Are his eyebrows attached?

Clearly there is something wrong with me. First of all, I have started saying the word ‘clearly’ far too often, and second of all, yet another week has gone by with little or no webcomic action from yours truly, and for this I do apologize. Since most of you have probably given up on me I feel like I can start fresh with this audience of nothing that I adore almost as much as real people. This last week I have been so busy that I haven’t even read anything, much less written anything, but right now I’m waiting for a ride to someplace (because the car is down and out for now) so I figured, What the heck? Why not write something?

Today I would like to talk about Sam Logan’s Sam and Fuzzy. Why the main character is named after the writer is something we will hopefully find out if and when Mr. Logan does a questionnaire for me. Anyway, I must start off by saying that this comic is buckets of fun. If fun were a tangible substance you could fill those Gatorade thingys up with it and dump it on yourself. There are a lot of reasons why this comic is so good, and I will go into them for you starting… now!

First of all, we have the one that many might consider the star of the entire thing, the man, the legend, Fuzzy himself! Clearly Sam (a young adult male with funky hair and a button nose) is the main character. There are long stretches of time in which Fuzzy doesn’t appear at all, so you may wonder, “How can a member of the supporting cast be the star?” Well my dear reader, let’s just say that Fuzzy is all of the things you sometimes (in moments of insanity of course) wish you could be. Fuzzy is an amoral, insane, psychotic, sociopathic, egomaniacal, bear sort of thing… It is certainly unclear that he’s a bear, especially since he has the most amazing eyebrows of all time. I envy them.

Fuzzy, despite his personality, is very smart, and despite ruining portions of Sam’s life, he tries to be a good friend. Fuzzy is heavily dependent on Sam even though he may sometimes talk and act like he needs no one but himself. Mr. Logan has done a wonderful job of adding mystique to this character. Constantly, we readers wonder where this thing came from and why he can’t remember his past. Obviously this is a story for another time. Mr. Logan is very happy to give us small tidbits as things drag on.

Sam, of whom Fuzzy is a mere sidekick, is a very nice and likeable guy. He’s got a good heart and he tries to be kind to others regardless of their status in life, be it ninja, death metal band lead singer, delivery girl, spoof of Edward(Twilight), or fridge possessed by a demon. As nice guys go, he fits most of the clichés. He has a hard time standing up for himself a lot of the time and he can come off as being quite wimpy. In spite of appearances, he’s pretty hardcore. His ideas are good most of the time, and though he might be afraid, he does what he needs to.

The comic itself is wacky, and I’m sure by now you should be noticing a trend in the sort of things I read. It starts off in the way of many comedic comics, a joke every four panels. Soon however, we discover that Sam Logan has quite a knack for weaving a decent story arc: twists, elaborate back stories, exciting finishes and all. He’s quite skilled at toying with your heart as well. You will find yourself wanting the protagonists to succeed so badly that you become frustrated when things don’t go quite how they were hoping. These are the marks of a great storyteller. I imagine that in the future, Marvel and DC, along with Boom!, Dark Horse, Image, and all those other comic companies, may want to start looking seriously at webcomic artists as writers.

Sam and Fuzzy is a strange and off the wall comic about everything for anyone who would like to add a little more surreality to their life.

Sam and Fuzzy gets a very respectable 8.6 out of 10.

We can't pronounce this word

Well I guess it’s that time again. Time to chip away at the source of my material, time to write yet another article on one of many webcomics that everyone should be reading. I must stress though that you’re probably not the same as me. Everyone’s got different tastes, so maybe you just can’t dig whatever I tell you to read, and it’s cool, because that’s just how we are.

Anyway, that’s just me stalling for the purpose of being wordy. Today, I will discuss the uber-popular and uber-awesome xkcd. Is it silly to review a webcomic that everyone has heard of? Maybe, but it was this comic that got me into the whole scene in the first place, so it holds a place that is near and dear to my heart. The first page I ever viewed was this one, about Ender’s Game, and I thought, “Wow, it’s just so nerdy!”

