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Aussie Ninja shares his love of comics on the internet
Mon, 13 February 2006
by: Australian Ninja
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E-Comics. What the heck are they and why should we waste our time with them? These questions and more have bugged mankind since the beginning of time. Why am I here? When will I become mega-successful and start my career in being a well paid rich person? Where do all my missing left socks go?
Well, a few of these I can answer right here right now.
E-comics are a digital form of what have traditionally been called comic books, comic strips and sequential art. In some cases e-comics can be in graphic novel format - fancy expensive bookshelf comics usually with fancy la de da artwork and fancy introductions by someone special. But on internet pages instead of printed pages. Also various different ways of displaying comics panels on web pages are possible that can not be done with printed-on-paper comics.
Basically an e-comic is the new term for any comics related work that appears on the Net these days. They are also known as Webcomics, Internet comics, Comics on the Web, Electronic comics etc but "E-comics" is the main term used.
As for the other questions from above, in order of appearance; You are here in life to read comics. The $$$ - Never, you crazy fool! All the missing left socks slip into a parallel dimension. It's a one way trip - a freak of nature so don't expect to get them back without passing through the Bermuda triangle.
The first thing I want to admit, is that there are a lot of shitty webcomics out there. Unimaginative boring B.S. that most of us could care less about. That's where I come in. As an "enthusiast" [someone who has wasted more money and time than you could imagine on comic-book products] of the sequential art medium I can guide you away from the loserville weekly stupidhead e-comic and more towards the Ultimate kickass cool and funny e-comics with a stopover in Angsty serious fulfilling drama comic land.
So. sit back and let Ultimate Aussie Ninja remind you why comics rock, and how they continue to rock in the modern e-comics from.
Of all the stuff out there, there are basically two main divisions. Mega-hyper-soul-less corporation webcomics and Indy-bizarro-what-the-hell-am I reading webcomics.
Okay I'm generalising here but you get the idea.
The bottom line is that both camps have some wonderful work and both have some other junk that I wouldn't read even if they paid me.
After I bore you to death with my insane ranting I will provide some links to e-comics at the end quarter of this article. So if you want to skip ahead to the links section then off you go, but remember that ninja's often have spies working for them. If you don't read my article, I will hunt you down.
When I first seriously got into Internet comics I spent a lot of time reading them as well as print comics. Then I did not read any for quite a while. Mostly because I could find very little else that appealed to me at the time on the net.
Fast forward a couple years and net comics have really taken off. While still in their infancy there is now far more than I can keep up with. Basically Internet comics really only got moving in the later part of the 1990s [what with their being no Internet way back when] and in the last five years in particular have become something worth looking at both as entertainment and being of significance to the whole comics medium .
There are a few issues with e-comics. The big one, and even some mainstream companies still make this mistake [in fact it's mostly them] is that the text is too damn small to read. It's like "Sweet - free online comics with my favourite Captain HeroDude Man." But then the text is freakishly small and often there is jack that can de done about it. Fortunately some of the major sites have taken steps to remedy this - as it has been the biggest stupid most obvious problem that should have been fixed from the start in my opinion. I mean if you have basically unreadable comics on your mega-corporate site then why keep adding more? Because it looks good to people who don't read them and you can advertise "Hey come to www.stoopid_flashy_unreadable_comics.com" for FREE comics!
All the links I will provide are for free e-comics. There are pay-per-view comics but I have not read them. The system of using pay pal to give creators an opportunity to provide comics to the public via the net is a good one. It's a recent innovation for online comics with big potential. So big a potential that one day print comics may be threatened by e-comics. However, if you live outside America or don't use pay pal [that's me] then you will probably steer clear of pay comics.
Personally. I hope that the idea really takes off. It would mean a real chance for many people to get their quality-jollity comics on the net for minimum effort and maximum potential readership compared to the printed options. Just think of what is currently happening with MP3 web based music and you will get the idea. But that will take several years to be fully implemented so don't get too excited yet you eager beavers. And stop building damns in my front yard beavers, you know I have to walk through that yard every day.
In no particular order, the fabulous links - not Golf Links or Zelda Links - e-comics links. With "-" hyphens, exciting hyphens! Don't-you-just-love-hyphens? Each link I have used many times myself or else I would not recommend them.
And all are of significant quality, sorry chum no Batastrophe camp value crap here.
Without much further ado about a midsummer's nothing, here let me present to you Sir Reginald, you Lady Chatterly and you Sir Not Appearing In This Article the e-comics links for the first time in stereo in this article.
One hopes you will consume them wisely during your internet endeavours. Good tide.
!!~FABULOUS LINKS~!!
Derek Kirk Kim
Derek's comics are refreshingly fun to read and he is enormously creative.
All the content on his site is worth checking out. I recommend "Small Stories" It's a slice of life story with believable real life dialogue that is very enjoyable to read.
