Convention Adventures, April 2010

Greetings, internet people.

See the announcements about conventions in the sidebar? I'd like to say a few more words about those conventions, because--as the write-up below of my visit to Wes Molebash's exhibition will attest--it is cool to meet other people who are into webcomics in person. I'll be attending two conventions in April, and if you also will be attending these conventions, it would be cool to see you there.

Friday, April 16th, through Sunday, April 18th, I will be at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. There will be a large contingent of webcartoonists there, and you will probably be able to catch me hanging out at table WC-B with my fellow cartoonist and boss, Gordon McAlpin, and Joel "Hijinks" Watson. Additionally, you can bet I'll be attending the Webcomics Town Hall panel at 7:15 PM on Friday. You will be able to recognize me by the "I Heart Workplace Romance" shirt that I will be sporting.

Should you wish to purchase an "I Heart Workplace Romance" shirt, Gordon will have them for sale at his booth. They are pretty awesome shirts, because I designed them. I'm just sayin'.

In other, slightly less shamelessly self-promoting news, I will also be attending the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, April 24-25, in Columbus, OH. This looks like a good way to meet like-minded people, it is only an hour or two from where I live, and plus it is only eight bucks. Tom "Marooned" Dellaringa will be in attendance there, and hopefully I'll get a chance to chat with him and possibly pick up a copy of his short comic story A Tale of Two Robots (I love robots). In all likelihood, other cool things will happen as well: cool things that I cannot foresee, bounded as I am within this space and time.

If you are planning to be at either of these conventions, shoot me an email (DeathbyChiasmus -at- gmail -dot- com). It would be cool to connect with you and talk about--what else--comics.

I Am Cartooning Regularly Again

Hey everyone. I guess I'll technically be out of hiatus tomorrow, but I wanted to hit you with an announcement real quick. I'm getting back to cartooning regularly, and I'll be droppin' comics over at Borderline-Boy.com once a week at the bare minimum. And I've never intended this blog as a vehicle for self-promotion, so that's all I'll say about that.

TWIW has always been about sharing awesome comics created by people who are not me. The Borderline Boy announcement banner graphic above is comin' down at the end of this week, and if you want to check out my comics, now you know where to go. Back to business.

I'm still working on my plans for the future of this blog, so watch this space for details. Until everything comes together, I'll still try to supply you with some sort of comic-related blather every Monday here, sharing with you the cool comic findings I've discovered. And as always, you can check out the Webcomics Pick of the Day via Twitter for more-or-less daily recommendations.

I'll see you tomorrow with a brand-new post.

Further Poll Results

And Tuna Carpaccio, P.I. has been slated for review. I'm looking forward to giving it a thoroughly thorough read-down!

Thanks for the votes, y'all, and applause to the Eben07 crew for declining their spot in the runnings. A truly noble gesture, and worthy of note.

Poll Results: You Guys Like Superfogeys

The masses have spoken! Thanks to Brock Heasley's inundation of the polls with his many readers, Superfogeys has carried the day and earned itself yet another review. To be entirely fair, I have mixed feelings about how fair such tactics are. On the one hand, I hold these polls in order to let you, my readers, choose the comics you want to see reviewed, not complete strangers who only came here because a cartoonist asked them to. On the other hand, those who voted may well come back to check out the review, since if they cared enough to vote for their favorite comic, they may also be interested in what people are saying about it.

On the third hand, I love traffic. So, cartoonists, send me your voters. Let's get a new poll going on here, with the following options up for grabs:

• Eben07: Operation Mongoose
• The Home World
• Addanac City
• Tuna Carpaccio, P.I.
• Galaxion

On a note only related insofar as it is about comics: long before I got into webcomics, long before there was even a web of note to put comics on, I read comic books. Specifically, I read Valiant's Nintendo Comics System titles. In second grade, I spent many an afternoon enjoying the selection at my local comic shop, reading the adventures of Captain N, Link, and the Super Mario Brothers, and I, like Chris Flick, have many fond comic-book shop memories.

Sadly, I found the following in my basement just recently:


Just look at that mildew! My childhood dreams are covered in nasty grossness.

What were your first comic experiences? What are some of your favorite comic-reading memories? Drop a little nostalgia my way, because all my nostalgia is moist and wrinkly.

A Schedule Change Announcement

Hi, everyone. As you are reading this, I'm already at my new full-time job with National Liftgate Parts, learning the ropes and managing product. It's one of many exciting recent developments in my life (another one would be, oh say just for example, being merch guy for the freaking Multiplex Store). Obviously, with so much going on, I won't have nearly so much time to peruse webcomics at my leisure.

However, this doesn't mean you'll be getting any less This Week in Webcomics! I still plan on bringing you the weekly post by whatever means possible, because that's just my style. To accommodate my new work schedule, you can expect each week's post on Monday rather than Friday.

Also, you can expect an increased focus on reviews in the future, which I'm sure all of you who voted "you should review MY comic" on our last you-choose-the-reviews poll will be glad to hear. Vote in the poll above, and check out links to the comics up for voting in the post below.

Keep on tuning in, and I'll keep talkin' comics with you guys. I'll see you next week with a brand new review.

