/w4m/2041143330.html
"I want to teach children that this is not how you write nor how you find men who aren't going to  murder you in an alley. Sometimes I repeat myself repeatedly. Sometimes I repeat myself repeatedly."

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/w4m/2041387704.html
"Do dating exist?" is really the most important question of these crazy times. I'm holding back the, "this expansive picture depicts my nethers" but it appears I've gone and done it.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/nwi/w4m/2041282518.html
If you're looking for honesty and a sense of humor (though she sounds pretty serious), she's got it.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/w4m/2041268853.html
She's 33 and has poor grammar. She's also probably the best catch on this website, which isn't saying anything. Except that everyone else is weird(er). I'm currently having my people build a robot that talks about personality as well as age and height. He's going to get all of the tail.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/w4m/2041184515.html
"Edit: My preppy, handsome, professional dog is looking for a preppy, handsome, professional man." Who actually calls themselves preppy?!

So yeah, that was probably the most ridiculous procrastinating I've ever done since I have a lot of homework, but that's what tomorrow is for, right?!

Pen Palsy-Walsy

So I've signed up to be a penpal to an intercity 5th grader. For obvious reasons I'm not going to put his name on the interwebs. I think I'll just call him Bob. I mean, it doesn't really matter because I doubt I'll be talking about him that often anyway, so I could change his name and you'll go, wait, wasn't his name Bob? But by then you'll have to go back and find this post, and that's far too much trouble than to just assume you're forgetful and not good at anything but reading something you'll forget anyway.
So they want these letters to be "professional". What kind of kid wants a "professional" letter from some college fuck he's never met? 5th graders are what, between 10 and 11? I know for a fact that I would not want some guy who is practically twice my age sending me something that is like,
  Dear Mr. Green,
  How are you? I am a psychology major. That means I sit around and learn about how you think and process information.
Well, that is all I have to say,
Sincerely,
Mr. Older College Guy

What I would like to get is,
Dear Nathan,
  They want me to tell you about how exciting college is for me, but I doubt you care. I know they're reading these letters anyway to make sure I'm not a pedophile (now THAT is something to define for them) so I suppose I should tell you a few things. I'm a psychology major. I don't know what you're home life is like, but if you've seen a therapist that's basically it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it basically means that I can read your mind. That's right. When you go to college, you too can become psychic over time. It's really fantastic. Unfortunately I can't show you in a letter because you're reading this in the future and I can only read your present mind. Sorry. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the fuck out of your 5th grade year, because someday you'll be old like I am and wonder if you ever did anything worthwhile 10 years ago. And you'll think, "No. No I have not." But then you could become an engineering major and make a time machine and portal back to as you read this letter and tell yourself to do more (of course I won't bother explaining time/space theories, this letter only needs to be a page) interesting things with your life. I have to get back to studying now, but I'm quite glad to make your acquaintance (if you don't know what that means, it means cybernetic brainwave manipulation, ask your teacher about it)!
Sincerely,
Captain Doctor Nathan Green

And all of my letters would be along those lines. And then maybe I'll draw him a picture. Maybe I'll send him letters that little be little degenerate until his mother finds him crying under his blanket and when his mother asks what is wrong he'll look up at her with big shiny eyes and go, everything is so beautiful.

Can You Picture That?

If any of you read Hyperbole and a Half the following might make a bit more sense.
  I'm going to start a story/comic mix. The way H&H does it is the picture is a supplement, it adds a visual effect to what you're reading. What I play to do is mix the two by writing a story that is told, for the most part, through text like a regular story. Where I differ from the run of the mill book or short story is that I'm going to integrate strips into the story that are part of the story itself like a sentence or paragraph in and of itself. For example,
  Nathan trudged down the street to the first bar he could find. He wasn't a tourist, no, that had never quite been his style. He wasn't going to open a pamphlet on the best bars to visit in Manhattan. He was an experiencer. He went places and saw the things the city tried to shy away from. He did not want to see the Statue of Liberty or go to a museum. He wanted to see people living everyday lives. He wanted to meet the regulars even if he wasn't one himself. He looked up to see where fate had brought him.

Stolen from Evil Enterprises without artist's permission.

 What a dump. But hey, you only live once, and this place looked like it made sure of that.

I feel dirty taking from the unpopular, but who's going to know?

 How does he know me? Nathan thought to himself. I've never been here before... I've never even been to New York before.
"Nathan, are you alright? Why don't you take your regular seat at the bar and Ear will get you your usual!" the cheerful host said leading him to the end of the bar.
I have a usual? Nathan eased himself onto the stool as if he expected it to devour him whole. Why anyone would sit down on something about to eat them is beyond anyone's knowledge.
"Evenin' Nathan," the barman grunted, setting down a wine glass filled with what appeared to be soda.
"Uh... Evening Earl.." Is that what he would say if he were a regular? Nathan thrust the words out of his mouth in an attempt to feel normal. Everything seemed normal except him. Was everything normal? The exterior of this place seemed on its last leg, yet here he was in what could easily be confused for one of the finest French restaurants in the country. He'd play along for now, see what happened. Worst case scenario it was all a joke. Maybe the concierge knew a fool when he saw one and phoned ahead.
  Nathan looked around the room. No phone.
" In a wine glass so you can feel fancy, just like you like it," Earl said eying the untouched wine glass.
" Er... Yeah, thanks. I couldn't remember if I left the stove on..." Nathan said attempting to keep his voice casual. Maybe if he acted strange enough the truth would reveal itself.
" Hah, what are you doing with a stove Mr. I-Eat-Everything-I-Catch-Live?" Earl said with a barking laugh. Everything in that statement, including the laugh, raised the hairs on the back of Nathan's neck.
" ...Experimenting. Thought maybe I'd try something new?" Whoever they think I am is stranger than anyone I could ever dream of. Aha! Maybe that's it! I must be dreaming! Of course! Come on Nathan, wake up! Wake up! 
"Sir! Sir, stop! What are you doing?! You'll hurt yourself, stop!" the host cried as he attempted to pull Nathan's head back from the bar, which he had taken to smashing his forehead again. The commotion had spilled the soda, getting all over poor Earl. I hope whoever I am remembered to bring his wallet to pay for any damages...
"Sir! Sir! Nathan! Stop this immediately!" Nathan sat up with a start, causing the host to stumble backwards and land uncomfortably into a booth. The voice was in and out of his head. It was like a throbbing in his left temple. In and out. Inside, outside.
"I must ask that you refrain from disrupting the other customers!" he cried from the seat cushion. Nathan looked around. The everyone in the room was staring at him. The were not there a second ago.
This is either the worst dream ever, or the most elaborate "reality television show."
"I assure you that this is no television show!" Earl said gruffly.
How did he hear that? I thought that statement. I have to get out of here! Nathan rose off the stool only to see the door was no longer there, but a very angry security guard.
" I'm going to have  to ask you to come with me." There it was again, the in and out. They sure don't teach you these things in school.

