Net Comic Strip Reviews

There are a large number of comic strips now being published exclusively on the web. This page is a review of the ones I have found, critiquing both the strip and the site. It does not include comics published in newspapers and on the web, such as Dilbert. The order is strictly alphabetical; no other ranking is intended.

Strip Bruno (http://www.brunostrip.com/bruno.html), by Christopher Baldwin

Basis Misadventures of a whiny loser junior reporter on a dinky little newspaper.

Art B&W. Clear, and generally realistic, albeit with some features (especially facial) exaggerated.

Humor Occasional bits of humor thrown in, but don't go to this comic looking for laughs. Bruno (the character, not the strip) is a whiny loser with Major Emotional Baggage. Personally, I didn't like it, but the kind of people who like 90's music might. (Keep in mind that IMHO the transition from 80's to 90's music, was mainly from bellowing about sex to whining about angst.)

Site Can be viewed by single day, or week so far. Archive is a bit clumsy to use.

Update Weekdays

Score 7

Other Not to be confused with Bruno the Bandit, below.

Strip Bruno the Bandit (http://www.brunothebandit.com), by Ian MacDonald

Basis Sneaky bandit and his microdragon.

Art Excellent, clear, with occasional hidden jokes and other amusing details. B&W.

Humor Excellent. Varies from long-term political satire to quick puns to sight gags. Each episode also has a humorous title.

Site Well laid out. Loads quickly. Nice staggered background, versus the usual plain orthogonal tiling. Author is very open to suggestions and other feedback. Hosted by Big Panda, host of many other fine comics, and supplier of excellent usability.

Update Weekdays.

Score 10

Other Medievaloid flavor, but with... TV??? Occasional other modernisms. Occasional violence (not graphic) and innuendo, but no worse than prime time TV! Also, not to be confused with Bruno, above.

Strip Freefall (http://www.purrsia.com/freefall), by Mark Stanley

Basis Rascally scavenger and his 'bot Helix, stranded on an alien world.

Art Very clean style, almost minimalist. Sam's face, although few in features, is amazingly expressive. B&W.

Humor Very good. Puns, sight gags, double entendres, etc.

Site Very plain. Mainly just a list of the (many) episodes -- by number, not date or title. Author is open to suggestions, but seems to lack either the time or the HTML expertise to do much about it. The link labeled MU ZU takes you to some older storylines that ran in a (print) comic book by that name.

Update Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Score 8 -- but sprucing up the site could easily make it a 9

Other

Strip Helen: Sweetheart of the Internet (http://www.peterzale.com), by Peter Zale

Basis Adventures of "a beautiful and brilliant computer geek named Helen Arianna Nichols who runs the electrical systems for Martin Kirby Corp."

Art Not too bad. Looks a bit hurriedly drawn at times. B&W.

Humor Works for me, but those who aren't very technically knowledgeable might not "get" some of the jokes. Often topical; the latest involves the MP3 legality question.

Site Definitely needs work, mainly on organization and navigation. The "Cast" section is helpful. Site also has some of his earlier strip about Spencer Green, now Helen's boyfriend.

Update About semi-monthly, about five strips at a time.

Score 8 -- but assorted site improvement could make it a 9

Other What with the sloppy artwork, sporadic updating, and horrid page organization, I think the author must be a very busy person. Maybe it has something to do with that "life" thingy I keep hearing about. Too bad; this strip has enormous potential.

Strip Kevin & Kell (http://www.herdthinners.com/), by Bill Holbrook

Basis "Furry"; Kevin (a rabbit) and his wife Kell (a wolf) -- 'nuff said.

Art Remember "On the Fastrack"? Same guy. Good, simple but not too. B&W.

Humor Very good, but sometimes depends on knowing Internet culture. Some of it may be lost on newcomers, so do peruse the archives, or at least the cast biographies. Each episode also has a humorous title, and a "fortune cookie" (funny, pithy, whatever).

Site A bit slow to load -- but probably more the web host's fault than the author's, since it is rather simple.

Update Weekdays

Score 9

Other

Strip Sabrina Online (http://www.coax.net/people/erics/Sabrina.htm), by Eric W. Schwartz

Basis "Furry" about Sabrina (a skunk), Amiga fanatic and sometimes webmistress.

