Series: XKCD

When choosing a series to feature on this blog, I normally try to use one that I can be reasonably certain that the majority of my audience will be unaware of. Knowing that, some of you may be wondering why I decided to feature XKCD on this blog. However, I have previously assumed that the majority of my readership would be people who are familiar with internet culture. However, this is so far not been the case. As such, I feel that about half of my current readership will most likely have never heard of XKCD in the first place. And even if they have, its introduction serves as an excellent setup for another series that I plan to feature in this blog. But more on that later.

XKCD is one of the most popular comics on the web. It has well over a million readers, and is one of a small number of webcomics to have a successful print run. XKCD sold 25,000 copies within its first six months in print, followed by a nationwide book tour that raised $32,000 for charity; most webcomics, even successful ones, can only sell printed versions as demanded from online stores, if they even have print versions in the first place. The number of webcomics that have had print versions sold in bookstores at all can be counted on your hands.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

XKCD began with a student named Randall Munroe who had a tendency to doodle during his classes. These doodles were usually humorous, and usually had something to do with the subject material being taught in class. Then one day in 2005, Randall decided to dig through his notebooks, scan his doodles, and upload them to the internet.

It wasn't especially popular at first -- the low quality of the scans and art didn't help this much, seeing how they were not originally intended to be seen by anyone other than Munroe himself. However, he fixed this in short order, writing strips specifically for the internet. And one of these strips was the now famous "Map of the Internet," an attempt to show a physical representation of where internet content was based using IP addresses, something more adequately explained by the comic itself. This comic was subsequently featured on the popular technology website "Slashdot" (A site which, for the record, I won't be featuring any time in the foreseeable future -- despite my love for the internet, I'm just plain not into the technology side of things). This attracted massive amounts of attention to the series, creating a sizable boom in readership that spread from there via linkage and word of mouth.

But enough about its popularity; let's move on to the comic itself. The most immediately notable element of the comic is that the parts of it that actually feature people instead of graphs and the like -- about three quarters of the comic, at least of late -- are drawn solely in stick figure. This by itself isn't highly unusual for a webcomic -- The similarly famous "Order of the Stick" did much the same, doing so two years before XKCD did. However, unlike Order of the Stick or many similar webcomics, XKCD uses the absolute minimum of detail (Something that many Stick Figure Comics do not do, surprisingly enough) -- which, admittedly, is about what you would expect from someone's doodles in math class. However, another reason for this fact -- or perhaps a result of it, rather than a reason -- is that the drawings are merely an almost inconsequential part of the comic, merely serving as a medium for the content, which is the real reason for the strip's popularity.

XKCD's banner refers to it as a comic of Romance, Sarcasm, Math, and Language, and those are the main subjects of its material -- again, what you would expect from a comic made during classes while the author split his attention between it and the course material. The end result is that the jokes are almost always far more intelligent than the usual fare for gag-per-day webcomics, making punchlines based on things like fractals, programming languages, and those transistor equation thingies that always seemed to pop up in your math textbooks. There are also a large number of strips with a more philosophical focus, and yes, ones that focus on romance too, along with a decent number that are just typical jokes. But the real draw are the ones based on class material. Not just because of their intelligence... but also because you can use them to impress your professors!

If you're still in school, anyway.

Interestingly enough, my statistics professor once used this as part of a lecture.

All that said, XKCD can be something of a mixed bag as far as jokes are concerned. There are some jokes that are a bit too obscure for some people to get (I still don't understand the "Sudo make me a sandwich" gag. It has something to do with programming? Apparently?), and some of them just plain aren't funny (Not included in this count are the ones that aren't supposed to be funny, of which there are many, especially in the comic's earlier strips). And while opinions on this vary greatly, a large number of readers seem to think that the frequency of these unfunny strips has increased as of late, as evidenced by the existence of the Blogspot hosted blog "XKCD Sucks." However, there's enough excellent material, and enough variety, to keep most reader's happy.

Overall Verdict: Famous, and for a good reason. Just don't expect the quality of the material to be consistent.

Series: Skin Horse

The Series

"Wait. You're a Super-Secret welfare guy?"
"We're more 'Covert Social Services.'"


So the mad scientist has been stopped, his death ray's been shut down, the damsel's been rescued, his hot daughter's been made out with, and everyone's gone back to the pub for drinks. All the loose ends have been tied up, right?

Well, what about his sentient killer robots? His genetically engineered hamster-men? His psionically uplifted leeches? What happens to them? They have to go somewhere... and they can't be arrested for the circumstances of their creation. What's a sane and responsible government to do?

The answer is Skin Horse, a top secret federal agency founded to help out abominations in need.