Home is where you hang your hat, lay your head, and bed your wenches

So I figure with all this wonderful updation going on lately, some of you are interested in what my "castle" and "sanctuary" looks like, so I thought maybe I could illustrate my story with pictures. Which isn't really illustration, I realize that now, but I've typed it so it's too late!!! (There is definitely no editing on this website, I type with this much accuracy all of the time...)

First off, the feared and epic fortress (that's right, it's a fortress now because it has a door)

You would not believe the amount of torches on this thing.

I don't have a bed for wenching, but on that note  I haven't seen any wenches.

 
So that's where I live right now, but maybe eventually I'll move out into bigger and better things! Probably not though, I like caves and underground living quarters. The castle is a front. Also, this is secret, what's cooler than that?

Why did the minecrafter stop lumberjacking? He couldn't hack it.

Night 3:
  I have retreated underground for a few days, though I do not know how long. I just know I have not written anything since my third day here. In the intermediate time I have managed to craft a sword out of some iron deposits I found and refined here while expanding my underground shelter. It is a fine blade and I hope to put it to good use either in my defense or hunting.

Day 6?
  I decided to pop out and have a look about my castle, just to make sure there was no forced entry or attack on my castle. To my surprise it was daylight, which was quite fortunate as I was quite hungry. I emerged with my sword in hopes of finding a stray cow or pig. I was very pleased to find a whole heard of cows milling about a few yards from my castle! I killed a few, as well as a small family of pigs nearby for the leather and meat, hopefully enough to sustain me for a few days. My plan is to make some simple armor out of the leather should those creepers or anything else attack me while I am out and about.

Night 6:
  My armor has turned out quite satisfactory. It is not the most protective thing in the world, perhaps a barrel around my middle would be better suited, but I make do with what I have. I jest of course, I would hate to have killed those animals for nothing.
  I must be more careful when mining deeper into my lair (I am testing different names as I stay in longer and longer). Earlier this evening I was cutting above me, hear me out, to give myself a bit more head room so that I could quit crawling around on my hands and knees. How am I to survive if I develop a bad back?! Much to my dismay the ceiling caved in a bit causing a mess of sand to come pouring in. Luckily I was able to block the area up, though I have a few interrupting pillars about the area now. Torch posts I suppose! Much to my chagrin I also cut too far east and practically flooded my cave, hitting the lake behind my castle! I lost a few torches, but I have dried them and they should be reusable. I managed to stop the hole up with another piece of rock. All this mining has caused quite an increase in strength, something I hope to put to good use defending myself should I venture out at night again.

Day 7:
  My my, have I already been here a week, if not more? It feels like months, but I suppose that is wishful dreaming. I cannot return home just yet...

Day 7 cont'd:
  I did not mean to make my last entry so short, but I remembered that the trees I planted had looked almost full grown and that I could use the lumber. It is astounding just how fast these trees grow here. After I emerged from my hole in the ground the other day, I saw that the trees I planted were full grown without two days even though the trunk rings indicated two years! Now obviously I did not expect trees to be grown by now, but after I cut down the previous trees, I thought I should repay the land by replanting seeds for the next person, even if that is hundreds of years from now. Anyway, I have tried this numerous times, and it was not some sort of wild fluke, the trees have grown back! This land is more amazing than I thought!

Night 7:
  Not much has happened as of late. I built my castle up a bit and installed a crude wooden door. That should stop any unwanted visitors from coming in, even if they find me. I still retreat to my underground cave at night, just as a double precaution. I doubt they will be able to dig down and find me if they have not in almost eight days. If they are hunting creatures, they would have easily found my scent by now.

Day 8:
  These creepers are going to be the death of me!!! I was fixing up around my castle planting trees and setting up torches when all of a sudden I received what felt like a giant body slam and blacked out. When I awoke there was a large gaping hole in the earth similar to the encounter with a creeper and my backpack blow to bits with my possessions strewn about me. I collected myself and my tools and supplies. I managed to patch up the castle wall that was destroyed in the blast and replace the torches, but it will require further work later when I am up to it. For now I must return downstairs (or rather downladder and pray I do not pass out and fall the rest of the way) and eat a little bit to help regain my strength.

Night 8:
  I have have eaten and feel a bit better. I decided to go out and sit on the wall of my castle and noticed a zombie lurking about at the top of the hill as if deciding whether or not an attack was a good idea. I waited around to see if it would ignite, but it ducked behind the hill as the sun approached so I do not know the outcome of that. The animals are always so active at night, I always think I'm about to be attacked until I realize it's just a cow and then feel foolish.

How do you get a female minecrafter pregnant? Use your mineshaft.

Day 1:
The sand castle is complete. I have been hiding out here for a few hours since it's completion in order to get a lay of the land. I have not seen any natives on this island, but the local wildlife (pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens) would indicate a farm somewhere nearby. Perhaps if I can gather the resources I shall venture out and see what I can't discover of the landscape and hopefully allies.

Night 1:
By the gods, this was a mistake. This was all a grave mistake. Whatever the natives once were they are no longer, but rather a mutation of their former selves. The inhabitants of this island appear to have morphed into horrible monsters resembling zombies, skeletons, and creeping plant life. I have see large spiders but I do not imagine they anything more well fed. I do not know the source nor the cause of this mutation, but I pray it does not reach me or the animals or all is lost. I have quickly retreated to my castle, though a fortress it is not. I was warned to bring or make as many torches as I could because nights here "might be hazardous without light". Truer words have never been spoken. I have made about 64 torches a laid them about my camp. I do not believe the creatures can swim, but I put a torch on the back wall of my castle to ward off these unholy abominations. I know that might be redundant, but there are not enough adjectives to describe these unholy creatures of Hell.

Day 2:
I decided to venture out, quite cautiously mind you, to see what the new day brings me. High up on what I have now named Venture Hill was a curious sight. It was one of the monsters, a zombie I think, on fire! He did not run around or attempt to put it out as a person might, but rather hid under a tree. I have not tested this hypothesis, nor do I have the means to safely do so, but I have a very good feeling that the sun is what causes these creatures harm. I might be safe enough to do any necessary work during the day time if I allow for time to scurry back to my home. Without a way to safely move to a new area, I fear that is what this place has become, though hopefully not my grave while we're at it. When I attempted to approach the inflamed creature, against my common sense, I found it to be gone. Of course I had to climb about 40 feet up the hill, but I was hoping that it would survive long enough to investigate further. When I did reach the top, all I found was the burnt remains of a chicken and some dust that quickly blew away with the wind.