Art Pretty good; nothing really unusual for me to say about it. B&W.

Humor Very good, but often depends on knowing Internet culture. It helps if you're an Amiga nut, or at least familiar with its history.

Site Decently organized, but slow to load because it's mostly on one big page, which includes a big splash graphic.

Update Very sporadically. Definitely netmind it.

Score 8

Other Mirror sites include Spanish and German translations.

Strip Silicon Alley (http://webreview.com/wr/pub/at/Silicon_Alley), by Mitchell Reichgut

Basis "life among Web developers in NYC's Silicon Alley."

Art Very simplistic, tho not sloppy. B&W.

Humor Good, but generally depends on knowing stereotypes of not merely Internet users, but the types who work behind the scenes. Peruse the "back alleys" to get a feel for who's who.

Site Easy to use (since the link to the new one is always at the top of the list), but may become less so as the number of old episodes increases, since the main page has the full list.

Update About semi-monthly. Netmind it so you don't forget.

Score 7

Other One recent change has drastically improved the usability. It used to be an animated GIF, showing each panel in turn so that you had to wait and wait and wait, and really wait if you missed or didn't finish a panel. It now shows all panels at once. I don't know if they intend to stay with this format, but I certainly hope so!
Updated later: back to the old format! Bleagh! B-P

Strip Sluggy Freelance (http://www.sluggy.com/), by Pete Abrams

Basis Switchblade-wielding sociopathic talking bunny, and occasional humans.

Art Semi-simplistic, almost manga-like, but with occasional forays into bizarreness like "Stick Figure Week". B&W, except Sundays in color (and bigger).

Humor Good, but not always there. Not as in "tries to be funny and fails", but as in "the strip isn't always about humor", but even then it's still entertaining. The humor varies from quick puns to very dry irony.

Site Nicely organized. Lots of other stuff, like merchandise. Comics available as a daily or entire week, with or "just without all the other babble. Just the facts ma'am."

Update Daily

Score 9

Other Lots of violence, sometimes a bit graphic. Not for the squeamish. Why is it called "Sluggy Freelance"? Heck if I know!

Strip User Friendly (http://www.userfriendly.org/static/), by Iliad (no real name given)

Basis "Columbia Internet, the friendliest, hardest-working and most neurotic little Internet Service Provider in the world. Throw in a mischievous Artificial Intelligence and a naive but curious Dust Puppy, and you have the makings of USER FRIENDLY".

Art Simplistic, but not overly so. B&W, except Sundays (also bigger).

Humor Excellent, but often depends on knowing Internet terminology, and what life is like behind the scenes. An absolute scream for any BOFH or helldesk prisoner.

Site Well organized, and includes lots of additional things, such as downloadable relevant graphics you can print out (such as the labels for a "Deletium Container"), a discussion board, and an advice column run by "Iambe". Click on the strip to enlarge and navigate.

Update Daily

Score 10

Other

Still to be reviewed:

ARGON ZARK (http://www.zark.com/front/hub.html)
Bobbins (http://www.bobbins.org)
The Class Menagerie (http://www.theclassm.com)
CoyoteVille (http://www.purrsia.com/coyoteville/)
Deepend (http://surf.to/thedeepend)
Dinosaur Cartoons (http://www.zark.com/extra/dinotoons/dinos.html)
FEW and FAR Between (http://fewandfarbetween.com/)
Funny Farm (http://members.xoom.com/_XOOM/dalmatian2k/funnyfarm.html)
General Protection Fault (http://www.gpf-comics.com/)
goats: the comic strip (http://www.goats.com/)
HAUL TREK (http://www.haultrek.com)
KRUD Radio This Week's Cartoon (http://www.krud.com/krudtoon.html)
Larry Leadhead (http://larryleadhead.org)
The Limpidity Page (http://www.nic.com/~cheah/limpid.html)
Welcome to The Melonpool Website!� (http://www.melonpool.com/)
Newshounds (http://www.newshounds.com/)
No Outlet (http://members.aol.com/noout/)
Nukees (http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/gav/nukees/)
Ozy & Millie (http://www.coyotesdaughter.com/~rain/)
Rip (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/8553/)
Roomies (http://members.tripod.com/~walkerton/roomies/)
Soap On A Rope (http://www.soaprope.com/)
Spex and Wally (http://home.att.net/~spexandwally/)
SSDD (http://website.lineone.net/~psychosis/)
Superosity (http://www.superosity.com/)
Tails From the Mynarski Forest (http://www.telusplanet.net/public/foxstar/)
TIGRtoons (http://members.aol.com/tigrtoons/)
Unlike Minerva (http://grove.ufl.edu/~normal/)
Waiting for Bob (http://www.waitingforbob.com/)
Zoocomix (http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~zookumar/Zoocomix.html)