Head on down to:
www.lowbright.com
Justine Shaw
Nowhere girl is a great read. This online comic is hands down one of the best comics stories I've ever read in any form and I must admit it's not the sort of story or topics that would usually interest me. When I found this two-part graphic novel online I was amazed. Other folks have dabbled in e-comics, doing newspaper style strips and other do-dads. Here for the first time I read a traditional print form graphic novel in web page form. And it is spectacular.
The site navigation is excellent and should be used on more e-comics. The artwork and especially colouring are exquisitely lovely to behold. The story in terms of serious content and quality is comparable to "Ghostworld" and "The Tale of One Bad Rat."
So mosey on over to:
www.nowheregirl.com
Jesse Reklaw
Author of the slow wave web strip and all around tops guy. Why? I emailed him a couple times to let him know how much I enjoyed and appreciated his slow wave comic strip. Then he wrote back to me a couple times. One time he even sent me some cool mini-comics in the post even though he lives in another country. Anyhow, I've been a fan of Jesse's slowwave strip for a solid couple years now. Who can resist a regular four-panel humorous comic strip about people's real life dreams? At the site there is a space to type in a dream of your choice, Jesse chooses the ones he likes and does a strip about it. The humour in his strip is laugh out loud funny. As an artist Jesse Reklaw is incredibly versatile, don't be fooled by the plain looking slow wave strip. Here is a master of his craft giving us great work for free via the web.
Why wait for another invitation, just click over to:
www.slowwave.com
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is the digital avatar of online comics. If not for him there maybe would not even be any online comics. Well, not many worthy of reading anyway. He has been the major influential force in pushing e-comics beyond being a pipe dream for creators. More than anyone else he has urged people to get creative on the digital canvas.
His links section alone is fantastic. If this is all you have time for then check out that section first. When you've got some more time Scott himself has some e-comics of his own to read. Check out his fascinating invention page too, it's well worth a look. The news section contains many more internet links to topics and people relating to e-comics.
His awesome works "understanding Comics" and "re-inventing comics" (both print books, not e-comics) are epic tomes that will help anyone understand the past/present/future of the comics medium in the print world and the digital world. Read about them too at his site.
Testify to the power of:
www.scottmccloud.com
IMAGE Comics
This is the website for the American comic-book publisher IMAGE. Growing beyond their superhero and Marvel roots IMAGE have built an empire and are now one of the biggest publishers in the American comic book market. Their site has regular 5-page previews of their print comic books. Also some full issues of various titles, these are your traditional 30-something page comic shop monthlies, but on the net. One of the best overall sites for cool free stuff on a regular basis.
Groove on over to:
www.imagecomics.com
Mighty Merry old Marvel
I've enjoyed Marvel comics for years and I continue to do so with their online comics. Basically free versions of some of their print comics appear on the site. Mostly to promote buying their actual comics - still they are free to read - can't argue with that.
Be sure to check out the spectacular free wallpaper section on the site too.
Amazing Sensational Spectacular Stuff at:
www.marvel.com
Dark Horse
Would a horse by any other name still be as Dark? I don't know, butDarkhorse puts up previews of most of their comics. No full comics I am aware of, mostly just four page previews. Mainly useful if you want to buy any of their stuff.
Make like Riders on the Storm galloping to:
www.darkhorse.com
BBC Buffy Comics
This is a BBC Buffy website. It hosts a whole bunch of Darkhorse Buffy comic books. These are originally printed comics [mostly] now available as e-comics for free at this site. While all the comics here are fun reads, "Ring of Fire" is the F'ing best Buffy comic book ever made. I read it several times online. Then I went out and bought the print version. It's that damn good. So read it or I'll track you down Jay and Silent Bob style and kick you in the behind. I also recommend the "Reunion" Buffy/Angel story and "Spike and Dru" comics.
Haul your sorry butt over to:
www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/ecomics/
The full list of links
Sammy's note: I'd complain about Ninja making me put all these damn links in, but I won't, because he wrote such a cool article. Bastard.
www.lowbright.com
www.nowheregirl.com
www.slowwave.com
www.scottmccloud.com
www.imagecomics.com
www.marvel.com
www.darkhorse.com
www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/ecomics
Extra for experts:
www.dilbert.com - Chock full of Dilbert goodnes.
www.achewood.com - An Indy strip that is truly bizarre.Check out the strip and the gorgeous wallpapers available to download.
www.e-sheep.com - Several comic strips here. I recommend "Delta Thrives" [some tame nudity]
If you want to find more e-comics then there are a couple of things you can do. One is to check out the links sections at each of the sites I have mentioned. Another way is to google the words "e-comics"; "Internet comics" etc. Experiment and if you find something cool I don't know about, then let us know on the buttonhole forums.
Sometimes it's hard to find good comics on the net. But, if you persist, you will find some comics you like. So, start searching!
by: Australian Ninja
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