Night 2:
I worry that while the monsters have not crawled out of anywhere where my torches are planted, they might seek me out by following said torches to my camp. As a precaution I have relocated myself underground, about 20 feet down, and placed a rock in the way of the ladder. My hope is that the creatures are not smart or strong enough to remove it and find my sanctuary.

Day 3:
I made a terrible error in judgment. I had hoped that I was strong enough to take these creatures on if it came down to that, and while I was right, I was also so so wrong. I encountered one of the plant creatures, and believe me you, they are definitely not to be trifled with. I pulled my trusty hoe off my belt and began circling the strange humanoid attempting to gain the upper hand.
***On a side note, the hoe has yet to break or diminish as all of my other tools have, and it is of simple wood. I have had no time to explore the possibilities nor do I want to jinx this good luck that has finally fallen upon me in this accursed place.***
The creeper (reminiscent of the Pottselvania Creeper from Rocky and Bullwinkle and thus named so) worryingly makes no sound when moving. I must remember this for the future lest it attacks me while my attention is elsewhere. Anyway I digress. We both sort of lunged at each other, and while I managed to vanquish it, I fear if I am not more careful next time, the next one might be more successful in its endeavors. It exploded. Yes, that is correct. It detonated like one might expect TNT to detonate, except worse. It was like a barrel full of gunpowder near a pack of chain smokers. It must have blown out a 13-foot radius, including the ground. There was dirt everywhere, which after gaining my composure I quickly collected and stored in compact blocks. I was able to get back down to my castle and stumble down the ladder to my sanctuary, but I fear if I am not extremely careful next time, I might end up as dead as that creeper. Even in my early age of 27, I do not think my heart could take another shock of physical and mental stress. I have consumed the only bit of meat, cooked on a furnace I've crafted out of stone, I was able to salvage from a cow the other day. I have had an exceeding amount of trouble retaining meat from these creatures, they are quite hardy and I cannot bring myself to gouge their sides out as they flee from the bite of my axe. The chickens are quite easy to catch and kill, but I have had trouble carefully getting anything useful from their small bodies as I do not have an adequate blade. I will have to look into additional crafting.

Feeling This

Some of you might recognize the title from that Blink-182 song. It's pretty good, but it has nothing to do with this post, I just thought I'd use that title.
Edit: That's a total lie, I knew what I was doing when I started, which is why I knew to mention the Blink-182. I'm sorry.
Edit: Not really.

  Anyway, I've been hearing a bit about this "Minecraft" game and tonight I was reading comics and Penny Arcade mentioned Minecraft. I remembered that I recently fixed my Java applet (though I have to use safari... Oh well) so I hopped on the trial version that's on the website and I have to say... It's pretty great. That's not to say I really know what I'm doing, but I'm having fun. Well to be completely honest, when I started I wanted to see how far down a hole it would let me drop, whiiiich... turned out to be VERY VERY far. So I cut a staircase in and climbed out. But anyway, on to the more interesting things:
I discovered a lake. And from that lake, I FORGED A CASTLE! Sort of. It's a lot like my lego houses used to be, bricks going in a rectangular pattern with a door cut out. I was pretty impressed to see that you could build across a gap without building under it, I.E. a door frame.

Yes, it's all underwater. I'm pretty impressed that I'm not dead, but I think that every day about real life, so why should the virtual world be any different, especially something as pixelated as this?

So I built it really high, 'cause that's how I like to build things that have no limit. It was kind of a bad idea, I had to spent like, 2 minutes building a mini-staircase to get back up, but I deleted it.
   There's something I should mention. Apparently zombies come out at night. I don't know about this, because the game is currently in the daytime, but just in case, I cut out a moat and stuck some TNT in it. I don't know how it works, but if it works like a landmine, I should be safe. Also again, a moat. I don't know if the zombies can swim, but for the sake of my safety that I probably won't occupy very much, let's hope not!
Have a picture:

I'm a classy guy. Anyone who knows me will verify that. Though probably not. Don't ask people. Please? Anyway, being such a classy guy I gave myself a glass ceiling, which being so high and standing level being underwater caused it not to matter, and I think it's quite fashionable.

Classy is in session.

So I've just been wandering, it's kind of interesting ( I know as soon as some of my friends read this they will go, Do it.) and I'm considering buying it, it's like 10 bucks, so why the hell not, comparatively to other things I've acquired recently (bought Wrath of the Lich King, but that's a completely different story...).
So that's my tale. I'm trying out multiplayer as we speak (well on and off from writing this, because who knows how late in the future you're reading this... Hello to all future people, including any offspring or alien invaders [which would be sad because who cares about a blog if you've invaded the entire earth?]), but keep in mined (you knew something like this was coming... shirely) that it's 3 am right now and I have to be up at 11 am. So that's all from me, and I urge you to check out the game, even if it's just for free, because who doesn't love free?

I suppose this means I'm learning *something*

I'd rather not ruin it by explaining it, so look up "pons" if you don't know what that is.

I hope this makes sense

People have told me that sometimes my nature-coming-to-life jokes are confusing, so sorry if you don't get it.
Where does that cord lead to?

Evil Enterprises

To all who know me already, you know that I do a webcomic, or at least try to. It's been quite some time, but I've started a new offshoot from Evil Enterprises called don't Be Sensible! It's a wonderful little ditty of a comic, and right now it's story is really jumping around.  I know a while back I promised that it would be Dungeons and Dragons-based, but on the other hand, I also once promised it would be about a cop who lived in the woods! So... really what I'm saying here is that I can' t be trusted. That's an awful thing to be telling you... I suppose what I want to get across is that the comic will change here and there, maybe have a storyline one day, random silliness the next. Recently I've moved towards the idea of a photo comic, much like A Softer World, Surviving the World, and Skidmore Bluffs. The final point here is that the website has returned to the credit of Tony Phelps, my web designer! So read if you haven't before, check out the new one if you have (it'll take like, a minute)! Either way, step into my world, and have gander!!!

 -don't Be Sensible!