But this is a comedy series. So the government isn't exactly sane or responsible. The end result is an agency that is so underfunded that it can only afford a handful of employees, and a small office in the same building as other underfunded or forgotten government agencies like the departments of irradiation or jetpack suppression.

And the employees that they have... aren't exactly the most competent. Or sane.

But sanity aside, it's a dangerous job. The agents of Skin Horse regularly have to deal with abandoned monstrosities ranging from the incredibly dangerous to the incredibly adorable to the just plain strange. And if that wasn't enough, they also have to deal with conspiracies, rogue coworkers, and an organization dedicated to making living weapons... that seems to be about as competent as they are.

It's worth noting that Skin Horse takes place in the same universe as the author's previous webcomic, Narbonic. While for the most part reading Narbonic is unnecessary for enjoying Skin Horse, there are a few references (Such as the origins of Unity's brain), and one of Narbonic's main characters has a major role in the "If I Ran the Zoo" story arc.

However, while Narbonic certainly became a great comic during its later years, the first few years of its run were something of a crapshoot, largely due to the author having no idea where she was going with the series until a third of the way through its run. As a result, Skin Horse is far more accessible to a new reader.

Overall, Skin Horse is a comedy, and a rather entertaining one. The art is consistent, the humor is pretty good, the characters are well-written, and the plots are engrossing. And while it's primarily a comedy, it has its serious and even philosophical moments too. After all, it's hard to have a comic with this premise without addressing the question of what it means to be human.

Overall Verdict: Skin Horse isn't the funniest Gag-Per-Day webcomic, but it's certainly one of the best-written, with plot being one of its strong points. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Series: Kagerou

Warning: This comic is, once again, most definitely not for children. It contains sex nudity, and graphic torture, none of which is censored.

The series

"This sounds like the plot of a really bad anime, but what the hell, right? I'll try anything once."

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A bizarrely effeminate guy gets picked up off the street and whisked off to a world of magic, where it is revealed that he has just been chosen to serve as the champion for a goddess. In order to fulfill this role, he must find a magic sword, rescue a princess, and defeat a demon king.

As far as plots go, this one's been... done. A lot. And that's the plot that Kagerou has... At first.

But it quickly becomes apparent that things are not as cliche simple as they seem. For starters, the guy chosen to be champion was picked up right after he escaped from an insane asylum. Also, he manages to last about five minutes before one of the demons kills him.

Trust me, it's rarely this silly.
Disturbingly so.

Fortunately for our hero, some elf types find him and bring him back to life, insisting that he continue the quest. It's only when he goes for the magic sword that he discovers that the goddess selected another champion while he was dead -- and the goddess who did the choosing wants him to go back to being so.

And of course, the demons haven't stopped wanting him dead either. And on top of that, he still has to deal with his hallucinations and alternate personalities -- one of whom is a rapist and serial killer who wants the main personality destroyed, and has Sylar-esque telekinetic powers. Oh, and the hallucinations may or may not actually be our hero astrally projecting himself into other dimensions, the personalities may or may not be ghosts trapped in his body, and the entire series may or may not be a head-trauma induced hallucination.

Still sound simple?

The reason I chose Kagerou for this review is because it's much like the last review I did: It's a dark and graphic but well-written story that is also incredibly obscure and under-rated. Its draws are different from Mortifer, however.

A major point about this comic is the portrayal of the main character's insanity. Despite the surreality of it, it's actually fairly realistic, as the author spent quite some time in an insane asylum himself, and is quite familiar with the disorders he portrays.

Another point in its favor is the dialogue. The author has an amazing sense of humor, which in spite of the comic's dark nature tends to shine through in conversation.

That said, the biggest draw of this series is how it takes a completely played out concept and turns it into something completely unexpected.

Kagerou isn't for everyone, though. the series as a whole is intended to be very disturbing. The warning at the start of this post is only a part of it, albeit a large one. It can also be a bit confusing, as there are entire sequences that take place in "the zones," which seem to be symbolic or... something.

On another note, like many webcomics Kagerou has a problem with early art. In this case however, this is due to the original art files for the early chapters being lost, with poor quality jpegs being the only available replacements. It's readily apparent that the early artwork would actually be pretty good if it weren't blurry. The first three chapters have already been redrawn in any case.

Lastly, the author is rather slow with updating -- rather understandable, considering his circumstances. Fortunately, there is a rather sizable archive to peruse.

Overall Verdict: Kagerou is a good series, but quite definitely not for everyone. If you are easily put off by the presence of rape, violence, and gruesome imagery in a work, you probably shouldn't go for this one.

