Precession - Web Comic

Baja Wardenclyffe is a Privateer for the Earth government; she travels the outer reaches of space searching for anything noteworthy. A government privateer is provided with a ship, equipment and an android assistant, but is expected to provide their own wits, ingenuity and sense of adventure. Acting as an Explorer crossed with an Early Warning System, a Privateer will investigate anything that looks remotely interesting or remotely dangerous. (Lifted straight from the about section, I thought it describes things beautifully)

The Writing
Oh what a tangled web is weaved by the creator of Precession, Jake Staines. With flavours of Blade Runner, Alien, Space Odyssey and more this is a sci-fi adventure story that is well thought out and really well structure. I enjoy reading this although the pace is sometimes a bit slow but as with many web comics you have to wait patiently for updates.

The Art
I'm not a huge fan of the art in Precession although it does not detract from the story. OK that's technically not true. I love aspects of the art such as the machinery, tech and the environments but I not too keen on the actual character art. This story has loads of potential and the creator deserves loads of credit for the concept and the execution but may be missing opportunities to develop as a property.

Updates
Normally on Mondays

Links
Precession Online Comic

Recommended if you like. . .
Blade-Runner, 2001, Mad-Max etc

Awakenings - Web Comic

I'm pretty new to this online wonder. At first glance i thought this some obscure horror comic that I'd have no interest in. Upon checking out a few pages I was hooked and before I new it I'd read the whole story so far. Awakenings is the story of a New York city detective hot on the trail of a gruesome serial killer only to find himself on the run when every lead points to the one person he never would have suspected -- himself.

The Writing
I found the story a bit slow, but that's not a bad thing I feel it works in the context of the overall feel of this online comic. I'm just desperate to know what's going to happen. I find that I like the characters and I root for the lead and hope that he overcomes the obstacles in front of him. Eric Hobbs has created a good solid story here and with over 120 pages so far I'm hooked until the end.

The Art
The art reminds me of a few different artist it has a Michael Ryan(he did lots of Wildstorm stuff) feel at times along with a bit of Kevin Sharpe (X-Treme X-men, New Resident Evil) and although not as polished as the two pros I just mentioned the art is a better standard than most web comics.

Updates
Around two pages per week as far as I can tell.

Links
Awakenings Online Comic
Awakenings on Myspace

Recommended if you like. . .
Underworld movies, True Blood, Astounding Wolf-Man.

Questionable Content - Web Comic

Questionable content is a prime example of on online comic i should hate. I know absolutely nothing about Emu's . . . or Emo's and have never heard of half of the bands and music references that come up in the course of the story, however the characterization by J. Jacques and the smooth flowing story drags you in and makes you love the characters. I even like the strange girl who works in the library. This is one of my daily pleasures and find myself eager for more.

The Writing
You could easily believe that J. Jacques is writing from life. The interaction between characters is absolutely brilliant. The story takes you one way and then an other always entertaining and never too serious although it does cover some real issues involving suicide and heartbreak. This comic is not normally the type of thing I read but a story underlying story is what drives me to keep reading. I care about most if the characters and want to see what happens to them. This, for me, is the new Friends, albeit in an online comic format. Oh and the little anthro computer "Pintsize" with plans for world domination (pictured above) is hilarious.

The Art

As is the case with most webcomics the art at the beginning is a bit shaky but quickly progresses and with over 1300 pages done I'd put the art style up there with the like s of Jeff Smith's Bone or Scott Kurtz's PVP. This online comic is presented in full colour. There are also the occasional guest weeks where artists and creator from other online comics and medias take their own stab at the QC gang. There is however this really annoying bird that appears from time to time instead of the main strip and just basically insults everything. He's great by the way.

Updates
Updates normally about 4 times a week Monday through Thursday.

Links
Questionable Content Web Comic
J. Jacques Live Journal

Recommended if you like. . . .
PVP, Friends, Big Bang Theory, CTRL-ALT-DEL etc.

Ice - Web Comic

Found this online comic around a month ago and have fell in love with it. The Author "Faith Erin Hicks" is a Shuster Award winning creator for her work on Zombies Calling which was published by SLG. The story centres around the Lead character Hunter in an ice cold post nuclear war torn Britain. This has been going for a while now and is heading for its conclusion so I'd get in a read it now before Faith wins even more awards for her ability to tell fascinating stories with beautiful artwork.

The Writing
You instantly care about the characters and their plight. There are enough plot set ups to gain anyone's interest. as this speed towards its conclusion i hope that we are not left wanting when it comes to an end. The character of Hunter strikes me a s one who would easily transfer to tv or movies. This project could be huge with the right push behind it. I hope Faith does not drop the ball and make this a story to remember.

The Art
Reminiscent of Jamie Hewlitt the artwork has a slight manga influence but could easily be a vertigo book. The colours are cold and dark with spots of warm which depicts the climate in which the story is set perfectly.