Crack Kills, but Cigarettes are Smelly

Smoking at UIC is awful. It's everywhere.
  I'm a bit of a loner at school. What's that gotta do with this? Not much. It just means that I stay inside a lot. I love my building. I can get from my dorm room to the cafeteria without going outside. It allows me to avoid being stabbed at 9 pm on a wednesday because I didn't have time for a proper dinner.
  I play this game sometimes. I call it "I-need-fresh-air-and-vitamin-D-but-is-it-worth-the-melanoma-and-lung-cancer?" There aren't very many trees around campus (I'm kinda pale, surprise!). Where there are trees there are benches. Where there are benches, there are smokers. I just finished class the other day when I decided some fresh air would do me good. I sat on a bench and tried to relax. Deeeeep inhale..! *Hack* *Cough* Mm... That's the wonderful smell of second hand smoke. I think the smokers should form a club. One month one half would buy cigarettes, and the next month, the other half. The second half can just wander around campus taking deep breaths behind the first half. That's probably not really socially acceptable though. So that pretty much cuts out going outside as often as I'd like. At least the crunchy-won't-someone-please-step-on-me? season is coming.
  The two main classroom buildings are Grant Hall and Lincoln Hall. They're working on Douglas Hall right now, so there's a bit of a dead end between the two working buildings. Between or after classes smokers like to stand around in this area to smoke. They also enjoy taking up the benches either in the shade or out. I like to stop at Grant Hall because there's a water fountain in the lobby, and I'm pretty sure there's not one in Lincoln Hall. If there is, I don't know where it is because I can't find the men's bathroom anyway. This means that I have to go through the middle to the left, and then back out across the dead end to the other hall. I can tell you that the cigarette industry isn't suffering in this economy.
  I wanted to walk up to this one girl who looked like she had been smoking since early high school. Telling these people that second hand smoke is awful and can kill you won't do anything. You have to take action. I felt like going up to this girl and saying, "Let me explain what you're doing to me." At this point I would slit my throat, just get blood all over her. You can't hand them a pamphlet about lung cancer and how second hand smoke is bad for your children and people you care about. What do they care? You don't like it, stand somewhere else. Sometimes you need to take action. I think she was wearing a white shirt under her jacket. That would be unfortunate. Maybe she'd stop smoking to afford a new fancy shirt. I could have been a hero. At least to myself. It would be a small moral victory: I saved a smoker because I messed up her shirt enough to require a replacement. Probably not though. Then I'd have wasted perfectly good blood on someone who will probably just harvest my lungs later for a transplant. Obviously I didn't slit my throat on her. But if it's the thought that counts, perhaps she, and everyone like her feels bad for killing me slowly. It's unlikely, because I only glanced at her for a second, so she probably didn't even see me.

Comics Galore

  The comics listed below are comics I read now, used to read and stopped liking them, or caught up to and the comic ended. 

  Throughout this list I might say not to let me turn you off from a comic. I mean this wholeheartedly. If I honestly did not enjoy a comic on this list, I would probably remove it, but as they remain, I consider them good enough (not to sound pompous...) to spend time writing about. Usually it's because it's hit The Lull and I don't want to try and find where I left off and catch up, either because of new comics or just time-constraints with other projects and school.

*** denotes Alt Text, which means that you hold your mouse over the actual picture for extra text.

Drow Tales- http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1124&overview=1&chibi=1&cover=1&extra=1&page=1&check=1
This is a comic about drow (dark elves). It starts off showing the history of drow and then jumps into it's own lore and storyline. it's really well done from the start. The art and storyline are great, though it jumps around between characters a lot. Generally speaking it stays focused by chapters, but it leaves a lot of cliff hangers for months at a time because it's written by a team and then sent out to other people in Canada, France, and anywhere else that they can find someone to ink for them. Updates: Daily

DOMINIC DEEGAN- http://dominic-deegan.com/
This is a story from the perspective of an oracle. The author, Mookie, describes it as, "What if the fortune teller wasn't always spewing doom and destruction and was the main character?" It follows a group of friends who fight necromancers, devils and demons, political villains, and more devils. It's definitely one of my favorites. Updates: Monday-Friday

CTRL+ALT+DEL- http://www.cad-comic.com/archives.php?b=c
This one is pretty well known, but to those of you who don't read that many webcomics (which is probably why you're here!): It switches between parodying video games and a regular story line about a crazy guy named Ethan who works at a gaming store, his best friend Lucas, his girlfriend (now wife) Lilah, and an Xbox robot named Zeke. It's pretty humorous, even if you don't know the games they are referencing. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

ANTIHERO FOR HIRE- http://antiheroforhire.com/
This is a great comic. It's poorly done in either photoshop or MS paint, but still wonderful. The main character is a flat out "ima shoot you and do cool jumps" kinda guy. The bad guys are always ridiculous and lovable. I don't read this one any more because the storyline lost a lot of interest. It was just going really slowly, developing plot twice a week with only about two or three frames. It's gotten a bit more action-y, but I didn't think it was really that worth it to catch back up because the thick plottened a lot over the past few months. Not to discourage anyone from picking this one up, it was one of my favorites for a while, I just don't want to go back to reading it. Updates: Monday, Friday

SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST CEREAL- http://www.smbc-comics.com/
As the bar manager in tenacious D said, If you don't want your ass blown out, please leave now. This used to be a really offensive comic, but as Zach Weiner, creator, has gotten older and more into math and science, he's not as vulgar as he used to be. Don't get me wrong, he still does plenty of dick jokes! The comic has not gotten worse as a result of it, he's still absolutely amazing, especially in the fact that he has to crank one out daily. He's also been making hilarious videos called SMBC-Theater (which can be found in the top right corner). This comic has a giant red button on later comics (thank you Brian Cannon) with a sort of alt text kinda thing, definitely check it out. Updates: Daily

***XKCD- http://xkcd.com/
 This one is geared towards math, science, video games, and philosophy. He does a lot of math and science (and sometimes computer science, which is an awful combination for us laymen). The author worked for NASA and now he draws comics. I consider that glorious. A lot of his stuff flies over my head because he talks about logarithms and computer programming, but the rest of the time it's a pretty great comic. Definitely don't let the fact that it's stick figures throw you off from this one, because first off all, his stick figures are probably better than most of us could ever do, and second of all, it all blends really well together with the way he writes. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

LOOKING FOR GROUP- http://www.lfgcomic.com/
This one is based off of Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft, but you don't need to know the games to get the comic. Between Richard the Warlock and singing dwarves, you can hardly get better than that. There are a few characters and the cast grows and diminishes (like all stories) enough that to cover them all would be kind of difficult. This comic is also done by the people of Least I Could Do (Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza), so you can kind of get a gist of the style if you read that. If you don't like Least I Could Do, don't let it turn you away from this comic, because the story is not full of people just being ridiculous and sleeping around, just that the art style is the same. Updates: Monday, Thursday

VG CATS- http://www.vgcats.com/comics/
This one parodies video games, which is great because he really describes the game well. I don't read this one any more because he stopped updating for a few months and then I didn't find him all that funny any more when I started again, but that could just be me. It's really a hit or miss with this comic sometimes. His older stuff is great though, so again, definitely catch up at least. Updates: Mondays

