Before I begin, I owe you all an apology. Yes, I know I’ve been gone since November, and I have a perfectly good reason for that.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of real-life problems over the past few months. I’ve been under a lot of stress. I’ve been working on an internship (and I still am). My sister got engaged and has moved out, so we have to save money over the next year while we make wedding preparations. My family has also had to deal with health problems that I’d rather not get into. It’s been a stressful few months, and thankfully, the worst of it is out of our way, and I feel confident enough to be updating this blog again.

Anyway, there has been a recent trend in Hollywood movies to adapt popular fairy tales for the big screen. So why not review a webcomic that does that as well?

Title: Erstwhile
Author: Gina Biggs, Louisa Roy, Elle Skinner (artists), Brothers Grimm (writers)
Start Date: 2011
Genre: Fantasy
Update Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
Website: http://www.erstwhiletales.com

Synopsis:

Erstwhile isn’t bound to just one story, but several. This webcomic adapts the lesser-known tales from the classic German folk lore writers, the Brothers Grimm. Each of the three artists takes their turn adapting and interpreting one story at a time. (Note: Although Gina Biggs is credited with “adapting the story” on nearly all of them, the illustrators are left to their own devices.)

Recommended Age Group: All ages.

Strengths:

Each comic is stunningly gorgeous to look at. Even though this comic is drawn and colored by three different people, their art styles complement each other nicely. It’s also fun to watch how each interpretation plays out, depending on their ranges of narration and visual flair. It also helps that they’re specifically adapting the more obscure titles from the Grimms and none of the popular ones. You won’t see anything that was already covered by Disney in this series.

Weaknesses:

Unlike adaptations which like to modernize a classic fairy tale or play it for parody, the artists adapt the Grimms’ tales completely straight, as they were originally written. If you’ve read these stories before, you will be spoiled on how the tales end.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. Children and adults alike would love this. They would be great in school courses for exposure and critique. This comic is a fantastic gateway to explore the often overlooked tales by these classic authors.

I’ve really been terrified to do this particular comic for the longest time due to its reputation, but now that it’s over, I feel I should give it a eulogy.

Title: Ctrl+Alt+Del
Author: Tim Buckley
Start Date: 2002
Genre: Gaming
Update Schedule: Complete (a reboot is underway)
Website: http://www.cad-comic.com

Synopsis:

Ctrl+Alt+Del can be defined as two different types of comic. The first is a standard gag-a-day strip where a bunch of roommates play video games. The other involves these same characters–best friends Ethan and Lucas, Ethan’s girlfriend Lilah, and their robot Zeke–who deal with everyday situations in their lives, including relationships, jobs, and the occasional adventure.

Recommended Age Group: 15 and up, due to cursing and violence.

Strengths:

What makes CAD stand out among most gaming webcomics is that it has one characteristic that others lack: a story. Gaming webcomics are generally not designed to have storylines due to their overly comical nature; they usually make referential humor and little else. As much as the comic has been overly divisive (see the Weaknesses, because we’ve got a LOT to cover!), I can at least give Buckley credit for adding variety to a rather stale genre.

Unfortunately, just having one unique trait doesn’t make up for its many, MANY shortcomings…

Weaknesses:

Tim Buckley loves to copy and paste.

Every single character has the same face. He uses Google Images for backgrounds and adds a Gaussian blur. Lighting and shading are inconsistent. Simply put, Buckley’s talents as an artist are notably limited.

The characters aren’t well-defined, either. Ethan has been criticized for being a Mary Sue. He’s a constant jerk and he gets away with every stupid thing he does. Even worse, he winds up with all the rewards in the comic. He becomes married to the girl of his dreams, despite not showing his affections for her. He manages to construct two sentient robots that perfectly mimic life. He creates his own holiday and a church for it. He easily outwits all his opponents and winds up owning a gaming shop despite having no business experience. Finally, the characters have to apologize to HIM for all the wrongdoing that HE caused.

