Meeting Wes Molebash, Cartoonist and Living Legend

This past Saturday, I took an hour-and-a-half drive out to Schlegel's Coffee in Chillicothe, OH to see Wes Molebash at his comic exhibition. Wes is best known for his now-completed strip about married life, You'll Have That, and he's done several other comics. For the month of March, Schlegel's Coffee House is showcasing his current project, Max vs. Max, a strip about the personal ups and downs of underdog/everyman Max Stanton.

On Saturday evening, Wes made a personal appearance at Schlegel's, so I made a trip down to see him in person. It was great to see him in person and talk comics--and I suppose that this, for me, is the cool thing about webcomics, the connecting.

The internet (at least ostensibly) is all about connecting. When you're reading a webcomic, if you want to say something to the cartoonist, you don't have to get up and get a stamp and envelope and find the guy's address, as you would with a newspaper strip or comic book. You can easily shoot an email or drop a comment. Your reply back may be a simple "thanks for the email; I'm glad you liked today's comic!", and you may not get a deep and personal connection out of it, but the internet has made connecting easier.

There's no substitute for face-to-face communication, but be that as it may, the internet can facilitate saying "hey" in person too. Thanks to the internet, I got to meet some new people this weekend, including one Wes Molebash, a talented cartoonist and a down-to-earth guy.

If you get a chance like this to meet up with a cartoonist whose work you enjoy, I encourage you to take it. Cartoonists like talking with people who like their work! Sure, it's possible to be an obnoxious gushing fan or an obsessive stalker about it, but most people are pretty cool about their art appreciation, and when people are cool about it, cool stuff happens. Swing by a convention or an exhibition or the Buttersafe Expo sometime. I've got a couple of conventions that I'll be swinging by in April--but I digress. I'll drop some more details on that later.

Point is, Wes Molebash is a cool guy who makes cool comics. If you're near Chillicothe, you should swing by the gallery and check out his exhibit. At the coffee shop, you can purchase original Max vs. Max strip artwork, and Wes is also taking commissions and selling original YHT art in order to fund his upcoming wedding. Further details are available at the Max vs. Max site.

4/3: Week in Review

Webcomic geeks are rarely just webcomic geeks; find a webcomic enthusiast, and chances are he's also a video gamer, an anime nerd, or a tabletop RPG geek. Hence, from time to time you get comics like Penny Arcade's Fallout Puppet Comics, or the following news item which I received via press release...

The comic Geeks Next Door is teaming up with Dungeon Mastering to deliver an exclusive comic storyline starring the GND characters. Veteran gamers Matt, Jessi, and Barry will be introducing Jessi's closet-geek sister Maggie to the ins and outs of D&D, with Matt in the role of dungeon master. I've happened across Geeks Next Door a few times before, and it's a funny comic with colorful and upbeat artwork. The collaboration looks like a cool project, too, so if you're a tabletop roleplayer, be sure to tune in. The series starts tomorrow, 4/4, and will update every two weeks at DungeonMastering.com, with a new comic and commentary from Matthew, Jessi, and Maggie.

And Geeks Next Door isn't the only comic teaming up. Least I Could Do, in its most recent storyline, is teaming up with every webcomic in existence for the LICD Ultimate Final Civil War Invasion Crisis Thing. It's a comic event so big, it prompted the creator of Goblins to pull an April Fool's joke in which he threatened to sue Ryan Sohmer for unlicensed use of his characters. More about April Fool's Day later, but you can start reading LICD's Ultimate Crisis Thing right here with the intro spread.

After a long absence from the online cartooning world, You'll Have That creator Wes Molebash returned this Monday with a new comic: "Myron and Charlie." I've been looking forward to the launch of his new project ever since Wes announced it late last year: Wes has a sharp black-and-white style, and to be entirely honest, I've missed his down-to-earth sense of humor and storytelling. Rather than the gag-a-day format of You'll Have That, this new strip has an ongoing storyline with a definite end to it. It's too early to tell exactly where it's going, but so far, we've been introduced to Myron, a boy with an artistic streak and a desire for a best friend. You can catch the updates every Monday, Wednesday and Friday over at the You'll Have That site.