That’s probably the thing about this comic that will slam you in the brain the moment you start reading: to get any enjoyment from it nerdiness is a strong prerequisite. I’ve heard mixed definitions of the word, but it makes me think of someone who loves sci fi and might just dabble in theoretical physics for kicks and giggles. I know that certainly describes me to a large extent, so anyone who reads the comic might feel like they’re coming home for the first time.

It’s a tough comic to classify. It’s not exactly a joke every four panels, because you’re not guaranteed four panels, much less even one. Not every comic is even funny for that matter, but oddly enough, you don’t feel like the comics need to be. Anyone who reads it looking for a real good “LAWL!” every day had better search elsewhere. My favorite comics are the ones that give away something about the writer as a person, for example, his endless obsession with Summer Glau and Firefly as a whole, or his adorable sense of what’s romantic on a nerd level. Gentlemen, take your cues from this guy. He probably has a girlfriend, which is more than a lot of us nerds can say.

But enough insults, let’s get back to the material! I highly recommend reading the comic from the very beginning. The about section of his (I keep using impersonal pronouns… His name is Randall Munroe) website tells us that random drawings from earlier days first inspired him to write the comic, and that a link to his server flooded him with a bunch of accidental readers, whom he of course had to keep happy. The early comics aren’t about much; they’re interesting drawings with even more interesting titles, a combination that drops an overwhelming sense of intrigue on your shoulders. As the works progress Randall leans towards characterization, which seems strange at first, considering that all stick figures look pretty much the same. After a while though, you’ll get the feeling that it’s the same three or four people every time, and you’ll grow to like them as if they were your friends.

What would a webcomic be without some ridiculousness? XKCD has its fair share, from presidential candidates traversing the country in giant blimps, to hoverboard races against Nathan Fillion. Does it have to make sense? It’s a much better comic for the madness, so don’t knock it until you try it!

XKCD is for the nerds among us who love to have our favorite things endlessly referenced and respectfully made fun of. (If that makes sense…)

XKCD gets a record high 9.9 out of 10.

I sure hope Mr. Munroe answers the email I’ll be sending! Until then I’ll try and stall for more related material. I guess this just means I need to read faster.

Dave *_*

PS: I can't believe I almost forgot this. Don't forget the alt-text in every image!!!

Doctors aren't played out.

Where do I begin? There are so many wonderful comics out there. I love so many of them so dearly. My feelings for these webcomics makes it difficult to decide which one to write about first. Two things have since convinced me to write about this particular comic to start things off. First of all, he’s the only writer who’s emailed me back thus far, and secondly, it seems to me that it is vastly under appreciated. I say this because I don’t personally know anyone who reads it, though I do know people who read just about everything else.

I’m going to talk about… (drum roll, applause, etc…) DR. MCNINJA! This is a comic that absolutely everyone should be reading, including your grandmother. It’s the epitome of delightfulness, with new comics every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Why do I love it so much? The real question should be, what sort of person doesn’t love it? Okay I suppose I ought to be serious. Chris Hastings (the writer) doesn’t draw four panels and throw in a punch line. He has highly detailed and lengthy story arcs in which something meaningful actually happens. Sometimes there are villains, sometimes there are evil corporations, and sometimes there are men with muscles that frighten people!

Despite all of these serious happenings, it’s quite possibly one of the most hilarious things you will ever read. It’s off the wall and ridiculous in a highly plausible sort of way. For example if you knew an archaeologist who had cloned some velociraptors and had a girlfriend on Myspace, it would follow that if she dumped him, he might just become a bandito and ride velociraptors everywhere while trying to exact his revenge. When you first begin reading the comic you’re struck by the overwhelming insanity that dominates the world in which Doctor McNinja lives. After issue #½ however, you suddenly realize that this stuff is normal. Suddenly, hiring a gorilla named Judy as your receptionist at the doctor’s office doesn’t seem so strange.

