What is your favorite webcomic of the past decade?

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:35 pm

"Devil's Panties"
"Devin Crane, Comic Strip Ghost-Gagwriter"
"Eric Monster Millikin "
"Girl Genius"
"Girls With Slingshots"
"Hark! A Vagrant"
"Jesus and Mo"
"Kevin and Kell"
"Least I Could Do"
"Navy Bean"
"The New Adventures of Queen Victoria"
"The Order of the Stick"
"Penny Arcade"
"Perry Bible Fellowship"
"Pibgorn"
"PvP"
"Questionable Content"
"Red String"
"Schlock Mercenary"
"Sinfest"
"UserFriendly.Org"
"xkcd"

Wow, 8 of those are on my "everday" list of favorites. I'm really torn between Girl Genius and Order of the Stick. GG is updated 3 times a week with higher quality art than I would think possible for a web comic updated that often. OotS has a warm, snuggly place in my geek-heart. PvP is one of the first web comics I started reading daily. Least I Could Do never fails to make me laugh. xkcd is just classic.

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:37 pm

I only recognize about five of those, and the only one I check regularly isn't on there - Erfworld.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 5:52 pm

I was just going to post this. And I agree with you. I was torn between Devils Panties, OotS, and Girl Genius. I had to give the nod to Girl Genius because it is SO good.

I saw Phil and Kaja this past fall at a convention, and it was really interesting hearing the story of why the did away with the regular old fashioned comic and went the web comic route. The short answer: Kaja had a cold and was grumpy.

If anybody here hasn't read Girl Genius, they owe it to themselves to do so. But make sure you have a lot of time, you have about 6 years of comic to catch up on!

Jag · Post by **Jag** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:22 pm

I like PBF, but my favorite isn't on that list

Bakhtosh · Post by **Bakhtosh** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 6:25 pm

Nevermind

silverjon · Post by **silverjon** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 7:02 pm

If PBF is there, then A Lesson is Learned but the Damage is Irreversible would qualify (being of primarily of archival interest... y'all might recognize the artist's work from Braid). It remains one of the most gorgeously rendered webcomics I've seen, though the writing is probably a bit dense if you're used to PVP and Penny Arcade.

For ongoing works, Tiny Kitten Teeth is a lot of fun and the art is great (they've done guest work for Penny Arcade, so might not be entirely unfamiliar). I bought the original of this one. (For the record, I also own original work by Rene Engstrom of Anders Loves Maria.)

But I'd say the absolute best thing out there right now being updated consistently is Karl Kerschl's The Abominable Charles Christopher. His art and writing are both take-your-breath-away stunning.

A lot of the comics in the poll are popular, but... ehm... mediocre as far as as the actual work goes. (I am looking at you, User Friendly.)

I'd easily vote for Kate Beaton (Hark! A Vagrant) as my fave of those listed. Anyone who doesn't know her work seriously hasn't been paying attention. She's basically the favorite comic creator of comic creators (though Frank and Becky of TKT are close runners-up).

Stitch · Post by **Stitch** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:52 pm

Achewood makes all other comic strips seem lazy.

edit: except in the art department!

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:14 pm

Cyanide and Happiness of course!

Here's an example of the sheer comedy genius:

click

possibly NSFW I guess

Terrified · Post by **Terrified** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 5:56 pm

[quote="Bakhtosh"]What is your favorite webcomic of the past decade?

So many good options, I read many on this list... But then I had to stop and think. Which are my "true" favorites? And I hit a simple epiphany. Which ones have I actually given money to?

The Order of the Stick
Penny Arcade
and
Girl Genius - I actually met Phil Foglio at GenCon. I walked up to the Studio Foglio booth and asked the chubby guy behind the table when Phil would be by. I wanted to pick up some books and get him to sign them. At which point the chubby guy said "I'm Phil Foglio". Somewhat surprised, I said, more forcefully and disbelieving than I'd intended, "YOU'RE Phil Foglio?" He just looked at me and deadpanned "You're disappointed, aren't you."

(Hey, in my defense I only knew the guy from Phil & Dixie... I guess I was expecting a regular guy in a bowler hat...)

Anyway, those are the three that I've actually put my hard earned dollars towards.

Little Raven · Post by **Little Raven** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:02 pm

My go-tos:

Girl Genius
Penny Arcade
Goblin Comic
Order of the Stick
Erfworld
Freak Angels

I should probably expand that at some point. My brother keeps trying to get me to read Achewood but it's...hard.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:03 pm

Phil Foglio

Odin · Post by **Odin** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 6:05 pm

Nice shot of his sinuses there.

