Thoughts on The Webcomic List Awards

It's Super Bowl Sunday, but that's not why you come to this blog. You come because, like me, you are way too into webcomics. And today, Super Bowl Sunday, the winners of The Webcomic List Awards have been announced.

As I've mentioned before, I was a judge for the Best Black and White Art category, and I did a comic-form presentation for the Best Character award. And first of all, congrats to all of this year's winners:

Best Non-traditional Art - The Dreamland Chronicles
Best Black and White Art - The Abominable Charles Christopher
Best Colour Art - Freak Angels
Best Writing - Gunnerkrigg Court
Best Comic - Gunnerkrigg Court
Best New Comic - Moon Town
Best Character - Digger
Best Gag-a-Day - Girls with Slingshots
Best Longform - Gunnerkrigg Court

Of all the winners, I'm only really familiar with Gunnerkrigg Court and GWS. If anything, the list of winners is a reminder that I am but one man, with one man's time. I can't read all the good comics out there! I'm not surprised that Gunnerkrigg won three awards, "Best Comic" among them--it's really an impressive comic, conceptually creative and executed with polish. Freak Angels and Moon Town are both on my "gotta check out sometime because the art is just that awesome" list, so their respective awards just reinforce that for me.

Judging and presenting has been a good opportunity for me to expose myself to some new comics. In addition to winning Best Character, Digger was a nominee for Best B&W Art, and I was very impressed with what I saw while judging that award. As Bengo of The Floating Lightbulb has often pointed out, black and white artwork can be even more challenging to do well than color, and the creator of Digger has got the chops. Plus, the creator has written a compelling main character who is a wombat, so I may have to come back and read some more of this one.

I also had the pleasure of reading several chapters of Scorch, another new comic for me. It makes good use of ragged, Jhonen-Vasquez-esque linework and hatching to convey this totally unhinged energy. The artwork reinforces its dark and creepy Halloween-ish tale of soul harvesting, and whether you're seriously following the story or not, it's a real treat to look at.

Plus, Chris Watkins, the creator of Odori Park, did the presentation comic for Best Comic, which was one of the most amusing presentations of the whole awards "show." Odori Park itself is a sharp strip that I've come across a few times, and if there were a category for Best Black-and-White Gag-a-Day, it'd make a strong contender. Good stuff: consider giving it a look.

That wraps up my thoughts on The TWCL Awards 2009. (Yes, I know "The TWCL Awards" is redundant, like "ATM machine," but you gotta abbreviate it somehow, and The Webcomic List already goes by TWCL, so.) Check out the winners, and come back to this blog on Monday evening, where I'll be dropping a little announcement of my own.

Reader Feedback Time

So, I'm back from hiatus--but during my hiatus, I had a lot of time to think about the future of This Week in Webcomics. Now, I want to know what you think.

What do you think of TWIW? What do you want to see more of? What do you want to see less of? What do you want me to get rid of entirely? Get candid with me. Share any thoughts you have at all. Tell me what new things you want to see in the new year. Tell me how this blog can better serve you, the reader, and what role this blog can play in your webcomics-reading experience.

1/25: Back With a Vengeance

Max vs. Max: 1/13/10


Multiplex: 1/11/10

Primordial ooze, y'all! All about the primordial ooze.

Edmund Finney's Quest for the Meaning of Life: 1/22/10


Penny Arcade: 1/15/10


Zap: 1/17/10

Co-written/co-illustrated by Jackson Ferrell and Keong Chan
Ace Pilot appears courtesy of Tenerence N. Tijuanana
Apologies to Andy Milonakis, and to all of my readers
sorry

Other Things to Read

Hi, everyone. I'd hoped to be back from my hiatus by now, but things are impeding my content. Therefore, I present to you: other people's content!

First, freelance writer Amy Cook brings us The 50 Best Free Online Comic Strips You’ve Never Heard Of. You, my readers, have probably actually heard of a good deal of these, because you are so into webcomics like I am, but there are some sections of interest, including the bits on political comics (both left and right!) and the "Best Free Online Comic Books" section.

Second, an article I encountered at Progressive Boink, titled Webcomics Suck. In this article, Kyle discusses what he considers creative stagnation in some of the most popular webcomics. As you would expect, it's a highly critical article, but the interesting thing is that while I disagree with many of its points, I still think it brings up some worthwhile considerations.

Finally, The Webcomic Overlook recently reviewed Superfogeys. In case you've been wondering what someone else--someone who is more exacting of his online comics and less of a raving webcomics fanatic--has to say about Superfogeys, stop by The Webcomics Overlook and read Larry Cruz's review.

When will your regularly scheduled content resume? When indeed.

Shadow and Chug do Webcomics (Complete!)

Cheesequake: 01/03/2010



Shredded Moose is on Hiatus









Dueling Analogs, 12/29/2009



Little Gamers: 12/28/2009



GG Guys: 12/25/2009

Co-written by Jackson Ferrell and Eli Parker; illustrated by Jackson Ferrell
Shadow and Chug appear courtesy of Powerup Comics and Unwinder's Tall Comics

Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf gets Political

This may be of interest to the politically-minded among you: here we have a politician who is also a cartoonist. Progressive candidate Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf is running for the house seat in Missouri's 7th district, and he's chosen to communicate his platform in the form of several comics displayed on his website. The art is sharp, simple and stylized green-on-white, and it makes good use of iconic imagery to get its point across. It's interesting to see online comics put to political use, so if that sounds like it'd be of interest to you, pay Ladendorf's site a visit and find out what he's all about.

Here's the press release:

--------------------------------
For immediate release

Webcartoonist and activist Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf puts his wit against big party dollars

Nicholas Ivan Ladendorf isn't your typical comic book artist. "I'm using Op-Ed style comics to reach voters," explains Ladendorf who is running as a Progressive in the race for the house seat for Missouri's 7th district. The medium allows Ladendorf to be more playful with his message, and he is having fun with it. In the introduction of his campaign site, www.NILvsDCbs.com, the candidate is wearing a mouseketeer hat and his icon for discussing gun control is an M-16 on a leash with spiked collar.

Even with this 'edu-taining' approach the candidate takes on some serious topics such as abortion and abolishing the federal reserve. Ladendorf is quick to point out "The site will continue to grow with the campaign. I have more to say and I'll draw on this reservoir of additional issues as soon as the artist in me deems them presentable."

Ladendorf has his work cut out for him. The Progressive Party isn't as recognizable as the major parties and has the additional restriction of not being able to accept donations from special interest. Ladendorf will use the comedy circuit and the internet with a strong message to level the playing field. "I'm planning on hitting a lot of open mics until momentum takes over and I can speak at bigger venues. I haven't done a lot of public speaking but I predict my town hall meetings are going to be reminiscent of the 'A Night with Kevin Smith' series."