Over at Real Life, Greg Dean has been running "open letter week," in which comic-character Greg reads open letters to a variety of individuals, including Family Guy producer Seth McFarlane, everyone on Greg's Facebook friends list, Neil Patrick Harris, and others. The open-letter action starts here, and wouldn't end right if it didn't end with a twist punchline. Bonus points if you saw the twist coming, but Greg's expression in the final panel really sells it.

And in what was possibly the most stunning update this week, this comic from Penny & Aggie dropped a bomb on me. Uptight religious fanatic Charlotte displays a surprisingly tender side, and what's more, the girl can write! Holy Sonnet, Batman! Comics are a visual medium, but this one showcases the power of good writing to flat-out knock you off your feet.

And, seeing as Wednesday was April Fool's Day, it's time to conclude this entry with the...

April Fools Watch:

• David Willis promises to end Shortpacked and deliver a Roomies reboot (complete with April Fool's site redesign)


• Chainsawsuit's make-your-own-Chainsawsuit goes horribly awry


• Dr. McNinja employs product placement for its own merchandise in this strip (see the April Fool's version)


• Hijinks Ensue adopts a new art style and a bold new storyline...all in the name of parody

And that's what's awesome this week. Have a good weekend, and, as usual, I'll see you next week with more awesome.

My Favorite Webcomics: Part 2 of Something

The First Part of the List
Share your own favorites with us!

Welcome back, friends. Where we left off, I was sharing with you the comics that I continue to read since trimming down my list of regulars. Let us continue the sharing.

Penny Arcade: Okay, that doesn't really count as sharing, because you read Penny Arcade already. There's a reason why Penny Arcade is the number one gaming comic anywhere: top-notch artwork, relentlessly honest commentary on the gaming industry, and hilariously inappropriate graphic violence.

Dr. McNinja: I like Dr. McNinja for basically two reasons. On the one hand, it's an ingenious extended parody of ludicrous comic book plots exposing the more ridiculous conventions of the superhero genre, illustrated with exceptional full-color artwork that complements the parody perfectly. On the other hand, a ninja doctor escapes Dracula's moon base by surfing back to earth on Drac's robotic duplicate.

Penny and Aggie: Intelligent teen drama that does a great job of capturing the vicious high-school clique atmosphere. Ostensibly, it's about the rivalry between the razor-sharp queen of the popular crowd and an ambitious counter-culture chick with a penchant for activism, but there's a wide supporting cast of fleshed-out characters. Quality full-page black-and-white artwork with a measure of manga influence. Funny, engaging drama that's well worth reading.

You'll Have That: I confess, I've got a thing for realistic comics. I'm not super-keen on the whole magical-time-traveling-with-robots thing. YHT is a down-to-earth humor strip about a semi-geeky guy named Andy and his practically-minded wife, Katie. The two of them deal together with life's ordinary difficulties: obnoxious co-workers, strained friendships, visiting in-laws for the holidays, and learning to forgive each other's shortcomings and quirks. At its heart, it's a funny strip about everyday love.
And sadly, it's ending on January 2nd. Still, cartoonist Wes Molebash has got a new project in the pipes, so I'm looking forward to what he's got in store.

Joe Loves Crappy Movies: Joe Dunn is a killer and funny cartoonist with an enthusiasm for movies. He's got a brash, colorful art style, and his friendly, easygoing personality comes through in his comics. He also likes to crack a nerd gag or sex joke from time to time. From time to time, I'll also check in on his other cartooning projects: the college-life strip Matriculated and his user-determined animal race adventure, Turtle vs. Bunny. Dude is a webcomic machine.

Multiplex: Joe likes to watch crappy movies, but what's it like on the other side of the ticket counter? Multiplex looks into the lives of theater employees--the workplace drama, the antics to alleviate the boredom, the movie-geekery, and everything else that comes with the red-vested uniform. It's very professional, very funny, and features one of the most engaging and varied casts of characters I've seen in a webcomic. Their interactions are really what make the comic for me. JASON AND BECKY WILL YOU GUYS PLEASE JUST GET TOGETHER ALREADY

Theater Hopper: I don't really check out Theater Hopper regularly, but if I'm gonna mention the other two of the Big Three movie webcomics...well, y'know. Theater Hopper is a good comic, and even though it's not on my list of regulars, it might just call for a spot on yours.