Series: Mortifer

The series

Alright, before we get started on this review, there's one thing you should definitely know. This series is not for children. It is much darker than my usual fare, having themes of violence, insanity, and (occasionally) sex. If you don't like that sort of thing, gtfo skip right on past this one.

While I'm at it, I may as well provide some background information before we get started on the review proper. Mortifer can be found on SmackJeeves.com, a webcomic hosting site. It's one of the longest comics on there, at 1326 pages. It completed its run in July of 2011. Like many webcomics, the art style is a bit sloppy at first, but it improves.

Now on with the review!

Ladies and gentlemen, our protagonists!

Initially, the story stars a trio of mercenaries: Matthew Leftway, a vampire who really enjoys bloodshed; Valentine Leftway, another vampire who moonlights as a male prostitute of all things; and Joey Von Krause, a rather unsettling little man with an eyepatch who almost never stops smiling. They work for a mercenary company named SinTec... whose boss has just announced his retirement. After the mysterious deaths of all of his competitors for the position, Joey is named as the new leader of SinTec. Rather then announce this promotion however, the employees are told that the new head is a mysterious (And fictitious) man named "Mortifer." That accomplished, Joey brings his teammates to his office and informs them that he has grand plans for the company's future...

Meanwhile, an assassination carried out in the first chapter becomes complicated as a key piece of evidence is left behind, leading to a police officer named Samantha investigating Joey. And then there's Joey's past, which becomes more and more mysterious the more we know about it, as well as certain tensions amongst the team that will lead to something more...

And even with all of that, things are even more complex then they seem -- and at the same time, more simple. Joey's plan is merely the header for a massive web of intrigue. And that brings us to the best part of this series: Its twisty plot.

This image has been uploaded in place of any actual twists
so as to avoid major spoilers. : )

It takes skill to do a good plot twist, and Mortifer's author has that in spades. Every plot twist is flawlessly executed (With one notable exception, though that could just be personal preference). And there are a lot of them -- only a few at first, but the frequency increases as the series continues. And most of them are the sort where it makes perfect sense in retrospect -- the best kind.

It's not all doom and gloom, however (Though that is the overarching tone). While the series is chiefly a thriller, there's plenty of humor too, some black, some not.

Overall Verdict: While a bit rough around the edges at first, Mortifer is one of the best-written and under-rated webcomics I have read in a long time.

Series: Superego

The Adventure Thread
The Mirror

Just a tip: if you have not yet read my review of MS Paint Adventures, I suggest that you do so now. Why? Because this series, Superego, is one of MSPA's fan-made "Forum Adventures." Forum Adventures are series hosted on MSPA's forums that use the same user-guided, text-adventury format as MSPA. There are a lot of good ones there, so you can expect to see more in the future.

Superego is a Lost-esque story about a group of people who wake up in an empty hospital, with no memory of how they got there and a different number on each of their hands. As they explore their surroundings and begin to interact with each other, it becomes apparent that they are all working at cross-purposes -- something that the hospital itself seems to be encouraging.

Each of the characters introduced has a color and a symbol associated with them, as well as a number as mentioned above. The symbol and number each have a significance that, surprisingly, the fans have already deduced. Knowing these meanings adds an entirely new layer of experience to the series. However, as it also casts the interactions between the cast members in an completely different light, I will be putting it in spoiler tags of a sort. For those of you who opt not to read them right away, I suggest that you read them after you have caught up. To read the following text, simply highlight it.

Each of the numbers originates from the second axis of the DSM-IV Code -- in other words, each one is a numerical designation indicating what personality disorder each given character has. Sam for example has zero, which on the second axis indicates Paranoid Personality Disorder.

The symbols serve a similar purpose, each one being a visual representation of the disorder. Each one contains a circle -- the idea seemingly being that a plain circle represents a well-adjusted ordinary person, while people with disorders have modified circles. Percy, for example, has OCD, and thus his circle has a square inside of it to represent his need for order.

With this knowledge, the series can also be seen as a sort of psychological case study of what would happen if ten people with various disorders were placed in the same abandoned building, with no way out and filled with various potentially supernatural phenomenon. For anyone with an interest in psychology, this series will likely be fascinating.

Which isn't to say that that's all there is to it. Superego is still an Ontological Mystery at heart, and that has an appeal of its own, one that is arguably even better if you know the meaning of the numbers.

The series itself is still fairly young -- you can read through its archive in about an hour, likely less. But it's still pretty solid, regardless. And if you don't mind registering for a forum, you can even participate as well.

Overall View: If you're a fan of Lost or Psychology, you'll probably love Superego. If you aren't, then you should probably pass this one by.