TWO LUMPS- http://twolumps.net/
This is pretty straight forward. it's about two cats and the silly things they do based off the artist couple's real two cats. I don't read this one anymore because it hit The Lull, but it's been a few months. Don't let me turn you off of it, because at least up until July of 2010 it was fantastic. Again, at least catch up. The Lull doesn't last forever, so be sure to find the rise (it's not my technical term for now, so it won't be capitalized). I did recently check it and I didn't find it as funny as it used to be, but it's started a bit of a rise from The Lull, so that's good. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

LEAST I COULD DO- http://leasticoulddo.com/
This one is about Rayne Summers who is offensive and ridiculous, but hilarious. All the characters stay pretty consistent, which is cool because then you really get to feel like the characters are part of your life. The reason few comics on this list hit that mark is because while some of the things Rayne & Co. do are a bit out of the ordinary, anyone who has read anything by Tucker Max knows that things aren't impossible. Of course it's a comic so it can take liberties, but it stays "realistic" enough, if that's what you're into. One of the best things was when I realized that the angry homeless artist was supposed to be Lar, the artist of the comic. You might not notice, since I didn't at first, but maybe I'm just slower than you are. Whoever "you" actually are. I digress! As mentioned in a future article (someone actually edits this crap?) I mentioned that this comic hit The Lull. I can say with full confidence that this comic has returned and definitely, definitely worth your time. Updates: Daily

STRIPTEASE- http://stripteasecomic.com/
This comic is kinda out there, but pretty humorous. It's about a group of people who write webcomics, but the comic doesn't really go into depth about it, it's just their job. It's very well drawn and all that good stuff. I stopped reading it when the storyline got funky. It's wasn't so much The Lull, as it was just a lull. It didn't become poorly written or anything, I just stopped enjoying it as much as the others. C'est la vie, comics come and go (not a direct translation). Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday-sketches and bonus material updates

GOBLINS- http://www.goblinscomic.com/
This is definitely an absolute favorite, if not the favorite. It's about these goblins who become DnD adventurers. you don't really need to know anything about DnD to get this comic. if you liked Looking For Group or Dominic Deegan, you'd like this one, if not more. It only updates twice a week, but it's fantastic. It's funny at times, dark at other, but is amazingly written and incredibly well drawn. Updates: Tuesday, Friday

Dungeons and Denizens- http://dungeond.com/
This is another DnD based comic, from the point of the monsters. It's pretty funny. It's not as good as Goblins in story or art, but it's still pretty good because it's really straight up DnD. I've had discussions with friends and based on the adventure classes, we're pretty sure it's 2.0 DnD, but it appears to climb in versions. It at least mentioned 4.0 a while ago. Again, you don't need to know the game at all to enjoy this. It did hit The Lull, unfortunately;  the current story-arc got a bit tedious for my tastes. The comic itself is great because it's a parody, which is one of the best comic genres out there, as long as it's not over done, and comic does not. Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

Comedity- http://www.comedity.com/
This is an amazing comic. it was originally based off his real life, but then got a little weird. Sadly, you can see the exact comic where it took a dive. It didn't get terrible, but it wasn't based off his real life any more and he said that was the point of the comic. Sadly, he ended it because of this when he and his friends went separate ways after college. He did proceed to create Finder's Keepers, which is just below. Updates: Null

Finder's Keepers- http://www.finderskeepers.gcgstudios.com/?p=comic&chap=1&new=true
This comic is sort of new. it's about this weird guy named Cardinal and this woman he is magically bonded to because she has his compass. No, I don't know much else either. the author is very mysterious. It's been about 4 months now, and they're still being mysterious. Keep reading though!!! The art is very enjoyable as well, which puts this one high on the list of favorites, I just wish it updated enough to pick up speed. Updates: This comic is supposed to update Tuesdays and Fridays, but it's not quite that consistent.

***A SOFTER WORLD- http://www.asofterworld.com/
I love this comic. it's depressing, horrifying, but makes you think, and I can't say enough good things about it. i find the depressing things about it hilarious. It's just an amazing comic and one of my favorites. The early comics' alt texts are just the title of the comic, but as it gets later, maybe 15 or 20, it becomes like XKCD with jokes and other stuff. Voice of the future: This is my favorite comic ever. Like, ever. Like past me said, I can't say enough good things about. It inspires me to want to do my own photo comic (Updated 1/19/12-Agreed). Updates: Monday, Friday (Sort of, they're not always consistent)
  Side note (1/19/12): Joey Comeau, author of the comic, is one of my favorite authors now. His books can be found under Our Projects.

***Dr. McNinja- http://drmcninja.com/
The title really speaks for itself. it's hilarious, it's badass, and he's a doctor. what more do you want from a comic? I stopped reading it when it hit The Lull, but it's been about a year. I hope it's gotten better since then... Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

MS paint adventures- http://mspaintadventures.com/
This one makes very little sense. It's trippy, random, and poorly drawn. Every once in a while something subtle is animated, so give the page a second glance. It was alright for a while, but once I stopped reading to come back to it, I didn't find it interesting. you might. To quote: "your key is out of ammo." It's become quite interactive, though only acting as a sort of "Next" button. Give it a chance, even though this is probably the poorest-reviewed comic here. Updates: Hard to peg. Somewhere between Monday through Friday every couple of days.

Order of the Stick- http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0001.html
This comic is DnD, but more text than drawing. Of course it's a comic, or it wouldn't be here, but just be aware that there's a lot of text to read. it's very funny, but just be advised that you will need your eyes to read this comic! bewwaaaaare... Updates: VERY sporadic, maybe about once a month, every couple of weeks.

Sinfest- http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1
This comic is awesome. It makes fun of religion, news, media, all that stuff. the main character is older but looks like Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes, but you get used to it. I mention this because they talk about sexual stuff sometimes and it was weird to see a pseudo-Calvin talk about sexing babes rather than just trying to figure them out. It also features God with hand puppets making fun of the devil. There are some cute zealots wandering around too. It's just a bunch of fun, honest. Updates: Daily

Chopping Block- http://choppingblock.org/d/20000725.html
This comic is scary. It's a mix between A Softer World and SMBC. This comic is also amazing. It's disgusting, but it's like when the preppy girl gets killed by the zombie; do you really feel bad about it? It has never really hit The Lull, which was cool. It stopped updating for about year, but that write-up can be read here. Updates: Monday through Friday
Note (1/19/12): This comic unfortunately has not updated since 2/28/11, but check back every couple of months, that's what I do.