Nobody Scores: Brilliantly illustrated, utterly manic, and relentlessly cynical, Nobody Scores is the comic where everything that can go wrong, does. Its lovably-unlikeable cast of ruthless capitalist Sara, crazy alternative-girl Jane, untalented pretentious artist Beans, and alienated intellectual landlord Raoul endure inevitable disaster several times a week in Brandon Bolt's loooong-form ridiculous cartoonery. Sometimes you have more subdued catastrophe, say that of the daily morning routine. Other times, it's over-the-top cataclysm: time travel gone awry and matter-devouring nanorobots. And continuity is optional: plunge in anywhere and embrace the madness!

Further installments on Wednesday, and then a Very Special Christmas Message from TWIW on Christmas! In the meantime, share with us your favorites.

I Read Webcomics Religiously

So, what's up in webcomics this week? Religion.

(There are some other things that are up in webcomics this week, like the election results, but frankly I am pretty tired of politics, and this blog is nothing if not biased. I don't even read Octopus Pie regularly, what the crap kind of webcomic enthusiast am I. But anyway. Religion.)

This week marks the long-awaited return of Tyler Page's Nothing Better, a serial tale of two reluctant college roommates with a lot to learn from each other. Pretty much the instant I discovered it, NB became firmly cemented in my "comics I can't get enough of" list: it regularly delves into issues of religion, life, and meaning that most other webcomics would treat with an innocuous quip, and what's more, it manages to be thoughtful and sympathetic in its treatment of its characters' deeper convictions. This past Wednesday, the first page of Chapter 13 dropped readers into the middle of what I can only guess is a weird dream for Kat, unless the roof actually did come off their dorm in the middle of the night. I'm interested to see where this goes.

Page is also beginning a daily feature, Page-a-Day, for those of us for whom one or two weekly pages of Nothing Better is not enough. Woot!

I also made a new discovery this week: Evangeline. Originally debuting as a print comic during the 80s, Evangeline chronicles the adventures of a nun who tackles missions for the Vatican in the 23rd century. The creators were dissatisfied with the simplistic, "nun-and-gun" turn the original storyline took, so they are rebooting it for the web, with the first three chapters as the base. On their site's About page, Chuck Dixon & Judith Hunt state, "We...wanted to do a fun-to-read comic with some serious thought behind it."

The art is solid, and definitely reflects the 80s comic-book ethos; you can tell it's from the same period as Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns and The Watchmen. So far, the story looks like it may tackle the theme of how personal faith can survive and persist in the face of religious corruption. We'll see. In the meantime, it's updating with a page every weekday, so check it out.

More "restarts" news: on Monday, You'll Have That creator Wes Molebash announced that he will be concluding his comic on Friday, January 2nd, 2009. This is sort of sad news, as Wes will be wrapping up his comic's loose ends and bringing everything to a conclusion, but he also promises: "In February of ‘09 I’ll be launching a new comic feature here at this site." I'll miss YHT, but I'll also be glad to see what new project Wes has in store.

One thing I appreciate about Wes' work in YHT is the subtlety with which he addresses religion. One can infer from certain comics that focal couple Katie and Andy are Christians, but the strip is never too overt about it. The two never beat their friends and acquaintances over the head with religion; instead, they simply try to live and love in a manner consistent with their faith. Wes himself is a confessing Christian, and if Angie Kurokami from Multiplex is an example from a non-christian's perspective of a Christian who's unobtrusive about her faith yet takes it seriously, then Andy is the same, but from a believer's view. The parallel just now struck me, and I find it kind of interesting.

I'd explore it in greater depth, but I have a headache from searching through the YHT archives on my slow-as-Christmas internet connection, and my brother and I are going to eat lasagna and watch some Heroes this evening. So, that's a thought for another day--or perhaps left as an exercise for the reader.

So, that's all the religion-in-webcomics news this week (unless you've got something to mention in the comments, which is of course always welcome!). A few quick shots of funny, and we'll call it a wrap.

