Welcome Back, Me

Hi, all. As you already know if you've been scoping out my Twitter Feed over there in the sidebar, I have returned from my vacation at the Outer Banks, which was excellent. I don't think a single day went by that I didn't see at least one helicopter. But now I'm back to my usual Pick of the Day and babbling about webcomics.

Tune in on Friday for the customary week-in-review. Plus, I'd like to share an interesting resource with you: if you haven't seen it already, The Webcomic Crossover & Cameo Archive is a handy repository of comic characters' appearances outside their comics of origin. It's fun to see what other comics your favorite characters have made guest appearances in. If that sounds interesting to you, go ahead and give it a look.

Hi! Jen Mau here guest blogging while Jackson's on vacation. As a female, something that I greatly appreciate is an emerging awareness of talented female webcartoonists, and I decided that my update would highlight some of my favorites :)

Girls With Slingshots - Danielle knows how to keep it classy with a storyline (started last week) about Hazel's gassy kitty. My favorite from this week combines a fart joke with a pun.

Octopus Pie (kinda) - With Meredith moving from Easthampton, MA to Portland OR, she has enlisted some very talented webcartoonists to provide some guest strips. My favorite is the one done by Erika Moen, with Eve's line in the last panel super-awesome. And speaking of Erika...

DAR - I really appreciate that Erika Moen is open and willing to share her personal experiences regarding her sexuality (although this particular strip is ok, a lot of her strips are NSFW), but from the stories she's told it really sucks that, as a lesbian who's married to a guy, she gets a lot of flack from a lot of people. However, based on her ustreams, tweets, and other interactions with webcartoonists that are chronicled on the internet (I'm hoping she'll be at SPX becuase I would love to meet her), she seems like a really sweet person.

Bobwhite - My dear Magnolia never ceases to amuse with her hilarious webcomic. The last panel of this strip, with "UNFOLLOW" in giant orange block letters, is the best. I also love her "Rejected Bobwhite Storylines" strip from today - it's so cheeky I love it!

Of course, this is just a tiny drop in the bucket - there are a bajillion more where these came from :) I hope you enjoy these and that you have a wonderful weekend!

~Jen

Good Journal Comics, Anyone?

Hi, everyone. Right now I'm at the Outer Banks in North Carolina, enjoying the beach with my family, as you read these words that I typed last week. Automation is a truly magical thing.

Anyway...once I come back, I've been thinking about doing a feature on journal comics, and I'm interested to hear from you on the subject. Do you read any journal comics? Is one of your favorite comics a journal comic? What do you think about the idea in general--creating a comic that is expressly about oneself and one's life? Drop a comment and share your thoughts on journal comics.

Be sure to tune in this Friday for a guest entry from Jen. I hope that you're enjoying your summer, whether on vacation or not...I'll see you next week!

6/19: Religion Watch

Hey, everyone. This coming week, I'll be on vacation, but you won't be without new webcomic-related content. Through the power of automated updating, I'll be delivering a small reader-interaction post scheduled for Tuesday, and returning TWIW guest blogger Jen Mau will bring you Friday's regular post. But that's next week in webcomics. This week, I it's time for...


1: Shortpacked!, Monday, 6/15

I'll just come right out with it--I wasn't impressed with this comic. It has all the wit and insight of the familiar joke, "You know what happened to make God mellow out between the Old Testament and the New Testament? He got laid." It's not even clear why Robin is sitting around reading the Bible; it strikes me as David Willis using her character as a vehicle here for his opinions.

And the thing is, Willis can do better. He has done better. Just look at his comics featuring the theological-fiction Bus Stop: here, he makes a substantial, valid criticism of Christian hypocrisy regarding standards for children's fantasy novels.
Plus, I think Aslan's longsuffering, dignified demeanor and wit help temper the criticism, elevating the comics above mere "Christians-are-such-nutjobs" gags.

It's quite a contrast to this past Monday's strip, with its frat-boyish caricature of God--and a similarly frat-boyish level of depth.

2: Joe Loves Crappy Movies, Sunday, 6/14

Here, Joe Dunn takes his review of Moon in an unexpected direction with his own caricature of God. Taking the idea of a personal deity to its logical comedic conclusion, he depicts God with the same insecurities and self-esteem problems as any other person--an odd juxtaposition for the all-powerful Creator of the universe. I'm not sure why I prefer it to Willis' caricature, but I do. It could be that it's trying to make a joke rather than a point. Maybe it's that his caricature of God is more sympathetic.

