I’ve created the word webtainment to encompass all those funny and interesting things that one can find on the web to entertain oneself. One aspect of webtainment is that of the web comic. Web comics are growing in popularity through word of mouth of fans. I consider myself a fan of a few web comics and I will give you links and a synopsis of each of the web comics that round out my daily reading.
First up is PVP, PVP was the first web comic I found and it is the one that I really like. Scott Kurtz has created a great cast of characters. Pictured in the image above:
- Skull: The naive and loveable troll that is an intern at PVP magazine.
- Cole Richards: The Dad of the bunch and owner and operator of PVP magazine.
- Robbie: Cole and Brent’s college roommate, he and Jase spend all their time drinking beer, eating pizza and playing sports video games, apparently they are supposed to review that genre for the magazine.
- Jase: Robbie’s pal on the couch, the quietest of the bunch but smarter than he looks.
- Brent Sienna: Very pompous Mac user, Mini Driver, and Starbucks Drinker, also Cole Richard’s best friend and Jade Fontaine’s boyfriend.
- Francis Ottoman: Teenage cybergeek, considers himself a l33t gamer in PVP (player vs. Player) video games. Also he is a staunch PC supporter and is constantly overhauling his PC to make it faster and more l33t.
- Jade Fontaine: Probably the only member of PVP that does actual work. Articles are mostly written for female gamers.
The comic centers around a fictional magazine called PVP and the people who work there. Scott Kurtz is the creator and he weaves pop culture and current events into his comic. There are seven years of archives for this comic. It is well worth the read. Also this comic is the most lucrative of the bunch, in that this is Scott’s full time job and he makes money with his web comic. He also can ask for a Palm Treo 650 and someone will get it for him. Yes I am jealous. But I like his stuff and more power to him if he can do that.
Banner I made.
Banner sent to me by Wes.
Next up is one of my newest discoveries, You’ll Have That by Wes Molebash. YHT is about 4 months old and you can easily get caught up with the strips and characters. Wes decided to write what he knew and what he knows is that he’s 20 something, and recently married. The characters Andy and Katie are recently married 20 somethings. I have found that I identify very much with these characters as well as with the artist, despite being 30 something and only engaged. Wes keeps a blog as well as posting his comics and the thing I love about the blogs of these artists is the insight into the creative process. This is the one web comic that had me laugh out loud on more than one occasion. Wes had no banner up so I had to make the one above. If you are a recently married guy you are gonna want to read this strip.
Update – I e-mailed Wes about his strip and how much I like it. He e-mailed me back, checked out the blog and even played trivia today. What a cool guy. Thanks Wes.
Go read his comic strip!
Wapsi Square is a web comic that I found the other day. There is a good archive here as well. Paul Taylor the artist has created an intricate cast of characters for this web comic. Each with their own unique background stories that are so well crafted. The character development that has occurred within the comic is fantastic. His art is also well done.
The cast: I can’t do justice to a write up of his characters so here is the cast page: CAST PAGE
Not only is this comic funny, but it has heart and like I said, great characters.
Questionable content is an interesting comic strip. J. Jacques has created a cast of characters and an incredible amount of sexual tension between his two main characters and some of the secondary characters.
Cast:
- Marten – Marten is a skinny hipster kid who has an apartment, an anthro-pc (sentient robot) and spends lots of time a coffee shop with his pal Steve. Marten is also a very nice guy.
- Faye – Faye has a past that we are slowly learning about, she lives with Marten, after she burnt her apartment down while making toast. Faye sends Marten many mixed signals and punches him in his girly arms alot.
- Dora – Dora owns the coffee shop and makes lots of over the top flirtatous comments, mostly thrown Marten’s way but sometimes towards Faye. Dora is actually quiet and scared but hides it by being boisterous around Marten and Faye.
- Pintsize – Pintsize it the antro-pc. He is comic relief and alot of trouble.
- Steve – Marten’s friend and inventor of the booty dance.
- Ellen – Steve’s jailbait girlfriend, at least for another two weeks till she turns 18.
- Raven – A girl who was goth and is now indie, she is searching for her identity, she works at the coffee shop.
I’ve also been reading Niego which isn’t exaclty my favorite but it is okay. No banner for them though. The cast is basically made up of slackers and their adventures.
The Mows (like cows) is a web comic about three cats and their guy and girl. Jay Dyke has spent way too much time with his cats. But it makes for some funny comics.
Other comics that I like to read each day are mainstream comics, syndicated comics. Foxtrot is always a funny one. I have every Foxtrot collection that has come out up till 4 years ago, so I’m behind. I should really get back into buying those collections, (after the year moritorium on entertainment purchases). Bill Amend created a great family as a cast of characters, there is the older brother Peter, the middle sister Paige, and the youngest son Jason, mother Andy and father Roger round out the cast. This comic has been around a long time and I’ve stuck with it since the beginning and it has never disappointed me.
For Better or for Worse is also a comic strip I like to catch each day. I like following the lives of the Pattersons. The thing I really like about this strip is that the characters actually grow up and change.
So that’s my little expose of webtainment – the web comic type. I encourage you to check out some of the web comics mentioned here. Some might be for you some might not. One thing to be aware of is that one the internet web comics don’t have the same rules as syndicated comics. Some of the language is PG-13, you’ve been warned. And I only warn you about this because I like to make this blog accessible to everyone.
If you have a favorite web comic that you think I would like please let me know.