• The most recent Boxer Hockey is a hilarious reminder of the value of voting, and one of the political comic strips that I still find funny after election overload


• Nobody Scores! wraps up its Martial Arts Death Tournament storyline (which begins here) and prepares for new adventures in catastrophe


• Real Life similarly draws its current storyline to a close and prepares for new adventures in Greg and Liz moving back to California

So that's that. Be sure and tune in sometime this weekend, when Ari Collins will deliver a post as well. No, really.

Hey, welcome back! Good to see you here. Let's talk about webcomics I liked this week! We can also talk about webcomics you liked this week. But we will do that when we reach the comments section.

First of all, let's get that complicated continuity stuff out of the way. Real Life continues its Plot-Hole/Alternate-Gender-Universe/Government-Agent storyline this week, as the crew escapes the destruction of Tony's space station...minus Tony. I am, of course, sworn to avoid spoilers, so in order to find out what fate truly befell Tony, I recommend that you read this week's installment from the beginning.

In other continuity news, Nobody Scores continues its Ultimate Death Martial-Arts Tournament, where kung fu meets reality TV in a grisly battle royale. This week: Sara's mom drops by to criticize her daughter, and Jane gets masterfully drunk.

And finally, for Penny and Aggie fans who have wondered if Aggie would ever reveal her affections for Marshall, wonder no further. ...Ouch. It's been a hard week for Aggie. I really feel for her.

But okay! With all that continuity and development of ongoing plotlines out of the way, we can turn our attention to standalone humor and randomness!

Let's start off with a few selections from this week's comics at Thinkin' Lincoln. It turns out that to cheer himself up, Lincoln likes to draw turtles having fun. And we get to see his drawings! Hand-drawn elements in Thinkin' Lincoln are always a fun change of pace in my book, in part because I will probably never fully get over that whole disembodied head thing. Abe subsequently overdoes it, however, and we may never see the turtles again.

And speaking of Thinkin' Lincoln, this Dinosaur Comics could have been a Thinkin' Lincoln strip. I know that DC is a major influence on Thinkin' Lincoln, but it's interesting to see the influence extending in the other direction. Frig yes, people.

Continuing on the subject of one-offs and discontinuity: after its recent Emaline-dates-Omar storyline reached a climax with Steve punching Omar Patel in the jaw, You'll Have That abruptly switched tracks on Monday. The comic in question is well-crafted, sweet, and is a thoughtful expression of the cartoonist's religious values without being aggressive or pushy...but its context in the archives is sort of weird. Especially when it's followed by Andy "bringing back the circle game". Still, bottom line is that it's a good strip, and I'm always on the lookout for religion in webcomics, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

And now, let's conclude my part of this entry. Take it away, Update Boxers!

Update Boxers and News Briefs

• Three Panel Soul does what it does best: reflects on the tension between immaturity and adulthood


• Rob and Elliot features cameos from Joe Dunn and Tom Brazelton


• Biff from The Book of Biff throws a webcomics garage sale

I'll be back on Monday with a new post. In the meantime, it's time for your part of the entry. Got a strip from this week that you'd like to share? Reactions to stuff I mentioned? Thoughts on webcomics in general? Share 'em in the comments!

Welcome back, folks. For those who haven't been back since last Friday, we slipped in a couple special feature things while you weren't looking: an interview with Multiplex creator Gordon McAlpin, and a review of the unique "wordless" webcomic Pear Pear. Check it out! If you haven't already, I mean. Or you could check it out again, that's cool too.

But that's old news, and it's time for new news. First of all, Real Life continues the storyline it began last week, with alternate-genderswapped-universe Greg and Tony trying to find the source of the Plot Hole in their dimension. While riding the elevator up to Real Tony's space station, a surprise comes to light: Liz's male dimensional counterpart has been dead for over a year. Sort of a sobering moment, but at the same time, the revelation sets up two extremely funny jokes. And then today's comic delivers a plot twist that has got me, for one, awaiting the next installment with bated breath. It's a weekend cliffhanger, no less! Man.