Remember how I mentioned that CAD is divided into two comics in the synopsis? They tend to clash constantly, interrupting the storylines with abrupt comedy and killing the tension once the drama reaches its peak.

The humorous comics aren’t structured well, either. A common complaint of the comic is that the punchline is revealed too early, leaving the rest of the panels as meandering filler. This tongue-in-cheek parody of the comic exemplifies this particular issue with the strips.

The comic also breaks the show-don’t-tell rule constantly, relying on long dialogue balloons and walls of text to get the point across (comically or dramatically) rather than allowing the characters to express their emotions.

Verdict:

I give this comic a halfhearted recommendation, if only a rather faint one. Despite all my criticisms, I don’t think it’s as nail-bitingly awful as other webcomics on the Internet. The comic still has a large fanbase, and if you’ve never read it, you could probably give it a quick read and determine for yourself whether or not you would like it. It’s over, so it definitely wouldn’t hurt.

Personally, I used to read this comic many years ago when I was developing my reading habits for webcomics. I enjoyed it during its early days, but then I grew out of it when the flaws started to become more apparent. And they just continued to worsen. I stopped reading around the time the animated series came out (yes, there was an animated series, and it’s best left forgotten).

I wish Buckley best of luck on the reboot. I don’t think I’ll be tuning in, though.

Title: Romantically Apocalyptic
Author: Vitaly S. Alexius
Start Date: 2009
Genre: Sci-fi, dark comedy
Update Schedule: Saturdays
Website: http://romanticallyapocalyptic.com

Synopsis:

Sometime in the future, excessive radioactive pollution has transformed the Earth’s biosphere, causing plant and animal mutations and transforming it into a decaying wasteland known as the Dead Zone. 99% of humanity has escaped from the literal Hell outdoors by moving into large domes and remaining connected to the Internet 24/7 to a large machine, ANNET (“Annie”), which had become sentient over time and, due to an accident and sabotage with the servers, caused it to go berserk and nearly wipe out or zombify humanity. To make matters worse, the remaining 1% who can’t use ANNET have difficulty sleeping due to dreams becoming copyrighted (yes, seriously) by the world’s largest corporation, leading to headaches and occasional nightmares.

The story centers around a military squad joined with the 1%–Captain, Charles “Sniper” Snippy, Pilot, and Alexander “Engie/Engineer” Gromov–who launch a nuclear strike on ANNET and have to deal with nightmares, time travel, and the horrors of the Dead Zone.

Recommended Age Group: 12 and up, mainly due to language.

Strengths:

The artwork is absolutely outstanding! Alexius is a professional photographer who takes pictures of models and actors and morphs them into beautiful compositions with PhotoShop. This is one of the best uses of the software I’ve ever seen.

Weaknesses:

It may be hard to follow along with the story for some readers. The comic has a tendency to blur the line between dreams and reality, so the writing is very mind-screwy and not exactly a clear-cut adventure. I had trouble following the story myself, and I actually had to consult a Wiki just to make heads or tails of everything. After reading through it, the details still aren’t exactly clear.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. If you’re a fan of stories with apocalyptic settings, the psychology of dreams, or just want to look at stunningly gorgeous art, this comic is definitely up your alley! Just be prepared to pay attention, or you may get lost and have to reread through the archives or the Wiki I provided above.

Title: Cucumber Quest
Author: Gigi Digi
Start Date: 2011
Genre: Fantasy, comedy
Update Schedule: Almost daily
Website: http://cucumber.gigidigi.com

Synopsis:

In the Doughnut Kingdom, a colorful world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, a young rabbit named Cucumber has a last meal with his mother and sister before being shipped off to a magic training school. The night before he leaves, though, he receives an urgent letter from his father, Lord Cabbage, that he has been imprisoned by the evil Queen Cordelia, who plans to rule the world by collecting the Disaster Stones and awakening the Nightmare Knight.

Cucumber and his sister Almond embark on a journey against his wishes (Cucumber wants no part in it, but Almond LIVES for the thrill of adventure) to find a magic sword which will defeat the Nightmare Knight and his top warriors, the Disaster Masters.