Know of any more? Please email me the URL. (Please note that this is for comic strips, i.e., ongoing stories, not cartoons, i.e., things that are pretty much individual one-shots, even though they may have continuity of characters.)

For the ones updated any less frequently than weekly, I recommend you use a monitoring service such as Net-Mind to notify you when it changes. For that matter, if you plan to put your own sporadically updated comic on the web, I suggest you put a link to them on your page -- or better yet, a button like that on my What's New page.

This World wide ring of UFies site is owned by Dave Aronson.

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characters are copyright © 1997-1999 illiad

Strip		Bruno (http://www.brunostrip.com/bruno.html), by Christopher Baldwin
Basis		Misadventures of a whiny loser junior reporter on a dinky little newspaper.
Art		B&W. Clear, and generally realistic, albeit with some features (especially facial) exaggerated.
Humor		Occasional bits of humor thrown in, but don't go to this comic looking for laughs. Bruno (the character, not the strip) is a whiny loser with Major Emotional Baggage. Personally, I didn't like it, but the kind of people who like 90's music might. (Keep in mind that IMHO the transition from 80's to 90's music, was mainly from bellowing about sex to whining about angst.)
Site		Can be viewed by single day, or week so far. Archive is a bit clumsy to use.
Update		Weekdays
Score		7
Other		Not to be confused with Bruno the Bandit, below.

Strip		Bruno the Bandit (http://www.brunothebandit.com), by Ian MacDonald
Basis		Sneaky bandit and his microdragon.
Art		Excellent, clear, with occasional hidden jokes and other amusing details. B&W.
Humor		Excellent. Varies from long-term political satire to quick puns to sight gags. Each episode also has a humorous title.
Site		Well laid out. Loads quickly. Nice staggered background, versus the usual plain orthogonal tiling. Author is very open to suggestions and other feedback. Hosted by Big Panda, host of many other fine comics, and supplier of excellent usability.
Update		Weekdays.
Score		10
Other		Medievaloid flavor, but with... TV??? Occasional other modernisms. Occasional violence (not graphic) and innuendo, but no worse than prime time TV! Also, not to be confused with Bruno, above.

Strip		Freefall (http://www.purrsia.com/freefall), by Mark Stanley
Basis		Rascally scavenger and his 'bot Helix, stranded on an alien world.
Art		Very clean style, almost minimalist. Sam's face, although few in features, is amazingly expressive. B&W.
Humor		Very good. Puns, sight gags, double entendres, etc.
Site		Very plain. Mainly just a list of the (many) episodes -- by number, not date or title. Author is open to suggestions, but seems to lack either the time or the HTML expertise to do much about it. The link labeled MU ZU takes you to some older storylines that ran in a (print) comic book by that name.
Update		Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Score		8 -- but sprucing up the site could easily make it a 9
Other

Strip		Helen: Sweetheart of the Internet (http://www.peterzale.com), by Peter Zale
Basis		Adventures of "a beautiful and brilliant computer geek named Helen Arianna Nichols who runs the electrical systems for Martin Kirby Corp."
Art		Not too bad. Looks a bit hurriedly drawn at times. B&W.
Humor		Works for me, but those who aren't very technically knowledgeable might not "get" some of the jokes. Often topical; the latest involves the MP3 legality question.
Site		Definitely needs work, mainly on organization and navigation. The "Cast" section is helpful. Site also has some of his earlier strip about Spencer Green, now Helen's boyfriend.
Update		About semi-monthly, about five strips at a time.
Score		8 -- but assorted site improvement could make it a 9
Other		What with the sloppy artwork, sporadic updating, and horrid page organization, I think the author must be a very busy person. Maybe it has something to do with that "life" thingy I keep hearing about. Too bad; this strip has enormous potential.