Perry Bible Fellowship- http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF038-Pyro_Billy.gif
this comic is a wonderful little ditty. It was running in papers for a while, but then he stopped. He put everything online for your viewing pleasure. It updates occasionally, I saw the first new comic a few weeks ago, but this comic has been online for years, so definitely don't expect anything. It's can be dirty, in an old man kind of way. Updates: Practically Null

Captain Stupendous- http://www.captainexcelsior.com/
This comic is done in part by the guy from SMBC, which explains a lot once you start reading it, but it's about a superhero family and all these things it deals with. It's the Incredibles mixed with SMBC but everyone's older than the kids from the I's, so it's okay! Those of you who have had the privilege of reading this before the edit will notice that the title is different than the website, or the previous title I had there. They ran into some legal trouble with the name and changed it, but nothing else is different. This comic was a set storyline that ran its course, so it's complete, but that's almost a perk because that means that it's like reading a comic book! Updates: Null

Seraph Inn- http://inverloch.seraph-inn.com/viewcomic.php
This comic is set in a fantasy medieval times. It's a lot like Dominic Deegan in that it's magicky and interesting without referencing video games or DnD. The Wikipedia page said that it was geared more towards girls, but I liked it nonetheless. it wasn't necessarily...cute... but it did have a bit of romance to it. I honestly dug the storyline. The supposedly "girly" storyline wasn't really that girly. if you liked Dominic Deegan, you'll like this one. The comic finished up a while ago, but it's longer than Captain Stupendous, so it's less comic booky and more actual book-like. Updates: Null

Geek Tragedy- http://www.geektragedy.com/strips/2005/20050301.htm
This little ditty is a comic about a guy who dies and has to help his friends be less geeky in order to get into the afterlife (Oh no, I spoiled the first two pages!). It's really funny, not depressing as it sounds, and doesn't really deal with the death part so much as the fact that everyone is an utterly complete and total NERD! it's wonderful! the author wasn't getting laid and couldn't keep up between his job and comic, so he chose his job instead, so it's ended for now without much hope for return. It's definitely worth the catching up though. Updates: Null

***Johnny Wander-http://johnnywander.com/comic/28
So I finally clicked the link on the side of Dominic Deegan's message box, and all I have to say is that I'm very glad I did! It's about day to day life, but the people are amazing. It's wonderful and because it's based off of their life, and I enjoy being able to connect to it far more than say, a fantasy comic. Most of the comic is about themselves and their experiences with friends and family, or them writing the comic/visiting comic conventions. Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

***Evil Enterprises- http://www.evilenterprises.co.cc/
It's about a shotgun-toting elf that works for a neutral "hero" business. I guess you could call them antiheroes, but some of the people don't stop crime or even care, they just want a paycheck. It takes place in a world of not-so-perfect elves, especially the main character, Nathan Melody. Armed with nothing but his shotgun and random fighting techniques, he stops criminals from killing and superheroes from being douchebags.  Update: Now it's about random things, like DnD and other hilarity. Eventually it will also be a new comic called don't Be Sensible. It *might* turn into a photo comic, but that's a potential, not something right now. Currently don't Be Sensible/Evil Enterprises' focus is on the Comicstory. Updates: Null-But a new, awesome, project is being developed!

Accursed Dragon- http://accurseddragon.com/
This comic is about a cursed knight who saved a town and is now sucked into this random storyline of an adventure. It's a pretty great comic in general now that I've been reading it longer and the plot's developed a bunch. It's a bit difficult to explain in detail without ruining the plot, so dive in and see for yourself! Updates: Monday through Thursday

Darken- http://www.darkencomic.com/d/20031216.html
This comic is probably one of the best. The art is all done in pencil and shaded and stuff, so it's kind of messy. After about 30 comics it becomes colored. Because it's so well detailed, not all comics are colored, so it goes back and forth, but doesn't take away from the comic. This guy is killed, and now works for one of the Lords of one of the Hells. He's teamed up with a drow, a duchess, a thief and a half-dragon priestess. Ridiculous, no? This comic has finished!!! You can buy the book if you like! It was an okay ending, but that could just be because I'm sad it's over. Definitely read through this comic. Updates: Null

Weregeek- http://www.weregeek.com/2006/11/27/
This comic is about this guy who realizes his inner geek and starts to play all sorts of table top games, such as dungeons and dragons, d20 starwars, stuff like that. it switches between them playing these games and their real lives, but i'd definitely say that you should be more dungeons and dragons (and table top game) oriented if you want to really enjoy this comic. It hit The Lull a while back, probably around just after the 2010 new year, but it's been almost a year, so give it a chance, it's probably worth it! Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

Hark! A Vagrant- http://www.harkavagrant.com/
This is an amazing, AMAZING, history comic. the author went to college to major in history. She's done a bit of stuff recently for the New Yorker and Marvel Comics, even though her art style is a bit sloppy, it makes it a lot more fun to read. My favorite parts have to be about Napoleon. If that sounds intriguing, check it out! Updates: Thursdays? Mondays? I have it under Tuesday, Thursday, but it's a bit sporadic. It updates at least once a week though!

Awkward Zombie- http://www.awkwardzombie.com/comic1-092006.php
So this author hasn't explained her comic title in a comic, at least not yet, but otherwise, it's a great gaming comic. She makes fun of World of Warcraft, Pokemon, Zelda games, Brawl, Melee, and countless other games (though you could probably count if you have the time. But then you're not reading the best of these comics!). Much like VG-Cats and Ctrl-Alt-Del, you don't need to know the games, but it definitely helps with really understanding the joke. Updates: Monday

Perils of the Bold- http://www.actionfigurecomics.com/potb/potb001.shtml
Anyone know what a Stikfas is? well if you don't, you'll find out soon, because this comic uses them! it's a very funny comic based on D&D, i want to say 3.0 or 3.5. it's very well done, all photography, and a bit of editing once the pictures are taken. This comic stopped updating a few years ago suspiciously, which is a real shame, because it was a great comic, but... whatever. Perhaps there's a monster that eats webcomic artists. Oh well! Check this one out if you're okay with a permanent cliffhanger storyline! Updates: Null

AppleGeeks- www.applegeeks.com
This one's written by the guy from Johnny Wanderer and one of the characters from Comedity! So to sum it all up, it's Comedity from a different perspective, namely the characters you didn't get to know in that comic. It's hilarious, and very Mac oriented, in case that's a problem. Even if it is, it's still worth checking out! It does stray into fantasy by having a robot friend, but the idea is pretty nonchalant for everyone. Updates: the comic itself has stopped, but AppleGeeks Lite is updated Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Bug Comic- http://www.bugcomic.com/
This comic is hilarious and absolutely fantastic. I know I said that about other comics, but this one really deserves it. It's humor using cartoon bugs, but isn't gross at all. I like this one a lot because it builds to a ridiculous crescendo of a punchline. It usually starts out with a simple joke (it's about three or four frames long) and then builds up to this, "Oh wow." moment, so it's always enjoyable. Updates: Monday through Friday

