Heck Yes, Space Archaeology

It's no secret to long-time readers of this blog that my favorite part of CAD is the "Ethan McManus: Space Archaeologist" side-series. In these alternate-universe adventures, the fate and decisions of Harrison-Fordian hero Ethan McManus are placed in the hands of the internet at large. In every storyline, there is action, humor, and horrible gut-splattering disaster. And it's tremendous fun.

On Monday, a brand-new installment kicked off, picking up from the last adventure with Ethan crash-landed on a hostile, unfamiliar planet. CAD cartoonist Tim Buckley always seems to put forth an extra effort on the art for these things, and the alternate reality affords him storytelling laterality and opportunities not present in your usual CAD. It's fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously, and it appears that the first two episodes allowed Buckley to iron out the kinks in the choose-your-own-adventure format.

Am I looking forward to this? No question.

Today's comic presents the readership collective with the first crucial choice, so head over, get up to speed, and cast your vote for Ethan's course of action. His fate rests in our hands--and if we end up killing him off, at least it'll be an entertaining ride.

Ctrl+Alt+Del

Today I want to talk with you about Ctrl+Alt+Del. On this blog, we always talk about what I want to talk about--except when there are guest bloggers. For better or worse, this is pretty much how blogs work.

Ctrl+Alt+Del is a popular comic--but it's also an infamous comic. Offline, I've found several fans, from my friend Dave to the guy at the Micro Center customer service desk, but on the internet, CAD is the subject of scathing criticism. I was first introduced to it by John "Your Webcomic is Bad" Solomon's characteristically vitriolic review, and thread topics at the Dinosaur Comics message board include "justify CAD's existence" and "Christmas Miracle: [CAD Creator Tim] Buckley Somehow Becomes More Terrible."

I personally don't think all the CAD hate is merited. Beyond the obvious fact that I'd much rather celebrate and share good comics than talk smack about bad ones, I simply don't think it's a terrible comic. I could defend specific charges against the art, the writing, the overall comic craft, and I could accede the validity of other charges...but I'm not interested in convincing or refuting anyone.

Comics are a communication medium, whether for stories or jokes or webcomic reviews, and I recently had an insight into just what CAD is trying to communicate. Buckley has described it as "a gamer comic, not a gaming comic," and I believe that he's simply trying to present a cross-section of life as a gamer. The humor isn't the tightly-paced three-panel comedy of Penny Arcade or the consummately-crafted "art of the comic strip" of Sheldon. Sometimes the funniest moment occurs in the first or second panel. It's the humor of gamer culture, for better or worse: the sarcasm, the needlessly verbose insults, the snarky elitism, and the occasional bursts of genuine wit that make you lol, even lyao.

CAD has its problems, to be sure. It's wordy, and even if it means to present a slice of gamer life, it needs to make some concessions to the comic format in order to communicate effectively. It doesn't always have to be funny, but its characters must develop beyond one-dimensional caricatures if we're going to take Ethan's game-store business and his relationship with Lilah as seriously as Buckley would like us to. His art is known for inexpressive character expressions and copious use of copy-paste, but over the past year, the art has grown more varied and less static. Honestly, I think the interactive Ethan McManus: Space Archaeologist adventures have been the most successful CAD undertaking yet. With crisper sci-fi artwork and more dynamic panel layouts, they just look better, and the non-canonical, reader-influenced storylines allow for such repercussions as the death of significant characters. Buckley puts forth effort and takes risks on these things, and I think it pays off.

But fundamentally, I'm not most interested in making pronouncements or justifying CAD. I seem to be the only person on the internet who simply thinks it's "sometimes not bad," and I want to know your opinion. I don't just want to talk to you about CAD--I want to talk with you about CAD. Is it a good comic? A bad comic? You tell me. I want to hear what you think.

Poll: The Watchmen in Webcomics

The nominees are in, and the polls can begin. Which of the following delivers the best Watchmen comic?

• Thinkin' Lincoln


• Unwinder's Tall Comics


• PVP: 'Ombudsmen' (series)


• Medium Large: 'Watchmen Week' (series)


• Ctrl-Alt-Del

Cast a vote for your favorite using the form above this entry. The poll will close on Tuesday (3/10) at 11:59 PM EST. Should you wish to vote "other," please drop a comment and share a link to the Watchmen-related webcomic you wish to vote for. And if you haven't seen it already, continue reading below for today's special feature: Recommendation Rampage Friday!

SFIV Poll Results

Well. The results of the poll...are the results of the poll.



It's perplexing, because even though "Other" won out, no one wrote in any alternates whatsoever on the original entry. I can only conclude that the three voters for "Other" simply found the available options thoroughly unfunny and voted "Other" in protest. Personally, I thought the CAD strip was unusually well-paced humor for CAD. But that's just me. At any rate, 2P Start carried the day, with its strip poking fun at Chun Li's disproportionately large hands.