Updates
Schedule says 2-4 pages per update. Updates are twice monthly

Links
Ice online Comic
Faiths DeviantArt Page
Zombies Calling
Sketch Blog

Recommended if you like. . .
Vertigo Comics, 2000AD and FreakAngels

Sacred Pie - Web Comic

I found Sacred Pie about a year ago and kept putting off reading it because i thought the art looked too much like the Beano or the Dandy. I thought this looks like a "fun" story. Boy was i wrong. I was wrong about the art, i was wrong about the story. This is an amazing body of work. The story centres around Sid, Bob and Roonas who are a bunch of typical slackers/wasters who do nothing but play video games etc. The three guys by pure chance (or so it appears) get caught up in an intergalactic Heaven vs Hell epic war. With more than a passing resemblance to various famous and some obscure Sci-Fi and fantasy stories/movies.

Writing

Great! Deep Space Battles, time travelling Medieval adventures, gladiator style alien prison planet epics. This story has it all. Fights, Love, Death, Deep emotion.

Art

This was what originally put me off reading this. but when i started it i soon forgot how bad the art was, only to discover than fairly quickly the art improved and improved and then went full colour then went all flashy too.

Updates

Gets updated about once a week usually on a Sunday.

Links

Sacred Pie Site

Sacred Pie Online Store

Recommended if you like. . .
Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Space Balls and Gladiator

The Zombie Hunters - Web Comic

Zombies are cool. Hunting Zombies is cool. What could be better. how about hunting zombies and looting!

This is a great little web comic about survivors of a zombie apocalypse (usual set-up) what makes this different from a million other zombie tales is delivery.

Writing

This is one of the best written online comics i have come across. I've read it from the start and still have loads of unanswered questions. The subtlety of the character interaction is at times mesmerising and you seem to get hints of how bad things have been leading up to the current continuity but with enough drama to keep your interest and keep me coming back for more.

Art

Jenny Romanchuck is a talented individual. you can easily see in the artwork the she cars about the characters. Her development as an artist is amazing and through the 170 plus pages her artistic style has continued to develop.

Updates

Updated every Monday and occasionally on a Thursday

Links

The Zombie Hunters

The Zombie Hunters MySpace Page

Recommended is you like. . .
Zombie movies, The Walking Dead, I am Legend etc.

Acrobat - Web Comic

Acrobat is a story of a superhero sidekick who after loosing his mentor makes the step up from sidekick to full blown hero, while dealing with all the normal issues of teenage life.

The Writing

Considering that the creator of this book is in his teens he does a very good job of conveying the emotional state of a teenage boy and the struggles that any teenager faces. He also does a good job and showing how that teenage kid deals with all the problems associated with being a costumed hero in ever expanding universe full of various challenges and revelations.

The Art

This is where, i think, many people might fall down with Acrobat as the art at the beginning of the story is that of a teenage kid with hopes of being a comic artist one day. As the story progresses (up to 17 online issues at time of writing this) You will see major developments in style and quality. I think that JD Smith will become a comic superstar in the coming years. for one so young he shows an great understanding of storytelling and pacing as his style develops i firmly believe he will fulfill the comic artist dream.

Updates

updates pretty regularly normally around 2-3 pages per week.

Links

Acrobat Comic

JD Smith on DeviantArt

I love Acrobat and its one of my favourite web comics.

Love to here what you guys think?

Recommended if you like. . .
Spider-Man, Invincible, Robin, Nightwing etc

Freak Angels - Web Comic

Freak Angels is an Free weekly online comic by the creative team of Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield.

The story centres around the Whitechapel area of London in a post apocalyptic vision of Britain.

The Writing

If you like any of Warren's other comics you'll love this. The pacing of the story fits perfectly with the characters and their situation. At time a few episodes can pass with not much happening but when it kicks off the pace changes and becomes faster to fit the action.

I find that every Friday I'm really disappointed when i reach page 6 as i have to wait for another week for the next installment.

The Art

Paul Duffield's art is simple yet elegant and the colours work really well with the tone of the story. Its hard to compare Paul's work with other artists as his style is quite unique, I love to tell you that if you like Jim Lee or Greg Land you'll love this but i cant. it has an animated quality which has a manga flavour without being remotely manga.

Updates

This online comic updates every Friday

Links

Freak Angels Website

WhiteChapel Message Board

Warren Ellis

Paul Duffield

Comments welcome as I'd love to know what you guys think of it.

Recommended if you like. . .
Warren Ellis

Welcome

Hi There folks,

welcome to the launch of the Web Comics List. As the title suggests its gonna be a list of webcomics that I read or have read and think you should be reading them too.  I looked around the big ol' Internet for a resource that could help me in my own quest to find good online comics and I've found the Internet wanting.

There may be cools sites like zuda.com, Drunk Duck and onlinecomics.net but they, i feel cover too much and don't filter out the drivel, well the last 2 don't. Zuda does have a high standard but that does not mean that they are all good.

There are millions of online comics out there and lots of them are really good. I personally am not a big fan of manga or fanstasy stuff and have never really been tempted to spend my hard earned cash on a title in the store that wont float my boat. That's where the web is different , for the most part web comics are free. I'm not talking about torrents and stuff I'm talking about people out there that publish their own work online and make it available for everyone.

So i come across a few manga and fantasy online comics I'm much more likely to give them a look and have become hooked on few things that ordinarily i would have avoided like the plague.

This blog is in no way intended to make you read every comic I list, but is simply a tool for you all to use to find something good to read when you have a spare 5 or 10 mins.

I hope you enjoy.