Also this past week, Sinfest wrapped up a series of strips in which Squigley signs up to be Slick's running mate...as "Sarah Piglin." Political parody ensues, building to a head with the appearance of Senator Obama as a guitar-slinging Barackstar. Pretty funny series if you're not a diehard blood-red Republican, but even I, broadminded as I am, found Squigley's political cross-dressing kind of weird and disturbing.

Shortpacked! (LOOK OUT, SPOILERS AHEAD) has been building toward the appearance of a special guest at the toy store all week, and in today's comic, it is revealed to be David Willis himself, proposing to his longtime girlfriend Maggie Weidner. Aww! And Maggie bounces right back with her own cartoonified acceptance. Congratulations, guys! Okay! END SPOILERS!

Welcome back, spoiler-avoiding people. Let's have a few quick Update Boxers and News Briefs, and then call it an entry.

Update Boxers and News Briefs:

• @You'll Have That: This is the first time I've ever seen a comic strip that teaches the reader how to play a song about one of its characters. Super-creative awesomeness from Wes Molebash!


• @Diesel Sweeties: Cleverest visual pun ever? Made me laugh out loud as soon as I got it.


• @Cat and Girl: Bad Decision Dinosaur spotted last week...but wait, why is there a big "M" on his shirt? Speculation ensues! And in today's comic, all is revealed.

Man, I love Cat and Girl so much you guys. Have a good weekend, and I'll see you all next week.

EDIT: Somehow it slipped my mind to mention that last Wednesday was a Ryan Estrada Guest Comic Day! Ryan Estrada did guest strips for 70 different webcomics, and if you like webcomics a lot (which you do), chances are you ran into at least one of them. You can get the complete lowdown over at Ryan's personal site, ryanestrada.com.

Salutations, comic readers. I, Jackson Ferrell, am back with another exciting installment of updates from the world of webcomics! Let's see what all happened this week.

First of all, in You'll Have That, Andy's friend Steve decides to get back into the dating scene with a nice lady he knew from high school. All three of this week's comics were particularly good--great drawing and exceptionally funny punchlines--but in particular I'd like to call attention to this one: Monday's comic. The lofted perspective in the first panel makes a great intro angle and adds visual dynamism, and I also really like Katie's body language in the final panel. Good stuff.

A comic that I've wanted to mention since this blog's first installment, but haven't yet gotten a chance to, is Brandon Bolt's "little comic about inevitable disaster," Nobody Scores. Well, there have been two killer updates this week that you should definitely tune into. First in Thursday's comic, corporate get-ahead girl Sara Peterson receives external validation, and it goes straight to her head. The conflict only escalates with the involvement of Genghis Khan from the editing department. The second comic is a clever tribute/homage to the Chuck Jones Looney Tunes cartoon, "Duck Amuck," in which cartoon Jane matches wits with cartoonist Raoul in a battle of wackiness.

Nobody Scores is an exceptionally well-crafted comic, bursting with manic energy, and you should read it. Read it, I say!

In Sheldon this week, Sheldon enters his local library's summer reading contest, only to discover that Arthur Duck has also entered the contest. Remember those summer reading programs? The ones where, despite being in fourth grade, you would reread all the Curious George books just so you could earn a bike or a backpack? Arthur is no stranger to such tactics.


HIATUS AND ENDING WATCH

Nothing Better is on summer break! Creator Tyler Page will be running a series of reader-created guest comics about readers' personal college experiences. The regular comic resumes on Tuesday, September 2nd. Good time for digging into the archives! Nothing Better is a true-to-life college comic that isn't afraid to tackle serious religious and personal issues. It's a pretty good comic, but much like the college experience itself, it pushes the PG-13 label. Reader discretion is advised.

Sometimes you find out about new comics through announcements of their completion. Just recently, I found out about Minus. It's the Little-Nemo-esque watercolor-comic adventures of a girl named Minus with reality-altering powers. Her powers transform everyday experiences at school and play into surreal descents into unmitigated weirdness. I guess it is sort of sad that it has ended, but on the other hand, completed things are good too.

Our final item on the H&E Watch: Beaver and Steve is on indefinite hiatus! Noooooooooooooooo