Series: Girl Genius

The site, accessible through this elegant and finely crafted link

Steampunk, for those of you who don't know, is a type of science fiction featuring steam-powered technology of a far greater complexity than ever occurred in real life. Examples of the genre include The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Wild Wild West.

This sort of thing, pretty much.

And one of the more recent classics of the Steampunk genre is the webcomic known as Girl Genius -- though the author prefers to refer to it as "Gaslamp Fantasy." The series has won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story for every year that the award has existed, was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist (As well as several non-Hugo awards, such as the Eisner Awards), and has won five Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards.

The comic takes place in a "What could have been" version of Europe ("Europa," actually, but it's obviously supposed to be Europe) where, as the genre suggests, steam-powered technology took hold far more than it did in real life. The reason for this is the existence of "Sparks," people who possess the innate ability to create technology that violates the laws of physics -- but tend to be more than a little bit mad.

In spite of this, order was kept for a time by a pair of Sparky heroes known as the Heterodyne Boys -- but after they mysteriously vanished, Europa dissolved into chaos until a man named Baron Wulfenbach conquered all of Europa, to rule with an iron fist.

Years later, our story begins with Agatha Clay, a mentally damaged girl who is working as a lab assistant at Transylvania Polygnostic University when the Baron pays it a visit. After a rather dangerous series of events, Agatha discovers that her "brain damage" is actually a result of a locket that she wears, which is actually a device designed to repress her abilities as a spark. She is taken as a prisoner to Castle Wulfenbach, where the story truly begins...

It's worth noting that Girl Genius actually began life as a print comic, only becoming a webcomic after four volumes. As a result, it holds itself to a much higher standard then most webcomics, and lacks the usual artistic evolution most webcomics have -- it starts out with good artwork, and that art doesn't change that much as the story progresses. It updates three times a week, every Monday Wednesday and Friday at midnight, and it keeps to this schedule no matter what, updating at the regular times even when the colorist ended up in the hospital from a heart attack. And in addition to its adventurous plot, it can be pretty funny, too.

Overall, Girl Genius is a very good series. There are only two real problems that might prevent someone from enjoying it. The first of these is that some of the story arcs tend to drag on a bit, most notably the Mechanicsburg arc (Which started three years ago and is still going). The other, much more minor problem is that the art style is a bit too cartoonish for some people's tastes. If you can get past those, I think that you'll find reading Girl Genius to be an enjoyable experience.

Overall Verdict: Considered one of the classics, both as a webcomic and as a part of the Steampunk genre, and for good reason. Definitely worth reading.

Series: Emergency Exit

The Comic

Emergency Exit is a webcomic started in 2003 by an artist known as "NJ Huff." Like many webcomics, it began life as a simple gag-per-day comic featuring some people living in a strange apartment building. As the story continued however, it underwent what is known as "Cerebus Syndrome" -- a "disorder" where a previously plotless series begins to develop a storyline. Emergency Exit is unusual, however, in that it is actually funnier after the plot begins than it was before. The author seems to have noticed this as well, as a large chunk of the pre-Cerebus strips have been removed and replaced with a condensed version containing all of the information necessary to start reading at the start of the plot.

The story itself begins to develop when it becomes apparent that the seemingly ordinary tenants of the apartment aren't quite as ordinary as they seem. Bob is cursed, Eddie's a mad genius, Sal is a witch, Fred the cat is sentient (Though only Karl can understand her), and Karl has an inter-dimensional portal in his cupboard.

What really starts the plot however, is when a man named Bubba Miyagi comes through this portal and asks Karl and the other apartment tenants to use this portal to collect artifacts that have been scattered across the multiverse, allegedly to save his universe from destruction (Which is revealed in fairly short order to be a complete fabrication). This quest draws the attention of an evil overlord known as "Lord Kyran," who decides to try to get the artifacts before the tenants, simply because he has nothing better to do with his time.

Overall however, this summary doesn't really do the story justice. The plot does start out being rather basic, and the humor tends towards the mediocre in early strips (Even with some of them removed). However, NJ gets significantly better with these things as the strip progresses.

What really sets Emergency Exit apart from other webcomics, however, is the crossovers. Emergency Exit has so far crossed over with two other webcomics: Beyond Reality and Parallel Dimentia. These crossovers are generally considered to be some of the best executed crossovers in webcomic history. Both are well-plotted, don't favor either cast over the other, and have far-reaching effects on the plots of all the series involved -- as opposed to most webcomic crossovers, which could easily be removed from canon without effecting the plot in any major way. The second of these, "The Epic Struggle," is also one of the longest webcomic crossovers out there, being 130 pages in length.

Overall Verdict: While not necessarily one of the best webcomics around, Emergency Exit is still quite good, and definitely worth checking out.