If you'll allow me a tangent...even though He hasn't made an appearance in this week's comics, I really like Dinosaur Comics' God. He's a silly God--somewhat self-important, with his boldfaced capital letters and authoritative pronouncements contrasting with colloquialisms like "dude"--but you get the sense that Ryan North is more interested in exploring religious ideas through Him than making a statement, even if he (North) does happen across some truths about religion and belief along the way. North gives religion a fair shake, and even when he's criticizing it, you get the impression that he's taken the time to understand the other side. Am I just picking on Shortpacked here? What do you think about depictions of God in these various webcomics? Drop a comment, let me know your opinion.

So much, then, for heavier considerations. Let's wrap things up with a few religion-related bullet points.

• Recent Penny and Aggie comics have focused on level-headed Christian Katy-Ann and her relationship with Jack. When Jack runs into Cyndi in all her willful obnoxiousness, he recalls some advice of Katy-Ann's that readers may be surprised to learn is actually biblical. Living well truly is the best revenge.


• Road Crew is nearing the end of its Golden Kick Drum Mic storyline, as Jim Soundman seeks out John the Bassist. No deeper points here, just ridiculous religion-flavored humor. The most recent comic put a humorous twist on self-empowerment spirituality.

And that wraps up the Religion Watch. Tune in on Tuesday for automated updates from beyond the grave while I'm on vacation, stop by Friday for Jen Mau's guest entry, and I'll see you all again in a little over a week!

Thanks for the Links

Recently a handful of sites have linked to this blog--sites that are worth visiting in their own right--so I wanted to take a moment and give a few shout outs to a handful of TWIW linkers.

Registered Weapon: The guys from RW have been linking to This Week in Webcomics for a long time now. RW is a gritty-humor cop comic; its protagonists are seasoned, hardheaded detective Frank Gorman, and his artificial-intelligence cash-register partner Detective FELIX. Yes, an AI cash register. It's a very weird comic.

Firman Productions: Michael Firman's site is home to the tastefully crass webcomic "Moe." It's also home to a recent blogpost that linked to TWIW. If you follow my Twitter feed, you've probably seen a link or two to Moe as a "Pick of the Day."

Webcomic Finds: a blog with a very similar focus to this one--finding and talking about good webcomics--but with more organization. Ping Teo relates her online comic discoveries in various categories: "Journey Legs" (full-length reviews), Postcards (short, requested reviews), Hotspots (rants and brainstorming), Pinging Art (art-centric entries), and Stopovers (short news items, etc.). In a recent "Stopover," Ping plugged my review of Rice Boy--thanks, Ping!
UPDATE: As you can see from the comments below, Webcomic Finds recently changed its name and URL to LonelyPanel.com. I've changed the links accordingly!

Artpatient: Delos has linked to a variety of TWIW's features and entries from his blog, Artpatient. The "Strip News" feature at his blog is very handy; it is essentially like reading every webcomics blog at once.

The Webcomic Overlook: Larry "El Santo" Cruz does some of the most balanced webcomic reviewing I've seen. You can always count on him to deliver a reasonable assessment and give each comic he reviews a fair shake. He also links to various pieces of webcomic news--including, from time to time, this blog.

Props to y'all, linkers. Peace out.

6/12: Week in Review

Delivering the news rapid-fire, Jackson Ferrell brings you

(formerly known as Update Boxers and News Briefs, but no one wants to see me in my boxers)

• Dinosaur Comics ran a guest week this week, featuring the various comic talents of Carly Monardo, Ben Driscoll, Zach Weiner, Michael Firman, and Andrew Hussie. Guest cartoonists' approaches range from innovating within the DC format to saying "Screw you, format!" entirely, with hilarious results. The guest week starts here.


• Dr. McNinja really knows how to begin a new storyline. Seriously, what is that dude even doing there?


• Blank It recently introduced the first female character to inhabit its increasingly-populated world. This week, it introduces an airplane. The airplane runs over the girl. I'm not kidding.


• Penny Arcade wants to know what you want. The PA creative duo has the beginnings of three different story concepts, in the form of sample comics, that they began to unveil this week. Reader response will determine which concept they pursue.
  
  • Wednesday's entry, "Lookouts," a sort of life-or-death Boy Scouts organization that explores and patrols the deadly Eyrewood,
  • Today brings us "Automata," nineteen-twenties crime fiction with quasi-illegal robots, and
  • Next Monday will be something to do with Jim Darkmagic.
  If you haven't read Penny Arcade in awhile, swing by the site and check out these projects. They all look intriguing so far, and whatever gets chosen, I know we readers are in for a treat.

And that's a wrap for this week. Tune in next week for more crap about webcomics!