Slated for Review: Poll Options #1

Once again, I find myself polling my readers to see what they want to see reviewed. For your consideration:

• Eben07: Operation Mongoose
• The Home World
• Addanac City
• Superfogeys, Chapters 4 - 6
• Galaxion

Check 'em out, drop a vote in the poll at the top of the blog, and look forward to reviews of the comics you want reviewed. Let it never be said I didn't give the peoples what they wanted!

Comic-Form Interview: Aric and Lemmo (Blank It)

JACKSON: Customarily, I close out the interview by asking for some recommendations. What comics do you guys keep up with? What are some of your favorites?

LEMMO: Girls with Slingshots, Dr. McNinja, Wapsi Square, and check out Joe and Monkey's return from hiatus.
ARIC: I love Nedroid, Scary Go Round, Pictures for Sad Children, Hark, a Vagrant!, and Overcompensating the most.

Be sure to check out

The Pick-of-the-Day Project

It's been awhile since I did a genuine, bona fide week-in-review update--and I've got a special feature planned for this Friday, so it'll be longer still--but you can still get my recommendations of the best of the recent best. I update my Twitter with a "Pick of the Day," my favorite strip from my regularly-checked webcomics (and whatever others I may happen to read that day). If you need your recommendation fix, just tune in on Twitter.

Whenever a strip you read is particularly good, I'd like to encourage you to do a Pick of the Day of your own! Just tweet it up with a link to the comic, and hashtags #webcomics and #pickoftheday so that it's easy for us to pick up your recommendations. I look forward to seeing what you've got to recommend, and I'll see you all on Friday with a brand-new special feature!

Poll Results: Your Reading Habits

According to poll results, readers enjoy finding new comics and keeping up with their favorites in equal measure. They are markedly less likely to go back and reread a comic that they're up to speed on, but if the poll is indicative, a few webcomic enthusiasts (among whom I would count myself) enjoy going back and checking out older strips and storylines from their favorites. Now you know--and knowing is half the battle.

Sidenote: a Little News about TWIW

As you can see from the results of the You-Choose-the-Reviews poll above, readers demand more Superfogeys and Marooned. To what extent this results from Brock Heasley and Tom Dell’Aringa hurling their fans at my site like so many Prinnies, I'm not sure, but their respective comics pulled into the lead early on before news even spread about the poll, so I'm pretty sure this reflects what the readers want. And who doesn't like more traffic?

But in all seriousness, thanks to all of you who voted or publicized the poll. I'll be reviewing Superfogeys #3 sometime in the next few weeks, and Marooned shortly after that.

In other news, I've had video games on the brain lately. Yesterday I posted a few reflections on Penny Arcade, which you may have seen already. And those of you who have been following my Twitter know I've been playing Disgaea 2. I beat it yesterday, and it is hands-down the most hilarious tactical RPG I have ever played, not that there are many hilarious tactical RPGs out there. Apparently there is a manga, which I am thinking of picking up to see if it is as hilarious as the game.

But I digress; you come here for the webcomics. In all likelihood, Friday's week-in-review post will go up late Friday evening, and long-time readers know what that means. I'll see you guys tomorrow, and until then, stay cool and read good comics.

Share Your Story: How Did You Get into Webcomics?

As you know, I run this blog because I enjoy talking about webcomics--not just to you, but with you. Thus, from time to time I invite you to speak your bit about comics.

Today, I'd like to hear how you got into webcomics. What was your first webcomic? How were you introduced to it? When and how did you start following webcomics regularly? Tell me your stories--I'd love to hear 'em.

Also, you have about one week left to vote in the Review Requestion Poll above. In case you're curious about some of the comics up for possible review, here's a handful of links:

• Order of Tales
• Superfogeys
• Jump Leads
• Deadpool Classic #1 and #2
• Marooned

So, vote in the poll, drop a comment, interact. We welcome your input. And by "we" I guess I just mean me.

Poll: Review Requestions, Anyone?

Hello, all. I hope you had a good 4th of July weekend. I hope you also enjoyed this past week's comic-form update. It is democracy that makes this country truly great, and let it never be said that I don't listen to the voice of the masses. As part of my ongoing quest to give the peoples what they want, I would like to know what comic you want me to review next, so please take a moment to vote in the poll above. I'm still working on the free waffles, but in the meantime, you can let me know what reviews you're interested in.

If you enjoyed the comic-form update, please share it with a friend who likes comics. Thanks, guys--I'll see you again on Friday.

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.

The Cure for the Common XKCD

XKCD needs no introduction. It's the first Google search result for "webcomic," and its only real contender in terms of stick-figure-comic popularity is Cyanide and Happiness. You certainly already know about it, and friends who don't read webcomics will send you links to strips they liked over email.

I don't read XKCD regularly anymore, though. It's still clever, and I still enjoy it when I read it. But despite its math-nerd relationship humor and insightful musings, it's not a terribly deep comic. And I miss its experimentation: the experimentation with contrasting art styles, with the fourth wall, with parody (and that A Softer World parody is spot-on, right down to the art and the alt-text). Between its present simplistic art and lack of ongoing plot/complex characters, if I did read XKCD regularly, it would fill the "quick read" category, and my quick-read needs are currently met by The Book of Biff and Thinkin' Lincoln.