Strip		Kevin & Kell (http://www.herdthinners.com/), by Bill Holbrook
Basis		"Furry"; Kevin (a rabbit) and his wife Kell (a wolf) -- 'nuff said.
Art		Remember "On the Fastrack"? Same guy. Good, simple but not too. B&W.
Humor		Very good, but sometimes depends on knowing Internet culture. Some of it may be lost on newcomers, so do peruse the archives, or at least the cast biographies. Each episode also has a humorous title, and a "fortune cookie" (funny, pithy, whatever).
Site		A bit slow to load -- but probably more the web host's fault than the author's, since it is rather simple.
Update		Weekdays
Score		9
Other

Strip		Sabrina Online (http://www.coax.net/people/erics/Sabrina.htm), by Eric W. Schwartz
Basis		"Furry" about Sabrina (a skunk), Amiga fanatic and sometimes webmistress.
Art		Pretty good; nothing really unusual for me to say about it. B&W.
Humor		Very good, but often depends on knowing Internet culture. It helps if you're an Amiga nut, or at least familiar with its history.
Site		Decently organized, but slow to load because it's mostly on one big page, which includes a big splash graphic.
Update		Very sporadically. Definitely netmind it.
Score		8
Other		Mirror sites include Spanish and German translations.

Strip		Silicon Alley (http://webreview.com/wr/pub/at/Silicon_Alley), by Mitchell Reichgut
Basis		"life among Web developers in NYC's Silicon Alley."
Art		Very simplistic, tho not sloppy. B&W.
Humor		Good, but generally depends on knowing stereotypes of not merely Internet users, but the types who work behind the scenes. Peruse the "back alleys" to get a feel for who's who.
Site		Easy to use (since the link to the new one is always at the top of the list), but may become less so as the number of old episodes increases, since the main page has the full list.
Update		About semi-monthly. Netmind it so you don't forget.
Score		7
Other		One recent change has drastically improved the usability. It used to be an animated GIF, showing each panel in turn so that you had to wait and wait and wait, and really wait if you missed or didn't finish a panel. It now shows all panels at once. I don't know if they intend to stay with this format, but I certainly hope so! Updated later: back to the old format! Bleagh! B-P

Strip		Sluggy Freelance (http://www.sluggy.com/), by Pete Abrams
Basis		Switchblade-wielding sociopathic talking bunny, and occasional humans.
Art		Semi-simplistic, almost manga-like, but with occasional forays into bizarreness like "Stick Figure Week". B&W, except Sundays in color (and bigger).
Humor		Good, but not always there. Not as in "tries to be funny and fails", but as in "the strip isn't always about humor", but even then it's still entertaining. The humor varies from quick puns to very dry irony.
Site		Nicely organized. Lots of other stuff, like merchandise. Comics available as a daily or entire week, with or "just without all the other babble. Just the facts ma'am."
Update		Daily
Score		9
Other		Lots of violence, sometimes a bit graphic. Not for the squeamish. Why is it called "Sluggy Freelance"? Heck if I know!

Strip		User Friendly (http://www.userfriendly.org/static/), by Iliad (no real name given)
Basis		"Columbia Internet, the friendliest, hardest-working and most neurotic little Internet Service Provider in the world. Throw in a mischievous Artificial Intelligence and a naive but curious Dust Puppy, and you have the makings of USER FRIENDLY".
Art		Simplistic, but not overly so. B&W, except Sundays (also bigger).
Humor		Excellent, but often depends on knowing Internet terminology, and what life is like behind the scenes. An absolute scream for any BOFH or helldesk prisoner.
Site		Well organized, and includes lots of additional things, such as downloadable relevant graphics you can print out (such as the labels for a "Deletium Container"), a discussion board, and an advice column run by "Iambe". Click on the strip to enlarge and navigate.
Update		Daily
Score		10
Other