Matt Moylan's Lil Formers also weighed in on SFIV this past Monday, but unfortunately, it was too late to change the poll. A shame, too, because Moylan's comic is actually fairly amusing.

Also, on an unrelated note, here's a blog that you may enjoy if you enjoy This Week in Webcomics. It's called "Webcomic Finds," and essentially is about reading good webcomics and talking about the good webcomics one comes across while traveling the internet. The blogger, Ping Teo, appears to be a savvy humorist with a few comic projects of her own. If you're looking for some insightful webcomic recommendations, be sure to give it a look.

Microfeature Thingy: Street Fighter IV

Last week marked the release of the first new-numbered Street Fighter game in almost ten years: Street Fighter IV. Obviously, big news like this provides ample humor fuel for video game webcomics. Weighing in on the topic of the new Street Fighter are the following:

Penny Arcade
Ctrl-Alt-Del
Another Videogame Webcomic
2P Start

Which of the above do you think delivered the best, most hilarious Street Fighter IV coverage? I've rigged up a little poll thing at the top of the main column (EDIT: relocated to the sidebar) where you can cast your vote. And if you've come across a better SFIV strip than any of these, don't hesitate to share it with us in the comments section!

(Your usual Friday recap will go up later tonight.)

1/16: Week in Review

This past weekend, I was surfing around and came across a comic by the name of Blank It. It begins with two unidentified protagonists standing in a nondescript field of whiteness, exploring their surroundings. After a bit of walking around in the void and trying to figure out the nature of their situation, they begin to encounter...things. Like a shovel. And a...well, let's just say it gets even more surreal, very quickly. I don't want to spoil it for you.

Because you should read this comic. I will have more to say about it, but you need to read it. It's clever, the characters' back-and-forth banter is genuinely witty, and the art is good--like bordering on Ian McConville good. Go read the archives from the start (it won't take long, there's only about 60 comics!), then tune in next Monday and Thursday to follow along with it.

And with that recommendation--it's now time for the news.

In the wake of last Friday's reality-shattering cliffhanger, Starslip Crisis hits the "reset" button and escapes changed but intact. The crew of the Fuseli have escaped to a new universe, the comic has a new website design, and it's taken on a new moniker! It's now simply known as "Starslip." Kris Straub has even updated the art, which now sports a dash of grayscale spot-shading and a clean, angular style. I think the new art is an improvement--each frame looks more fresh and varied, more crafted than produced. Catch up on the plot and the brand-new universe starting with Monday's strip. Refer to the New Readers Guide if necessary.

As Starslip sets out for a New Beginning in Space, the Space-Adventures over at Ctrl-Alt-Del are drawing to a close. That's right--the latest choose-your-own-adventure installment of Ethan McManus, Space Archaeologist is over. After being dragged through one harmful choice after another by the idiocy of internet readers, Ethan finally crash-lands on an uncharted planet barely alive and intact, with a cliffhanger promise of a third EMSA at some point in the future. Show's over for now, folks! I will now return to my custom of reading CAD like once a month.

Hopefully I won't miss the next EMSA installment. If only there were a mailing list for these dang things!

At Multiplex this week, Jason Atwood's video-store doppelganger Jay has quit his job at Flickhead video and signed on as theater staff. Is he a good fit for the theater job? Jason certainly seems to think so. However, Jay's addition to the staff has catalyzed a measure of friction between Multiplex power couple Kurt and Melissa. We'll see what the drama holds for Kurt and Melissa--'cause you know that with Multiplex, There Will Be Drama.

In terms of simply delivering daily doses of funny, Sheldon has really been on fire this week. No deep and involved storylines of drama and pathos, no profound gravity of character, just well-crafted laughs. And we need some well-crafted laughs sometimes! We've got an unexpected interruption courtesy of Arthur Duck's impulsive side, and a few reflections from Granddad on the value of PJs. And other funny comics besides! I've certainly enjoyed 'em.

Finally: Nobody Scores has its own brand of breaking the space-time continuum when Jane finds a mysterious portal in the couch leading back to 1989--the prime breeding ground of the Nameless Wack MC. Additionally, inside sources tell me that NS is gearing up for its 300th-comic celebration soon, so be sure and check it over the weekend, lest you miss the festivities! It would be a shame to miss the festivities.

That's what I found to be awesome this week. As always, I encourage you to share your own discoveries of awesomeness from the past week in comics all across the internet. Drop a comment and spread the love!

