Category: Webcomics

He’s Always Sketching

Jeffrey Rowland I didn’t instantly recognize, but I should have. I could see the spiritual kinship between him and his avatar in Overcompensating. He had also set out some books and the like, and drawing gear, and as he chatted with people he sketched in their books, or in his sketchbook. That’s something I recognized almost immediately. Rowland sketches. All the time. Or at least, all the time he was there. He was personable and conversational and clearly enjoyed talking with his fans, but while he did so his pen was always working.

— websnark

I’ve kept my new year’s resolution to draw at least one page — one page of anything at all, even random scribbles all over it — per day. Often it’s been in bed just before I go to sleep, quick scribble something out and then hit the hay. But I’ve always done it. So far I feel considerably freed up with respect to art. I can see how the logical endpoint of this would be something like what Burns reports of Rowland.

The “replace at least one glass of pop per day with a glass of water” thing is going well too.

Wapsi Square

Wapsi Square has been one of the few webcomics I read daily for a while now. I started it when the creator, Paul Taylor, did a guest comic for PvP.

It’s kind of a “chick comic” despite being drawn/written by a guy; the cast are overwhelmingly female. It’s more of an ongoing drama than a gag strip; there are punchlines but they’re almost always very low key, not laugh-out-loud things. You stay not for The Funny (as Websnark puts it) but for The Story. (And maybe for Monica in her 8-ball shirt! But I digress…) There’s a lot of just ordinary people life drama, but there’s also a big dose of fantasy/supernatural: the main character, Monica, is involved with some strange supernatural forces, including the Aztec god of alcohol.

Quibbles: the pace can occasionally be glacial, with single conversations stretched out into a week or two….or three… or forever… Sometimes the style of drawing, e.g. the proliferation of wide-eyed toothy smiles, gets on my nerves… But these are minor quibbles: the art and writing are very good overall. (I actually quit reading for a while when the pace got TOO glacial and I despaired of anything ever actually happening again in the comic, but I got sucked back in.)

I thought I’d blog it because a recent strip happens to contain a succinct plot summary, so it might be a nice place for a new reader to drop in.

Other “must read” comics for me are Achewood, Questionable Content, and some newspapaer stuff like Dilbert, Agnes, Boondocks, Pearls Before Swine, and FoxTrot. Oh, and the aforementioned PvP, and Penny Arcade.

UPDATE:

Did I just say the art and stuff were “good overall”? Sometimes they are amazing.