Surviving the World- http://survivingtheworld.net/
This comic was linked to me in the middle of 2009, and I just caught up to it a little over a year later. I'm very glad I did. It's another photo comic, like A Softer World, done on a chalk board, and I love it. It covers love, science, sports, politics, and everything in between. Every Friday he has what he calls a Recitation, which are questions sent in by the readers, so that's pretty cool (1/19/12-Recitations are over, but now he has funny Homework assignments). Updates: Daily

***Guilded Age- http://guildedage.net/
This comic is pretty good. It's fantasy so it's got magic and warriors and wizards and whatnot, but it's really original in my opinion, not based off DnD at all. This one definitely deserves your attention. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

***Doghouse Diaries- http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/
This comic is wonderful. It's like a layman's version of XKCD. It's written by three guys, but the art is always the same. I say that it's a layman's version of XKCD because they're pretty much stick figures with witty text, but it has nothing to do with ridiculous things like logarithms and mathematical formulae. It's just silliness. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

The Fancy Adventures of Jack Cannon- http://fancyadventures.com/
This comic is pretty good. The art is a little odd, but it's good so... that's good. Yeah. This guy is resistant to hacking, and these guys can hack real life, which I personally love, so craziness ensues. The storyline is developing a lot more than it did in the beginning, and while picking up is usually a given, some comics don't, so I give it credit for that. Updates: Monday, Friday

***Amazing Super Powers- http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/
This comic is utterly fantastic. It's usually in really poor taste, like a longer SMBC, but less math/sciency. I love it. Also, if you go to the top right corner of the comic itself, just outside the border, there's an invisible question mark. The first few comics have nothing in the link, just a caveman smelling funny, but after that there's a second comic under it. Definitely check this one out. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

The Abominable Charles Christopher- http://www.abominable.cc/
This one is sad, and not in an A Softer World way. It's about a Sasquatch I suppose, and his life through the forest. It also goes along with a circus bear, which is also really depressing. I'm not sure when it takes place since it's got a king who lives in a castle, but it's also got rifles, so maybe around the turning point in Europe? Who knows. All I know is that the artist/writer apparently did some Superman comics, which is pretty neat to see his personal stuff. It's a great comic. Updates: Wednesday

***Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell- http://dcisgoingtohell.com/
This is a really funny comic. So far it hasn't had a dip, which is great. It's about this guy who accidentally makes the baby Dali Lama mentally retarded, and now he has awful awful awful karma, but his ex-girlfriend-now-friend has untouchable karma for some reason, which results in odd things like she can't get dirty from lying in the mud. Darwin lives with his pet manticore, Skittles, who is adorable. Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

***Mint Condition- http://www.mintconditioncomic.com/
This comic is a bit helter-skelter as well, but I still enjoy it. It's on hiatus for a while. I'm unsure why, but the author's wife was sick for a while, but hopefully nothing too serious. Otherwise it's a really funny comic. It's almost like Johnny Wander with a touch of Geek Tragedy and a dash of Comedity. If you read any of the reviews of those comics above, you know this comic is good! Updates: Hiatus

They All Bleed the Same- http://tabts-comic.com/
While setting up for a really depressing comic, it's nothing like that. It's actually really really cheery and funny, mostly tapping into sci-fi and a touch of gaming, but you don't need to know anything about games to read it, because there's maybe one comic with a pokeball in it. Otherwise it has nothing to do with games. The main character's roommate is into really dark sci-fi and owns a Meebo, if that means anything to any of you, because it didn't to me. The cat is pretty sweet too. Updates: Hiatus

Gone with the Blastwave- http://www.blastwave-comic.com/
GAAAAH THIS COMIC NEVER UPDATES I'M SAD. Now that that's out of the way... This is a pretty funny comic. I'm sure it refers to a real video game, but I don't know what game that is and I enjoy it all the same. You don't even need to be a gamer to enjoy this comic. It's completely from the perspective of being in the game, without ever breaking the 4th wall or acknowledging that it's a game, so pretend I said nothing about being a gaming comic. It's just a war comic with some silliness referring to gaming aspects like ammo and health packs. Updates: every couple of months

Gunshow- http://gunshowcomic.com/
Gods, as this comic says, Not for Children. Gunshow enjoys violating everything. That being said, it's always hilarious and isn't always violating things. I probably set it up poorly again. It's a wonderful comic, just not for children. It's become one of my favorite comics out there. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Buttersafe- http://buttersafe.com/
This comic is ridiculous and wonderful. It's not the most extravagant art, but most of these comics aren't, and I love them just the same. It's a lot like Bug Comic where it seems innocent enough and then you laugh at how odd the ending is. Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

***Oglaf- http://oglaf.com/
God this comic is wonderful and dirty. Especially dirty. For once in my life, I'd say that this comic is DEFINITELY NSFW (not safe for work for those of you not from the internet... but what are you doing here?). It's got a lot of nudity, male and female, as well as semen. If you don't want to get past the ridiculousness of how NSFW this comic is, it's not for you. For the rest of you, definitely read on. It's really really really funny, and probably one of my favorites. Unfortunately it only updates once a week, but it leaves me wanting more of it, and the art is great. Which... sounds bad when you remember the nudity, but still, it's great. My favorites are the well/fountain comics. What am I talking about? Read and find out!!! Updates: Monday, sometimes late Sunday

Blank It- http://blankitcomics.com/
*The title is in the alt-text but nothing more than that*
This comic is new to me, but it's been around for at least a bit of a while, and it's fantastic. It's really existential, but not in an annoying way. The art is really good, and it's really funny. It's ridiculous and really free form in what happens, but that's the point of the comic itself, and at least the story is consistent. I wouldn't say that you need to be really thinky to read this. It's existential, but in a really sarcastic and funny way. Don't think too hard, you'll shoot your eye out. Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

***Skidmore Bluffs- http://www.skidmorebluffs.net/
This is another photo comic, and is very very very much like a softer world, even though in an email with him he said he doesn't like A Softer World, as well as in one of his updates. It's pretty depressing in the same way as A Softer World, sometimes more, sometimes less. Because it's so simply done, i.e. on a blogspot page, it's almost inspiring me to start my own, which is actually why I got this blogspot in the first place, so this comic can't be that bad! Updates: On and off, but usually Monday

***Scenes From A Multiverse- http://amultiverse.com/
This one is incredibly quirky. It goes to different places in the universe to see how things are doing, and it's just awesomely fantastic. The names of the places are really clever and I enjoy that the artist can continue to get new names. The art is really good, so that's a plus. Definitely worth checking out, because it's a lot like a regular comic, except that it uses aliens, though sometimes it visits earth. It's a fairly new comic, but it updates every weekday, so definitely impressive, again. For Friday, the audience gets to vote where the comic visits from that week's comics. Bunnies ran for about three weeks. Updates: Monday through Friday

Penny Arcade- http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/
Penny Arcade was recommended to me a while back, but I wasn't really all that into it. Recently I decided to catch up to it, and it's definitely reaching the top of my list. It's not so much a flip-flop as it is just a growing interest. They talk about games almost every comic, so I would say it definitely helps to know the game they're talking about. This is definitely I would say is better for gamer-oriented people, but if you're like me and only live on the outskirts of the gamer community, you can still enjoy this one. Between the Back and Forward button is News. I would suggest reading that because it explains the context of that day's comic. They make fun of games or a gaming situation, so if you want to get a more in depth view of the comic beyond the few panels they show, it's a good read, albeit a bit long (But you're reading eight pages of comic reviews, so what are you to judge?). Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, has not missed a single update, ever. Period.

