Stand Still Stay Silent
SSSS is a pretty extraordinary webcomic written and illustrated by the great Minna Sundberg, who comes from Finland. It tells the story of a group of adventurers sent out to explore a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Most of the civilised world has been killed by this horrifying plague that turns people into 'trolls', horrible gribbly monsters with some awesome designs. Whilst there are some moments of genuine horror, the majority of the comic is spent getting to know the incredibly likable cast. We're slowly introduced to them over the course of a few hundred pages which really helps with keeping everyone distinct.
It also has some seriously beautiful artwork. Minna uses a really interesting painterly technique and a limited palette which gives the comic a very distinctive look to it, and greatly adds to the already excellent worldbuilding. I'm really interested to see where it goes because it's been superb so far.
Wilde Life
One of the most recent comics to enter this list, Wilde Life is a supernatural horror/adventure webcomic set in rural Oklahoma, and has a heavy emphasis on the mythology of the area. Like most the comics I love, it has some really good characters. Clifford in particular is really fun to read about. The story's still picking up but there are some really interesting things going on so I'm excited about the future. Art-wise it's got a fairly hand-draw and slightly sketch look to it along with some really bright, happy colours. It fits pretty nicely and allows the scarier moments to hit home hard.
Broodhollow
If a contrast between horrifying and idyllic is what you're looking for then Broodhollow is the place to go. It's another supernatural horror story but this time there's no adventure. Just nightmares. Nah, here's a lot to love here. Broodhollow tells the story of Wadsworth, a man with severe insomnia, who moves to Broodhollow to talk with a doctor about his issues. What follows is some really nice character exploration with heavy doses of traumatising horror thrown in. The horror works so well because the majority of the comic is drawn in a cutesy, stylised manner, but the horrors have far more detailed, lifelike appearences with lens flares being used incredibly effectively. It's a super effective setup and works wonders for the comic.
Girl Genius
In far more happy territory is Girl Genius, the webcomic epic from Phil and Kaja Foglio. The comic's been running for over ten years now and shows no signs of stopping. I've been rereading it from page 1 and I still haven't caught up yet. It's incredibly long but so well crafted at the same time. Dialogue is constantly to a high standard and there's some incredibly well-planned plotting at play. To have a plotline stretch for ten years but never feel dull is such a triumph of writing and they should be rather proud of it. The comic has a very steampunk aesthetic which really makes the world fascinating. Over the years it's been running the pair have put together a world that feels both lived-in but exciting, and above all else, believable. It's a fantastic read. If you've got a long time.
Seconds
Seconds, by Scott Pilgrim writer Bryan Lee O Malley was so much better than I thought it would be. Until fairly recently, the only work by Bryan I'd read was Scott Pilgrim. Which I loved to a ridiculous degree. But when he released another book I wasn't all that fussy about reading it for some reason. I guess I'd figured him to be a one-trick pony. But blimey I was wrong. Seconds is brilliant. It's mostly a 'be careful what you wish for' story but it's told with such visual flair and some excellent character work that result in it being an absolute delight to read. It even manages to be suspenseful, and makes you root for a character even though it's plain to see she's going off the rails. Absolute comic gold.
Avengers Academy
Around the time of doing my visual appendix, I read the Avengers Vs X-Men event from 2012 to help with costume ideas and stuff. The story is told as part of several different series as well as a main one. One of the minor ones that saw focus was Avengers Academy. So after finishing AvX, I decided to jump back to the start of Avengers Academy and read the whole thing, as I quite enjoyed what I saw during the crossover. And although I've only reached issue 13, I've really enjoyed it so far. It's been a great mix of serious plots and fun moments, but all told through the perspectives of students. It's not about saving the world in the slightest, but rather about helping out the people around. It's a nice read.
Sins Of The Wreckers
As it's me talking, of course there's going to be a Transformers series in here somewhere. And this time it's Sins Of The Wreckers, an in-depth character study in disguise as an action thriller. The floow up to Last Stand, this comic deals with all the horrifying and traumatic repercussions of that series whilst adding in a brilliant new villain and a whole host of extra nightmares. The character work in this comic is simply phenomenal, especially when most of the characters are robots, and only existed in the first place in order to sell toys.
Liars' Dice
Another fluke find, I discovered this comic when the creators followed me on twitter (for some odd reason). I figured I might as well check it out. And I'm really glad I did. It's still a relatively young comic but it's showing a lot of promise. The art's got a really realistic edge to it and helps keep the story grounded, and the character dynamics between the central pair are fantastic to behold. It's snappy, fun, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it ends up going.
Sleepless Domain
This is one of the big ones. Not because it's massively long or has a huge following, but because there aren't many comics that I get this excited about every time it updates. Y'see it started out as a charming but slightly inconsequential romp about five magical girls. And then it happened. One of the best-executed and satisfying plot-twists I've ever read. Mary Cagle is a genius I tell you. Everything that's happened since has been brilliant.
No comments:
Post a Comment