Fretmute · Post by **Fretmute** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:32 pm

Sluggy Freelance wins in a landslide for me. I was also a huge fan of Dr. Fun, but those were stopped quite a while back.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Jan 27, 2010 12:40 pm

Fretmute wrote:Sluggy Freelance wins in a landslide for me.

I so need to get caught back up on this one and GPF. I lost track of them in a system hiccup that dropped all my bookmarks and haven't set aside the time to work through my backlog yet.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:11 am

An FYI for any Kate Beaton fans out there: She has put her webcomic on hiatus while she works on other stuff, but she continues to regularly post sketches on her tumblr, many of which are pretty damn funny:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:40 pm

Looking for Group

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:13 am

I like OotS, and for some reason my friend whom I play D&D and WOW with thinks I have a lot in common with Richard from LookingForGroup.

But the not mentioned so far, but definitely fav for me is:

http://www.darthsanddroids.net/

(same guys did a similar play on the Lord of the Rings trilogy before this, if you like darths and droids, you've gotta check that out to, pretty sure there's a link someplace on the darths and droids site).

Shinjin · Post by **Shinjin** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:57 am

Zenn7 wrote:(same guys did a similar play on the Lord of the Rings trilogy before this, if you like darths and droids, you've gotta check that out to, pretty sure there's a link someplace on the darths and droids site).

If you are referring to DM of the Rings, that's Shamus Young's work who has nothing to do with Darths and Droids other than pimping them once in awhile. That said, DMotR is pretty damn good and I believe inspired Darths and Droids (which I just could not get into). Among my favorite episodes is XXXVI.

Zenn7 · Post by **Zenn7** » Sat Feb 18, 2012 3:11 am

Yes, DM of the Rings. Could have sworn they moved on to Darths and Droids, but maybe it was just the pimping I remember. DM of the RIngs was slightly better, but I strongly enjoy both of them.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Aug 17, 2012 5:10 pm

Kate Beaton, social media platform nomad, has as of late been posting her sketches primarily on her Twitter feed. Many of them are about her family and are hilarious, so I thought I would collect some of the recent examples here (just links, since many of them are long vertical scrolls):

http://twitpic.com/ago7ir
http://twitpic.com/ah046p
http://twitpic.com/ak4pru
http://twitpic.com/ajwpjg
http://twitpic.com/ak9ltt

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:07 pm

Kate Beaton's comics about her family are still the best. The latest collection: http://harkavagrant.com/images/homeinjune.png.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 4:10 pm

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:16 pm

Shinjin wrote:
Zenn7 wrote:(same guys did a similar play on the Lord of the Rings trilogy before this, if you like darths and droids, you've gotta check that out to, pretty sure there's a link someplace on the darths and droids site).
If you are referring to DM of the Rings, that's Shamus Young's work who has nothing to do with Darths and Droids other than pimping them once in awhile. That said, DMotR is pretty damn good and I believe inspired Darths and Droids (which I just could not get into). Among my favorite episodes is XXXVI.

Ha! Why did it not surprise me to see that comic. Hands down my favorite episode too!

DMotR was brilliant.

The other one was decent, but not in the same class. Though I do like the off-"screen" character development that goes on with the other one.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:26 pm

On topic, the ones that I currently follow on my feed reader are:

CTRL ALT DEL: http://www.cad-comic.com/ (miss the old Ethan, but got in on the Kickstarter, so will soon have the complete books)
Goblins: http://www.goblinscomic.org/
Looking For Group: http://www.lfg.co/ (this one has gone WAAAAAY downhill, IMHO)
Dark Legacy: http://www.darklegacycomics.com/ (an absolute must if you play WoW)
Order of the Stick: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0993.html (I know I'm not the only one

)
PvP Online: http://www.pvponline.com/ (another one that I still read, but feel has gone downhill)
XKCD: xkcd.com
SMBC: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php (I haven't been keeping up with this one because my feed reader stopped updating... have to figure that out)
The Oatmeal: http://theoatmeal.com/

I have a few more that I don't keep up with on a regular basis... Darth & Droids, The noob, Teh Gladiators Comic, Penny Arcade

I probably need to read through here to see what ones I need to add to the list.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:35 pm

TheMix wrote:SMBC: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php (I haven't been keeping up with this one because my feed reader stopped updating... have to figure that out)

What do you use? I've had no problems when I switched from Google Reader to Feedly.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:18 pm

The comics I check are:

Dinosaur Comics
xkcd
Oglaf (NSFW!)
Hark! A Vagrant
Maakies (often NSFW)
Tom the Dancing Bug (R&P)
Super-Fun-Pak Comix
Penny Arcade
Order of the Stick
Evil Inc (less world-famous, but my friend is the creator)
Cat and Girl
The Oatmeal
Terminal Lance

and every day I read The Comics Curmudgeon.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 1:20 pm

Moliere wrote:
TheMix wrote:SMBC: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php (I haven't been keeping up with this one because my feed reader stopped updating... have to figure that out)
What do you use? I've had no problems when I switched from Google Reader to Feedly.