The Gutters- http://www.the-gutters.com/
This one's intriguing, because it's produced by the guys from Looking For Group and Least I Could DO, AKA Blind Ferret (a dream job...) but the art is very rarely drawn by them. Honestly, they have the best About page ever, so I'll let that do the writing. I'm not being lazy, they just do it better! "In brief, Gutters is a series of standalone pages that parody the comic book industry and the heroes and characters that dwell within. Think of it as an editorial cartoon targeting comic books, and you'll understand where we're going with it. Gutters is written by Ryan Sohmer, with Lar deSouza as Art Director and Ed Ryzowski serving as colorist. As for who will be doing the actual art, well, that's where things get interesting (and slightly different). Rather than have one artist pencil each page, we elected to have a rotating roster of professional artists, among them some giants in the comic book industry alongside new and emerging talent." So there you go! Definitely check this one out. It's fairly new, but also rapidly ascending to the top. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Tiny Ghosts- http://www.tinyghosts.com/
Tiny Ghosts was recommended by a reader of this very post, and I quickly caught up to it, so I figured it deserved a write-up. This is much like A Softer World, even more-so than Skidmore Bluffs. It's very sad, and that's where the humor is at. While A Softer World is supposed to be so horrible that you laugh, Tiny Ghosts is almost written in a way that you want to laugh to keep from crying. Most of the time anyway, sometimes it's sweet and sometimes it is happy, but either way it's a very good comic. It's a photo comic, but it uses toys instead of people like the other two comics mentioned, but real scenery, so not quite like Action Figure Comics. Updates: Monday

***Magpie Luck- http://magpieluck.com/
I don't quite know how I came across this one, but isn't that case with a lot of these? It's just sad because I only started this one about a week ago from 11/13/10 (current edition of this), and I've already forgotten. Anyway, the storyline is what's important! It's about a girl named Tristan who can time-travel, and as far as she knows, she's the only one. She's got a bottled gaseous friend named Kem that helps her focus on her destination, and a couple of fun hats, so that's nice. She's taking a month long break starting from 2/1/11, but definitely check back in March! Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

The Bean- http://www.beanleafpress.com/
This is also a new one (11/13/10) and I cannot remember where it came from, but I'm not too interested in that fact, though I do like to cite my sources...
Regardless of that, this comic is definitely a solid comic. It's about a boy who doesn't have any parents and works in a restaurant at a crossroad in the middle of nowhere. It's very fantasy, as the other main characters are ogres, though the bartender and female lead are both human, as is Bean, the boy. It's got a magic sword and a creature who only talks in rhyme, which is always a plus! I love having a personal view of a comic and then reading to find out it's part of a bigger scheme, like LICD and Blind Ferret. The Bean started out (a couple of times actually) as a novel that didn't go over so well, but he's started over as a comic book rather a novel. He's releasing them in a series of books, currently book 3, in what I assume are bookstores and also posting them online, perhaps to gain a fan-base. Regardless of reasoning, that is quite impressive, as is the comic, so get reading! Updates: Tuesday, Thursday

Our Valued Customers- http://ourvaluedcustomers.blogspot.com/
This one seems simple, but definitely does not disappoint. The author works in a comic book store (I was linked from Mookie's blog because the store is located around the corner from him where he buys his comic books. No, he does not appear in it) and these are honest-to-gods real customers. I really like the art because he does a great caricature of these people and you really get the feel for what they are like. The things they say seem really outrageous, but I'm not surprised that these are real people, because after all, truth is stranger than fiction, right? It's very funny, but it would be hard to say it wasn't because it's real. It's sad that people say things like this, but it's just part of the charm of working in a comic book store I guess! Updates: Daily

 ***Girls with Slingshots- http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/
Girls with Slingshots is a bit of a "slice-of-life" comic, but like Johnny Wander. JW is based off of the two creators' lives, while GWS is fiction. It's just realistic fiction. It's sexual, it's cute, it's funny, and it's wonderful. It follows Hazel through her relationships, her jobs, and her life overall. I don't have too much to say about this comic other than that it's reached what I'd say is a top 10 list of comics. Updates: Monday Through Friday

*** Nedroid Picture Diaries- http://nedroid.com/
This comic is so goofy. It follows Beartato, who is a bear in the shape of a bear, and Reginald, who is a bird. If that doesn't sounds like the recipe for a sickass comic, then get out of my emporium. Updates: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Pictures for Sad Children- http://picturesforsadchildren.com/
Pictures of Sad Children is probably my favorite comic after A Softer World, though because it's stopped updating it's gotten bumped down a couple notches. It's started to update a bit again though, which is nice. It's a depressed comic with a morbid sense of humor that allows it to laugh at itself. It's very depressing, but much like A Softer World it's funny if you like dark humor. Interestingly enough it's a drawn comic, which is simple but elegant. For a bit it had a storyline, but then the creator started doing one-offs. They are longer comics though, maybe a whole page or so, which means more bang for your buck. Which is free. So really you are getting more for nothing and that is almost always a good thing! Updates: Monday, Wednesday

So that's about it. I don't necessarily love all these comics, but i didn't want to leave anything out because I honestly do enjoy them all in one way or another. If you don't like one, move on. No two comics are the same regardless of how I compared them. they have their downsides, they have their upsides, much like a book. In regards to liking one, I'd say that if you can remember awesome quotes or find yourself bookmarking certain pages, you enjoy the comic greatly. if the comic gets boring, book mark the last page you read, move on, and come back to it. Sometimes you just get tired of a storyline. I get rid of comics sometimes, but maybe I'll come back to them. You never know.

Another major note I'd like to point out is that these comics, whether drawn or photographed, are these creators' full time jobs. While I'm not soliciting their shirts and mugs and books, though I encourage you to check them out(!), if you feel so inclined please turn off any adblockers you have for their pages. At this point I've gone through and turned it off for all my comics because they do get paid by view and they can't get ad views if you are blocking said ads. That being said, if you don't want to deal with ads on the margins of the pages then that's fine, but I just ask that you consider supporting these fantastic creators who work so very hard to entertain you at no real cost to you.

Enjoy!!!