1/9: Week in Review

For the past week, the world of Starslip Crisis has been in crisis. The reality-policing organization Deep Time has planted a bomb at the core of Jupiter that will erase the main characters' entire universe from reality: past, present, and future. All week long, as the bomb ticks down, Vanderbeam and crew have been scrambling to save as much of the universe as they can, whether by defusing the bomb or simply by escaping via starslip drive. Yesterday's comic featured the final ten seconds of last-minute panic. And today's comic breaks all of reality with its genius. I seriously thought something was wrong with the site until I figured out what was going on.

Real Life this week has featured some good laughs. After a recent storyline, techie geek Dave found himself carrying around the supercomputer PAL in his brain, and this past week has seen Dave trying to get PAL out. But Dave must first acquire hardware to download PAL's systems into: a task which Dave undertakes with gusto.

Two items of very-long-comics news this week:

Nobody Scores breaks in the new year with considered reflections on aging, then follows up with Sara's latest business scheme: "Fear Itself(tm)." What is "Fear Itself?" Apparently, a consultation service in which agents expose you to a series of truly terrifying things so that your own problems seem much less intimidating by comparison. But accidents happen, and in typical Nobody Scores fashion, Sara's scheme is thwarted by a lack of competent help. And her own flaring temper.

The postscripts are great.

Very-long-comics news #2: Unwinder's Tall Comics has an update for us this week! In this installment, Unwinder's friend Howard develops the ability to read minds. As he reads the minds of his friends, hilarity ensues, although it is hilarity dependent on the personalities of his friends. If you have never read Unwinder's Tall Comics before, this is probably not the best one to start in on. A better introduction would probably be this comic.

In video-game news, Joe Dunn and Phil Chan of Matriculated fame have teamed up to debut a brand new comic strip: Another Videogame Webcomic. What sets it apart from other gaming comics is that it's also a workplace comic; the main characters, Player One and Player Two, actually work inside the games, donning Street Fighter costumes or full-body Pong Paddle suits as the job requires. Think Ctrl-Alt-Del's "Players," but with less graphic violence and more funny, by which I mean any kind of funny at all. Another Videogame Webcomic already has nine comics up for you to peruse, and it promises to do for video games what Joe Loves Crappy Movies has done for movies, so check it out.

Speaking of CAD, if you tune into CAD for one storyline this year, let it be the current choose-your-own-adventure storyline, featuring Ethan McManus: Space Archaeologist. At present, our protagonist is in dire straits, pursued by mercenaries and with one broken arm as he tries to track down the ancient Mesocron of Knowledge. His fate is in your hands! And the hands of a hundred thousand nitwits across the internet.

UPDATE: The first installment of post-Hob Dresden Codak marks a return to form, with the first of two parts of a second Dungeons and Discourse adventure. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I suppose. Diaz is employing a slightly different art style--a more subtle color palette and thin/no outlines--but largely it's the same lavishly-illustrated abstruse philosophy-of-science jokes you've come to know and feel strongly about. I would just like to note that "Kierkeguardian" is the best class name ever.

So, that wraps up this week-in-review. Have a good weekend, and be sure to come back on Monday and Tuesday. Tony Piro from Calamities of Nature will share his his thoughts with us on the comic form, social commentary, archetypal characters, and (of course) religion. With too much insight into cartooning for a single installment, it's a two-part interview that you won't want to miss!

Well, between the tail end of the hectic holidays, my usual freelance undertakings, and the aforementioned computer troubles, I haven't had as much time for webcomics as usual. Still, I've managed to get in a measure of webcomic reading, and it's funny: sometimes the best webcomics only update one day a week. And sometimes, that day is Wednesday.

I'm referring to Nothing Better and Matriculated, both of which are college strips that are actually about college. They go beyond the one-dimensional stereotypes and drinking jokes of your typical college comic. Their characters are unique people with a measure of depth to them, dealing with college life as it really is.

Nothing Better often deals with the heavier questions of religion (the current chapter opened up with atheist Kat having a nightmare that God sentenced her to eternal damnation), but this week's installment is just your average day at college. Jane is running (literally) late to her first class of the semester, and it turns out that she shares a class with Darby, her friend she met on the first day of school. I like Darby, although I can't help but feel sorry for him about his crush on Jane (who has a boyfriend, as regular NB readers will know). Anyway, NB is intriguing to follow as always, and I'm looking forward to seeing more into Darby's inner world and his relationship with Jane.

Matriculated this week is wrapping up a storyline in which Rebecca does a charity see-saw marathon for her sorority. (storyline starts here). All throughout her marathon see-sawing session, just about every other character from the regular cast has dropped by, ostensibly to keep her company. But it turns out that Dan wants her help figuring out if he's going out with a girl or not, and Steve's also been having girl trouble, and even Janette has the ulterior motive of procrastinating a paper.
So when good-natured guy Jeremy stops by the see-saw and wants to hang out, what could it possibly be a cover for?

