Webcomics (Part 1)

This is the first of my webcomics discussion. I figured I would mention the ones I actively read nowadays, as well as other material I always come back to, no matter how long of a time I take a break from them. My opinions of the content are just that: opinions! You're free to agree or disagree at your leisure, or provide an insight that I and others might have not had ourselves before about the material.

Sinfest - (http://www.sinfest.net) - This is one of the first few comics I started reading when I began to have a consistent connection to the internet. (read: own a computer) I also happen to read this on and off - sometimes Tatsuya Ishida, the writer and comic artist, does not update consistently so I find myself stopping when he has not posted for a matter of days. I find this okay: his story arcs are depicted well enough in the strips (often four panels, but on Sundays there is a full color comic with more than that). This webcomic can be very offensive to certain parties, depending on who's reading them, but I take it lightly so I keep reading. He likes to create parodies using other well-known comic strips, such as Peanuts, and uses current events as fodder for the jokes, like happenings with President Obama and Sarah Palin. I'm not going to describe the characters here, it would take too much time, but he has a

A last, very important note on this comic: Please take note of the URL - the wrong URL ending will lead you to the wrong site. You have been warned!

Gunnerkrigg Court (http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive.php) -Start from Chapter One, titled "The Shadow and the Robot," and go from there. If you go to the main site, you will find that it features the most current page uploaded. The story is updated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; unless there is a pause for one reason or another. When I first started reading this comic, I thought of the structure of J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I couldn't help it. It was the only other work I've read from a UK writer using the same school system (dividing each grade into houses, students remain in the same house their entire school career, the ages of the students when they start, etc.). Tom Siddell, the creator and artist, doesn't give much of his life away on the internet. He does reveal that he has a day job, works on the comic every weekend, and attends conventions, meeting his fans, via his About page on the website and his Twitter. More about this comic: its main character is a teenage heroine by the name of Antimony, who you discover is growing up in a world where there is a clear division between science and magic, literally and figuratively. The art is colored and often multiple-paneled, with each page paced so that you are brought to either a suspenseful moment or a definitely resolution, depending on where you are in that chapter. If you see a detail that you don't quite get on one page, you can bet that he'll be explaining it on another in the same chapter or will bring it back up again with another chapter. A final note: he allows readers to leave comments on the most recent page, but no more than that. So, if you happen to appreciate his work, leave him a comment!