Recommended Age Group: All ages.

Strengths:

The artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Gigi Digi has wonderful line art and the use of colors really pops out like total eye candy. The characters are beautifully designed and the comic’s world is reminiscent of the Candy Land board game. The comic is also very well-written and the characters are hilariously quirky.

Weaknesses:

Cucumber Quest is written as an affectionate parody of video games from the SNES era, and as such, the characters will often face a recurring problem of plot-induced stupidity. It’s meant to be a gag to reflect where the comic drew its inspiration, but it may grate on some readers’ nerves to have reasonably intelligent characters suddenly act moronic regarding the subjects they admittedly have had knowledge about their whole lives.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. This comic is a great gateway to introduce your children to fantasy. In fact, the comic recently had a successful Kickstarter to have it published as a children’s book, so look for it at your local bookstore (or online) soon. It’s a great fantasy for all ages to enjoy.

Title: The System
Author: Ross Nover
Start Date: 2008
Genre: Comedy
Update Schedule: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays (Note: May miss updates.)
Website: http://www.systemcomic.com

Synopsis:

There’s no real plot or set characters. The comic uses AIGA pictograms (known under other names worldwide: “Helvetica Man,” “Bathroom Sign Guy,” “Isotypes,” etc.) and constructs them into gag strips. A majority of the strips tend to be based around the author’s life, either his career as a graphic designer or his own personal observations. Others are random or recurring gags.

Recommended Age Group: 15 and up. There’s lots of cursing in this comic.

Strengths:

The way Nover manipulates the pictograms makes them amazingly expressive. There are several pictograms that don’t exist in reality, so his use of PhotoShop to get the desired effect works to his advantage.

It’s also very easy to make guest strips! The author welcomes the use of them at every opportunity. The pictograms are available for free (see the above link in the synopsis), so if you have PhotoShop or even something cheaper, you can have your guest strips featured on his site.

Weaknesses:

This comic can be very easily compared to another popular webcomic, XKCD. I’m willing to excuse this problem, however, because aside from the obvious difference in aesthetics (stick figures versus sign figures), the comics are actually far more distinct than one might expect.

XKCD assumes its readers are smarter than they need to be. It focuses on humor relating to complex subjects such as math, philosophy, and science. Readers with minimal knowledge in these fields may be stuck without context of the jokes being told, forcing them to use Google or Wikipedia just to understand a single strip. The System is far more simplistic with its subject matter, avoiding much of the terminology that would require research.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. If you’re a fan of XKCD, you might actually come to like this. If you’re not, you may actually find this comic easier to transition into. The art is easier on the eyes and more consistent (let’s face it: even for stick figures, XKCD is rather ugly) and it’s funny without being confusing.

Title: Evil, Inc.
Author: Brad J. Guigar (writer/artist), Ed Ryzowski (colorist)
Start Date: 2005
Genre: Superhero, parody, comedy, satire
Update Schedule: Daily
Website: http://www.evil-comic.com

Synopsis:

Evil, Inc. is a corporation run by supervillains, whose goal is to provide evil-doers everywhere with the tools and services they need to thwart superheroes and enact their plans of crime and world domination. Rather than focusing on a protagonist (this comic contains a large cast of central characters, which include staff members as well as the superheroes they face), the comic instead chooses to focus on the politics in and surrounding the corporation, providing an analogue and satire on real-world business practices.

Recommended Age Group: 12 and group. Most of the comic’s content is safe, although there is some sexual humor.

Strengths:

The comic’s art style and format are very reminiscent of newspaper comic strips. The characters are sympathetic and likable and it contains well-written nods to the tropes of DC and Marvel heroes and villains.

Weaknesses:

This comic contains a lot of filler, usually one strip per week. To their credit, many of these are gut-bustingly hilarious, but the author prefers to keep many of these strips in the exact same format. He basically copies and pastes them and just changes the dialogue. They tend to break the flow of the storylines, and they begin to feel redundant after a while.