So, good installments of good comics that update weekly on Wednesdays. And are about college.

Other news, in brief:

• On Friday, Thinkin' Lincoln finished up its Silly Drawings Week, which I enjoyed, because as funny as Thinkin' Lincoln is, that disembodied-head thing is still...well, you know about me and the disembodied-head thing. At any rate, for a little hand-drawn ridiculousness from Miles Grover, just click the link above.


• CAD continues its current "Ethan McManus: Space Archaeologist" choose-your-own-adventure storyline, with horrific disaster continuing to befall Ethan's right arm. My guess is that he comes out of this mess with bionics. If he gets out alive at all. If you're not following along with this storyline and getting in on the voting, you really should: it is five hundred times more fun than regular CAD. Get caught up with the current storyline starting here.


• Calamities of Nature also posted the results of its guest comic contest this past week. There are some pretty good comics up, so go check 'em out.


• And finally, this past Sunday's Sheldon reminds us that as fun as nerd stuff like video games and webcomics are, nothing trumps spending time with the people you love. Of course, if the people you love are also into nerd stuff like video games and webcomics, so much the better. But the point still stands. And on that note--go get off the internet and spend time with the people you love! You've had enough webcomics for one day. Seriously.

I'll be back on Friday, and we shall talk further about recent awesome developments in webcomics. See you then.

Ctrl-Alt-Del Runs 2nd Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Storyline

Greetings, the Internet! I emerge briefly from my webcomic-blogging hiatus to bring you important news.

A little over half a year ago, Ctrl-Alt-Del ran a choose-your-own-adventure-style comic storyline, in which readers voted to collectively determine the fate of Ethan McManus, space archaeologist. It was easily the most fun I've ever had reading CAD. I generally regard CAD as a mediocre gaming webcomic that does just enough right to enjoy disproportionate popularity, but frankly, I was impressed with Buckley's artwork and plotting for this one. Well, except for the sudden grisly ending, but nobody's perfect.

Anyway, I am momentarily taking a break from my blogging break to tell you that a second CAD choose-your-own-adventure is presently underway. I had a lot of fun reading and participating in the first one, and I wanted to let you know about the second. When the latest comic presents the readers with a choice, you can email your vote to CAD.VOTE (AT) GMAIL.COM. Together we can shape the fate of the universe.

And now, back to hibernation. I will see you all later.

So, welcome to This Week in Webcomics, the blog where I tell you what was awesome in internet comics this past week because I love you. Wouldn't it be ironic if, as I told you what comics you should totally read, I were to mention spoilers for those same comics? So I will try not to do that. All the same, consider us to be under a Spoiler Watch. You know, like Tornado Watch vs. Tornado Warning.

I tuned in to Dr. McNinja on Monday morning and immediately knew that it was going to be a good week. As soon as I saw the last panel of Monday's comic, I was like, "Man, they just totally went there." Drawing a situation like that (notice how I am avoiding spoilers?) takes serious artistic chops, but it opens up some possibilities for sweet action that subsequent installments have totally delivered on. I look forward to seeing where this battle with Dracula on his Moon Base goes.

I'll confess, Penny Arcade has been hit-or-miss for me lately. I expect the work they've been doing on that crazy video game of theirs has something to do with it, but now that they've polished that off, I hope they'll be able to devote more creative energy to their comic-style humors. A noteworthy development: I never thought I'd see the Broodax again, figuring it for a one-off gag, but sure enough, here it is today. Broodax: the Twisp and Catsby of '08? Only time will tell.

Strips that feature children playing make-believe often idealize the experience. The vibe you get from them tends to be: "Oh, look at that, the children are playing pretend, how creative and adorable." (Family Circus, I'm looking at you.) However, Sheldon this week has been doing a strip series in which Sheldon and friends play Lord of the Rings, and Flaco and Arthur insist on making up back-stories and motivations for the villains they're playing. Strangely, it's Sheldon--the actual kid--who's making the observation that kids' games can get way too ridiculous sometimes. It also works as a subtle commentary on the tendency of webcomics to get incredibly stupid when they insist on injecting drama where it's really not necessary at all.

Speaking of kids, it's a rare occurrence that Cat and Girl acknowledges that Girl is an actual child. Seriously, with all her social commentary, it's easy to forget that she doesn't even technically have a degree yet.

Oh, yeah. And Tim Buckley's latest storyline over at CAD is a big tall glass of Cringe Juice. No, I'm not going to link to it. It's that bad.

Did I miss anything? Did anything else great or significant happen in the world of webcomics this week? Let me know if something slipped past my radar--that's why there is a comments feature.