XKCD is certainly not a bad comic, and I'd absolutely agree that it's good at what it does. But there are a few comics out there that, in my estimation, do the same things that XKCD does, but better. Let me share some of them with you.

Piled Higher and Deeper
Jorge Cham's Piled Higher and Deeper--PHD--is a little comic about getting your doctorate, and it has a number of things in common with XKCD. They both feature nerdy scientific charts. They both revel in academic esoterica. But there are two things PHD has that XKCD doesn't: sharp, colorful art, and a diverse cast of characters who learn and grow through their experiences of enduring higher-education bullcrap. You've got engineering nerd and chocoholic Cecilia, student activist Tajel, expert procrastinator Mike Slackenerny, and the strip's unnamed protagonist. PHD is smart, funny, and surprisingly relatable--I enjoy it, and I'm not even in grad school.

Rock, Paper, Cynic
Ever wish XKCD weren't so darn optimistic? Then Rock Paper Cynic is the comic for you. The creator, Peter Chiykowski, openly acknowledges a creative debt to XKCD, but unlike his inspiration, he goes for the throat with unmatched relentlessness. From morbid twists, to nerdy cynicism, to raw angry vulnerability, RPC delivers a caustic and critical edge. It's got your intellectual esoterica, and it's even got its own twisted brand of optimism.
It's creatively acerbic, and it updates daily. Decidedly not for the childrens, though--it can get pretty dark in there.

Chainsawsuit
So you like quick gags, few recurring characters with zero character development, and sketchy black-and-white art? Check out Chainsawsuit. Granted, it's not as intellectual as XKCD, but it's still darn funny. It specializes in unexpected twist endings, abject silliness, and juvenile gross-out humor--sometimes all three at once. In my opinion, Chainsawsuit shines hardest when it's parodying: as with Disastorm, the extended disaster-movie satire. Chainsawsuit even parodies XKCD!

To conclude: do you read XKCD regularly? If so, good. Keep on reading it. But if you like XKCD, chances are you'll also like these comics, so give 'em a look. They're good stuff.

2/20: Week in Review

In the words of ELO's Jeff Lynne: "Here is the news."

The first item of news is that a new webcomic-news webcomic has begun broadcasting this week: Webcomic TV. Presented in the format of a televised newscast, Webcomic TV reports on noteworthy findings and plot developments throughout the webcomic world--much like this blog, but with pictures and speech bubbles. Is it gimmicky? Absolutely. But it's also off to a very entertaining start, along with a few installments of humorous metacommentary. Why aren't there more sports webcomics out there? I mean, apart from Boxer Hockey, which (despite being awesome) is not technically an actual sport.

Anyway, Webcomic TV is a pretty cool idea. However, I'm sort of disappointed...I had the idea of doing one of my Friday newsposts in the form of a comic strip, and now if I do so, it'll not only be gimmicky, it will look like I'm totally Jacking WCTV's style.

Here's a news story for you: this week, Calamities of Nature has revealed a new character, Raymond the Raccoon, who has been listening in on Harold's solitary musings for some time now. Raymond's first act as Calamities' newest cast member is to try to instill some confidence into Harold, but Harold is resistant. We'll see what Raymond has in store for this and future storylines.

Our resident Girls With Slingshots correspondent, Jen Mau, reported last week on GWS' date-with-Jamie Valentine's Day contest. Well, the results are in, and GWS reader David has won the right to treat Jamie to his ideal date. What does that entail? Bike riding in the park and baking pretzels, for starters. Unfortunately, even the best-planned date can have unexpected disruptions. Check out Jamie's entire date-with-David starting here.

After recovering his computer from a brutal software failure, Eli Parker brings us a new installment of Unwinder's Tall Comics. This installment satirizes the all-too-easy-to-satirize world of Japanese animation, as Unwinder decides that it is not intellectual suicide to like anime and begins looking for a series to get into. The anime-parodying jokes are somewhat predictable, but there's a good measure of subtle and clever humor stemming from Unwinder's characterization. Unwinder is weird, and his anime tastes are similarly guaranteed to be unusual.

Finally, Thursday's Shortpacked satirizes Matt Moylan's Lil Formers, a comic that I occasionally visit for a few good laughs. Moylan has a way of making "insider" Transformers-enthusiast jokes accessible to the casual reader, and his facial expressions and dialogue quickly convey the Transformers' iconic (i.e. simple) personalities to those who aren't familiar with them. Frankly, I found Willis' satire to be a little mean-spirited. Although Lil Formers tends toward "mildly amusing" rather than "gut-bustingly hilarious" on average, it's not all one-note "children's toys were better when I was a child" ranting, despite Willis' parody. Also, Moylan semi-recently opened up his comic to poking fun at all 80s children's-entertainment properties, which I think has done a lot for his material. Thursday's Shortpacked: merited criticism, or unduly caustic snarking? Read the comic and decide for yourself.

Here is the news: the very latest. Here is the news, here is the news, here is the news.