Also, the author has a habit of including a bio page for EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in the comic. It’s fine if you want to introduce main, major, or even secondary characters into the story, but here’s the problem: Guigar also gives bios to background characters who don’t even deserve them. Thankfully, Guigar rarely does this anymore, but it can make for a very annoying read when catching up through the archives.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. In the same vein as Atomic Laundromat, Evil, Inc. provides a unique take on the superhero genre that isn’t necessarily about good guys fighting bad guys. Instead, it’s a cleverly crafted social commentary that’s definitely worth a look.

I’m reviewing this comic because I just recently learned that it was just picked up by Fox for an animated series adaptation. To congratulate their celebration, now is a good time to review Axe Cop.

Title: Axe Cop
Author: Malachai Nicolle (writer), Ethan Nicolle (artist), Kailey Frizzell (colorist)
Start Date: 2009
Genre: Action, fantasy, sci-fi, comedy
Update Schedule: Tuesdays
Website: http://www.axecop.com

Synopsis:

Axe Cop, the world’s greatest policeman, travels through space and fights crime and the forces of evil with his partner, Dinosaur Soldier. He also teams up with other heroes (including the famed Dr. McNinja) and entire alien races with unicorn horns on their heads to defeat the most evil overlords such as King Evilfatsozon and the King of All Bad Guys.

Recommended Age Group: 12 and up. There’s violence and decapitations, and minimal blood.

Strengths:

The writing is OFF THE CHAIN. The adventures of Axe Cop are just the imaginations of a hyperactive 5 (now 8) year old child, and his older brother literally interprets them into art. It’s the perfect combination of exaggerated humor and insane action.

The art is fantastic is well. It perfectly fits the wacky universe of Axe Cop and its inhabitants.

Weaknesses:

Not everyone would be invested in this comic’s wacky humor; in fact, some people might be turned off by it. Fun fact: I actually discovered this webcomic from another reviewer who completely trashed it. As we grow older and mature, we develop a certain mental threshold for realism, and some readers may find it painful to sit through.

Another inherent flaw is that the characters are one-dimensional. Again, we need to keep in mind that these are stories made up by a kid who isn’t even in his double-digits yet, so I feel that readers need to be more forgiving in this regard.

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. I haven’t seen anything this over-the-top since Tex Avery’s MGM cartoons. Just be careful when exposing your children to this comic.

Also, a side note: Ethan Nicolle draws another webcomic, Bearmageddon, which is nowhere near as chaotic as Axe Cop (it’s by a different writer), but it’s still worth checking out if you enjoy his work.

Title: Greenberry
Author: Liz Keene
Start Date: 2011
Genre: Fantasy
Update Schedule: Whenever
Website: http://greenberry.smackjeeves.com

Synopsis:

In this twist on the classic fairy tale The Frog Prince, a young princess wanders out of her castle and discovers a frog and turns him into a human with a kiss.

As you can guess by the image, the frog is NOT happy. He was already a prince of the Frog Kingdom, and he could lose his right to the throne if he remains in his human form. He brings the princess on an adventure to find a wizard to change him back.

Recommended Age Group: All ages.

Strengths:

I have a general rule not to review webcomics that are too young; I tend to give them time to develop their story before putting them on this blog.

Greenberry has turned out to be a surprising exception to this rule. One great strength to this comic is its pacing. We’re only 41 pages in, and the story is already well-developed so quickly! Most webcomics typically require several chapters before the gears start grinding, but this comic jumps right into the action.

Another notable characteristic of this comic is the art style. It’s very reminiscent of Shel Silverstein.

Weaknesses:

This comic seems to suffer the same problem as Buni, where none of the characters are named. Most of them are referred to as a title or what they look like. (Prince Frog VI? Yeah, that’s believable.)

Verdict:

I give this comic a wholehearted recommendation. If you’re a fan of twisted fairy tales or want to show your kids a sweet fantasy story that doesn’t make the source material darker and edgier (which seems to be a popular trend in fiction nowadays), this is totally worth your while.

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.