That’s probably the most impressive thing about the comic, the level that it operates on. Most readers demand some sensibility in what they read, and oddly enough Dr. McNinja's followers say things like, “There’s no sound in space!” while forgetting that he’s surfing a robot-Dracula to the Earth’s surface. That’s like waking up in the morning with your house underwater and complaining that you’ve run out of butter. It’s a complete brain buster. Zombie ninjas are normal, but the laws of physics should be obeyed.

I mustn’t forget the thing that makes this comic so enjoyable within all of its quirks: artwork. Not only is Mr. Hastings a creative genius in the writing department, his drawings are also amazing. Not all comics call for dynamic paneling, in fact, the majority of webcomics don’t, but the action packed issues of Dr. McNinja need something to encourage the thrill of the storyline, and Chris has nailed it down. The panels have very clean edges and lend a lot to the art contained within.

Let’s not forget the team that supports the artwork either! Kent Archer, Carly Monardo, the puppet, and Anthony Clark, who is incidentally one of the most handsome individuals you will ever see. Anyway, these wonderful people are responsible for the other stuff, like color and ink, things that matter. Without them the comic would be less wonderful than it is.

EDIT: As suggested by one of my readers (OMG a reader!!!) I should probably mention some stuff about what kind of readers it might pull and attach a numerical rating to it, so here goes: This is a comic for escapists who happen to like Ninja doctors that reside in a world where anything can and does happen.

Dr. McNinja gets a screaming 9.7 out of 10.

Chris is filling out a questionnaire for me, so I’ll post again when he’s done!

Dave *_*

Hi! Here are my goals.

Hi! Welcome to the first post of what I hope will be a very ongoing project. I like to read webcomics, and if you’re reading this, I’m sure it’s something you enjoy too. Everyone is looking for something different in a webcomic, so it’s hard to gauge how to recommend them to other people. Some are about superheroes, some are adventure stories, some focus on that last panel to bring the joke home. No comic author or artist can survive if he/she wants to be all things to all people. It’s just not possible. The best writers base their stories on what they know. Any artist that makes it past number fifty has probably got a great thing going. Those who drop off prior to that usually feel frustrated, because, let’s face it, some people just aren’t funny, or they’re not great story tellers, and all artists know that their readers will tell them if they suck.

I’m not here to complain about bad webcomics. I’m here to tell you what you should read, who’s a genius, who’s not. I promise to never pass judgment on a comic that I’ve never read in its entirety. That’s a big responsibility, but lucky for me, the old ones are usually good ones. If you’ve got a story to tell, and you’re still telling it with five times weekly updates ever since 2006, it sounds like something I should pay attention to.

I’m sure we’ve all noticed this independently of one another, but the world of webcomics is a huge place! I always feel that if there’s something good out there, I want to be reading it. It’s almost a condition I have, like this uncontrollable urge to know everything about the largest things there are, for example the Marvel Universe. Knowing everything is unrealistic, but it doesn’t stop me from trying. And for the record, I won’t be blogging about paper comics here. That’s why we have Angela Valenti at Girls Don’t Read Comics. Go check it out. I laugh as I write this because I say it like I have more than two readers right now, but I also know that I’ll probably mention that blog again, especially if I ever develop any kind of readership as time goes on. Here’s hoping right?

Anyway, back to the topic before I talk myself into the ground here. I’m going to start off my career as a blogger with the wonderful people who belong to Dayfree Press. I make no claim to have read every comic that belongs to Dayfree Press, however, I am working on it. I’ve read XKCD, Dr. McNinja, and Questionable Content. I’m more than halfway through Kristy vs. the Zombie Army, and am about halfway through Sam and Fuzzy. I love all of them so far, so you can expect to hear a great deal about them as time goes on. I may also complain about the site and its lack of updates since 2007, but we’ll talk about that another day.

I’ll leave this as an intro post. I’m waiting for some writers to email me back about interviews and such, that way I can include more fascinating content for my readers, or lack thereof, whom I already love so dearly. Thanks for reading! More content is on its way!

Dave *_*