Title: Dueling Analogs
Author: Steve Napierski
Start Date: 2005
Genre: Gaming
Update Schedule: Whenever (usually several times a week)
Website: http://www.duelinganalogs.com

Synopsis:

Dueling Analogs is a gag-a-day webcomic with video game-related humor, brought to you (sometimes) by the author and his friend, Jeremy the Sony PR Gnome.

Sorry for the short description, but it’s difficult to define comics like these that have no plot and characters who barely recur.

Recommended Age Group: 17 and up. Not for the kiddies!

Strengths:

The author is actually very good at imitating other people’s art styles. Examples like Dr. Tran, Gabe & Tycho, and even Finn and Jake look exactly like they would in their respective series. There are also many more examples sprinkled throughout the archive. Try to find them!

Weaknesses:

The author seems to only be at his best when imitating other people’s styles. His own original style looks overly simplistic (though the avoidance of black outlines is an admittedly nice touch). What I find especially bothersome is that Steve has another webcomic (Warning: NSFW!) where the art looks even worse. Steve is clearly capable of doing better, so why does he hold back?

The strip’s other weakness is fairly obvious: the genre. It’s your standard gag-a-day gaming webcomic, and considering how the Internet has been flooded with them over the past 15 years, there’s nothing here that makes it stand out from all the rest.

Verdict:

I give this comic a halfhearted recommendation. It all really comes down to personal taste. If gaming webcomics don’t bother you, it wouldn’t hurt to add this to your collection. If you’re sick of them, this probably wouldn’t change your mind.

Title: Atomic Laundromat
Author: Armando Valenzuela
Start Date: 2009
Genre: Superhero, sci-fi, comedy
Update Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
Website: http://www.atomiclaundromat.com

Synopsis:

David is the owner of the Atomic Laundromat, a laundromat that specializes in dry cleaning for superheroes and supervillains alike. His employees include his robot Bob and psychic Juno. David is also the unlucky child of a family of superpowered beings–namely, he has no powers whatsoever.

After David’s father and famed hero The Messiah is charged with a lawsuit for public indecency (though he never actually meant it), David has to rely on his childhood friend, Angela, who has grown up to become an attorney for superheroes, to clear his case.

Recommended Age Group: 10 and up.

Strengths:

This comic deserves praise for its original premise. It features superheroes, but the content is twisted in such a way that they’re not really the focus of the comic, instead focusing on the side characters that are tangentially related to its world.

Weaknesses:

The pacing for this comic feels rather uneven. Whenever it switches to story mode, it moves at a rather slow place. The transitions between gag-a-day and story is too seamless with this one.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. It has great humor, interesting characters, and a unique spin on the superhero genre that I believe non-fans of superhero comics might find interesting.