The Old Reader. And it worked fine for a while. Just suddenly stopped working one day. And I've been too lazy to figure it out.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 6:08 pm

My latest favorite is WAIT BUT WHY, similar to The Oatmeal (and weirdly, also connected to Elon Musk, but in his case, Elon reached out to him since he was a fan, not the opposite as in the case of The Oatmeal)

http://waitbutwhy.com/

If you are a procrastinator, you have to read this guy...start with this one:

http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procr ... inate.html
Starring The Panic Monster and Instant Gratification Monkey.

me3000 · Post by **me3000** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 9:31 pm

(warning ... lurker alert)

This is old now, and probably dead-never-to-return; but it died with in the last 10 years so it counts!

The Gods of Arr-Kelaan years af strips are here: https://rubbermalletcomics.wordpress.co ... rr-kelaan/

its the story of a group of "gods". The head god is the god of both apathy and of beer. pretty good in the beginning and eventually extremely good.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:59 pm

An interesting story from The Oatmeal that I had not heard before.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 7:24 pm

The only comic I read on a daily basis is Questionable Content. Been following that one for years.

Other than that, I occasionally peek at Penny Arcade, XKCD, and The Oatmeal.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:15 pm

Moliere wrote:An interesting story from The Oatmeal that I had not heard before.

Thanks, I'd never heard that either. Fascinating...or something.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Dec 13, 2015 6:34 pm

OMG!

I've just learned that Oglaf (NSFW!) now has Chick-style Sithrak Tracts for sale!

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Sun Dec 13, 2015 8:06 pm

Cat and Girl has kept up the quality all these years later

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:33 pm

Kate Beaton alert: on the upside, she's been posting a bunch of new family-related strips on her Twitter feed over the past week or so. As any Beaton fan knows, her family comics are reliably great.

On the downside, she's doing this to draw attention to a fundraiser for her sister, who is facing a serious case of cervical cancer.

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 7:09 pm

AWS260 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:33 pmKate Beaton alert

She's compiled her recent posts on a Flickr page, including both comics and family photos. Taken as a whole, the collection is funny, warm and sad -- vignettes from the life of a vibrant young woman with an amazing family who is facing advanced cancer.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:14 pm

she shouldn't have looked like an upside-down alien from the perspective the two were looking at each-other though... just saying... that was like looking face to face.
Ironically, it is only without the bunk-bed scenario, where one kid is hanging off the bed/couch, and the other is on the floor where their body has the opposite field of ground to lay their body and feet against, where the 'upside-down alien face' lives.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Thu Dec 14, 2017 9:15 pm

((not to speak on the more serious stuff, of course!))

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Oct 26, 2018 5:45 pm

Hark! A Vagrant is officially retired.

Thank you for reading. I can't say it enough.

Hark! A Vagrant, such as it is, is an archive website now. I didn't think it would be when I stepped away to work on other projects, but (not to kill the light mood around here) 2016-2018 were very difficult years in a personal sense, and emerging on the other side, I feel like this is a project that has run its course. I am so very grateful for all that this comic and my readers have given me, they have given me a career, joy, and more than I ever dreamed.

I'm still working on a graphic novel, and picture books for children. I miss making humour comics, but coming back to them, I will have to figure out what that will look like. These comics go back to my early 20s, and I am a different person. In a sense that's exciting. I'll figure it out, and I hope I'll see you there. Hark! is only one project, I personally am not going anywhere. And maybe next time I'll choose a title that I won't have to repeat ten times to people, a bright prospect.

I'd like to dedicate this archive to my sister Becky Beaton, who we lost in 2018, and who always believed in me. I love you, always.

-Kate

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Sep 15, 2019 1:10 pm

The Far Side will be officially coming to the Internet soon...

Uncommon, unreal, and (soon-to-be) unfrozen.

A new online era of The Far Side is coming!