Lilly MacKenzie and the Mines of Charybdis - Web Comic

How best to describe this. . . A beautiful Space fairing, Ginger, half Scottish, half African American beauty, who kicks some serious butt and hangs around with a vertically challenged, pink haired engineer of sorts, who appears to love her unconditionally but is happy just to be friends go on an adventure into deep space with possibility of no return. . . . Sounds good to me are you interested yet?

Writing
As the above suggests this story is pretty involved and hooks you from the very start and then rolls along at a nice pace allowing you to take in the scale and scope of the galaxy spanning storyline. The characterization through the story is just sublime. Cosmo is by far my favourite character so far although Lilly also really cool. Simon Fraser(The Creator) has a fantastic imagination and his attention to the fine details of the Science Fiction he has created just blow me away.

Art
Simon Fraser is both the writer and artist of this wonderful webcomic and his style is an absolute joy. It reminds me of Barry Windsor Smith with a slice of Brian Hitch or Alan Davis and a topping of Steve Dillon and Kevin McGuire. Now Simon has been around for a good few year working on Stuff for 2000AD, IDW and various other things. Be sure to check out his Nikolai Dante stuff.

Updates
Weekly

Links
Lilly MacKenzie and the Mines of Charybdis - Web Comic
Simon Fraser's Website
Act-i-vate
Nikolai Dante Semi-Official Website

Recommended if you like
Alien Movies, Total Recall, 5th Element, 2000AD, Star Trek etc

Sam and Lilah - Web Comic

Found this little piece of web wonder while hunting around other webcomic blogs. I initially passed it by as from the impression I got it reminded me of that line of "girl friendly" comics Marvel brought out a few years ago. I was so wrong. This is a really well done love story with vague-ish biblical references. I believe that this came in 4th in the Zuda monthly. Here's how its described over on the Act-i-vate site. " Fate really is a four-letter word. When Lilah meets Sam at a coffee shop, things seem to be headed in the right direction. He's cute, fit, not shy but not cocky. The problem is, Sam is short for Samson and when your name is short for Delilah, that's Trouble."

The Writing
I don't think I'm doing this comic a disservice by saying that the writing is cute. The story is so far is about falling in love and overcoming the unique obstacle the main characters have to face. The interaction between the two main cast members flows well and although more related to the art of this comic the use of little emoticon symbols and sound effects to emphasise the action or lack of it in certain scenes is nothing short of genius. I've seen this kind of stuff used a fair bit in manga based stuff and although this has a manga-esque overtone it is essentially an American style book with a manga influence. The story so far have moved forward at an acceptable pace and has enough pull to keep me coming back.

The Art
The art is brilliant. While not usually a style I like manga-esque feel of the art works well for this story. Like I mentioned above there is a definite "Marvel Romance" feel to the art but don't let this detract from a really good script. From my point of view each page has been expertly designed and works as a stand alone piece of art. I can see various design influence throughout the strip that make me believe that the creative team really have an eye for good design and maximise each page layout getting the most impact possible from each panel. Also this is one of the first things I've read where great care has been taken to incorporate sound effects and symbols to enhance the actual story telling not your usual Thwack, Snikt, Boom! stuff here.

Updates
Weekly

Links
Sam and Lilah Online Comic

Recommended if you like. . .
Strangers in Paradise, Romance Comics, Romeo and Juliet, Questionable Content etc